My #1 Rule for Building 7-Figure Print on Demand Brands
Building 7-Figure Print on Demand Brands has been my focus as I’ve built eight different e-commerce brands that have generated over a million dollars in sales each. Every single one of those brands adhered to a straightforward but powerful truth that enabled us to scale to seven figures and beyond. In this article, I want to share that rule with you, along with actionable steps you can take in your own business to leverage this knowledge against your competitors, ultimately helping you in Building 7-Figure Print on Demand Brands.
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Table of Contents
The Rule of 100
Two of our most recent brands, History Tees and Yoga Say, were print-on-demand apparel companies that we grew and ultimately sold in about two years to a company called Open Store.
These brands serve as shining examples of successful print-on-demand businesses. However, the real reason behind their success isn’t just in the designs, ads, or even the website. It’s something far simpler that I often see students at We Scale University struggling to grasp.
People tend to shy away from the truth because it often requires hard work. I can’t blame them; I used to feel the same way. I always hoped for an easier and faster solution, but after building these eight brands and experiencing numerous failures, I’ve learned there is no shortcut to success in this business model.
Accepting the Reality
So, what’s the big secret?
The secret is that it takes a significant volume of designs to succeed in print-on-demand. Specifically, we adhere to what I call the Rule of 100: we will not launch a new print-on-demand brand on Shopify unless we have a minimum of 100 different designs ready to go.
If you’re thinking, “Okay, I get it; I need a lot of designs,” let me elaborate.
Success in this business is all about the sheer number of designs you can produce for various reasons. But before diving into that, I want to address a common realization that entrepreneurs encounter across different business models.
The Grass is Always Greener
Every entrepreneur has that “grass is always greener” moment when they start a new venture. You think, “Oh, this is why not everyone is doing this!”
In the print-on-demand space, the significant number of designs required for success is often the reason many shy away from it. This is the critical point that doesn’t receive enough attention in videos and articles because it’s not the most glamorous topic.
But the fact remains: to achieve success in print-on-demand, you need a high volume of designs.
Statistics Don’t Lie
For example, if we launch a new print-on-demand brand with only 10 or 20 designs, chances are we’ll be lucky to have one or two that perform decently.
On average, I’ve found that about 5 to 10% of our designs yield any reasonable amount of interest or sales.
That means a whopping 80 to 90% of designs often wither away without making a mark. Even with years of experience, I still find that 5 to 10% of my designs show any signs of life.
This reality is the foundation of the print-on-demand business model: we launch a large number of designs, observe which ones resonate with customers, and then produce more of those winning designs.
Learning from Experience
Take History Tees as an example. We launched with a diverse range of designs, and thankfully, one of them—Lincoln’s Five-Star Review—really caught fire.
All the other designs, such as blueprints of historical events or maps, didn’t gain much traction.
If we had only launched with 20 designs, we likely wouldn’t have included that winning design in our initial sample.
Quality vs. Quantity
This leads me to an important point I often hear discussed by successful entrepreneurs like Alex Hormozi: the quality versus quantity debate.
Many of our students focus on perfection, believing they need to create the ultimate design for their customers. While taking pride in your work is admirable, the notion of quality in business differs from what you might think.
Perfection doesn’t mean spending three hours crafting a single design.
To me, pride in your business is about creating a high-performing product catalog that people genuinely want.
The Jar Story
Let me share a story that illustrates this point. A professor divided his sculpting class in half. One group was tasked with making the perfect jar by the semester’s end, while the other group had no limits and could create as many jars as possible.
You might assume the first group would produce the best jar.
However, the opposite was true. The group that focused on volume ended up with a greater quantity of jars, and many of those jars turned out to be superior in quality.
Embracing Volume
The moral of this story is that some lessons and improvements come only from sheer volume.
You gain insights and experience that you cannot achieve by working on a single design repeatedly.
Spending an entire semester on one jar won’t yield as much growth as producing a thousand jars over the same period.
So, prioritizing quantity leads to better quality designs in the long run.
The Iterative Process
Once we launch our brand and have our initial 100 designs, what happens next?
The answer is simple: we create more designs.
In the case of History Tees, we discovered that one design resonated with the market.
From there, we were able to create 30 to 40 more designs inspired by that winning concept.
It’s vital to understand that the journey doesn’t stop at 100 designs; it’s about continuously expanding your catalog.
The Challenge of Design
If creating a lot of designs feels like an uphill battle, you’re not alone.
Many entrepreneurs struggle with this, but it’s essential to understand that this is the nature of the business.
That feeling of being overwhelmed is why not everyone succeeds in the print-on-demand space.
The good news is that if you can push through this challenge, you’ll find long-term success.
Never Stop Creating
When people ask how many designs they should stop at, I always respond with a more important question: “Is there a point where you would stop working on your business?”
If your answer is no, then there should be no limit on how many designs you create.
The number of designs you produce is directly tied to the growth of your business.
Outsourcing for Efficiency
Now, let’s talk about how to implement this strategy effectively.
Recognizing that many competitors are unwilling to produce a high volume of designs gives you a competitive edge.
Personally, I don’t particularly enjoy creating dozens of designs every day.
However, the top 1% of print-on-demand brands are creating seven designs a day.
So how do we manage this?
Utilizing AI Tools
One way is to use AI tools like MysticP.com.
This platform functions like MidJourney specifically for print-on-demand sellers.
Such tools are becoming increasingly sophisticated, making it easier to generate designs quickly.
In addition to AI, we’ve also embraced outsourcing.
The Design Pipeline
We created a Trello board to manage our design pipeline effectively.
By treating the design process as a repeatable system, we can streamline our efforts.
Outsourcing certain tasks allows us to focus on growing our brand rather than getting bogged down in the details.
For example, our team of virtual assistants helps us analyze sales data and identify which designs are performing well.
Learning Through Experience
Over the years, we’ve honed this process, allowing us to maintain a high output of designs without sacrificing quality.
Accepting that creating 100 designs is just the beginning has been crucial.
Every time I’ve tried to circumvent the requirement for more designs, it only led to setbacks.
Tools for Success
Fortunately, the tools available for creating and managing designs are getting better every day.
Use these tools to your advantage; face the design challenge head-on.
This mindset shift can be a game-changer in your approach to building a print-on-demand brand.
Conclusion
If you want to delve deeper into these strategies, I encourage you to check out the free 21-hour course on the YouTube channel.
It covers a ton of details about our design process and how we leverage the Rule of 100 to our advantage.
Building 7-figure print-on-demand brands is not just a dream; it’s entirely achievable with the right mindset and strategies.
Thank you for reading, and I look forward to sharing more insights with you soon.
We strongly recommend that you check out our guide on how to take advantage of AI in today’s passive income economy.
