Creative checklist: What you can optimize in a print-on-demand textile business

I don't know if you guys experience this too, but sometimes in the studio, it feels like I’m living through repetitions of the same moment. I wouldn't describe the feeling as déjà vu, but more like a song stuck on repeat.

Because, as hard as it is for me to accept, my only chance in the world of entrep­re­ne­urship is to optimize and organize, whenever I notice a situational redundancy, I motivate myself to turn it into an opportunity to make things sort themselves out.

In what follows, I'll leave a list of things you can automate in your print-on-demand textile business. Remember, in a creative business, optimization doesn't necessarily mean more free time, but time for what really matters: the joy of creation.

1. If you sell online, eliminate the turbulence caused by stock investments, storage, inventory monitoring, and all that jazz. It’s simpler and more sustainable to print per order, as they come in. Plus, it’s much more flexible when it comes to designs and product models. Time saved: at least two hours/week.

2. Transmitting orders to the print and/or fulfillment supplier.

Look for suppliers that offer automation services where your orders are sent to them automatically. I'll suggest one that’s pretty obvious: Printoteca. Integrating your shop with us helps you avoid having to manually transfer information, saving time first from doing that and second from fixing errors (because in 100% of cases, when you manually enter data, at least once, errors will occur and… good luck retrieving that package from Beclean and sending it to Bârlad!). Time saved: between 1 and 4 hours/week (depending on how many orders you have, but we’re in this together and trying to stay optimistic, right?).

3. Messages from clients on social media have an automation feature that you absolutely need to use if you don’t want to answer the same messages 20 times a day. If a type of message repeats very often, you might have a communication issue. For example, instead of always replying about the product’s length and width, it’s more efficient to just do a quick fix and upload some size charts to your site, or make them more visible if they already exist. Time saved: 2 hours/week.

4. Set a content day and schedule posts. Ideally, once a month, but if you're struggling with inspiration, you can go for two-week intervals (I’ll sigh here too, with guilt...), it’s exhausting and inefficient to create content on the go, and you risk losing consistency in communication. Obviously, if you hit on some extraordinary events that would make your social media accounts explode, you post, but seriously, those events don’t happen several times a week. Time saved: up to 3 hours/week, maybe even more.

5. Use a billing app that integrates with your site and automatically sends invoices to clients. I’ve used and recommend Smart Bill. Time saved: 2 hours/week.

6. If your brand's buyer persona doesn’t include the trait of only having cash because banks… (insert reason)… it might be a good idea to remove the cash-on-delivery option from your site. You save time in accounting by avoiding payment slip processing, and you’ll notice a miraculous effect: the rejection rate of delivered packages will drop to nearly zero. Time saved: up to one hour/week.

7. I might seem repetitive if you've paid attention so far, but it's important and deserves to be highlighted separately. Offer complete information on the site. If three customers ask you what the product's composition is, or if there are constant questions about care instructions, it's a sign that you need to write up something for the site. Time saved: up to one hour/week.

8. Organize your desk (I’m ashamed to give this advice while surrounded by the worst mess, do as I say, not as I do!). Organized things bring not only clarity in thoughts and a good mood but also save precious time lost searching for things. Time saved: I’ll tell you as soon as I find my phone so I can calculate…

Good luck with everything!

Sabina.