This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
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Welcome to Side Hustle School. Hey everybody, thanks for tuning in. Our goal is to empower you to transform your skills and passions into a successful side business, a side hustle, something that makes money. Preferably something that makes passive money or something that you can do using the skill you already have and without spending a lot of money in return, right? That's what we're all about.
That's our mission every single day. And in this episode, we're gonna chat with Marco from Philadelphia. Marco is a designer and marketing pro with a knack for creating eye-catching branded merchandise. So he makes merch and he's interested in helping small businesses design custom t-shirts, tote bags, stickers, probably some other stuff, using his experience with local print shops and sourcing sustainable materials. So how do you go about doing this?
You've got these talents. And how do you go from talent to building a diverse client base, pricing your services, delivering a design that resonates with your client's target audience, all that kind of stuff. How do you make it happen? And that would be a long conversation, right? But we wanna try to give people some first steps, some practical things you can do right away.
So in today's episode, let's roll up our sleeves. That's proverbial. You don't actually have to do that, whatever your situation is. I don't know the climate there. That's just a phrase, okay?
Let's just try to help Marco create a standout side hustle in the world of branded merch. All right, stay tuned, coming up in just 30 seconds. [Music]
Yeah, hello. I'm Marco from Hunting and Valley, Pennsylvania. I've got a background in graphic design and marketing, but it's always been in the corporate world.
And now I'm thinking about starting a side hustle, my own business, where I'm helping other small businesses create branded merchandise, stuff like t-shirts, tote bags, stickers, stuff like that. I've got tons of experience working with local print shops and sourcing sustainable materials. I thought, well, this could help me offer good options to my clients, right? But my question is, how can I build a diverse client base? This is where I always get stuck.
I just wanna create, right? Not market, or think about selling all the time. - Marco, thanks for tuning into Side Hustle School. Great to have you out there and your background in graphic design and marketing combined with the plan to create branded merch for small businesses, that is a good foundation on which we can build. So I do like that it's not just, I'm a graphic designer and marketer, I wanna serve small businesses, that's way too broad.
I think getting closer and focusing on branded merch, 'cause there's lots of different applications you can create with design, I think that is good. I wanna make it even more specific. I think it's gonna be, when you're talking about building a diverse client base, you don't really need a diverse client base, you need a targeted client base. Most designers who are making branded merch, they are focusing on certain kinds of businesses. They are focusing on coffee shops, they are focusing on athletes, they are focusing on healthcare.
I mean, there could be lots and lots of industries, but pick one and start with that. And then it's very easy to go from doing coffee shops to doing other restaurants, or from doing something with healthcare, like dentist offices to, I don't know, dermatologists or whatever it could be. But start with one of those markets, whatever you're interested in, whatever contacts you have, whatever seems natural, this could be online or offline, like in real life contacts you have, or contacts you have through social media, start with that. As for pricing and such, in this world, it's a little bit tricky. I always encourage people to simplify, but pricing for branded design, you could be designing like lots of different elements.
It really, really depends on the specific project. So you might consider some kind of package deal or tiered pricing, but you usually do need to go through a process of like, here's the proposal, here's what we wanna do, there's a little bit of a meeting involved and such. If you can productize it somehow, that's better, but just being realistic, that's often not possible, especially in the beginning. So Marco, I would target much more specifically than you've done so far. I would try to get some quick experience.
You already have experience with the print shops and such, so maybe they know somebody. I would just start putting out the word, be like, hey, this is the thing I'm trying to do. Can you help me? You've got some referral. Is there somebody you know or some business you know that might need help?
Is there a new business that's opening up? I would just start kind of pounding on doors, but again, with the intention of beginning with a specific industry. That's my quick feedback on that, Marco. Best of luck, listeners, best of luck to you. I'm cheering you on, actually on the road all this month.
For the past couple of weeks, I have been a couple more weeks to go, but new podcast episodes come out every day, nonstop, sidehustleschool.com/questions. If you got feedback, you can subscribe wherever you like to listen. And, well, I already mentioned new episode every day, but you know that. Okay, that's all for now. This is Chris Guillebeau for Side Hustle School.
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From the Onward Project.
