5 Steps to Starting an Online T-Shirt Shop with $0

When you're on a tight budget or just unsure about what kind of business you want to start, it might seem unlikely that you could start an online business with absolutely no money.
 
But it's absolutely possible with dropshipping!

Dropshipping is a fulfillment method that allows you to sell goods that you never hold in inventory. You work with a supplier who ships the product directly to your customers.

Here’s why dropshipping is so great:

  • No upfront costs of purchasing inventory.
  • No costs of storing inventory.
  • Supplier handles shipping.
  • Your customer never knows you didn’t ship from your own warehouse.
  • You get to focus on growing your business.
  • You can start with minimal to NO investment.

Dropshipping printed merchandise like t-shirts, hats, pillows, mugs, etc., is known as print on demand. It’s really easy to start a print on demand t-shirt business with no money.

*To skip these written instructions and get detailed, step-by-step video instruction and support, click here.

Here's what you need to do:

Step 1

The first thing you should do is set up an ecommerce website. I suggest using  Ecwid because they have a forever free option.

If you have a small budget, consider using Shopify. Their ecommerce platform is, by far, the best. No worries if you have no budget. Ecwid is a great platform to start with.

Step 2

The next thing you’ll need is a print on demand supplier. They’ll provide t-shirts and they’ll print your designs on the t-shirts for your customers. The only thing you have to do is create the designs and market your business. Some great print on demand suppliers are:

Step 3

Next, you’re going to need designs. You can sign up for a free Canva account and use it to create really simple designs. It's super easy to use and can do the trick to get you started. There are also some amazing free graphic design tools, like Inkscape, you can use to create better, more professional quality designs.

*Be sure you're clear on all licensing requirements for any design elements you use.

If it's in your budget, try hiring a designer on Fiverr for as little as $5 per design.

Step 4

Now that you have your designs, you can create mockups of the products you want to sell. Just head over to your account on your supplier's website, and use their design tool to upload your designs on products. Once you've got the mockups created, download them.

Step 5

You can now build your website using the mockups you created. Use your free Canva account to create all the graphics you need for your website, like web banners and logos.

Just like that, you've got a business!

All you need to do now is start telling people about your business. Set up social media pages and post your designs on your social media. Ask your friends and family to buy first. When you get a few orders, put that money back into creating designs and marketing. 

Pro-tip: Build a community around a niche people are really passionate about and create t-shirt designs for those people. You’ll find it much easier to sell t-shirts to a small, passionate audience than trying to sell everything to everyone.

To get step-by-step help with this process, grab my $45 $9 course, How to Start an Online T-Shirt Shop with $0.

It's all online and self-paced, so you can complete the lessons at your convenience. Over 4,000 people have taken the course and love it! And when you enroll, you'll also get access to my Facebook group where all my amazing students share tips and support each other! You can't beat that!

Just click here to enroll!

Best of luck in your t-shirt business endeavor and don’t forget to have fun!


Find BYOB School on Instagram or Facebook and get daily tips on starting your online business and promoting your online business to get sales.

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