Heeeeey everyone! Long time no “see!”
I wanted to update you all on some things since it’s been a while since I’ve posted.
The number one email I’ve received in the last few months has been regarding my 2Create courses. You may have noticed that most of them have been set to “private.”
After my dad got sick in March, I knew I wasn’t going to have time to focus on supporting students for two websites. PSP was my main focus, and I also have a private student group to support.
So I decided to set the 2Create courses to “private” to prevent new students from enrolling.
Then once things returned to normal in my personal life, I had to be honest with myself.
I wasn’t doing much with website building or marketing, other than passively using my podcast to promote PSP courses.
I’m making waaaaay more money selling my T-shirt designs than I am with the actual courses that teach what I’m doing.
I’ve had about 500 students enroll in my PSP courses. While that’s not bad, it could have been so much better if I did more marketing.
I’ve never been comfortable or efficient with marketing my products. It intimidates me. That’s one business hump I’ve never been able to get over.
I admire people who are diligent with tracking email campaigns and conversions. It all just makes my head spin.
I’d rather make a T-shirt. 🙂
Why The T-Shirt Biz is So Rewarding to Me
For a long time, affiliate marketing and AdSense were my favorite and most rewarding ways to earn online.
However, POD now holds that top spot.
I don’t come from a design background so I’ve had to learn a lot.
When I worked as an HTML Analyst for American Airlines over 10 years ago, my team lead forced us to use Photoshop, but the company provided us ZERO training.
I remember staring at the blank Photoshop interface wondering what the heck I was supposed to do with all those tools and buttons as they stared back at me. 🙂
I never actually learned much about Photoshop until I quit my full-time job in 2006 to work on this site.
Fast forward 12 years later, I’m now using Photoshop and Illustrator to create some very detailed art that I never thought I would be able to do.
To see how far I’ve come, and then to have people buy my designs by the thousands, is incredibly rewarding and slightly addictive. 🙂
It also goes to show anyone can do this regardless of your design background.
I have one T-shirt that has netted over $20,000 in royalties. Yes, from ONE T-shirt design!
Think Before You Leap
With all the income potential, print on Demand is not for everyone. Just like anything else, don’t get into this just because you are in desperate need of money.
You need the desire to learn the POD business and even something about software if you want to scale your income.
And for long-term success, you should be thinking of building a brand instead of relying on passive traffic and income like I’ve been.
Even if you’re a talented designer, you will quickly learn that’s just the beginning. You also have to understand keywords and find niches to design for.
It’s getting very competitive, so make sure you jump in for the right reasons.
If I’m honest, I was drawn to this venture for the money, but I’ve STAYED because of my love for the work.
When my dad was sick, I was super stressed. I found the creation process to be therapeutic.
A lot of my success has come because of creative ideas that just haven’t been done, and the creative work is what makes this fun for me.
On the flip side, you also have to be prepared for theft. That’s been the biggest disappointment of this whole experience. It’s why I use an alias for my POD accounts, and don’t share much of my work.
As a result of Amazon and other PODs not protecting our work with a wrinkle or watermark, my images have been stolen and re-uploaded to numerous sites.
Things have gotten a little better since using watermarks, wrinkles, etc., but you’re never going to be able to fully protect your work. As long as it’s online, someone will find a way to grab it if they want it. 🙁
I Enrolled in An Art Class
One of my goals for POD is to scan hand-drawn work. Then I could “ink it” (color it) after importing it into Illustrator, but I had to learn to draw first. LOL
Up until now, most of my designs have been created through shapes in software. Believe me. You can do a lot with this. That’s what I teach in my PSP Photoshop course.
Now I’m doing this more with Illustrator as I improve.
However, I wanted to learn how to draw free hand. So I enrolled in an art class.
We’re learning some basic drawing principles and how to shade using graphite, charcoal, and colored pencils.
Here are some cherries I drew with colored pencils. I was pretty proud of this because I was struggling with shading earlier in the semester.
I’m too embarrassed to show my first shading attempt. It was absolutely awful. LOL
So as you can see, I am now knee-deep in learning about drawing and T-shirt design. It has been a nice change of pace.
That’s All For Now
Anywho, I know most of you did not subscribe for all this print on demand stuff.
That’s why I haven’t been blogging much. I didn’t have anything noteworthy to share in this space. However, I wanted to update you on why I took down my 2Create courses since many have asked.
Those who have enrolled can still access them, but I have no plans to enable them for new students any time soon.
I DO plan to make updates for the existing students, however.
By the way, my dad is doing great!
He is walking again, and his ankles are doing well considering how severely he injured them.
Other than some initial stiffness when he first stands up, he’s walking well now! We feel so blessed and lucky he came through all that.
Thanks to all who reached out to inquire about his health. I really appreciate it!
Hope you’re doing well! Drop me a line below and let me know what’s up with you!