Impressions - March 2013 - (Page 68)

talking SHOP Digital Decorating Diversifying Your Shop with Sublimation Capitalize on missed opportunities by offering digital services that your embroidery and screen printing customers may be craving. By Jimmy Lamb, Contributing Writer The item to be sublimated must be composed of polymer or polyester materials or have a polymerized surface in order for the sublimation dye to bond properly. Though it might sound like a limiting factor, there literally are hundreds of blank products that have been created for sublimation. Photo provided by Unisub, Louisville, Ky. h ow would you rate your business’ success? Are you making the money you thought you would or are you struggling for every dollar? Do you have a thriving customer base with plenty of work to keep you busy or are you sitting by the phone wishing it would ring? If you haven’t ﬁgured it out yet, owning and operating a small business — speciﬁcally one engaged in product decoration — can be somewhat challenging, 68 Impressions | March 2013 and even terrifying when sales drop off. But you don’t have to sit there wringing your hands and chewing antacids all day while you hope things get better. You have the power to adapt your business to the demands of the marketplace and grow it to new levels, even when customers are cutting back on spending. How? Diversiﬁcation! Now you may be saying to yourself, “That sounds expensive and the last thing I need to do right now is spend money.” Fear not; the goal isn’t to spend a bunch of money or go further into debt. Rather, the goal is to make sure your services are broad enough so you can capture a larger share of your clients’ disposable income, while also retooling your operation as needed to meet the demands of the marketplace. A few years ago, I wrote an article about Ed Dance of Campus Chalet Embroidery, who has successfully run his commercial production business for more than 50 years. How did a guy who operated one of the largest contract embroidery shops on the East Coast survive ﬁve decades of marketplace changes? Rather than sitting on his heels hoping things would turn around and return to normal, he adapted and reinvented himself to meet the marketplace demand. After all, you could consider the deﬁnition of “normal” as the current buying habits of your customers and potential clients. But diversifying your business doesn’t mean running out and buying the latest and greatest equipment with the hopes of putting it to use. Rather, it begins with an honest assessment of your strengths and weaknesses, followed by an in-depth look at procurement trends. What products are customers buying that you can’t deliver? How often do they order? What are the expected turnaround times? What are the preferred quantities? If you haven’t noticed lately, the weak economy has altered the buying habits impressionsmag.com http://www.impressionsmag.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Impressions - March 2013

Impressions - March 2013
Table of Contents
First Impressions
From the Show Director
FYI
Product Gallery
ISS Conferences
Fun Fashions for Her
Permanent Vacation
Should You Start A Preprint Line? Part 1
The 5 Worst Growing Pains for Apparel Decorators
Shop Spotlight
Embroidery Design & Digitizing
Embroidery Production
Screen Printing Graphics & Design
Online Directory
Screen Printing Production
Tech Tips Screen Printing
Digital Decorating
Classifieds
Ad Index

Impressions - March 2013