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Newbie here— rate my wall decal business startup buy list?

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Hey there, new here and new to vinyl— I’ve been lurking and doing my homework and I think I have a decent list picked out to start doing up wall graphics, but I wanted to run it by you experienced folks for your thoughts. 

I’m out of work due to the pandemic and looking to use that stimulus to try and make ends meet and hopefully start a new career to boot. I mention this because I’ve got an absolute hard cap of $1k to spend, and a lot of incentive to make it work for me. My goal is to do this full time, though I definitely don’t expect to get a living wage off the bat, especially with such a small starting setup (SO is essential and has been handling the bills). Vinyl wall art appeals to me both as decor I would use and because I am myself an artist. I’d like to sell a mixture of purchased vectors and my own work. That said, I have no cutting experience and have only ever casually sold my art (no business startup).

My plan is to sell online through Etsy and Ebay to start. I’ll probably put feelers out for local business but it’s not my main goal. 

I know there will be costs involved with setting up the business as an entity, but what do you think of the attached list for just about everything else? What am I forgetting? Anything unnecessary?

I’m still giving this real thought but I think I’m going to move forward once I nail down more details.

 

Input appreciated!
 

 

D9B18D68-C588-431D-978A-8A2684621640.jpeg

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3 things is how do you plan to differentiate yourself from the hundreds of other people doing the same thing?

have you researched problems with vinyl adhering to things like rough surfaces, easy clean paints and how do you plan to deal with those issues?

do you plan on using non trademarked material to avoid legal issues?

just observations from watching many many others go down that same road before you

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CleanCut Blades. I prefer the 60*, but you might want to get a 45* blade as well.

I would forgo the rapid weeding kit, and just source a very sharp tweezer, dental pic, or x-acto to weed with. You will find that there will be one that you're going to want to use all the time.
If budget allows, get yourself a rotary cutter, and you'll need to get yourself a squeegee too. I also favor either an aluminum 24" ruler or a fiskar quilt ruler, because it has tons of marks on it for easy alignment.

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for a basic vinyl setup it doesn't look bad  - add some squeegees 

do you have any experience working with vector graphics?

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I personally would not order that much vinyl. If the shipping time is not horrible I usually just stock the basics and add to it as you need it. Black, White, Brown, Red, Green. I guess if you're aiming at the prebuilt market maybe you plan to build a bunch and see if they sell? That would require more vinyl at the start. IF you made a couple to show and they just had various designs for them to pick a size color and design then you'e be making to order and probably have time order some in if your close to a warehouse. I away buy more than I need and let the jobs help pay for the extra inventory. I do mostly shirts and I tried to stock some shirts here for faster turn around. Almost NEVER had the right color/size and style combination. You may find the same problem. 

I would probably not mess with the vector graphics unless you are not experienced with Illustrator. Many of the "canned" graphics may not even cut well and need additional work to get them truly "cut ready". As mentioned by Dakota there are a million people out there selling the basic window decals. Try making some original art that they want and you'll probably see some other dude selling it a week later. Then you'll understand what copyright infringement means.  If you aren't handy with Illustrator you will want to spend some covid time learning it. I have some helps in the AI section here on the forum. 

You will also end up with a few different widths most likely because it's too costly to waste 24" app tape for small stuff. Sometimes you can turn it sideways and use small strips but over the long haul you'll find a few different sized rolls in your cabinet. Keep it wrapped up so it doesn't dry out. HT55 will dry out on you. I would suggest an application tool for the app tape if you are doing large wall graphics. I am a believer of the "Big Squeegee" cut vinyl application tool. They have a few different models and are not all that high tech but after learning to use it I regularly tape off 12 to 15 ft long designs all by myself without any issues. Small stuff you can do with the upside down technique. 

I detest indoor vinyl but if you'r only selling it and not installing that is a little better. 

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24" anything (vinyl or app tape) is way more cumbersome for me to work with. I also do not have the amount of open table space to spread stuff out <_<

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I agree on skipping the sample pack of vinyl. It's only 5 yards of each color, which when doing large wall graphics, is not really that much. And you'll end up with colors that you will probably never use. I'd get some white, black, and maybe brown to start and go from there.

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You are ordering a 34" cutter, but where on your list is 30" vinyl?

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On 5/4/2020 at 7:41 PM, Dakotagrafx said:

3 things is how do you plan to differentiate yourself from the hundreds of other people doing the same thing?

have you researched problems with vinyl adhering to things like rough surfaces, easy clean paints and how do you plan to deal with those issues?

do you plan on using non trademarked material to avoid legal issues?

 

On 5/4/2020 at 7:43 PM, Dakotagrafx said:

do you have any experience working with vector graphics?

Differentiating is going to be hard... Everything has been done before, it seems. Good product photos and service to start, and a mixture of original art (I do have vector experience) and popular designs. I'll probably try buying some ads on Etsy. Definitely no trademark stuff. I looked into licensing costs for some IPs, but it seems prohibitively expensive and also they want you in business 3 years first, so originals and commercial-use only.

I have seen that pretty much nothing will stick to those new (teflon?) anti-smudge paints. My plan was to put a disclaimer in the sales posts advising that textured walls, new paints, and high-humidity areas etc. wouldn't work with the decals. I would also have a paper flyer sent out with each package with application info and probably put this again.

 

On 5/4/2020 at 7:42 PM, haumana said:

CleanCut Blades. I prefer the 60*, but you might want to get a 45* blade as well.

I would forgo the rapid weeding kit, and just source a very sharp tweezer, dental pic, or x-acto to weed with. You will find that there will be one that you're going to want to use all the time.
If budget allows, get yourself a rotary cutter, and you'll need to get yourself a squeegee too. I also favor either an aluminum 24" ruler or a fiskar quilt ruler, because it has tons of marks on it for easy alignment.

