The Problem
How would you like to be able to create custom items like hats, shirts, mugs, or even jewelry for your organization with absolutely no inventory? What if you didn’t have to have anything on hand at all? This comes up because of a discussion I was having with an old friend, and the organization he’s working with.
This organization has a problem. Like most non-profits, they’re understaffed. So the problem this problem is way, way down on their list of things problems. So far down on their list that they don’t even see it as a problem. If you want a shirt from this group, then you have to go to their website… and send them an email, and arrange payment later. Somebody from the organization then has to process the order, and then arrange to ship the product to the person. That takes time and money that this staff doesn’t have.
How would you like people wearing your group’s name around town? That’s better than free publicity, it’s publicity that people will pay to have. It can also be a nice way to raise a little bit of money for your organization, and it’s a set and forget it process.
Creating Your Own Custom Items
If you’ve already got a base of customers (volunteers, or specific people), then you can sign up for Gearbubble for free. You design the product, and set up an online store. You can even link to that to your Facebook Page. It’s actually what I use to sell a few products on some of my other sites (www.bostonsportsonline.com).
You simply go to the website by clicking here. There’s a brief overview video. You create a free account. Then You set up payment info – which is to say, where are they going to send the money … to you.
You click on the type of item you want to create, and follow the really simple process for adding images and text, and you’re off to the races. Creating designs to items is a really, really quick process. You don’t need to any special design software – a free account at picmonkey.com is all you’ll really need.You then set the price of your item, it tells you how much profit you’ll make on each item.
It then gives you a link that you can embed on your website, or put on your organization’s Facebook page. It’s really painfully simple – and there’s no risk or upfront money to you. They make their money by selling the physical mug.’
So now instead of the organization taking time to get email orders, and run to UPS to ship them, the process is done right away. They don’t have to take credit card info, or checks, or cash. They don’t have to do anything, except taking in the money.
As a Side Business
If you’re a person who’s looking to do this for a little bit of extra income, and looking to build a consumer base, I’d recommend Rachel Rofe’s “Low Hanging Fruit System”, that includes a great deal of training for using the Gearbubble system. She’ll show you how to sell on Amazon, Etsy, and Ebay, among others.
You can learn more by clicking here. If you’re looking for a little bit of extra income, this might be an option for you. I’ve signed up, and have made a few sales. Again, there is a registration cost to this one, and I’d only use it if you have a little bit of time that you can put aside to dedicate to creating a lot of designs. There is a cost to this system, but also a lot of extra features as well. By the way, even if you don’t sign up for the system, you’ll learn an awful lot about marketing online from watching her video.
Things To Consider
I’d check with your parent organization (if you have one) on intellectual property issues. Some larger organizations will probably frown on this, but most of them already have internal products like this available. No need to reinvent the wheel.
For those organizations, this might be a good source of individual “thank you” gifts for individual volunteers.
Thank you for all you do, and have a great week.