Artistic Duo Sells 8,000 T-Shirts in One Year

This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.

[Music]

Today's story features an artistic duo, two friends who sold more than 8,000 t-shirts just last year. They both now earn a full-time income designing these shirts as well as prints of their designs, but it all started when they were looking for a way out of their journalism careers. The turbulent newspaper industry, where they were working, closed its doors to them and they struck out on their own, but not before finding more stable jobs first. From employees to laid-off employees to side hustlers while working new jobs, and finally to that place of owning their own small business, they exemplify our philosophy of using the skills you already have and staying out of debt while building a future for yourself. So welcome to Side Hustle School.

My name is Chris Guillebeau. That story is coming up after this message from our sponsor. [Music]

Graphic designers Veronica Velasco and Andrew Sager became friends while working for the Post-Intelligencer, an award-winning newspaper in Seattle. They shared a lot of the same aesthetic and opinions, and both of them had a slight obsession with t-shirts. After a few years of working on projects together, Veronica and Andrew started to share their doubts about the journalism industry.

They knew it wasn't in a great place, and the future of that industry, at least traditionally speaking, was very much in doubt. So they began looking for other options. They liked the idea of having their own business, and their love of t-shirts seemed like a good start. But like many other best laid plans, it wasn't going to be easy. Soon after, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer closed its doors, leaving them both out of work.

Veronica and Andrew felt stability was important, especially when it came to starting a business. So they began to look for other jobs, eventually transitioning into the corporate world. Veronica became a graphic designer for Amazon while Andrew applied his trade in the world of advertising. And once the pair found themselves with a reliable income again, they decided to revisit their t-shirt printing idea. Their side hustle, Factory 43, takes its name after a cigar company that Andrew's great-great-grandfather founded in 1890.

Sager and Son Cigars was created in factory number 43 and featured the number on the label. It's also a hat tip to Andy Warhol's studio, known as The Factory. The goal was to make high-quality t-shirts that would help people laugh. Their prints would be a commentary on the modern world, as well as the current struggles the founders faced in their day-to-day lives. Veronica and Andrew each invested just $500 with a commitment to not get into debt or overspend their budget.

Each of their designs starts as a sketch on pencil and paper done by Andrew. They'll generally come up with a number of images and then figure out which of them is best by judging people's responses. If they get a laugh or a smile from friends and family, they're good to go. As time went on, more and more of the design began to be done digitally and then edited in Photoshop for the final end product. To make that final product, they found a local screen printing company.

Because of the complexity of some of the designs, they were sure to try a number of printers before selecting their favorite. They wanted to make sure those shirts would be as close to perfect as they could get every time. Using a third party also helped to keep the startup cost minimal since they wouldn't need to invest in any expensive equipment. Once they had their first sellable batch of t-shirts in hand, the factory 43 team looked to sell them in their local area. They'd go to markets, craft fairs, and festivals to spread the word and quickly began to pick up sales.

Because they sourced the highest quality materials, they've chosen to price their shirts accordingly with a typical retail price of $32 each. Much like the design process, the marketing process has become more digital as well. Factory 43 regularly runs Instagram ads to promote the shirts, which really plays to the visual nature of the product. Because of Andrew's background in advertising and Veronica's photo editing background, they're able to create striking campaigns that stand out in a busy newsfeed. These ads lead back to their Shopify website where they now sell most of their shirts.

They also make use of Shopify's point of sale tools to make in-person sales when they attend events. Factory 43 became a full-time venture for Andrew in 2014, and then Veronica left her job at Amazon to join in the following year. In 2018 alone, they sold 8,000 t-shirts and an extra 2,000 prints of their designs. Veronica says the hardest part of side hustling has been coming to grips with the business side of things. Because they are both creatives, they're prone to pushing off the more mundane office-based tasks.

It was a long time before they were finally convinced they needed to set up spreadsheets for their bookkeeping and accounts. But this is easily outweighed by the benefits. Knowing that you're in control of your future, nobody will come along and fire you, provided a peace of mind that's hard to put a price on. The flexibility to spend time with friends and families when you want to because you set the schedule is also highly valuable. Factory 43 is hoping to increase the number of customers in its audience.

They have a lot of room to grow and want more people to enjoy their designs. If they do it right, they might find themselves with a business that screen prints cash. [Music]

Here is some parting advice from Veronica. And we asked her if somebody else wanted to follow a similar path, how would you advise them? And she said the most important thing is to be proud of your product, your artwork, or whatever it is, and don't go into debt, right?

Be proud of your product and don't go into debt. Also on that point about spreadsheets, she said it took us a long time to accept that we need to track stuff and we need to use spreadsheets. If I had to go back, I think I would take a bookkeeping class. So there you go, be proud of your product, do good work, don't go into debt, and maybe take a bookkeeping class, or just learn to do something really basic. You don't have to become a bookkeeper or an accountant.

At least learn to track your sales and your costs. Now, by the way, I think I mentioned in the episode, these shirts cost about $32, which is not a cheap t-shirt, but they're really nice. Like they're really high quality shirts. They're the kind of thing you would wear over and over. I'm not something that would be disposable like a lot of other t-shirts are.

So I like their vision, I like their aesthetic, and they've also been able to figure out this whole advertising thing of buying ads and leading them to Shopify, and then essentially having a good enough conversion rate to make that profitable, which is not something that everybody is able to achieve. So if you're interested in doing something similar, you might want to take a close look at their process to see what you could learn and take away for yourself. All right, my friends, I hope you enjoyed this episode. Thanks a lot to Andrew and Veronica. Congratulations on your business, Factory 43.

Everyone, inspiration is good, but inspiration with action is better. Today's show notes are at sidehustleschool.com/822. That's episode 822. We'll include links to their business, a free trial you can get from Shopify, and anything else I mentioned. Much more is on the way.

Be sure you're subscribed. Tell your friends it's completely free. My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is "Saddestle School." [Music]

- From the Onward Project.