Hi guys....I had a great weekend and a great week. This weekend I did a lot of online work and I recently discovered a site where you can place your designs on different mock ups ...for tees, phone cases, in art frames etc. I fell in love!! The best part was you can also create videos for your different social media platforms. Now if I didn't mention before I've recently gotten into designing and selling T shirts online. It's another creative outlet. So lets take count of all the different creative outlets I'm involved in? hm hm hm hm

Wall Art - Listing Abstracts and Watercolours on my 3 websites

1. Printable Planners

2. Art Prints

3. Youtube Demo Videos

4. Blogging

5. Video Creation

6. Selling Tees Online

7. Selling Products Online

YEP...I've gone overboard...but at least I'm having fun and I'm letting out my creative energy. Plus, I love learning new things and this was really new to me but extremely fun to do and quite useful for my Art Websites, Instagram, LinkedIn, and my Coaching Business. Because through this platform I was able to create some amazing Intros for my Businesses, my Youtube Channel videos and mock ups for my art and my Tees. Check out one of the videos I created using Placeit.net and you wouldn't believe how easy this was to do. They have everything set up and you simply choose colours, templates, etc. Judge for yourself.

Wasn't that great?!! It looks like a professional created it!!! What do you think, leave me a comment .....I'm so excited and proud of myself. When you create something you never thought you could even think to make, you feel exceptionally excited, proud and it builds a level of confidence you didn't know you had. You should all try it!

So what did you think?..... OK! Back to the topic at hand. Let me step back a bit and explain how this came about. I was listening to a Youtuber called Greg Gottfried and he talks about how he made money via Print on Demand because he lost his job suddenly and in looking for a way to make ends meet, and make some money without depending on the corporate world as he didn't want what happened to him to happen again, he discovered certain Print on Demand Platforms. With these different Print on Demand platforms he started to make a lot of money at the age of 23years. He still makes his money that way as well as via other online businesses. In one of his videos he introduced us to the platform Placeit.net. TADA!!!!! This is the site where you can create videos like the one above and much, much more.

I got so excited about it, as it also helps you come up with designs for your Tees to place on Teespring the platform where you can sell Tees based on a niche you love. So with your tee shirt platform you list the different designs on tees and they market them, ship them, in fact they take care of everything once the customer buys and you get a commission on every tee purchased. They actually show you the amount you can make on each tee when you list in the price you want that tee to cost. I want my tee to be very affordable so They're all $19.99 USD and I know the quality is good because I ordered 2 for myself. The Placeit.net platform is where you can make some of your designs as well as do mock ups to let them look more professional. So Placeit.net allows you to:

Make designs for your tees,

1. It helps you present them on mock ups,

2. It helps you develop Intros for your videos or

3. Videos for your social media platforms whether it's Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook or even Youtube.

I've used it for all or both of my businesses. It does cost a fee of $14USD/month, but you can simply keep it for the month and create as many videos, designs etc for your different medias then cancel the subscription. That's what I intend to do as I don't really need the platform for a lot of months, only until I have the relevant videos that I need. But the way I'm having so much fun with this platform, I don't think I'll just keep it for one month. I think I'll keep it until I think I no longer need it. It has allowed me to make some major videos for my Coaching Business - Rebitltd.com.

I've saved quite a lot by not having to hire someone to create my Intros as well as my Instagram videos. If any of you have read my blog post on Squarespace? I just want you to know that I don't talk about something that I don't use, this site, plus my other sites - gafra.org and rebitltd.com were both created by me on Squarespace. It's extremely easy and I enjoyed every minute. The same goes for Placeit.net and I also had a conversation with my brother who is a videographer. That's his business. He said yes, people like him are being put out of business by these platforms because it is cutting out the middleman and allowing a person to do things themselves, similar to self publishing and many other do it yourself platforms. That's the way of the Internet and all things Online.

So if you're interested in setting up a Tee shirt store? In my investigations there are quite a few platforms that allow you to do this, one or two of them I think I've mentioned before but recently I've started on some new ones - only 3. I was originally on Redbubble and I've been on Redbubble for about 3 years but I haven't made any sales. I was on Printful, and I liked the variety of products they have available for you to place your design, but then I thought it was free and recently I've been seeing a bill coming from them so I closed that account. don't get me wrong, if I had the funds I would keep some of these sites but you need to be picky about what you spend on these days. So the free platforms I have recently signed onto are the ones in bold, the others I've tried or still registered, or not:

Teespring

1. Redbubble (still with them)

2. Teechip

3. Zazzle

4. Society6

5. Merch on Amazon

Teespring - OK Let me explain that list. I recently started on Teespring and that is pretty easy to use, it's free but you have to choose a niche and stick to designs that fit that niche then design and post at least one hundred tees on the storefront.

1. Redbubble - As I mentioned, I've been on this platform since 2017 and no sales to date. not sure why as i list it on all my sites but nothing yet. I do like the products it has for you to place your designs on but it does take up a little of your time.

2. Teechip - This is new to me as well but also very simple and easy to use. It is also free but I can't say how the sales will be yet. Time will tell.

3. Zazzle - very similar to Redbubble but easier to use but just as good. I've recent not listed t on my sites as there i haven't made any sales to date as well and I've been on that site since 2017 as well.

4. Society6 - I left this platform as the requirements for the designs gave me trouble and I couldn't get it on many of their items and I started getting annoyed and their mark up was too high so the product to the customers would be very high and I didn't want that so I closed that account.

5. Merch on Amazon - This is new but you have to apply and wait for approval and they have an entire application form to complete and they tend to reject you quite a few times. I' haven't applied as their are account info they need and because I live in the Caribbean I have to take the time to get the account info and i haven't had time yet. Plus as I mentioned you will probably have to apply quite a few times before you get approved. but they are very good where sales are concerned as they are Amazon's Print on Demand, so there is a lot of access to the Amazon customers.

If you want more info on any of these platforms that I've mentioned let me know and I'll do the research and give you as much info as I can find.

Check you guys at the next post.

Regards,

Gafra