The secret to running a business with no inventory by using Print On Demand with Audrey Kandil

As small business owners, we spend a LOT of our time making inventory, packing orders and dropping them off at the post office. So much time is spent here that we sometimes DON'T have the time to truly work on growing our business.

One of the newest ways to build a business that is becoming a HOT topic is Print On Demand. With Print on Demand, you partner with a 3rd party that creates your products AND ships your products with NO work on your end.

Today, special guest Audrey Kandil shares her secrets to how Print On Demand can work in your business and how to get started.

Audrey is an MRI technologist turned print-on-demand entrepreneur. She leveraged her ambition and work ethic to transform what was once a side hustle into a thriving brand that she now operates on her own time using Print On Demand, with the freedom to teach other entrepreneurs the secrets to her success.

BY THE TIME YOU FINISH LISTENING, YOU'LL​ LEARN:

• What Print On Demand really is and how you can run a business with zero inventory of your own
• How Audrey used Print On Demand to grow her own business and leave her full time job to focus on her passion
• The benefits of Print On Demand and how it can save you time, money, and STRESS from not having to make your own inventory, warehouse your own inventory, or even SHIP your own inventory... and how you can get started today

LINKS MENTIONED IN TODAY'S EPISODE

Follow Audrey on Instagram: @audreykandil

Sign up for Audrey's masterclass: How To Generate Passive Income with Products

Learn more about Audrey's course: Passion To Profit with Print On Demand

When you finish listening, I'd love to hear your biggest takeaway from today’s episode. Take a screenshot of the episode you're listening to, share it to your Instagram stories and tag me @monicalittlecoaching - or send me a DM!​

While you're there, make sure you follow me so you can see behind the scenes of how I grew my handmade organic skincare small business to multiple six-figures... and how you can grow and scale your business, too.

LEARN MORE FROM MONICA LITTLE

Website:www.monicalittlecoaching.com

Instagram: @monicalittlecoaching

My small business: www.shopplantbasedbeauty.com

Transcript

00:00

Hello and welcome to episode 29 of the product biz Podcast.

Today we are talking about print on demand. With special guest Audrey can deal. Audrey is a former MRI technologist that turned into a print on demand entrepreneur, she leveraged her ambition, her work ethic to transform what was once her side hustle into a thriving brand that she now operates on her own time with freedom to teach other entrepreneurs, the secret to her success. So if you don't know what print on demand is, we are going to be diving into that today. But it's basically when you have a product that you sell, but a third party, someone else actually makes the product to order, ships it for you and takes care of that entire process. So all that you do is come up with the designs and promote do the marketing for your products. And someone else takes care of the inventory, the shipping the handling, which is such an awesome business model. I'm so excited for you to hear from Audrey, she has so much knowledge on this topic, we're gonna dive into how does print on demand work? What are the benefits? What are the trade offs? What products are actually good for this type of business model, and how you can learn more about print on demand today? Are you ready to go behind the scenes and learn what it really takes to create consistent sales each and every month with your handmade small business? Join me Monica little self taught multiple six figure small business owner and your product business coach, as I give you the insight and inspiration on how to better run your business and increase your sales in ways that you may not have even been aware of to get your business and truly become what you knew it could be fact when you first start, learn how to let go of perfection, overcome the fear of failure that is holding you back. And finally start taking action so that you walk away feeling like you've cracked the code on how to run a successful small business. You're listening to the product biz podcast. Well, welcome Audrey, I'm so excited to have you on the product, this podcast to talk all things print on demand with you today.

02:22

Oh my gosh, I'm so excited. Thanks for having me. I feel like print on demand is the hot new thing. Like everybody wants to talk about it. Everybody wants to get involved in the business. So I'm excited to talk to the people listening today about how they can get started.

02:37

Yeah, I think this is gonna be such a good conversation. And I was just telling you, too, before we hit record that I'm kind of like potentially thinking of starting a second product based business. And I've been thinking potentially a bit to be print on demand. So I'm like, This is gonna be a perfect conversation for everyone listening to learn more about it. But I'm also super excited just to hear more about your knowledge that you have on this awesome way to grow and build a product business. So I want to just start for people who don't know what print on demand is because this is pretty new to me. And when we met earlier this year, as the ultimate product party print on demand, that was like the first time I ever heard of it when you mentioned it there and you were talking about it. So from a very basic level for people who don't know what print on demand, bring us up to speed on like what it is.

03:27

So print on demand is a business model where you can customize and sell products online without having any inventory. Essentially, a customer can come to your website, buy a product, and then a notification will get sent to a third party warehouse, where they then will print package and ship the product for you making the business a low risk and 100% online.

