Working for others? I think I Quit!

[JoeCamaro 11]

As most of you know Im a designer and my main business is shirts. I entered this vinyl world to make my designs and sell my shirts and decals. My intention was to make a brand and do my stuff, see my products on shirts, on car windshields, etc.

The idea was not to be a printing service for other people, but ever since I got my cutter I have been doing shirts for small business and other people for resale. Thats ok, thats money anyways, but I found out being a Printing Service for others and having my brand and produce my stuff are very different things.

Doing banners, signs and promotional shirts and decals is good and that many people do this for a living, but thats not what I was looking for and Im getting tired of it. I think I have to learn how to say NO.

Why I dont like it? Well if I can have my design, put it on a shirt and sell it for $15 to $20, why would I want to be making promo or uniform shirts for other for $5 to $7 a piece? Yeah, I know that six $5 shirts are better than one $15 shirt, but I think I must concentrate in what I really want.

Also, all that time in invest or "waste" doing that, I could be doing more stuff to reach my goal, dont you think? I mean, I still want to do custom shirts, after all that is one advantage of the vinyl, but I dont want to be a screenprinter with vinyl, you know what I mean?

Well my friends, what do you think?

Joe

[Benr98 40]

Well as far as working for others, I say 'I QUIT TOO'!!    I get tired of making those 'fat cats' fatter, so to speak.  Are you saying you'd quit working all together and start working solely for yourself??  That's a big step unless you are mentally and financially ready for it.  But I've heard of others that have gone out with such determination and did well.  But I'm at the point to say, DO WHAT MAKES YOU HAPPY, isn't that what life is suppose to be about?? GO FOR IT!!

Jenny

[JoeCamaro 11]

Thanx Jenny

What I really meant was, keep working in my regular graphic artist job @ the print shop, but quit doing work for others @ home, doing shirts and decals for them and concentrate in developing my business of t shirt and do my thing.

Joe

[Benr98 40]

I think you should continue to develop your product line, and than only when you want to create products for other customers, than do it to keep your name out there.  Is that basically what you are looking to do....build your OWN product line, instead of doing individual shirts for say one customer??

Jenny

[JoeCamaro 11]

Exactly! For promo or uniform shirts, they must go to a screenprinter.

[nonabelle 5]

joe, u should always follow ur heart. anybody can do anything if they put their minds to it. with your talent and knowledge behind u. u r destined for success.  i don't understand exactly what ur saying only u know what ur heart truly desire. i have learned in this life u do what's right and u do what makes u happy. life is short and it owes u a lot, but its up to u to get it my friend. if the passion for it is there do it. write ur own story and stop living someone elses. if u do it with passion, dedication, diversity, and dilengence, i will be looking for u on the billboards or in the media. u can do it joe. good luck sweetie.

[BannerJohn 1,324]

There is NOTHING worse than arriving at middle age and looking back,and thinking "I wish".

[bk2design 1]

I don't know if you should turn them down all together, jack your pricing up 

[nonabelle 5]

i agree with bannerjohn, because that's what i did. i wouldn't i'm middle aged, but i wish i had not wasted ten of those years working for someone else before deciding to work for my self. which i was doing before i took that job for 10 long years.

[JoeCamaro 11]

Thank you nonabelle,  I appreciate your support

True BannerJohn, bk2 nice idea, nonabelle, I dont want that to happen to me.

I will try to be more specific just in case Im not making much sense:

To me there are 2 types of t shirt printing business:

1. The printer: Takes orders from people and work on their specification, makes uniforms and promotional shirts for other business. Works on customer's specification and usually does high quantities, i.e. screenprinter.

2. The designer: Designs stuff to put on shirts, prints or outsources the printing to a screenprinter. The goal here is to establish a brand and sell his/her stuff to stores. Develops a brand, i.e. Ecko, Billabong, etc.

I want to be option 2, but I have been doing a lot of option 1. Have you ever seen Billabong printing stuff for the neighborhood's mini market? I bet not.

Doing option 1 is not bad at all, it only takes too much time that I could be using for option 2.

Got it?

When I say I dont want to work for others, I mean I want to concentrate in my stuff, my brand. Not in making shirts for the neighborhood's mini market, or the local middle school. There is money in it, but thats the screenprinter job.

Joe

[BannerJohn 1,324]

continue taking the orders,sub the work out to someone else,mark it up a bit. I do that on large coroplast orders.

[bk2design 1]

I definately say go for it Joe! I would keep option 1 open with higher pricing so you still have some cash flow and possible contacts to other merchants/buyers while you are trying to develop and sell your brand. Just don't forget us little people when you become rich and famous!

On another note, get your designs together and start saving up some travel money to hit the clothing show later this year in Vegas.

