Please give me advice for starting a printshop

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See, now he has 7 million.

I made a million in my Printing business.... I started with 6 million

 

[ondemandbindery]

Another thread of shattered hopes and dreams...

So some jack-off did a test of running a printing company for only 3 months and was $5,000 in the hole when it is normal for a business plan to show book losses during the first three years of the business being in existence. I wouldn't let this bother you.

The last printing company I had seen go out of business was one that we outsourced to. Interesting how they had to keep reprinting our jobs and other peoples jobs due to shitty quality. Apparently no one was watching the presses at this place. What percentage of shops closed because they didn't watch the quality?

Funny how so many people on here preach outsource outsource outsource as if opening a print shop was like marrying satan himself. While at the same time running their own print shops. The truth is many shops are growing greatly while others are failing...no one ever does a study of why they are failing. Of course any failed shop owner will never admit to anything that could be their fault. It's ALWAYS the economy or prices being driven down.

It's never we didn't maintain our equipment for excellent quality, or we didn't invest in strengthening our sales force, or renegotiate costs with suppliers, or charge for services like graphic design or finishing...nope not at all.

Bottom line is somebody is going to dedicate themselves full time to selling. If not people aren't going to magically walk in off of the street and give you enough business to make a living out of it.

You made mostly valid points here but I will stick right to my guns of Brokering but only because of one thing and that is speaking for myself in that I can and do make it work. That fact is whomever you outsource to will require some babysitting. I can think of 3 Brokers right off the top of my head that are making more now than they were when they ran Printshops for several reasons.

A good Broker knows the game and the process. They already have the established relationships with clients and who they outsource to. In the case of the OP, he has a tough road to tow. The best case scenario for a Newbie in the business is they have very close relations with someone who owns a shop and wants to see the person grow his list of Clients and keep his cylinders turning. And the other would be his college Roommate or buddies have jobs where they can help with getting the work to their buddy. Otherwise good luck.

People who are not in the Industry have the perception that you can just "create" a file in Photoshop, send it to their favorite Printer, and the shop has a huge RUN button sitting right in the middle of their production floor that just magically craps the job out in the time it takes to make a cup of coffee.

A Broker has 2 angles. A contact to get an opportunity to bid on work or they have good timing and found a potential Client who is sick of their current Printer because either the Salesperson thinks since he sold one job his work is done their or their current Printer is either getting sloppy or Greedy. But that is just how I see it.

Best,
JW