Fine Art Printing

Discussion in 'Printing Business Practices' started by AndrewPrichinello, Aug 24, 2011.

  1. AndrewPrichinello

    AndrewPrichinello New Member

    Joined:
    Aug 2011
    Messages:
    1
    Location:
    New York State, United States of America
    Hello,

    I graduated from college with a BS in Digital Media and had a rough time finding a job. Eventually I managed to land a job as the print manager for a small catalog company where I discovered I had a deep love of playing with my biggest toy: a DesignJet 800 roll printer. And by 'play' I mean 'make functional' because it had suffered horrendous abuse at the hands of the 15 managers before me (the company apparently is so stingey and vicious, no art manager has lasted three months since the late 90s).

    Well suffice it to say, they've decided to start randomly axing employees lately and now that the art director, the webmaster, and the bookbinder are gone, I'm inclined to believe I'm going to be out on the street soon too. In fact at this point I'm the Art Director/Webmaster/Printing Supervisor. Let's just say they're getting their worth out of the 250 dollars I make a week. Anticipating my future unemployment, I'd like to go into the printing business. Namely fine art canvas printing, a service I've made much use of due to my side occupation as a digital painter. However I have a LOT of questions to ask and I can't quite seem to make sense of the scattered data I'm collecting.

    Sadly the printer I buy my work from is older than the town I grew up in and isn't a great source of information (he's a nice guy, but very old school, he claims "Internet business is peanuts!"). My biggest concern aside from the ever-present risk of horrendous failure is buying equipment that I THINK is adequate for my needs, and giving clients sub-par materials without even knowing it. Basically and hard facts, supply lists, website learning recommendations, profitability estimates, or good-faith warnings that I'm walking the path to my own doom would be appreciated. It's just so much information I have no idea where to start on my business plan.

    Andrew Prichinello
    Long Island, New York
    United States of America
     
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