03:52

Yeah, I absolutely love that. Because it's like a super unique business model. Because a lot of the times when you think of running a product business, it's like having a ton of inventory and having the space for the inventory and also having the money for the raw materials and having everything in stock. But what you're saying is with print on demand, there's no inventory that you have. So it's literally partnering with someone who then like makes the product ships for you takes care of everything once you get the order for that right.

04:24

Exactly. And you only have to pay for the product if your customer buys so there's no contract that you have to sign or minimum order quantity that you have to meet like it's basically you buy from me and then I buy from them and they do all the work and I get to pocket the profit.

04:41

Oh my gosh, I love it. That's like simplification of your business. So much. It sounds so nice and so easy. What are some examples of like, products that kind of fit into this print on demand wheelhouse that can be done in this manner.

04:56

Yeah, so that's the thing. There are 1000s have types of products that can be done print on demand style. I personally sell coffee mugs, sweatshirts, T shirts, posters, phone cases, stickers, I sell a bunch of different products, but it even goes into you can sell car mats, dog leashes, Christmas ornaments. Really, the list is endless when it comes to types of products.

05:21

Yeah. Oh my gosh, it's so beautiful. So how does it work in terms of like your, the coffee mugs, the sweatshirts, the T shirts, because I know I've seen you share on Instagram about this. But how does it work in terms of like, there's obviously you coming up with a design or you figuring out what you want it to look like before it actually gets to like that third party, who's fulfilling the order and shipping the order and taking care of everything. There's like that design aspect and like your business part of it that comes first. So how does that work in this scenario?

05:52

Yeah, so basically how I did it, I, I'm just gonna go ahead and give a little backstory on my story of how I got started. So it can kind of come full circle. I originally worked at a hospital doing MRI and nuclear medicine. So I had zero business experience. But I did have really ambitious goals, I wanted to buy a car, a condo and max out my investment accounts all within the same year. And unfortunately, the money I was making from the hospital was just not going to get me there. So that's when I started looking for different side hustles. And I tried a bunch of different side hustles, I tried selling on Poshmark, I tried digital marketing, and nothing really fit. And I think it's because I was already working a full time job. So I hit the burnout stage pretty quickly. But when I found print on demand and found out at baseline 80% of your business is already outsourced. That was like the golden ticket for me, I was sold on this business model. And with my goal being saved my money, I didn't want to spend a bunch of money, I didn't want to spend $5,000, in order to make $10,000, I wasn't willing to put a big investment into my business. So what I did is I created a brand online, so I picked a niche. I picked a or I started building a brand online where I and I'm not artistic at all. So my design that I created were all outsourced to a graphic designer. So I brought the brand concept to the graphic designer and said, Hey, can you make me some really cool designs that are around this niche? And she was like, yes, so I paid a little bit of money for designs. And then I uploaded those onto the print on demand products, and sold them to my community, which was really cool.

07:45

Oh my gosh, I love it. I love how you even like, outsource the graphic design and then you print on demand. Because that's something that I talk with my clients all the time, it's like an exactly like you said, if you are working full time, or you have kids or you have responsibilities, or something's going on where you don't have like the time, the energy, the resources, what can you do to like outsource and make it easier on you. That's like the name of the game when there are a million other moving pieces going on at the same time. So how you're able to use that with print on demand, like not only a graphic designer to help actually design it, but then the fulfillment and the shipping and everything to like that's super unique. And that's not something that we hear about often. But is print on demand. Like I know you mentioned at the beginning, this is kind of a hot topic. So do you see more business owners going in this direction with print on demand 100% Because

08:43

listen, if you are coming up with product ideas to sell you basically the the typical process is coming up with the idea ordering samples and then ordering. Let's say you owe you want to sell a t shirt. So you have to order 20 of that T shirt. Okay, so you have 20 T shirts, now you have to sell those T shirts. What if that design doesn't work? What if your customers hate that design? What if they love it, but you can only sell 20. So you're either kept URI, you're either stuck with the inventory, or you're capped with your income. But with print on demand, you can put one design out and say, Okay, I can sell essentially an unlimited number of these products. Or I could sell none, but I also don't have to eat the cost of what it costs to produce all of these products because I didn't have to produce any of them.

