$0-$100K Profits in Under 1 Year – TeeGrasper Success Story
Today, we’d love to share an inspirational success story from a fellow long time TeeGrasper:
Little over a year ago, I was pretty clueless when it came to marketing and selling t-shirts online, or any other online endeavor for that matter. Admittedly, there were times during my journey when I felt hopeless and wanted to give up. But thankfully, during my journey I learned how to channel my determination and achieve almost unbelievable success.
I’d become captivated by the idea of making money online. Like many others, I devoted days to internet research to find my way to online riches. Initially, I began by developing simple but novel iPhone apps but I didn’t gain much momentum. My main trouble was trying to gain more users and downloads. Looking back, my mindset of “build and they will come” was quite flawed. I had managed to get a few purchases and the sweet taste on online income, but still, I felt unable to scale effectively.
I’d become captivated by the idea of making money online. Like many others, I devoted days to internet research to find my way to online riches. Initially, I began by developing simple but novel iPhone apps but I didn’t gain much momentum. My main trouble was trying to gain more users and downloads. Looking back, my mindset of “build and they will come” was quite flawed. I had managed to get a few purchases and the sweet taste on online income, but still, I felt unable to scale effectively.
By March, I was back in “Internet research mode” when I discovered TeeSpring and many other online t-shirt selling platforms. There was quite a buzz on entrepreneurial forums with enough success stories to get me motivated. I felt filled with interesting ideas for my own brand and t-shirts. Selling t-shirts online seemed practical and perhaps fun, so I drove right in!
I began to create my own designs from my own imagination and taste. I used my basic Photoshop skills combined with TeeSprings design tools get going without much trouble. Once uploaded, I would check them almost hourly for sales, but sadly, they never arrived.
Much like my iPhone application endeavor, I needed a way to get the word to the masses. I’d heard through the Internet grapevine that Facebook marketing was heating up so I threw my hat into the ring. I created my first ad campaign and began testing using small budgets to try and find what worked. I had no bites on my first ad and few on my second, but I continued to change them up and split test adverts. Eventually, I managed to come up with a reasonably profitable campaign with under $50 invested in the beginning.
Feeling So Far From the Success I Craved
This time, I was not going to give up so easily. I’d got the basics dialed in but I needed an edge to break through the competition. I joined several Facebook groups and learned lots of valuable information fellow t-shirt sellers. The talent was mixed, some claiming great success and others were struggling to gain traction too, but this only hardened my resolve to succeed.
I churned out a total of 21 designs, but none of them were particularly popular. I personally thought I had great designs that people would jump at the chance to buy. But unfortunately, no one did. The most I had sold was of a single design was an unlucky 13 total.
Upon closer examination and taking my advertising spend into account, these campaigns were barely even profitable. Thankfully, there was no need to invest in inventory or upfront cash since TeeSpring printed fulfilled my orders. It seemed like an easy and risk-free task, but many of my designs were never shipped since I needed to sell at least 10 shirts before they would produce them.
I really thought I had a great product and was targeting just the right group of people. But I found out that this type of work was not as easy as I thought it would be. You cannot just make a shirt, put up an ad, and wait for the sales to come in. But there was a lot more to it, my 21 failures had certainly taught me this much.
It was tempting to give up and jump to the next thing, but I was determined to crack this code. While I was desperately seeking inspiration, I came across a great design on Instagram. It was really simple and had a funny slogan targeting pediatric nurses. I hurried to create my own design and upload it. I began running Facebook ads and had a sale before I’d even spent $5.
After the seventh day, I had sold 17 shirts, a new personal best. I had spent around $80 on ads and earned $112. That gave me a profit of $32. Granted it was not a large profit, but it was a start, and with this successful campaign I was hooked. I began searching out popular t-shirt designs and developing my own versions with good success. Before long I had a new personal best of 32 shirts sold.
I celebrated these small wins and reached for more. I would stay up late into the night researching ideas for new designs and coming up with new ad campaigns. I keep a notebook close by so that I could jot down any ideas that I had. At this stage, coming up with a profitable campaign seemed like a lot of hard work and a little luck. I was eager to simplify and systemize the process, to make more profits with less guesswork.
Reaching the Tipping Point
In the month of May, I felt like I was finally making good progress and profits were really flowing. I began focusing on fewer designs and ad campaigns, but they were not particularly effective. The relentless struggle was an investment was finally paying off for me. This month was my tipping point from greater profits rolled in after each and every month.
I decided to focus on one particular target audience and rather than guessing what designs they wanted to see, I asked them. I used forums, Facebook groups, and message boards, I even went out of my way to talk to individuals in person.
Up until the first of September, I had been paid $153K from Teespring. But ad campaign costs still needed to be taken into account. During this time I’d spent $50K on the advertising budget. But once I'd got the hang of advertising and marketing, this budget was a worthy investment. I know it’s hard to grasp because that’s a lot of money, but it enabled me to earn double in profits!
So after ad costs, I wound up with a total profit of $103K. This was the first time I had ever hit a six-figure payout and it was achieved in under 1 year! This was downright life-changing for me and I’m still amazed by the results I’d finally managed to achieve.
