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The Benefits of Gratitude Journaling

When you think about it, there’s probably a lot for you to be grateful for. You woke up this morning with a roof over your head. If you’re like me, you started the day with a hot cup of coffee. You’re a self-starter, entrepreneur, creator, and influencer. You’re building a brand and selling Print-On-Demand! That’s a lot to be thankful for right there.

Noting what each of us is grateful for is usually overlooked due to hectic work and family schedules, activities, stress, not living in the moment, etc. If asked, most of us probably couldn’t say what we’re grateful for in a typical day. Think about it. Could you easily remember small moments from the day that brought you the most joy? Reflecting on what you’re grateful for can lead to a happier, more content life. All it takes is a few moments before bed each night, and a gratitude journal to record your thoughts.

As summer comes to an end and September begins, I challenge all our merchants, influencers, creators, or whatever you call yourself, to keep a Gratitude Journal for 30 days. Journal what it is you are thankful for each day!

So, what’s a Gratitude Journal?

A gratitude journal is not a diary, let’s start there. It’s not a collection of random thoughts about your day. It’s literally things you are grateful for in a day. Things that brought you joy – big or small. And everyone’s journal will be different! The most important part of this is being present and focusing on what brought you joy.

Gratitude journaling is all about focusing on the positive things in your life, and it can be a great way to reflect on your day-to-day experiences. Plus, gratitude journaling has been shown to have numerous benefits, including improved mental well-being, increased happiness, and even better sleep! There are so many perks.

Step #1

Step one of this challenge is figuring out how you want to journal. Are you a pen and paper kind of person, or are you more comfortable using a digital platform? Some people are more comfortable jotting down their thoughts in a physical journal, whether its leather-bound or a cheaper option. I know I prefer the sensation of writing instead of typing. Here are some great options if you do, too.

If not, writing in the notes app on your fine or doing your entries using something like Google Drive works just fine! Your gratitude journaling isn’t dependent on the medium you choose.

Step #2

Set some time each day for your gratitude journaling. Commit to a certain time or amount of time you will write what you are grateful for each day. Could be 5 minutes or 30 minutes. In the morning or right before bedtime. Set these goals and commit to them. If you find that journaling before bed seems like a great idea but then realize that lunchtime is better, that’s ok! The point is to be present and be grateful for the things in your life that bring you joy.

You’ll learn what works best for you and your schedule after a couple days. Maybe you were too ambitious going into it and thought you had more time than you did. It’s ok to adapt and journal less or more depending on your schedule. Time management is a necessary skill when you’re a creator, small business owner, or someone who works from home. We have 5 time management tips to help you get the most out of your work day!

Step #3

Staring at a blank page can be overwhelming. What should you write? How do you start? You might think, am I thankful for this or am I writing just to write? It’s ok to be unsure! Here are a few gratitude journaling prompts to help you get started:

Prompt Ideas

What’s something that makes you unique and you’re thankful for?
Is there something in your life that you did not have a year ago and are thankful for?
Think of a mistake you made. What did you learn from it?
What’s something that made you laugh or cry today?
Why did you start your business?
Who is someone that helped shaped you to be the person you are?
Is there someone that you were able to help today?
What was something new that you learned today?
Name a tough situation and someone who helped you through it.
Write a thank you note to yourself.
Look outside and write about things that you see and are thankful for.
A musician, writer, or another talent that inspires you.
Activities that you enjoy.

Step #4

Find what works for you. Some people love lists, while others are more visual. Draw charts or create images that go along with your gratitude. There are no hard and fast rules to gratitude journaling. The point is to reflect and create!

The Final Step!

Look back at your progress and see what has made you happy. Things might be different today than when you started. Has your happiness improved? What about interactions with others? Has your inner dialogue improved and become more positive? Regardless of your answers to any of these questions, don’t get discouraged when trying to create a new habit. Good habits take time to learn. Focus on the positive and how you are becoming more grateful each day. It’s a different view that will take some time to get used to, but the sights are well worth the time it takes to get there. And the journaling will only get better!

Looking for another way to express gratitude in your life? You should consider making your own merch! It’s a fun way to grow your brand and connect with people.

Start selling your own merch today! It’s FREE!

