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Kevin of Stoked on Printing and Steven Farag share their thoughts on the ThreadX event in April. The PrintHustlers Podcast has published more than 200 episodes with print industry leaders and experts. If you want a candid look inside the minds of the...
Facebook Groups have been a growing source of knowledge for many shop owners. We have ours (www.facebook.com/groups/198143447258744/) and Josh Keane started Screen Print Pros (www.facebook.com/groups/630656227066301/).
Josh talks about how he started it and what the benefits are.
For those new to the industry, some might struggle to understand the concept of contract printing. “Why on earth would I have someone else print for me if I can print myself!?” Those experienced in the industry may rely heavily on contract printers using them as a crutch to keep …
Zapier.com is an incredibly useful tool when automating your shop. You are able to use Zapier to connect Printavo to thousands of other apps out there. An example is exporting customer data to MailChimp when you create a new customer in Printavo. Or, set up a Zap to take new contact form submissions from GravityForm on your website, to Printavo as new Quotes. This saves your time lots of data entry time.
In this video example, we’re going to run through how to setup Zapier for both those examples!
Campus Ink grew 150% in a year. They were using paper invoices and an unknown workflow. Steven bought into the business ready to take things into overdrive. The shop didn’t have an understanding of how long it took to complete a job. Quoting, approvals, collecting payment, and shipping was slow in their business.
Steven’s main goal was to increase turnaround time. “How can we speed up quoting, approvals and printing? ”
1️⃣
He first started documenting the current workflow of their shop. The idea was to systematize the business. Create a process that everyone can follow and publish it in the shop. This will help new-hires too.
2️⃣
The next step he did was to introduce technology to make this process a lot more efficient. Steven got everyone on Printavo to remove paper trails and increase transparency in the business. He got sales reps using text messages to receive approvals faster.
3️⃣
Increase sales from existing relationships. He took his five top student customers and asked them to send referrals. They started sending so much business that he hired them to do outside sales. Steven sent a monthly email (using MailChimp.com), from his email address to all customers to make sure Campus Ink stayed at the top of customers’ mind. He also sent out surveys to customers to continually change his business and adjust to what customers needed.
4️⃣
Steven branded himself as “Steven the tshirt guy” in everyone, business cards, on the phone, email, etc. This helped people remember where to get customer garments as they needed it.
As a shop owner, you may be doing all the design work after hours or in between jobs to keep up with the daily flow of your business. Sending proofs, creating separations, printing film and time behind the computer can drain your time as an owner. A decision to hire …
#PrinthustlersConf2018 was a success! Don’t miss out on our early bird special for next year’s conference! Buy tickets here!
There were lots of amazing speakers that spoke on a variety of topics including branding, Facebook marketing, the culture of your shop, and even following your dreams! Here is a summary of the conference!
Wow! What an amazing weekend we had in Chicago for PrintHustlers Conf 2018. It was great to see our community come together for a weekend of collaboration and fun. All the talks were action packed with tangibles and great takeaways. In case you missed it, or want to build off …
Wrapping up final preparations for #PrinthustlersConf2018! We’re so excited to see everyone at this years sold out event. 14 speakers, 2 days, lots of tees, sandwiches and drinks galore.
Hiring is difficult. Finding the right people, training them and having them stay for the long haul is not easy. Justin from @barrelmakerprinting talks about how he hires.
Justin dives into hiring on the back-office and front-office to balance on the workload.
He generally posts on Craiglist to find talent but actually looks for people who don’t have printing experience. This is because they can be trained and molded into the workflow at Barrel Maker instead of bringing bad habits from the past.
Justin hires for personality and attitude. A person who’s willing to work hard and put in the time, he feels, is better than someone with past printing experience.
Temp agencies are another hot topic that Justin has used to help scale his shop up and down depending on workload.
Take a listen and let us know how you hire!
Dru Dalton explains how he balances spending time with his family and his career. He gives us tips on how to balance everything.
We’ll dive into:
-Self-Care tips
-How Focus Helps you Become a Better Leader
-How to Balance Work-Life
Getting Facebook Ads to work can be difficult. But they’re crucial for driving targeted marketing campaigns. The reason is, you can segment your market very specifically while spending less than AdWords on similar ads.
@rocketshirts has Facebook Ads figured out. Here are some tips they give us:
Spend $20/day for 1 week. The longer your ad runs, the more Facebook works. He’s even tried $1,000 a day and cut it off early to trick Facebook into showing your ad more quickly.
Shoot to break even on Facebook marketing. This will generate more custom shirt sales after the initial retail sale. Your goal should be awareness.
Focus on building up your Facebook page as it gives more exposure via each friend network. Every time someone likes the page, it shows up on their newsfeed for their friends to see.
Are you valuing your time? As your print shop become more mature, it’s important to value time. When we all got started, time was plentiful and capital wasn’t.
As revenue increases, time becomes more valuable. What are you spending this time on?
If you presses aren’t running, it’s becoming more expensive to print your jobs. Any time spends in pre and post-production is costing your shop $$$.
How long are approvals taking? These are one of the most common delays in your production process. How long are customer approvals taking? This can affect your scheduling and how consistent of job flow you’re reaching. How about production approvals? If your production manager isn’t present and the press is held up, your expenses are increasing.
Setup time and tear-down time? Automatic reclaiming and direct-to-screen machines can keep your supply chain running smoothly. Adding more screens into inventory and regularly checking tension can time-sucking tears.
Have more time-saving tips? Post them below!