5 Pieces of Advice I Wish I Could Have Given Myself
Upon reflection of my t-shirt selling journey, here are five of the most significant lessons I learned along the way.
1. Never Use the Excuse “I Don’t Know How to Start”
This is the absolute lamest excuse anyone can use. Starting out is exactly that, you start! Any venture you decide to take on will begin without experience. It’s the easiest way to talk yourself out of even trying. Admittedly, it is quite overwhelming when you know absolutely nothing about a subject, but we’ve all got to start somewhere. Sure, your first attempts may not be successful, but they give you a chance to improve, refine and eventually build a profitable business.
Everyone before you was in the same boat, but they were brave enough to wade their way in and figure it out. You’ve got all the resources you need at your fingertips, forums, Facebook groups, and message boards stacked full of tips and knowledge. But don’t get locked into research mode, get a grasp of the basics and just get going. You’ll learn far more by doing than you ever can from simply reading.
2. Screwing Up is Actually Part of the Process
Failure, to a certain degree, is inevitable. No one starts out and automatically becomes a raging success right off the bat. You’d probably laugh at some of the horrible designs I tried to sell, in fact, I’m too embarrassed to share them! Looking back, I agree they were pretty crude, but they were an essential part of my learning experience.
Some of the designs I loved became huge successes, but many turned out to be dead ends. It is a hard thing to cope with, but you have to pick yourself up and keep moving forwards. It pushes you to explore different ideas and ultimately, craft a highly profitable business.
3. Don't Get Caught Chasing Perfection
Trying to perfect something before you’ve even got going is a mistake. Nothing in life is perfect the first time it is attempted, no matter how long you work on it. Perfection is never achieved, but refinement is a product of knowledge through experience. There is simply no way around this! In my case, the first 10+ campaigns I tried were complete failures even after I thought I had perfected them!
We imagine that reaching perfection will provide us a huge success off the bat, so we strive for this every time. In actual fact, this can become a form of procrastination that delays us from reaching success. Worse yet, after working so hard only to fail the first time often makes us make to leave our dreams on the side of the road.
Reaching $103K was not a product of perfection by any means. My business was far from perfect right out of the bag, but many failures through my journey taught me how to improve.
4. Never Give Up and You'll Never Fail
In the beginning, breaking even is an achievement in itself. The next milestone is becoming profitable. Focus on taking baby steps, otherwise, you are going to set yourself up for disappointment. Any success worth having does not come easy after all!
I went through a bit of a dry spell where nothing seemed to work. I was spending a lot of money on Facebook ads without much coming of it. It was really infuriating to see these kinds of results and hearing about other people that were succeeding in the same line of work. At this point, I was tempted to give up entirely, but thankfully, I didn’t.
I stuck with it until eventually, I figured out. Profits slowly began to trickle before really flowing in. By not giving up I even managed to break $13K revenue during my best week!
When nothing seems to go your way, giving up is the easy option. But if you are determined enough to continue pushing through, your achievements will be great.
5. Don't Work Harder – Use Systems, Tools and Outsourcing
Scaling a business isn’t about working harder, it’s about working smarter! Focusing on streamlining processes and increasing efficiency open the revenue floodgates. In the beginning, we’ve got to do everything ourselves, but business really takes off when you begin using tools, software, systems, and outsourcing.
Initially, I spent hours brainstorming and drafting out new ideas for t-shirt designs. I soon discovered that starting with popular designs and making my own spin was increased by success rate, but still it was time-consuming.
A member of a Facebook group directed me to TeeGrasp and I was amazed at the power of the niche and campaign research tools. It took away all the guesswork and presented me with solid numbers. Since using this tool, I managed to come up with winning t-shirt designs with less than half of the effort! Looking back, I can’t believe how much time I must have wasted simply guessing which designs would be winners.
Furthermore, I now simply pass on the details of t-shirt designs I’ve found through TeeGrasp to my freelance graphic designer from Upwork. I can have an awesome new design drawn up and uploaded to TeeSpring within days!
Best of Luck on Your Own Journey
Hopefully, I’ve shown you what’s possible and given you the inspiration you need to achieve your own success. There are no limits to what can be achieved with the wealth of resources we all have available today. Limits are usually just imposed upon ourselves. That’s the only thing holding you back from the success you deserve.
Never make excuses that keep you from trying to reach your ultimate goals in life. This mindset is not exclusively beneficial to selling t-shirts, but any area of life or business you are striving to achieve in. There are so many ways make a living or a fortune online, if only you apply your mind and get started.
I'd like to thank the team at TeeGrasp for developing such an easy to use and highly effective t-shirt research tool. Once I'd realized that starting with winning campaigns was the way to go, their niche and campaign tools became invaluable. They enabled me to make faster and well-informed decisions on new designs whilst saving me hours of manual research!
I’m very thankful for the freedom this business has helped me achieve. It’s something I have always dreamed and I finally it’s my reality. I’d encourage anyone who wishes to do the same not to make excuses instead facing failure. If you can be brave, start and never give up, nothing can stop you from achieving success!
