Impressions - May/June 2024 - 36

Art by Web Buttons Inc - stock.adobe.com
Stan Banks
In this excerpt from the Impressions " Ask the Experts " online
video series, Impressions Content Director, Adam Cort,
talks with Stan Banks, a veteran screen-printer, decoratedapparel
business coach and founder of the T-shirt Side
Hustle (tshirtsidehustle.com) a decorated-apparel training
company off ering insights into everything from marketing to
heat-pressing and screen-printing equipment, pricing and
everything in between
Photo courtesy of Impressions Expo
Adam Cort: One of the things you've written,
and I've heard you say is, " Th e diff erence
between success and failure is rarely lack of
ability or even eff ort, but a lack of clear objectives
and the practical means to reach them. "
With that in mind, I wonder if you could share
some of what you've learned over the years in
terms of the nuts and bolts of getting started
in the decorating business.
Stan Banks: First thing I want to say is you've
got to set your destination. You've got to have
an idea of where you want to go, wherever it
may be. No matter how big or how small,
you have to set the course early on. I knew I
didn't want to be a shop with 13 autos, because
I walked into a shop with 13 autos, and
the owner didn't look too happy, because one
machine was down. So, I knew what I didn't
want to be.... You've got to set your sail. You've
got to pick your destination and have an idea
what you want your shop to look like.
Some people just don't know where they
are. Th ey don't know where they want to go.
I was a victim of that for years and years and
years. What I like to tell people is, there's
fi ve segments to the industry, right? You have
P.36
the crafter; you have the maker; you have the
side hustle, small business entrepreneur; you
have clothing brands, where...they may also
be dabbling in the printing; and you have the
professional. If you want to be at whatever
angle, that's how you need to dictate where
you're going to go to get your information.
Next is pricing. Th at's the huge thing. I'm
actually putting on a little master class to get
people a little bit more acclimated, a little bit
more comfortable. But the truth is, there's no
right answer...
AC: I'm afraid I'm going to jump in here,
Stan, because I feel like there is at least one
wrong answer, and that is not valuing your
own work, not recognizing the value of what
you're providing, right? I know I cut you off
there, but...
SB: No, I think, you're right. Th ere is a wrong
answer to pricing. I've seen this in graphic design.
When [the online printing service] VistaPrint
fi rst came out, I was selling business
cards and banners and all of that stuff , and
VistaPrint came out with $10 business cards,
and I had to have these awkward conversaImpressionsMagazine.com
May/June 2024
tions. I'm selling a thousand cards for $75, and
they give them away for $10, or whatever the
price was, and it was like, " Hey, I'm not here
to compete with VistaPrint if what you want
is a business card that looks like everybody
else's. " I had a customer who had a [card] with
a cake thing, and I found another one with a
cake thing with somebody else's information
on it. And I said, " Th is isn't you, right? But
if you want something that looks like what
everybody else has this is where you go. "
Whenever you come into an industry, you
don't know. In photography, in all of these businesses
they all talk about this person coming
in and undercutting the market, right? And
the truth is, they just don't have the ideas or an
understanding. If I'm [decorating] out of my
house, I don't know what it is to have $5,000,
$10,000, $25,000 of overhead to account for.
So, what I tell people these days is, " Hey, if
you did have a small shop, 1,000-square-feet,
5,000-square-feet, whatever it may be, in your
area what would that cost you? How about
we plan today for where we want to get to
tomorrow? " Again, this is about setting sail.
Understand where your destination is. Th en
this person, they'll start to have something to
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Impressions - May/June 2024

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