When I first embarked on this journey, my initial idea was to use print-on-demand services for "something" that could generate a "side income" while I was on a career break. I tried to work on various ideas, but I couldn't get them to fruition because I was focused on making money rather than pursuing my passion.
Then it hit me—I had wanted to do "something" with the doodles since 2020, and this was the right platform and the perfect opportunity to pursue what I truly loved. My husband, Akshat, loves to doodle, and we have a whole collection on Instagram. Different doodles resonate with different people, and I wanted to offer personalized products where customers could customize the text, which is perfectly suited for print-on-demand services. We use Printify and Printful to fulfill our orders because they offer a variety of products and work with many print providers who specialize in specific printing services. When choosing a print provider, I test several prints thoroughly to ensure packaging and quality. Some products made sense financially but didn't meet our quality standards, so they have been eliminated from our offerings.
One of my biggest frustrations is the inability to customize packaging for my brand. I dream of creating an experience where the joy starts with the package itself, not just the product inside. I love receiving well-packaged items with custom cards, and it's disappointing that I can't provide that experience right now. While I could introduce another tier for packaging, it adds delays to the shipment process and increases costs, which I want to avoid.
I've contacted several printing companies, but they either specialize only in paper printing or lack the tools for me to design. I don't know how to use CAD, and Printify's design software is user-friendly, though creating the perfect design often requires using multiple images to ensure high quality, demanding a lot of precision. Aside from customizable packaging, I also want to understand what products people love so I can better curate our product line. The refinement process will help me find the right print providers to work with directly, as there's no one-size-fits-all solution at the moment.
If you came across this blog and are a print provider who can offer me the tools to design products, please get in touch!