There Are Upfront Costs Associated with Making Money on Teespring: Day 1

One of the requirements for the Teespring $10,000 Spare Time Challenge placed on me by my sister was I had to begin the challenge Monday. I wasn’t allowed to spend a couple of weeks studying so I had a solid foundation when beginning the challenge (something that I think anyone who wants to try to make money with Teespring should do). I only had a weekend to learn as much as I could, which basically means I took a crash course on how it works and how to make money with it. It means I will have to do a lot of learning along the way, and I’ll probably make more mistakes than I would have if I had the time to do more thorough research.

The good news is Teespring has solid information on their site (called Teespring University) to learn the basics. I’m hoping this taught me enough to keep me from making any major mistakes. I went through all the information they had, and I got some good basic information I know will help me. But I also didn’t fully understand everything, especially when it comes to the marketing of the T-shirts. I still have a lot to learn. The one thing which did become apparent is trying to make money with Teespring isn’t going to be free.

One of the aspects which makes Teespring attractive to many people looking to make money is there aren’t any upfront costs to have the T-shirts printed before trying to sell them. While this is certainly a huge advantage, and it can save those using this system a lot of money, it doesn’t mean there aren’t any upfront costs when trying to make money. In order to have any chance to sell $10,000 worth of T-shirts in 100 days, I’m going to have costs involved which I may not recover.

The most obvious of these costs is advertising. The Teespring University goes into the basics of how to advertise the T-shirts on Facebook, and unless you already have a fanbase to market to, you’re going to have to spend money to buy advertising to reach the people your T-shirt designs are being targeted toward. I’m not sure exactly what this cost will be. The college student who made $80,000 said he spent $10 per T-shirt campaign, while the university suggests $25. Since many people say it can take numerous campaigns before making money, there’s a chance I will have to risk a decent amount of money before I can make any money.

I think deciding what the amount one is willing to risk toward this money-making effort is essential. You need to have a Teespring budget. Not making this decision upfront could lead you to lose a lot of money. It’s important to set an amount you’re willing to risk to be successful, and if you can’t do it before you spend that amount, you should quit. This is important for a couple of reasons. With a limited amount of money to spend, it means you will more carefully think through the amounts you spend utilizing your limited resources. It also sets a “do or die” point where you need to begin making money, or you need to quit so you don’t keep throwing money at something that’s not working for you.

I’ve decided to risk up to $1,000 for this challenge. This amount isn’t set in stone. I may decide to spend less if I feel there is no way my efforts are going to produce results after several campaigns, but I won’t spend more than this without making any money. I think this will give me more than a fair amount to establish whether or not I can succeed at making money with Teespring, while still bringing a substantial return on my investment (1000%+) if I’m able to succeed and make at least $10,000.

What I think is important to understand is to make money with Teespring, the vast majority of people will have to risk some amount of money. This amount won’t be as much as it would be if buying the T-shirts upfront was required, but it still will be a significant amount for most. For those who don’t have money to risk, this probably isn’t the best method to try and make extra money in their spare time.