Many people have tried different approaches to be their own boss. One thing that is gaining popularity is creating and distributing shirts & apparel. There was a time that if you wanted to have your own shirt and apparel business, you had to take care of everything yourself - the materials, the creation, the marketing, distribution, customer service etc.



Fortunately, through modern technology, there is a much easier way to do this: Print on Demand.

With a "print on demand" service (commonly known as a POD), all you need to do is think of the design, and upload it to one of the many POD web sites and they handle the rest. They take your image and put it on shirts & apparel, mugs, stickers and pretty much just about anything else you can think of! You don't have to worry about stocking thousands of shirts or other merchandise (which takes up a lot of room). They also handle the customers, including shipping and returns.

This sounds great, and if you're like me you know by now that if something is too good to be true, than it probably is! If they are handling all of this, how do you make money? This is how:

A POD service will have a "base price" on merchandise, what you do is set the markup on the product. If your design sells, you keep the markup. For example, if a shirt has a base price of $10.00 and you set the markup for $5.00, the customer will see that article for $15.00. If they decide to purchase that product, you will make the $5.00 commission.

This may all seem relatively simple, and while many people have achieved financial freedom by using POD services, it is only through hard work and dedication. You still need to market your business (online and offline) and produce quality designs that people would actually find interesting. It helps to have an intuitive website where people may purchase your designs, and you must work on methods and techniques to drive traffic to your site.

If nobody knows about it, you're not going to make many sales! It is also necessary to have a niche for your designs - the more original you are, the less competition you will have.

"Not only do you have to create designs that people like, you have to be original" explained Bill, founder of Billishirts.com. "You need strong designs, but you also have to be very good with website design or be prepared to pay someone to set it up for you. After that you need to find a way to reach out to potential customers and make the sales."

If you are creative, prepared to put in many hours of hard work and treat it like any other business, you may want to look into a POD service. It is potentially a great way to supplement your income, or could even one day become a primary source of income.

The success you have is dependant of the work you put into it. Billishirts.com has found early success with print on demand companies. Having just started in March 2009, Billishirts has regular customers, and 5-10 new designs on shirts & apparel per week.

The web site started March 1, 2009 and is owned by Bill Perehinec of Winnipeg, Manitoba