 

On 5/4/2020 at 8:03 PM, haumana said:

24" anything (vinyl or app tape) is way more cumbersome for me to work with. I also do not have the amount of open table space to spread stuff out <_<

Sounds good re: the weeding kit. I should have most of those supplies lying around sans the dental pic. How fast do you go through blades?

I'm a little scared of the tape since it seems so expensive and now I'm afraid of having tons and having it dry out. Maybe a 12" and 24" would be a good start.

On 5/4/2020 at 7:57 PM, Wildgoose said:

I personally would not order that much vinyl. If the shipping time is not horrible I usually just stock the basics and add to it as you need it.

I would probably not mess with the vector graphics unless you are not experienced with Illustrator. Many of the "canned" graphics may not even cut well and need additional work to get them truly "cut ready".

You will also end up with a few different widths most likely because it's too costly to waste 24" app tape for small stuff. Sometimes you can turn it sideways and use small strips but over the long haul you'll find a few different sized rolls in your cabinet. Keep it wrapped up so it doesn't dry out. HT55 will dry out on you. I would suggest an application tool for the app tape if you are doing large wall graphics. I am a believer of the "Big Squeegee" cut vinyl application tool. They have a few different models and are not all that high tech but after learning to use it I regularly tape off 12 to 15 ft long designs all by myself without any issues. Small stuff you can do with the upside down technique. 

I was wondering how the heck shirt people did it!! My original plan was small decals and later grabbing a heat press for shirts, but the idea of keeping so much inventory on hand was daunting. I know USCutter has a warehouse in my state, so maybe I'll pick up a smaller starting order and see how long it takes to get here. Afraid of causing customer delays and dissatisfaction/bad reviews but it'll be less painful to pick it up piecemeal. I would like to try the Oracal 651 do outdoor stuff eventually. Will be testing the indoor on my walls, hope it's not THAT bad hah.

Re: Illustrator, I'm handy with it, though not an expert. Confident enough to vectorize anything I draw and edit groups and such. I'll check out your tuts for sure. I did want to invest in some pre-made graphics because although some thing are a dime a dozen, they definitely seem popular enough to sell across multiple shops. I'm afraid I'd be shooting myself in the foot for not offering them and don't want to reinvent the wheel by re-designing "Live, Laugh, Love" for the 400th time. I've also read that it's better to have a lot of designs up in your shop and not having to create every asset would let me round things out faster. Though if I don't have anything original to sell, well, why would anyone bother when the other guy has 5,000 good reviews for the same thing? I get the feeling it's going to be a balancing act. 

Will bag up the HT55 and add a different width to my list. That squeegee might be out of my budget for the moment but looks super handy.

Thanks for the tips! 

On 5/5/2020 at 6:04 AM, darcshadow said:

I agree on skipping the sample pack of vinyl. It's only 5 yards of each color, which when doing large wall graphics, is not really that much. And you'll end up with colors that you will probably never use. I'd get some white, black, and maybe brown to start and go from there.

Definitely going to do this now, thanks! I'm thinking black, white, brown, gold.

On 5/5/2020 at 6:36 AM, slice&dice said:

You are ordering a 34" cutter, but where on your list is 30" vinyl?

I actually only wanted the 28" model, but the 34" refurbished is cheaper. Figured I'd start small and go up to bigger sizes if I want... I guess the price diff is negligible on the black/white though. May as well nab it. Txtx.

 

Thanks for the responses! If I cut down your post in my quotes it was only to save space, I read 'em all.

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Blade longevity will be dependent on usage - high quantity, and type of material (ie. regular vinyl vs. reflective or material that is hard on blades). Clean Cut Blades have a pretty good life span. I'm just a hobbyist, and installed a 60* Clean Cut on my original LaserPoint machine over 10+ years ago. It's still in the cutter, and works like a champ! I also have a 60* in my Graphtec, which is going on 2+ years, and that one is still ridiculously sharp. As long as you don't abuse them, and have the blade depth and force dialed in right, you can maximize the life of your blade.

App tape can last a while, depending on storage conditions. Same with vinyl. If you're looking at doing some quotes on walls and stuff, think about the height that you think the majority will be. If you think it will be taller than 14", then by all means, get the bigger app tape, but if you think it won't or rarely will, you can probably stick with the 14" tape and overlap when needed. Once app tape is pulled, any excess doesn't always re-roll nicely for me, so I try to use the tape that's the most appropriate size wise.

You can find cheap dental picks on Amazon. The important tool that you can have, and it's totally free, is patience. Patience when a cut doesn't go right, patience when taping up a job, patience when installing.

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I think it not a bad idea to have a cutter capable of 30" material. I regularly run across town to the local sigh supply shops and pick up a yard of this or that color premium cast vinyl for one off quick jobs and about 1 in 5 times they are out of stock except in 30" and it's nice to be able to say fine with me and grab it. You could obviously cut 6" off and feed it through your regular machine but there are also those times when the design is just a bit bigger than the 24 material and 30 keeps you from having to tile it. Well worth it at that point.

I agree with haumana on the app tape. I have overlapped it occasionally. Doesn't look great to a client but functionally fine. Sometimes you can get small bubbles along the seam during the application but they are usually localized to that seam in the app tape. 

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If you're worried about inventory for making shirts, most hobby stores carry a good selection of HTV. Naturally it's more expensive than buying in bulk from USCutter but it's a nice backup if you need something in a pinch. Hobby Lobby also carries a nice selection of t-shirts for about $3 each. Again, you can get shirts cheaper in bulk from other places but from small runs 15 to 20 it's hard to beat the ease and convenience.

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If you decide to try out the HTV,  remember that you are cutting on the back side (adhesive side) of the vinyl and need to mirror your cut.

doh.gif

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