How Print-on-Demand Changed My Life in 6 Months (and Can Change Yours Too)

[00:01] business that I scaled to six figures within my first six months after losing my bartending job in 2020. And I want to make this video because print-on-demand is something that has completely changed my life. And while I talk about it all

[00:15] the time, I want to share this to talk about how I did it and how it's affected me as a person. And I'm sharing this video purely on the fact that I want to inspire people to let them know what's possible, but also to not say that you

[00:29] should compare your results to me, that this is easy to obtain, and that it will completely happen for you that way. Um I don't want to set any unrealistic expectations, but while also knowing that if I did it, there's no reason that

[00:42] you can't absolutely too. But things do change and flow, the market changes, demand changes, and how much time you have to work on something as well. And so, just want to say that before we get into how it all happened and I tell my

[00:55] story and share some helpful tips as well for anyone that is aspiring to become a print-on-demand seller. So, I was a bartender back in 2020 and I did happening in the world in early 2020. And immediately I was very concerned. I

[01:11] did not have a source to make money and I didn't know when the world would really open back up again or when I would get an opportunity to make money. So, my first resort was I'm going to use this time to look up ways to make money

[01:24] online because I did not have a degree, I dropped out of school, and all I knew was bartending at this point, which I absolutely love to do. I will say I loved bartending, but it was exhausting and I was working 12-plus hour shifts.

[01:37] long-term. And I've always been somebody that wanted to make a lot of money. And most people do when they're selling online and I went to Google and I typed sure you may have been in this position if you're watching this video before. So

[01:53] many people have done that and that was the start to it all. So, the first time I remember seeing that Etsy was somewhere that I could sell online, it seemed so cool to me. Because Etsy is a digital marketplace, meaning that it's

[02:06] all online, but there's active buyers already on the platform. So, you can instead of having to create your own website. So, that was very appealing to me because I didn't know how to make a website. I'd never sold anything before,

[02:20] was something that I thought would work for me. Now, immediately after creating my Etsy shop, I ran into the issue of I didn't have a product to sell. And that was something that is obviously needed when you're selling online. And so, the

[02:34] first thing that I did was do a little scroll, see what was selling, and I saw self-care gift boxes were selling. Now, when I say self-care gift boxes, I'll insert a picture if I have it. I started to sell self-care gift boxes, meaning

[02:50] products that had to go into the gift box. I did it the best I could. I actually started making soap and candles myself, which is crazy. I still to this day can't believe that. I turned my small apartment in Miami Beach into a

[03:05] was literally making and pouring candles, and I started selling those in my gift boxes. Now, what I quickly realized with Etsy was that I was thing that is important here is that I was getting sales on these gift boxes.

[03:19] They were selling, and that made me realize that Etsy worked. I could sell realized is that this handmade business that I was trying to do, while absolutely possible for other people, was not possible for me. It was way too

[03:33] much time, way too much money to source and actually create products, and I was day shipping them out because felt like I would ship an order, and then immediately I would get another one that I had to go ship again. And so, I just

[03:46] And then when I broke the numbers down, I was not making enough money. I think I was even in the negative, meaning that it was not a sustainable business. And that was actually going to make me money. And so, I went back to the

[03:59] drawing board, and I Googled again um things to sell on Etsy that I could I found print on demand. And print on demand is a business model that you can not have to actually hold the inventory

[04:14] talking about print on demand, I realized this. I was like, "Wait, I can sell shirts, I can sell hats, I can sell tote bags, but I don't have to actually buy 100 tote bags, 100 shirts, and then hope that I sell out of them. Because I

[04:29] boxes I hadn't sold, and then I'm out a T-shirt business on your own printing amount you can make per your inventory,

[04:41] you buy, you have to buy different sizes and different colors. If you don't sell you're out that money of the inventory. And it's risky, because not a lot of throwing these different business ideas, right? So, with print on demand, you can

[04:56] start a T-shirt shop, a mug shop, a store that has all these different types of things, and it's really risk-free. Cuz the only time you're spending money is once the product sells. The print on demand supplier prints and ships it for

[05:09] you. They're not creating it until you sell it, until you tell them, "Hey, this actually sold." That product doesn't even exist yet. Now, also in the fact that I didn't have much money left over, this was a perfect option, because