09:35

Yeah, that's such a unique way. Like this is such an awesome business model. And one thing that I've kind of been dabbling in that I mentioned a lot earlier too is potentially coming out with like a small business owners journal, where people have like prompts and it's both productivity to help with like day to day stuff but also more on like the meditation and mindfulness signed some prompts on that. And that was the graphic designer that I'm working with on this was like, why don't you do their print on demand? I'm like, oh, that could be a potential great option. Because like you're saying they don't don't have to order like 200 or 250, or 300 journals on this new concept where I'm like, I have some good market research that people will like, be receptive to it, but it's still like a gamble. Right? So do ya? Do you see a lot of like, new small businesses going in this direction more? Or do you see people who are kind of like established and maybe trying to just make things easier on them on on what side of like that spectrum? Do you see people going into print on demand?

10:41

I see both like me, personally, I have lots of students who come in and they just want to make like side hustle income. And they want to like have that extra source of income that's more passive, because essentially, you create a product once and it can sell years down the line. But I also have business owners with existing product based businesses that are like fine in over my head with the products that I'm creating right now. Like, I literally couldn't make more money if I wanted to, because I'm going to drive myself crazy. I need to start outsourcing. So it's a great option for those people who are working full time in their businesses as well.

11:17

Yeah. And I think too, one thing that you mentioned that kind of sparked an idea is it's probably like a really good business model for people who do more custom work to where it's like, for example, the t shirt example, if someone's doing more of like custom T shirts, or just have like, a huge amount of skews, like if they have over 20 different types, then exactly like you said, instead of buying 20 different designs in 20, different sizes, for and 20 different, like however many colors too, right? It just starts to compile. So do you see a lot of people with more of like custom products that are coming in through this tool?

11:57

I think it can go either way, right? Like, I think you can create one specific design and sell it unlimited amount of times. Or you can say, hey, you can go ahead. And there's actually one company that does something really, really cool. They do customizable embroidery on autopilot. So actually, it's completely hands off, you could sell a sweatshirt, and let's say you want to sell, you do like a cursive name that's embroidered, you can have it to where your customer types in the name on your website, and then it auto sends over to the company and they just do it. So it's completely hands off for you.

12:33

Oh my gosh, I love it. That's like the dream.

12:37

Yeah. The other thing that I wanted to mention that I think is so cool about like using a third party warehouse, and it's not something that everybody likes to talk about. But whether you outsource everything, or whether you do everything yourself, things are gonna happen in your business, either you're gonna forget to ship a product, or you're, let's say the order gets lost in the mail, or the product comes damaged. This happens with product based businesses. We all know it if you have a business. It's just something. Hopefully it doesn't happen often. And it doesn't happen often with print on demand. But it happens. The cool part is that if your customer has a lost order or receives a damaged product, the print on demand warehouse will reprint repackage and re ship the product for you at no additional cost to you. So if you typically have a gap in your budget for like misprints and lost orders and broken orders, the print on demand, the print on demand warehouse will cover it completely for you. Yeah, so not only are you saving like time, you're saving money by not having to like, have all these raw materials and inventory but also saving money on the side of if something happens in transit, or taking care of it. Yeah, yeah, like, for example, I was ordering with a small business the other day, and it was a candle and the candle. Unfortunately, when it came to my house, it was like broken in half. And I felt like obviously I said something to the business owner, but I felt bad because I knew because I'm on the business side of things that she was going to have to resend me one for free, but it was still going to cost her money. But I knew with my business model, it wouldn't cost me any money. Yeah, like that was something that she couldn't really control that well. You know, yeah, having

14:34

that security, that stability, which is something like all people want, right, so that extra layer, extra padding layer of support from working with print on demand. I love it. So we heard a little bit about your story about like, how you were working full time and I know now you run your business full time, right? Yes, yes. And how was that transition? Just kind of as like a side topic. How long have you been running your business full time?

14:59

You So this 145, I've been full time for about two months now. And I cannot explain to you it's just one of those things where it's like you don't know what you don't know, the amount of stress that has been taken off my shoulders. And the amount of time that I have is literally insane. I love I wish I would have done this three years ago. And it was one of those things where I probably could have done it three years ago, I was just like, afraid of the unknown. But when I did it, and I took the leap, I was like, What can I do sooner?

15:33

It's been so good. Yeah, it's not as scary. Like once you actually do it, I think like the thought of leaving your full time job is super scary. But once it's like day one and working for yourself full time, it's like, oh, you know, this isn't as scary as like people made me think it would be or as I mean, there's still like challenges, obviously. And you know, growth that's required, but it's not nearly as scary. When you look back on it. Did you have like a similar realization after you left your full time job? Oh, yeah.

16:00

Oh, yeah. It was definitely like my limiting beliefs that were stopping me from going full time in business more than anything else. Yeah.

