gcextreme

Theres alot to consider. And i bet the local schools already have a source for decals and apparel. The overhead and all other expenses, fees, licenses, insurances, will add up fast. I have been tossing around the idea of opening up my own store or shop, or just renting an office to get stuff out of my small cramped house. In a good average month, i can do an average of $450 in sales, thats sales, not profit. The big thing is where I am out, theres already 4 or 5 large shops around that do a wide variety of stuff, so competition is tight. Are u currently just doing this full time or do u have another job for income? I work 45-50 hours a week at my full time job, then do this in the evening and weekends. Last year i had close to $5,000 in sales, not profit. Maybe $2600 in profit. I have used almost every penny to grow my business more, and i have yet to actually pay myself. So yeah there's alot to consider.

$200 a side, so $400 installed.

my rule of thumb, give them $1-2 off each item if they order more than 20. I just did 30 6"x6" decals for a friend, i told him they would be $7 each, but if he ordered more than 20, i would do them for $5 each. So 30x$5=$150. They were "In Loving Memory" decals for his aunt who just past away. He is going to turn around and sell them to friends and family for $6, so he will actually make a $30 profit.

Ok just wanted to make sure. All the local stores, the longest they have is 10-12'. I need at least 16' to route it nicely along the wall and back behind my desk to the desktop computer.

Yeah but is it just a standard printer cable or do i need something different. I see some usb-printer cables on amazon like $10 for a 25' one.

ok, going to be setting my cutter up on my new machine this weekend, hopefully that will work. right now im installing alot of my software onto my new computer, very time consuming. next will be copying all my files over.

im trying to install it onto my new machine, and the first download i got had the annoying trial version popup, which i de-activated on my laptop, with ollydbg program, but i cant do that now on windows 8, i have tried many times, it just wont work. i just downloaded another version sign blazer element 6, and it seems to work, but im worried about what cutting driver to use with my graphtec.

where is the newest link for the sbe version and patch?

Ok, I have been running the same computer since college 2004, an old Dell Dimension 8300 2.8GHZ P3, with 1GB Ram and 40GB and 120GB hard drives, with Windows XP Pro. It was time to upgrade. I got a BestBuy card and got 12 months no interest free financing, and got a new CYBERPOWER PC Supreme Gaming Desktop SLC7000 model. Specs are as follows: AMD Vishera FX-9370 Processor with AMD Radeon R9 270X graphics card, 16GB DDR3 SDRAM expandable to 32GB. 120GB Solid State Drive and a 2TB HD. Has Windows 8.1 It's Liquid and Air Cooled as well. I probably could have built one for less, but time is a valuable expense too. Plus its easier to write the whole big purchase off for taxes than many small parts purchases. I have 3 flatscreen monitors that will be hooking up to it eventually. Gotta get all my software installed on it and transfer my website and cutting files over. I have been going back and forth between my old dell desktop and a cheap dell d610 laptop that i use for cutting. So my plan is to use the new desktop for designing, and keep the laptop clean for just hooking up to the cutter for cutting. All my files will be stored on and accessible they my home based cloud network, so i can easily get to them using the laptop.

Bump. Started building my new computer work bench. Got alot of it done. Gotta do some shelves on the bottom for the towers to go, then a riser shelf for the printer right where the towers currently are. So hopefully I will finish it up this week. Im still dealing with healing from having my tonsils removed. Got one large order for 30 6x6 decals, and another larger order of 30 decals,(10 3x8, 10 12x4.5, and 10 15x5.5) $150 for the first 30 order. And $220 for the second order set. So at this rate i should have the pc paid off in no time.

Also, on a negative note, had one of them pesky plastic release/catch snap tabs on the top vent cover of the tower break on me!!! ARRGHH pisses me off! Anyway, after calling their sales support line, and emailing one of their guys, gave them the info and a pic, and they are mailing me a brand new cover...so thats a plus for their support.

And more good news, my state tax return just came in today!! wow that was fast, less then a week after submitting it. So come monday i will make a nice payment on the bestbuy card..probably $300. then another $300 when i get my federal taxes back.

Thanks. Got 12 months no interest to pay it off, but once I get my tax return back soon, i will pay half of it off, then will have about 10 months to pay the other $600 half off. Thats $60 a month, easy to do.

Yep. Ive read good reviews and bad reviews about it..but u have that with everything. For what im going to be using it for, it will be more than enough.

Yeah but it has the Desktop setup option too so its not that bad...but i will miss my XP Pro.

