Print on Demand for Artists: Turn your Designs into real Products

... and sell them without the hassle!
Maybe you ask: What hassle? Well, that's easy. As an owner of a small creative business it's usually not just you and your designs but also creating the product you sell (and I don't mean the digital version you create just once!), packaging it, shipping it and dealing with customers.

And really, especially if you have a small business and run it from a corner of your home it's hard to store inventory and packaging. Because - there is just not that much space. And when a package returns it means for you a lot of additional work as well as dealing with a customer you actually wanted to make happy.
There are mistakes which happen. When I sold stickers my Silhoutte didn't always support me. Sometimes it didn't cut the stickers properly and customers were annoyed. Which I, of course, hated - but totally understood! I wanted to make them happy and send them my stickers from my corner of the world to theirs. But it didn't work out properly. If I wouldn't have done it myself - well I guess I'd have a huge business by now selling stickers for scrapbooking and bullet journaling.

Print on Demand as THE solution?

So first you might wonder: What on earth is Print on Demand (or POD as it's also called)? And what does it have to do with me as an artist? Stay tuned!
I believe that POD is one of the best business models for artists ever - if you have the right partner. Because, after all, you do what you love: designing. And you let others do what they love for you: creating, packaging, shipping and taking care of refunds.
Which is pretty hard for a small business working from a living room's corner is no big deal for a large company.
So if you team up with a large company which is working in the background and selling your designs your life couldn't be easier because you do what you love most: designing!

So yes, therefore Print on Demand is THE solution for artists!

One of my mobile phone cases above.

So, What is Print on Demand?

Print on Demand happens when you upload your design to a company, make a customer buy it and your POD partner starts to produce and ships it once the order has been made. That's the short version. The long version is that there are companies which have a huge net of partners all over the world with hundreds of products you can choose from. You pick one or more products from their catalogue (for example T-Shirts, towels, mugs, pillows and many more), upload your designs and put the product in your store. Once an order is made your POD partner is informed and starts producing and sending your product to your customer.
Yes, it's that awesome. 
There are companies like Redbubble and Society6 - just to name two - where you don't need your own store. There you just upload your designs. You don't have your own store (or just one under their URL). They do the marketing for their company and eventually you also sell something - you are then just one of many artists on their site but hey, the business model is the same and you still work hands off and do what you love most: designing.
But there are other companies just as Printful and Printify which work in the background. They let you have your own store (for example on Etsy or on your own website) and all the steps I described above also happen once someone purchases a product from your store. 
But this time it looks more as if you are the owner of the shop and they work for you in the background.
The disadvantage here is that you need to do your own marketing and you are in charge of your store.
I love it!

But... how does it all work?

That's what I also ask myself when I first heard about this business model. It needs to be set up "somehow" and that must be complicated, right?
Actually, it's not. It just the push of a few buttons and your store is connected with Printify, the provider I choose over all the others. It is cheaper for your customers and the products are really high quality.
In the class "Print on Demand Demand for Artists: Turn your Designs into real products... and sell them without the Hassle!" I show you step by step how that works. 

You learn in this Class

Above you see wall art created in the class "Create Abstract Wall Art in Procreate". You can also sell it in your POD store and have your partner ship it to your customers for you.

This class is not available separately but it is part of the Safari Lounge Designer Classes and maybe you consider to join me there if you want to build your creative business. Because - it's not just about knowing how to use Print on Demand but also how to create products for it. So the class "Create Abstract Wall Art in Procreate" in combination with "Print on Demand for Artists: Turn your Designs into real Products ... and sell them without the Hassle" will be a game changer for you because it's all you need to start a new career!

I deeply believe in this business model and I'm just in the process of setting up my store here at Digidesignresort. I really want to sell my stickers but this time I want you to get a high quality product and therefore I have chosen Printify as my partner. And I am really keen to show you how that all works! I promise it's great fun!