Starting a Print Business

[femalelindsay]

Hello Everyone I'm new here and I need some help..

A training course I and my boyfriend stumbled upon in regards to growing a print business, http://startaprintbusiness.com/1 seems interesting. This looks to be a slight bit costly do you feel it's worth the price? Does anyone back any good book or suplementary training program in regards to how to open a print business?

Much thanks for the messages on this page.

 

[Paul Cavanaugh]

Looks like an introduction to a printing franchise.

 

[Gutenberg]

A US$ 200 investment is more than worth it, if the book you wish to purchase isn't just giving you general information like most other books of the same type, telling you that by reading this book you can become the most successful person of the industry.

What type of print business do you wish to start up? I believe the people on this forum should be more than capable in giving you essential information and guidelines.

Cheers.

 

[RonnyW]

That website looks a whole lot like one of the cookie cutter pyramid scheme sites that are out there to tell you how to make a million dollars doing anything... there are a bunch of these ebook building wealth bargain sites out there now. If you simply click no I'm not interested their price goes down to $67 today as a last chance offer Maybe there's something to this kind of "printing for dummies" "business plan for dummies" wisdom - heck a few generic business tips might be worth $67 if it gets you thinking about it. But I'd save your money and concentrate on your own business plan first.

Have you identified a niche in your local area that isn't currently being filled? Do you have a niche that can't easily be filled by the bigger player one block over or online? Or do you love printing enough that you can work long hours and enjoy providing a higher quality result than the big gang printers are turning out?

What experience do you have now and what aspect of the business do you enjoy most?

 

[Chris from Printshop]

I agree with RonnyW. Decide for yourself wether there is a local market that you can tap into. Are there any printers nearby that you would potentially be in competition with? How can you be better than them?

I'd suggest you consider 2 types of business model, and this will mostly just depend on how good you are at sales compared to how hands-on/technically adept you are. I'd suggest you either become actual printers and buy the necessary equipment and learn how to use it. The outlay will be high as you'll need industrial premises, pre-press equipment, at least one press, a guillotine (and I don't mean a desktop paper cutter - google search "Heidelberg Polar"), various other bits of machinery and a van to deliver the printing to the customer. Then you'll need all the normal business bits ... office, desk computer etc. The benefits of going this way are that you have to get less work from your customers to make a living, because you are manufacturing from raw materials and your mark-up can, and should, be relatively high.

The other option is that you sell you printing services and 'farm' the work to local printers on your behalf. You can negotiate discounts with many printers if it means they get a regular flow of work from you and you add a percentage to whatever they charge you. This requires more work to go through your books as your margins will have to be lower in order for you to compete, but, you haven't had to do a fast-track printing apprenticeship and spend £1000k on basic, entry-level machinery before you can start.

 

[Chris from Printshop]

Sorry, I meant £100k!