Getting Started in Print On Demand

Everybody has a favorite T-shirt with a design, name, picture, quote, symbol, saying, or graphic on it. Hoodies, crewnecks, and golf shirts are just a few common types of apparel that can be customized for your niche/brand.

If you’re looking for a place to build a brand and sell your merch to your loyal fans, the print-on-demand business is a low-cost business opportunity. There is no limitation on how much you can earn from running a print-on-demand website. Done right, you can make $500 per month, $10k per month, or even more. The Print-On-Demand Custom T-shirt market will exceed 10 billion dollars by 2025.

However, like any good business model, it does require some homework and discovery. Take some time to build a brand strategy and put in the effort to develop a solid marketing strategy. Understand your product or service offering, who your potential customers are, and what print-on-demand companies/eCommerce platform is best for your business.

How do you get started?

#1 Pick Your Niche

Take some time, think about what you are passionate about, do some research to see if there’s a market for your niche. This shouldn’t be something that feels like a trend, necessarily; it needs to be sustainable. Ideally, this is something that you can see being passionate about for 5 years or more.

One piece of advice veteran SPOD (Spreadshop Print-On-Demand) seller Sean Ali gave to us in a recent interview was that new sellers should always try to find what sells when they first start. Focus on being specific and you will see greater success instead of trying to do multiple things. This simple piece of advice has led him to operating 3 shops (soon to be 4!).

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t just dismiss trends, though. Moment merch is an opportunity for you to jump on micro-trends and use them as a monetizing opportunity for your brand.

#2 Determine What You Want to Sell

T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, backpacks, notepads, keychains – there’s so many choices when it comes to merch! What are you interested in selling? What are the products that people in your niche would be more likely to purchase? Use your niche to your advantage! If you’re all about exploring the outdoors and nature, cinch backpacks and reusable water bottles are perfect merch offerings.

Ultimately, you don’t want to offer products that your audience isn’t going to be interested in. Having too many products can also be overwhelming for people. Take some cues from shop owner Nephyrus. Their shop feels curated thanks to a specific color scheme and selected offerings. It feels like an experience when you’re buying and even just browsing their shop.

#3 Make a Design

One of our favorite design tools is Canva. It’s easy to use and is great for people who don’t have any design experience. You can make a T-shirt design in just 5 minutes using Canva. With just a few clicks, you can create a design that’s uniquely yours. They have templates and design elements to help you create fun graphics and text-based designs. You can even upload your brand colors to make sure your merch feels authentic to your brand.

There’s a lot of great design apps out there that don’t have a huge learning curve. Here’s some other suggestions:

– Lunacy

– Pixlr

– DesignWizard

– GIMP

– PlaceIt

#4 Use an E-commerce Platform

When you use SPOD, you can easily integrate with Shopify or other marketplace apps like:

– Order Desk

– Woo Commerce

– Squarespace

– Magento

Or do a custom integration with the SPOD API. Set up the basic pages, and you can add more as you grow. Include a Homepage, Contact Us page, About Us page, Payment details page, and whatever else may be important to your site. This step can take time, but make sure to think it through the eyes of your user and do it properly. Test the site on different browsers and make sure it works on mobile. This really is one of the most essential steps in the success of your print-on-demand business.

If you don’t want to deal with other integrations or aren’t expecting a lot of orders, Spreadshop is a great place to start. It’s FREE to use and easy to personalize your shop. Upload your designs and pick what products you want to offer. We handle everything on the production side, you just have to get creative.

#6 Promote Your Site and Sell, Sell, Sell!

Your goal here is to get noticed and create sales! You want customers to come to your website and be motivated to make a purchase. With a developed marketing strategy be sure to tell your brand story. People love to hear about your why!

Share your business with friends and family and ask them to share it too. Create and maintain a presence with your target audience by consistently creating new content that will engage your users. Also – be sure to interact with other accounts related to yours and always leave positive comments and feedback on other accounts. Learn how to create a social media strategy.

Creating content is a great way to build trust and become an expert in your field. Regularly publish bogs, product reviews, unboxing videos, tips, tricks, and hacks. These are all great ways to interact and share with your target market. While video is more of a marketing tool than strategy, using video has become the best way to show authenticity and build trust. Let your customers know who you are, what you’re about, and why you’re doing what you’re doing. When creating content, think how it can be done in video form.

