What Lists Do Print on Demand Businesses Make in January
(or Should They Make)
New year, new me… new tee, I’d add.
The start of the year is always marked by the same two things: checklists with resolutions and a deep sigh in business movements—somewhat contradictory if you think about it. I thought a different perspective might be useful, so this article is worth reading if:
- You run a print on demand business and want to shake off the post-holiday economic hangover
- You're a creative with various $$$ amounts on your resolution list
- You have a small business and are looking for inspiration to add to your list of goals for 2025
The first quarter comes with a range of emotions, from extreme enthusiasm fueled by sugar leftovers and extra rest after the holidays, to raw desperation wrapped in panic because nothing is moving in your inbox or through orders, while monthly costs continue to happen relentlessly and wildly. Let’s get back on track a little.
It’s okay to have projects and goals, it’s bad not to have them, but it’s dramatic to set them and check off nothing. Start by writing a list of questions you would ask your main competitor if you had the chance. I’ve made a little list to help you, but stay creative and add anything that comes to mind:
- What are the main challenges you face in your business and how do you overcome them?
- What did you do well last year that brought you profit? What did you do wrong?
- How do you optimize your marketing to attract a specific target audience? Which promotion channels do you use the most?
- What is your strategy for selecting products for print on demand? How do you decide which products to add to your portfolio?
- What makes up the price of your final product?
- How do you differentiate yourself from other businesses offering similar services?
- Who are the ideal clients you want to work with?
Then, answer the list of questions. Based on your answers, create a plan for what your business will become in the next 12 months (well, 11, because you’ll take a while to write the plan…). Break the plan down into quarters, there should be 4, and then quarters into months. What do you need to do in the upcoming weeks? Start implementing. How does “in 2025, I want to lose 12 kg” sound versus “I want to lose 1 kg per month”? The same principle applies to other projects.
There are two things that will slow you down in implementing: laziness and the fact that your account is echoing in the wind at the start of the year. For the first, I haven’t found the solution (otherwise, I’d be far ahead!), but the second problem won’t solve itself unless you start acting from yesterday. Yes, it’s also quite possible it won’t solve itself even if you work, but hey, at least you have a chance.
I know life is pink, and pink is the world, as a great thinker of our times once said, but a "worst-case scenario" hasn’t killed anyone (well, it depends how each of us handles shock). Now that you’ve written your little list of objectives and organized it into fractions and time, don’t be afraid to make a blacklist of things that shouldn’t happen. You can even use a black pen for dramatic effect.
If you start with “I won’t go bankrupt,” it means we live on the same planet and we’re good. Closing the shop is the universal non-objective of small businesses. I encourage you to take a closer look at the idea and develop a list of things that must not happen so you can get through this year too, for example:
- Don’t drop below X clients/month with an average cart value of Y
- Don’t have quality issues
- Stick to delivery times
- Pay taxes and suppliers on time
- Have legal forms (although if you don’t, “bankruptcy” doesn’t quite apply)
Now that you’ve got two brand-new lists, don’t forget to show them off on social media. British researchers have shown that trumpeting your plans significantly increases the chance of them happening.
Instead of a conclusion, I’ll leave you with a thought I occasionally help myself with: the quality of your projects often comes from your well-being, so be kind to yourself, take care of yourself, surround yourself with topics and people that inspire you, and don’t forget that as long as you haven’t given up, it means you haven’t lost!
Sabina.