[nonabelle 5]

ok joe,

i know if p diddy uh, can do it. then u will be king of the t shirt design world. be and do option 2. what's stopping u. nobody but u. :-

if u study long, most of the time u study wrong.

[Benr98 40]

You could take the job and send it off to the screenprinter, not make as much for yourself but making people happy, but don't lose your customer base, cause you are still going to need them.   Don't sacrifice developing your own product line, go for it, but just don't toss your customers away, you just never know when they will be one of your biggest supporters.

Jenny

[nonabelle 5]

ur young and fresh for all the world to see. what r u waiting for. have u seen some of the stuff in some of these stores lately. yuk! :'(

[nonabelle 5]

ditto benr8. joe, just make sure u carefully plan. yea, don't just throw out your customers, that's like burning the bridge after u cross it.

[Benr98 40]

Joe feels like this? 

[nonabelle 5]

ha ha been there done that he'll will be alright.lol

[cjb 0]

joe i agree with what everbody said so far.......go for option 2 and don't look back for 1 moment,u can't change the past only the future!GO FOR IT! GOOD LUCK !!!

[laserman70 2]

Joe,

LIfe is to short, follow your dreams.  Don't waist another day doing something you don't have a passion for.  Your dreams can come true with hard work and dedication.  We all have goals, set a small goal and when you achieve it, make another goal.

Letting others hold you back is horrible.  I let everyone tell me what I should be doing, I was miserable.  I follow my dreams today, set small goals along the way.  If goals are set to high you tend to get frustrated, because they are so hard to reach.

Like my father always said "this is your life, you will never have March 27, 2008 agian.  Make everyday the best day of your life."

Good Luck, I know you will be successful.

Gregg

[nonabelle 5]

laserman70 i know u meant that for joe, but shoot ur encouraging me too, thanks. joe, listen to this man, sounds like true wisdom to me.

[JoeCamaro 11]

Gregg, Thank you so much for those words. I appreciate it. You know what I have been holding myself back and letting others do the same, but a few days ago I decided it was over. Im beginning a new journey. I don want to waste more time.

I even got a theme song for my life:

It's my life

It's now or never

I ain't gonna live forever

I just want to live while I'm alive

(It's my life)

My heart is like an open highway

Like Frankie said

I did it my way

I just wanna live while I'm alive

It's my life

Thank you all! I really needed this.

Joe

[haumana 1,220]

Hey Joe - you are in a very small percentage of people out there - you have great ideas, and the means to bring them in reality. The creativity is there, the opportunity is there, it's just that real life is interfering with the desired life.

I understand that working for others will pay the bills, but it should also help you fund your dreams. I've had the opportunity three times to truly do whatever it is I wanted to do (basically I got laid-off on three separate occasions, and rode unemployment for as long as I possibly could  During those wonderful months that followed, I look back and see how I squandered the first two opportunities. Before my third lay-off, I decided that if I ever got laid off again, that I would maximize the effort and put myself on the map (even if it's only a map of my own little world). Well, I it's not been over 6-years since I did get laid off that third time and I've been self-employed ever since. I'm not getting rich by any means, but I get to set my own hours most of the time, choose which business I want to engage a professional relationship with, and can sit and watch Oprah in the middle of the afternoon guilt-free if I want.

The worst day working for myself, is better than the best day working for someone else. I used to try and work with that mindset, but I found that I needed to tweak it just a bit: The worst day working for myself, is better than the best day working for someone ... unless it prevents me from paying the bill this month.

I say go for it! I got my cutter as a birthday gift - knowing full well that I might not make a red-cent with it, but I sure was going to have lots of fun cutting stuff for my friends and family.  Not to mention that the local stores and the mall kiosks here charge an arm and a leg for anything they cut. It was a bonus when I had the chance to cut for cash. Dang it! I'm never turning down money that people want to give me 

Go forth and be creative! I'm a left brainer, and I always wondered why (and envied) those who are "righties" never use it to its maximum. Do it! Do it! Do it!

[nonabelle 5]

joe, maybe that's one your niche lol u and your songs.lol at least urs make sense. ha ha be easy and be strong.

[signguyjohn 0]

Hi Good people

  I have been reading and gathering information from this forum for about 6 months now and very seldom post.  I am 57 years  old and like most I have wanted to have my own business for a long time.  I have been cutting vinyl in small amounts for a little over a year. I have have always been pretty creative and really enjoy designing things for people and getting the chance do do this now on a small scale (very small) Last August I had a small stroke and found out I had a heart attack.  Now I can't do my regular job and had to take a different job with the company at a lot less pay.  if it were not for the little extra I make with the vinyl I would have not made it.  My point is don't wait. Make follow your heart and do what you love and learn all you can while you are young.  Sorry for the drawn out message  Again,  thanks you all  for the information you give.  Someday I hope I can contribute to.