Plan Ahead

Take the time to think your POD business through. Do the research and speak with those who have been successful in creating a POD business. You can watch YouTube videos and read blogs. Researching the information that is key to your success. Make note of what has worked for others and what hasn’t worked so that you don’t make the same mistakes. Success truly does leave clues!

Create a business plan like you would with any other business and map things out. If you need help there are FREE resources out there that you can take full advantage of to help you get started. The more planning and research you do the better the overall outcome will be.

Don’t be afraid of failure or making mistakes. Remember, it only takes years of hard work, mistakes, and failure to become an overnight success.

Ready to join the print-on-demand market? Sign up for SPOD, Spreadshop, or both! Find the platform that works best for you.

Shop Owner Success: SPOD Merch

So, you might be seeing things about SPOD around here lately and you may be asking yourself what is a SPOD and do I need one? The answer is well, maybe…

SPOD stands for Spreadshop Print On Demand and it is our plugin that connects to common e-commerce platforms like Order Desk, Woo Commerce, Etsy, and of course, Shopify. Distilled down it allows merchants selling on e-commerce platforms to connect to our POD service.

SPOD is a great tool for seasoned veterans in the POD (Print On Demand) business with e-commerce sites that have a following. Print on Demand is expected to grow 26.1% between 2022 and 2030. It’s a great time to consider a print-on-demand model for your enterprise.

So when you see content about it on our blog or on our socials just know we’re super excited about this product and are really pushing for entrepreneurs to have great success with it.

how a shop owner finds success with spod

SPOD is all about helping you – the business owner – gain knowledge and improve your business. Our goal is to create content that motivates you and helps you grow professionally (and personally). The SPOD mission: build a community of business owners who want to learn, develop themselves, and grow their businesses.

Highlighting and celebrating the successes of these businesses is key to that mission. We want to share shop owners’ knowledge so that you – the merchant – can glean some insight and turn your business into a success!

Our SPOD content team recently had the pleasure to speak with shop owner, Sean Ali, via video chat. Sean has been in the POD (print on-demand) business for seven years. He’s worked in every facet of the POD business: production, design, marketing, all while leading the charge. Sean runs his operation of three (soon to be four) shops through Etsy. Ali talked about all the ups, downs, lefts, and rights of his business with us.

We faced a roadblock at the beginning of our conversation: we couldn’t mention the names of his shops. While we want to promote our shop owners’ businesses and see that as a positive thing, Sean thought differently. His reasoning made sense after he explained: he’s seen his designs end up in someone else’s shop due to copying or flat out stealing his graphics too many times.

“It would cost a small business around $1200-$1500 US [to trademark designs]. So, say you have however many designs, it quickly adds up It’s something to consider. Basic wordmarks are easier, but it’s never guaranteed. You can apply for it, but it’s a gamble. You pay, and it’s up to the USPTO [United States Patent and Trademark Office] to decide if you get it. If they say no, then you’re out of that money.”

While theft of design is common in the POD marketplace, he does the best he can to protect his designs and creative ideas. As a veteran in the industry, Sean has worked with various platforms, like SPOD, and has found the platform to be easy to use and user-friendly.

“SPOD’s interface is one of the best and easiest to use. It’s simple. I enjoy using it. Creating the product is quick. Uploading the design is quick. Creating a manual order is so simple and the pricing is a larger factor, not only for myself, but a lot of merchants. Your prices are very competitive, and your shipping prices and methods are competitive and possibly the best in the industry right now.”

Sean says that the shipping offerings for SPOD are a huge plus. We offer economy, standard, and expedited shipping options.

“Your prints are good, your quality is there, and you have pricing to make it all work for merchants,” he says.

Sean uses SPOD as his main supplier and partner in the U.S., Asia, and Europe. He has quite an understanding of holidays around the world and is passionate about being there for his customers. He continues to speak about fulfilling orders in Australia and how Father’s Day is coming and will be celebrated there. He is committed to having a place where people can seek out the right gift for that special someone for an important day or moment in their life. If there was one piece of advice he could give himself when he was starting out or to a new merchant, it would be “to focus on one niche per store.”