[05:22] Printify, the print on demand supplier that I've used for years, doesn't until you actually get that order and they actually create the product. So, you're really not having to risk anything. Now, will I say it's

[05:35] print on demand? No. You have to pay for your Etsy shop. You have to pay listing in the description though, if you are starting out for 40 free listings, so that can save you a little bit of money. But, you also will have to pay for a

[05:50] design software and most likely a research software as well. So, it's not completely free, but in perspective, instead of spending hundreds to thousands of dollars on inventory, shipping supplies, trust me, there's so

[06:02] much involved with that, you're saving all of that money, and so it's more money towards an investment of learning a skill and how to sell online. And so, I think I just think that's very valuable and a reason why I'm constantly

[06:14] constantly talking about it. It's why this channel exists, because it just online business models. When I first started though, like I said, 6 months is a quick scaling time. However, I had a

[06:28] did not know what I was doing. This is why you shouldn't be afraid to start an online business of any sort. Everyone starting has no idea what they're doing. I originally thought, this is awesome. I created a brand new Etsy shop. I left

[06:42] brand new Etsy shop, and I wanted to start selling things that I liked. Basically, in my mind, I was like, let's create a Michaela store. Let's create a store that has all the things that I would buy. So, I spent my time doing

[06:55] this, and I had fun, but I realized rather quickly that it was crickets, right? And I thought to myself, okay, why is this store not working? Because I started this other self-care gift box store, and things were selling within, I

[07:10] the difference here, right? And then I realized, oh, the thing that I'm doing different here is now I'm selling things that I want versus selling what was already working, right? So, when back to

[07:25] sold so quickly is I was looking at what other people were doing that were already looking at things that were in demand, and I was recreating them. Versus, when I started this new print on demand store, I was just selling stuff

[07:38] what? Nobody else thought it was cool. So, nobody was buying that. There was no market for that. And so, that's when I realized, okay, I need to sell products with my print-on-demand store that people already want. And this changed

[07:51] people already want. And this changed the game of Etsy for me. So, I applied this print-on-demand store, which was figure out what people want and find a way to recreate it or make it better. So, I went back over to my little

[08:04] self-care store. I said to myself, I'm going to sell self-care items but on would look like would be, you know, positive affirmations or self-care

[08:16] journals, something that I could create with print-on-demand, but while knowing that's exactly what I did. I opened that store back up and I listed all my print-on-demand products there and I started listing self-care or mental

[08:29] health awareness-motivated products for print-on-demand. And that's when the light bulbs went off because this is what grew that store. It was in demand. niche was something that people were really looking into and it just really

[08:42] worked out at the time. A key thing here that I'm going to make a separate video about, but is how I was doing my research. It wasn't like I was looking at what other people were selling and completely copying their design. I tried

[08:55] that. It doesn't work. What did work is what you should do is take from multiple things that are already working. So, I saw two separate items that were best sellers in the mental health self-care niche. One of them was this sweatshirt

[09:09] butterflies on it. People were loving butterflies at the time. They were going to take butterflies and then I'm going to put it with one of these sayings that's also popular in my niche.

[09:21] And that's exactly what I did. I took a quote that was popular on like a mug or and then I added it with some butterflies and I made a design with the popular quote and the butterflies and I

[09:33] created my best-selling listing, right? So, it's taking from different best sellers and making something new and valuable to the market that's in demand. first sale with print-on-demand products, I was in awe. I realized that

[09:49] this can work. If I can sell one product, I can sell 500,000. And that is a key mindset shift that as a seller, you'll see that sale and you'll say, "Oh my gosh, this works. I can do it. Why can't I sell more?" Right? What happens

[10:04] also on Etsy is that once you start getting a sale in your shop, they will reward that and start pushing buyers to more of the stuff in your store because, "Okay, yeah, people are buying. Let's show them what else you've got." Kind of

[10:17] make money. It's a marketplace. You're paying fees. So, if your stuff's selling, they're going to push it. And so, quickly this sweatshirt in my shop Etsy pick badge within my first few months on Etsy, right? Now, I'm going to

[10:31] backpedal a little bit though and mention what isn't as glorified, which is how many listings I posted before getting that best-selling Etsy list pick, right? That went up, I'd say as maybe my 20th or 30th listing. So, it

[10:44] was not my first listing that blew up and made me a ton of money. It took time for me to realize, trial and error, for Etsy to get to know what I was selling. And that's a time period where so many people quit because they're listing,