That sucks. For me, there were litterally no jobs in my area, and i couldn't afford to move, and before i knew it, i had to start making payments on all my student loans. But wrenching and building stuff is like second nature to me, ive always enjoyed working on engines, atvs, 4wheelers, etc. So building machines wasn't too bad. I was hoping when the company grew and added a graphic designer position, i would get it. But they never ever made it publicly known, then one day they had hired a girl for it. I was pissed. I didn't even know they were looking or taking applications for it. Anyway, im out on the floor building expensive machines for $14 an hour and shes up at a desk designing graphics for brochures, manuals, advertisements etc for $18 an hour. Its just not fair

Lol my college degree is in webdesign/programming, etc.. And i turn wrenches building packaging machines for a living, thats what pays the bills. It was a bad time in 02-05 to go to college and trying to get a job in the horrible economy. Had to settle for what work i could get.

You say you are making $2,000 in sales...? So i am guessing thats before expenses. You need to figure out your amount of expenses too, from supplies, fees, shipping, and taxes, etc. Also consider that when u open up a store, you may have to pay for insurance as well as utilities and other fees. I was looking at a place for a store, they wanted $450 a month, then more for utilities, plus like another $100 a month for insurance, and then garbage fees, snow removal fees, etc. All that ads up fast.

Ive been slowly gathering stuff for when i open my own store. So far i have several mobile racks on wheels for hats and other products, as well as several clothing racks. All these i bought at a closing Kmart store that was selling off all their racks and shelving stuff. Last night on a local online Kbid auction i won a set of 17 48x84 wall display racks with 105 shelves. Got it for $155. Seems like a great deal as the racks alone are about $20-30 brand new. Going to pick them up tomorrow and they will go into my storage unit with my other stuff.

Ok guys, this was my first full year in business. I started this last spring 2013, doing decals, then in October started with shirts and hats as well. That partial year, with all the business startup costs, purchasing equipment and supplies, and spending alot of time learning, i had about $1,000 in recorded sales. (sales not profit). I am glad to announce that this year, 2014, was a pretty good year for sales. Doing a preliminary audit of my sales, I'm sitting at just about $4,500 in sales. Again sales, not profit. $4,500 in sales isn't bad for just weekend and a few nights a week doing this part time from home. My wife and I still have to add up all my receipts for supplies, tools, and shipping costs. But I'm confident its under $1,000. I am hoping within another 2 years I will have enough saved up to lease a store/office/shop somewhere within 20 miles of home. Because right now, most of my work is done out of our spare bedroom, which will eventually become a nursery room for our future baby we are trying for. Which again, I know a baby will cut into my work time and funds to help the business grow. I want to set some goals for next year, some realistic business goals. I also want to invest in a nicer light table/work station, as well as some other tools. I want to do a little more glass etching, I bought a $249 blast cabinet and have yet to really make money off that. I've sold maybe 4 glasses at $20 each. I also want to spread my business name around more locally. I live within 15 miles of three nice size towns/cities. But there are many other vinyl businesses in all three, so i need to set myself apart from them and make myself unique. I ran an ad for 2 months in one local paper, spent $150 ($75 a month) and I didn't have one bite. It seems most of the time, my sales online are $10-20 here and there. It goes directly into my paypal, and then i end up spending that money to buy more shirts and more vinyl. Right now my paypal is at about $200, and my business checking is about $280. So my business has less than $500 to boot right now. Should i restructure, to keep my account balances higher? By only buying vinyl as i need it? Or is it better to have the most common stuff already on hand and keep stock in so my customers won't have to wait an additional 3-5 days just for me to get in the material? Looking behind me i have about 15 rolls of different HTV, another 30 rolls of 24" 651, 3 rolls of 21" 751, and another 10 rolls of 15" 651 and 6 rolls of 8" 651. Plus several totes of shirts and hats. I just want some advice from people with years of experience on this.. Any advice and suggestions to improve my business would be great. Thanks

Ok. Dam it would be nice to just get an end of the year statement.

How do u get that form from paypal? I just went thru and added up all my email receipts.

Well bumping this thread of mine. Almost done doing my end of the year figures. $4550 in "recorded" sales. $2780 in basic supplies (shirts, vinyls, garments, glassware, etc). Estimated profit $1770. Kinda disappointing...but still double over my $800 profit last year. Now together the wife and i had a combined income of about $56K. We paid in a combined $8500ish in State and Federal taxes. Looks like we are only getting back $600 total from fed/state. Extremely depressing. Seems like a shit load of work and money sunk in, to make a mere $1770 profit..but i gotta keep with it...not going to quit.

I get letters all the time...mostly bills and debt collection letters, and eyesight/hearing test letters, and of course im 30yrs old and i always get AARP stuff. I asked my postmaster why 85% of the stuff i get is junk mail...he said "they keep the postal service in business."

Apparently neither can they.