“When I first started, I created my first store which was a store with designs all over the place. I was trying to figure out what was selling. It had birthday designs, some Christmas, and Halloween. So, I was all over the place. When a buyer comes to a store like that, they get flustered and are like whoa, there’s completely different designs here. What should I do? Should I buy this or should I buy that? They don’t know.”

Sitting back a little at his desk, Sean smirks and continues:

“The second store that I opened was geared towards birthday designs. I’m finding more success when I concentrate on a specific niche such as birthdays because that’s a year-round thing. Everyone has a birthday. I would tell a [SPOD] user that they should concentrate on one niche whether it be birthdays, kid designs geared towards more kid-focused items, yoga, workout, or anything like that. Concentrate on one niche and have your store be that specific niche. I think that they will find more success that way.”

Sean elaborated on how he decides what niche is right for him. Like any good business owner, he looks at previous sales, trends, what’s coming up, and relies on a little gut instinct. In a previous role prior to his own enterprise, he was managing Etsy stores for others and has learned how to recognize trends and turn them into successes.

Another key to his success is keeping things lean and continuing to learn new and difficult things outside of his wheelhouse. Sean creates his own designs and has learned Photoshop along the way. He’s self-taught. He learned by watching tutorials online, reading articles, and YouTube. Sean also wasn’t afraid to ask questions to those that were more skilled.

“Our in-house designer at my old company helped me a little bit. But watching YouTube videos on how to do designs is what really helped my knowledge and helped boost my Photoshop knowledge. I still maybe only know 15 to 20 percent of Photoshop because there’s so much. It is such a powerful application that everyone who uses it uses it differently, but I think the knowledge I have is great for what I need.”

While we were on the topic of knowledge, we asked what sort of skills or attributes does someone need to have to be successful in this business? Sean said that when he first started, he was doing basic text designs and he evolved and started using photos or clip art and continued to grow his skills. He said he’d try new things and “level up” each time. His message:

“Evolve, level up, and learn. If you can’t get out of your comfort zone and evolve, you’ll never get beyond where you are.”

He’s seen revenue growth since he started in 2015. 2020 was by far his best year due to the closures and limited hours of many retail shops. While revenue has slipped slightly since, it’s still providing him and his business profits. During that time, Sean did a paid ad campaign on Facebook and Instagram. At its height, he was seeing $15-$20k sales per day. In the current market, he’s rolled his ad budget back a bit and now is holding steady with social media efforts focusing on organic likes and interactions, as well as repeat business from existing customers.

He reminds his existing customers to come back and buy with an email drip campaign offering specials to his existing clientele. He also answers the customer service emails and maintains an extremely high regard for customer service.

“Because of my experience, I know customer service and am able to quickly manage any issues a customer may have. I’m quick to answer and resolve their needs.”

So, what’s the future look like for Sean Ali and his shops? He’s had a few offers to buy his company, but right now he’s enjoying what he’s doing. It’s his main source of income and something he is truly passionate about right now. He’s also been offered opportunities to purchase production equipment/facilities and bring production in-house.

For Sean, that just isn’t in the cards right now. He’s been in the throes of production and is happy to let SPOD be his production and shipping partner. Ali wants to continue to learn what he can do to make the business better, get more customers, satisfy more customers, and increase repeat purchases.

Are you a SPOD merchant? Would you want to share your story and be featured? Let us know at talk2us@spod.com or reach out to Terrille Horton at terrille.horton@spod.com We’d love to hear from you and feature you and your business.

DTF Printing Your Designs: Advantages

Whatever your product, design or niche, Spreadshop has the right printing method to get the most out of your creations. Most designs are printed with the infamous allrounder, direct digital printing. But for accessories made from more rigid materials, including caps, bags or products with particularly fine fibers such as polyester shirts, we need to find a better match. This is when it‘s DTF (Direct-to-Film) printing’s time to shine.

DTF Printing Transfers: The Ins and Outs

Digital printing involves spraying your designs, just like an inkjet printer, directly onto the products. With DTF printing, however, your motif is firstly pressed onto a foil (or film). This allows for very exact ink quantities, meaning vibrant colors, opaque whites as well as remarkably sharp and fine edges. DTF film absorbs almost every drop of color, so even high levels of detail and color gradients are no problem.