[10:57] listing, listing, not seeing any reward. It sucks. I'm not going to lie. It sucks to sit there and have to wait. And you put all this work in and not gain any rewards yet, but the consistency is what got me to where I'm at, right? And it's

[11:10] where so many people I've helped also, they just want to quit, you know? And That they want to quit in that first initial time that they're trying. But then once they start seeing that little bit, it's like, "Oh my gosh." And then

[11:22] listing was selling for me, I just created more. I took that design and I selling one design on a mug, on a t-shirt, on a hat, so on and so forth. And then I started making designs just like that one, but in a different color

[11:37] palette. And it was all about testing and learning, and I learned so much in this time period of what worked and what didn't work. And not to mention about customer service. I had no idea how to do any of that, but I learned as I went.

[11:50] I learned how to deal with an unhappy customer when their package says it was delivered and it wasn't. I learned what to do when the print-on-demand supplier is all of a sudden sold out of a variant. I learned how quickly I needed

[12:03] to be getting back to customer service messages because that matters on Etsy. I incredible, and it's taught me so many skills that I've been able to take in so many different other places in my life now as a full entrepreneur. And I'm not

[12:17] things that I never thought that I would think possible at this age, and it all came from starting this one Etsy shop and this business, and it taught me so so so much. And on top of the business skills when it comes to print-on-demand,

[12:31] I learned a money mindset that I'm so grateful for, and that is no cap on how much money I wanted to make. If I had gone to a 9-to-5 job, if I had went back to bartending, I was constantly setting a limit at how much money I could make.

[12:46] Bartending was how many hours could I do before my body starts to hurt. It's only are available to show up. I also would if I had gone to a 9-to-5 most likely be salaried and capped in an income for the amount of hours that I'm working.

[12:59] Whereas with this, making $100,000 in 6 months, that was more than I'd made in a I not make a million dollars with it, mindset shift that also with so many other print-on-demand sellers that I've

[13:11] talked to have also had that mindset shift, and I just think it's truly incredible and so cool that we have access to business models like this. And I just want to squash some common myths here that I think are very important,

[13:23] looking to start print-on-demand, should know. Number one is that you need with no experience. You will learn everything. Trust. Number two is that you need design skills. Again, absolutely not. A lot of simple designs

[13:39] actually sell better on Etsy than the more intricate. So, again, about learning the market. We also have so many awesome design tools now that you at all to create something really incredible. So, don't feel that way. You

[13:52] will get better and again, learn as you go. And there's also resources if you just absolutely don't want to design. And three is that you need a ton of money for advertisements. This is just not true because there's already buyers

[14:05] for you. It's not necessary to have need a following as well. You can sell on Etsy with no following. You don't because you're already targeting the buyers that are there and that want to

[14:19] their credibility in a sense. So, you don't need a following. You don't need experience. You just have to start. Starting sooner before you're ready is the best way to do this. The amount of people that tell me that they need X, Y,

[14:34] perfect store name. I need money up front. I need to watch a video. I need create X, Y, and Z. These are all excuses. Let's be so for real. These are all excuses. We feel like we have to be at a

[14:48] certain level of perfection to start something for it to work and that could not be farther from the truth. You just have to start. You will learn everything prepared for something and then you get into it and you don't know what's going

[15:01] on. And you'll have to just prepare all over again. So, it's like, don't hold yourself to that. Just start before you're ready. I promise you it'll be they're overwhelmed. They don't know what to do first. Just start. Download

[15:15] Etsy's seller app. Open your shop. List your first product. Even if this isn't your end game, even if, you know, you want this as a side hustle, I promise the skills that you learn from listing, from doing, you know, Etsy selling, from

[15:29] products, trend research, all of these things, you can use in a different skill I said, in all my other business opportunities that I do. So, if you are on demand, if you can't tell, I encourage you to do so. It is not too

[15:43] late. It is not too saturated. The market is waiting for you. Saturated, in there. There is demand. So, get in there, start listing products, pick a niche, figure out what's working, how can you implement more onto that? I will

[15:58] after this one, if you want to click it on the screen or in the description, and I'll also have some other helpful resources or how to actually work with with me on social media. Everything will be in the description. Thank you so so

[16:12] much for watching. I wish you all the success in selling, and I'll see you in success in selling, and I'll see you in the next video.