In 2005 when I graduated from college with my degree in graphic design I moved back to my hometown and opened up my own print store on Main Street in the bustling little downtown. My arts degree meant I could help customers design their logos for their companies, teams and businesses. Business was good, the income flow was decent and people in town knew me so I had plenty of repeat business.
Over the years I added other promotional products to the store that customers could print their logo on like pens, cups, letterhead and this helped me squeeze out a little bit of money here and there so I could pay for my wedding, and later the birth of my son.
10 years passed, we added 2 more kids to the family (twin girls!), plus a mortgage, increased rent on the storefront and a new car. It was 2013, and I was struggling to keep up financially with the demands of life. I’m the kind of guy who doesn’t’ like to talk about when things aren’t going well so for a while I just sort of held my breath and hoped business would pick up. But there, looming in the back of my mind was the reality that the big online t-shirt printers were slowly starting undercut my bottom line. Not only were more of my customers ordering online, I had to lower my prices just to keep my regulars buying from me.
I don’t remember exactly how I discovered the bling business. Obviously I’d been in the t-shirt business for over a decade so I knew rhinestones and glitter were materials used in t-shirt decoration but I figured it was a different world from the one I was in. At home, I noticed my daughters weren’t wearing the print shirts I had made for them anymore. Instead they were decked out in shirts with clever little glitter words and sparkly images pressed on them. It’s funny when I think about it now because the answer to my financial struggle was literally staring me right in the face for several years but it wasn’t until 2013 that I finally started offering bling to my customer.
So, this spunky baseball mom from a school in the next town over bursts into my shop one days telling me she wants shirts for her daughter’s team moms that will blow the other teams’ moms’ socks off. She says she’s been to three other silk screen shops in town and they can make the logo but they don’t’ have anything unique, something that will make her team’s logo stand out. I know I’ve only got what the other stores have offered her and that I can’t talk her into buying what I’ve got.
“I need bling! Rhinestones. I want their kids’ names to sparkle on their backs. And I want the tiger logo to be orange glitter. I don’t care what it costs. We’ve got the money, if we’ll be the best looking moms in the bleachers every time!”
I’m about to say no but she’s speaking my language when she says, ‘I don’t care what it costs,’ so instead I decide—there and then—I’m going to do what she wants no matter how hard it is to pull it off. Cause I need the money and she’s got it!
Man, am I glad that crazy baseball mom walked into my shop. She changed my whole business.
The awesome thing is, adding rhinestones and glitter to my product offerings was ridiculously easy.
In fact, unlike the paint I buy for printing I don’t even have to stock the bling inventory. In fact, I don’t have to make anything!
- I buy my custom designs from a company called BlingForce,
- they mail me the completed bling designs
- I use my heat press to press the designs onto shirts in my store.
I love this method because it ensures:
- My customers keep bringing their business to me
- I continue to offer print if they want it
- I’m the only guy in town who offers bling.
But here’s the clincher: (and what my wife is most excited about) Using rhinestone and glitter makes me 5X-10X the profit per shirt – like $10-$15 profit each. All that sparkle means more dollar signs for me and I’m loving it!
Want to talk to someone about this right now? (24×7)
Call Brian at 208-856-0406