Once the film has been printed, it gets a layer of adhesive, before being pressed onto the product, which sits in a pressing device. This makes DTF printing ideally suited for both light and dark products. It’s ultimately just as durable and stretchable as the product fabric. Here’s a quick summary of the main advantages:

Available for all file formats
Extremely stretchable and durable
Suitable for dark and light textiles
Compatible with cotton, polyester, blended fabrics and many other materials

Which products do we use DTF for?

Thanks to the moderate pressing temperatures, DTF printing is suitable for numerous different fabrics, whether coarse, fine or mixed.

The rougher materials include baseball caps, hats, bags and backpacks. But it also works well on T-shirts and hoodies, and on finer materials, in particular polyester fibers. DTF prints are perfect for sport and function shirts, as they protect more sensitive fibers.

What do I need to look out for as a spread shop owner?

Basically, nothing. All our usual printing recommendations and requirements also apply to DTF printing, including:

Transparent Backgrounds
Best possible resolutions
No half-transparent prints.
Minimum line thickness of 1mm, as otherwise they can break away from coarser materials

You don’t even need to worry about which products you need to print with DTF. It’s part of our job as print-on-demand experts to find the printing style that fits your designs and ideas. That’s we set up the printing process to match each individual order. The goal is simple: to get the best possible printing results. Good thing we know a thing or two about this.

By the way, some of the most recent products activated for your shop are only possible due to the introduction of DTF printing. These include the children’s apron and the umbrella. More products will follow. Stay tuned!

Now you want to find out more about DTF? Let us know in the comments. Otherwise keep your eyes peeled for further reports on what we do.

How to Stay Positive Online

The internet can be a dark and scary place, if you let it. There are ways to stay positive and make your corner of the internet feel like a safe space. When you put out positive vibes, that’s what you get back!

Follow people that inspire you and motivate you to do better. When you surround yourself with positivity online, you’ll make better content. It’s as simple as that. But how exactly do you stay positive online? We’ve got some suggestions:

Lead With Kindness

When you’re scrolling through social media, it’s easy to get caught up in the negative comments. But what if you flipped the script and left positive, uplifting comments instead?

You never know how much your words can impact someone’s day. A little positivity can go a long way, so next time you’re on social media, take a moment to leave some kind comments. It’ll make the world a better place – and who knows, that positivity might just come back to you!

Leave Toxic People Behind

It’s important to follow people online that make you feel good. When you surround yourself with positive influences, every aspect of your life will benefit. You’ll feel better about yourself day-to-day and be able to produce better content.

So take a good look at your feed and the people you follow. Are they bringing you joy? Is their presence on your feed a positive one? If not, it might be time to reassess who you’re spending time with on the internet. You shouldn’t be following people out of jealousy or people that make you feel bad about yourself and your content. Instead, focus on finding and following people who will inspire and support you.

Put Out Good Energy

One of the best ways to show your support for someone is by hyping them up online. Whether it’s congratulating them on a job well done, complimenting their outfit, or just leaving some cute emojis, positivity goes a long way. And when you do it on social media, it shows that you’re engaged with their content and that you want to support them. So go ahead and spread the love!

Not everyone has family and friends in there to support them, and one positive comment can really make someone’s day. It will be even more special if you leave these comments on posts from your followers and friends. You’ll be seen as a kind and thoughtful person.

Set the Phone Down

Sometimes you just need to put the screen down for a while. No matter how positive your online space is, it’s important to take a break every now and then. Spending too much time on the internet can be detrimental to your physical and mental health. Our brains and bodies need time to relax and recharge. So go for a walk, read a book, or make a snack. You’ll come back feeling refreshed and ready to take on the day’s work.

Get Down to Business

One of the best ways to stay positive on social media is to put out great content. People will be more attracted to your content when you put out stuff that motivates them rather than gets them down. Instead of talking about stuff that’s stressing you out, talk about what you’re proud you achieved that day. That kind of content will only inspire people and encourage them to follow you!

When you’re being your true authentic self, people can tell. They don’t want to follow someone that’s putting on an act or just trying to get views and likes. Make sure you’re genuine when you talk about positivity on the internet and what you achieved that day.

You can spread positivity in a lot of ways, and merch is one of them! Put inspiring quotes and graphics on all kinds of merch to spread your message and grow your brand. Launching your own merch is FREE and easy with Spreadshop.

Start making and selling your own merch today!