16:07

Yeah. And it's great, great to hear and see, because that's something that I know a lot of people really want to do with their business, it's like to have it support them full time. So they can leave like the job that they're obligated to do that they don't really like that they're around people maybe that they don't love to be around every single day. So with your transition to working for yourself full time. I know you mentioned like your specific niche that you really speak to with like the coffee, the sweatshirts and T shirts. But tell us more about your actual, like product based business that you use print on demand for but who's your niche, whatever products like I know, they have awesome quotes, but I'll let you do the explaining of like, what it is and all that fun stuff.

16:52

Yeah, so my brand is named motivated, babe, and I sell merch for female entrepreneurs. So a lot of my products are very motivating, inspirational and empowering for women who are in business.

17:05

And how long were you doing that before you actually left your full time job? Because I know you said while you're working full time you started motivated, baby. But how long were you doing that on the side before you left?

17:16

I think in total, it was about three years.

17:20

I love it. And all that through three years was through print on demand and getting your products in this fashion,

17:27

right 100%. And good thing it was because if I would have stocked inventory of the very first design I ever launched, I can tell you to this day, I would still have inventory of that product. It took me a lot because I didn't have like a blueprint to follow, right? Like it took me three years because I had to trial and error everything on my own. I didn't have like a coach or a guru or somebody that I could look up, excuse me look up to, I had to do it all on my own. And that's why I decided to create my own course for people who are interested in print on demand. Because I thought, Gosh, this would have been really nice to know all these things that took me to this point three years ago, because I could have got here a lot faster, with a lot less money

18:08

could have left your full time job probably a lot sooner. And then where you are right now by like having that knowledge and actually implementing it faster. Right? Yes. 100%. Yeah, love it. And we'll talk more about your course too. But I have a couple of questions I want to ask you on like this print on demand getting into some of the nitty gritty. So you partner with like a third party, you have your designs, and then someone orders it and the third party will like ship it take care of it, all that fun stuff. But what's the actual process of like, where do you sell print on demand? Do you have your own website? Is it on Etsy? Where's like the customer starting point that then trickles into this print on demand like domino that happens?

18:52

Yeah, so I personally sell my products on Shopify, and then I wholesale with fair, but every print on demand warehouse that you find they will integrate with Etsy, Amazon, Walmart, all of the E commerce platforms they have I think it's called API or something. I think it's API where it will connect directly

19:13

to the store that you have. Got it. So what does that mean? So if it connects to Shopify, for example, someone will go to your motivated eBay website, they will purchase something that you have on Shopify and literally with that connection, then that third party warehouse gets a notification ships it out and like you have no involvement in that at

19:32

all. Is that right? Exactly. So the you'll get the order on Shopify, Etsy, whichever platform that you're on, it'll automatically go to the third party warehouse and then as the warehouse updates, okay, we printed the product. We shipped the product. Here's the tracking information, Shopify, or whichever ecommerce platform you're on. Will auto send emails on the back end. Hey, your product shipped. Hey, you know your product was delivered. So everything's automated.

20:03

Oh my gosh, I can't even like imagine that because I'm thinking of my process when someone orders from plant based beauty and like, the chaos of all the orders and packing them and going to the post office. I'm like, This just sounds, this sounds so nice.

20:17

Yeah, and I feel bad because like, I can't relate to traditional product based business owners, because I've never, I've never, I mean, aside from like, the little fling I had with Poshmark of like packing and selling orders. But like, I love to travel. And I probably travel once a month, if I can. And so the idea of having to either pause my business or put my business on hold, because I'm not at home to fulfill the orders sounds terrible. I can run my business from anywhere in the world because it's 100% online, because I do have that third party doing all of the in person work for me. Yeah,

20:54

I love it. That's like the dream right there. And the more we talk about it, the more I'm like, wow. Like, this is awesome. This is such a great solution. So talk me through. You mentioned fair, so this part is super interesting. So when you sell on fair, its wholesale to selling to boutique, retail stores, all that fun stuff. Does print on demand also integrate with fare in that same way?

21:22

So not yet. The from sort of let me explain. The print on no man warehouse does not directly integrate with fare, but it integrates with Shopify, which integrates with fare. So that's how I do it. Got it. So it's kind of like a three way process. Oh, my gosh, but it's doable. Right. So like, that's nice. Yeah. Like, it's not like you get the order on fare. And then you have to go to the third party and be like, Hey, I

21:51

just got this order, you know, and manually do it. It's still like that easy flow and connection. Which is exactly. So much easier. Are such a such a awesome business model. So question for you. If someone is interested in like, getting started with print on demand. I know you mentioned there are a lot of different products. And you mentioned some of the ones that you do. But maybe let's just talk through a couple more examples. So when people are listening, they can see like, oh, yeah, like I do make that and like that could be something awesome that I put through print on demand. I know like coffee mugs, that's such an awesome one sweatshirts T shirts, give us maybe a few more examples of where this really makes sense.

