Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work. - Thomas Edison
you might not be setting yourself up for a failure as the waterbased prints might be what sets your business apart from the competition. It would make sense to try some plastisol and see how it goes. My guess is you can produce 20% due to not having to baby the inks and screens. It will also make it easier to pick up the phone, do deliveries, go check on the bucket . . .pierre
I have pretty much the same situation as you except I'm a plastisol shop. This year on pace to do about $280k gross. I think 300k is the best I'll be able to do as a 1 man shop. If your clients aren't too particular on what ink you use and you want to stay a one man operation, I would say plastisol will definitely ease some headaches, but that's just me. I know a lot of people prefer the benefits of water based inks and plastisol is more of a burden for those type of shops. I think it's possible with the right work flow but there is so much to do already being just 1 person.
Quote from: Nation03 on November 06, 2019, 09:34:20 AMI have pretty much the same situation as you except I'm a plastisol shop. This year on pace to do about $280k gross. I think 300k is the best I'll be able to do as a 1 man shop. If your clients aren't too particular on what ink you use and you want to stay a one man operation, I would say plastisol will definitely ease some headaches, but that's just me. I know a lot of people prefer the benefits of water based inks and plastisol is more of a burden for those type of shops. I think it's possible with the right work flow but there is so much to do already being just 1 person.I know you feel my pain then. It's tough to find the time to really dial in prints, especially with water based where you are fighting the clock. When you have a stack of screens to reclaim, 12 jobs in the queue, and only two weeks to turn it all around, you can only dedicate so much time to each job. I find that with water based, I have to do my best to set everything up for success from the start, set it up on press, and hope for the best. Once the ink is in the screens and everything is registered, it's unlikely that I'll have the time to make any major adjustments to the art or print order. I would assume that you are like me where you are flying by the seat of your pants most days. If I start bringing plastisol into the mix, it might help me slow down a little hopefully. I won't feel quite as rushed to get the job printed and torn down. Congrats on hitting 280k! That's no easy task for one person.
Quote from: Cole on November 06, 2019, 10:44:10 AMQuote from: Nation03 on November 06, 2019, 09:34:20 AMI have pretty much the same situation as you except I'm a plastisol shop. This year on pace to do about $280k gross. I think 300k is the best I'll be able to do as a 1 man shop. If your clients aren't too particular on what ink you use and you want to stay a one man operation, I would say plastisol will definitely ease some headaches, but that's just me. I know a lot of people prefer the benefits of water based inks and plastisol is more of a burden for those type of shops. I think it's possible with the right work flow but there is so much to do already being just 1 person.I know you feel my pain then. It's tough to find the time to really dial in prints, especially with water based where you are fighting the clock. When you have a stack of screens to reclaim, 12 jobs in the queue, and only two weeks to turn it all around, you can only dedicate so much time to each job. I find that with water based, I have to do my best to set everything up for success from the start, set it up on press, and hope for the best. Once the ink is in the screens and everything is registered, it's unlikely that I'll have the time to make any major adjustments to the art or print order. I would assume that you are like me where you are flying by the seat of your pants most days. If I start bringing plastisol into the mix, it might help me slow down a little hopefully. I won't feel quite as rushed to get the job printed and torn down. Congrats on hitting 280k! That's no easy task for one person.if you have more work than you can handle or can relatively easily get more work, maybe think about getting some help. Maybe one of the band members would not mind helping here and there or couple of days a week for some extra income. This only works if you can get more sales though (or you are sick and tired of working long hours).pierre
i was a one man shop for a while. I love discharge, but it was not efficient for me running solo. Everything had to be prepped and cleaned up right before and after printing, so i couldnt batch together those parts of the process well across multiple jobs. It seriously limits your offerings, and you end up running into far more issues on press and after compared to plastisol. There are a dozen other complications and hurdles that arent there with plastisol. My two cents...
Have you tried One Stroke Watercolor Series plastisol?