22:33

I think I think if you're looking to get started, the two places I will get started are Printful and printify. Basically, Printful is its own warehouse, they have warehouses all over the US, maybe even the world, I'm not sure. But you can take you can start by looking at their catalogue and looking at which products that they sell that either are aligned with your business or products that you might already sell, upload your designs that you have to these products, and then order samples and see if you like the quality and get started there. The other one that I highly recommend is prenta phi, which is one that I use mostly. And prenta Phi is a software that connects you to hundreds of different print on demand warehouses all over the world. So I would do the same thing with printify, I would just look through their catalogue and see which products are already aligned with your business your brand in order samples from them. Yeah,

23:35

I love it. I love how like you reverse engineer that right? So it's, let's see what they have what they offer, and then see what makes a good fit with what you have. Because that's a super easy way I think people who are listening in might be like, This sounds awesome. But I just don't know what one of my products make sense. Well, we can just go there and actually check it out. And like that will bring the ideas up. So yeah, yeah, I love that because like for me, especially not being super well versed in this topic, it's good to hear where to kind of get some of those creative juices to be flowing and what tools are out there. So with print on demand, do you have any other tips for people who are starting I think what you just mentioned is an awesome one. Any other like super beginner tips that you want to mention for people who are interested?

24:29

Just start taking action. Analysis paralysis is like the worst thing for all of us business owners like just start even if you just have to start with one of your products. Just start don't make it overt more overwhelming than it has to be it is as simple as it sounds. I am going to be hosting a free masterclass on five simple steps on how you can get started with print on demand. I will definitely leave the link with Monica so you guys can join that and watch that and go through because I think that's definitely going to give you the book We'll print you need to get started.

25:01

Yeah, I think that's great. Because I know a lot of people are going to be really interested in this. And the one thing that you just said, which I think is so awesome is like, start with one product. So this doesn't need to be like a huge overhaul of like redoing your entire business. Maybe there's like one or two or a couple of things that really makes sense. And like, give it a whirl and see how it goes. And if it's so much easier, and less money and less inventory, then it's like, that's your little segue into getting it fully set up.

25:31

Yeah, like, what's the risk here? Like, there really is? None,

25:34

you know? Yeah. So let's talk about like, obviously, this is such a great solution. Like you said, there's like no risk. But on the flip side, there's probably like, something that is a trade off. So is it potentially like the margins that are maybe a trade off there, since you are using this print on demand service? Does that where like this risk and ease trade off kind of comes into play? Well, I think when you're talking

26:05

about profit margins, it really comes down to your branding, and how you're pricing your products and the products you choose. I think that there are definitely some products on the printify or Printful, or whichever platform you decide to go to that you're going to look at the product. And you're just going to say no, I don't think that fits with my brand, because it's just too expensive. And that's okay, there's still 100 more products that you're going to be able to find and sell. And if it's something where you can mix and match with your own online shop or the with your own products that you're fulfilling out yourself, it's at least taking away some of the work from you. The other thing that I do see people kind of get caught up in is the shipping times because the products are made to order. So it's not that two day Amazon shipping that we're all getting used to, it's, it's going to take four to seven days to create. And then it's going to take another however many days to ship. But as long as you are honest with your customers, you are not competing with Amazon, you are not competing with Walmart, you are a small business and your customers know that as long as you are honest with your customers and use it as a perk like this is our sustainable business model. Your product was made to order with love. It's going to take an extra four days to create your customers are not going to mind.

27:27

Yeah, and it's just like level setting those expectations and just letting them know that off the bat. Yeah, there's no like negative association with that, as long as you're crystal clear with the customers right up front.

27:39

And right. Like there's this huge hatred right now, if SHAN Or Shane, whatever it's called, because of all of the clothing that they're mass producing in the fast fashion. Like there's a big uprise of people who are against fast fashion, because the products are created, and then they go to waste. So I think at any time, it's now to fuel this sustainability in your business model, because that's how it is at baseline.

28:05

Yeah, and I think a lot of people are getting more involved in that across the board of like, how to make a business more sustainable, how to make sure we're like doing our part, how to make sure we don't have a ton of waste, not only because it costs us money as business owners, but also because it's just generating waste, like on this planet, right? So it's super interesting how that becomes more of like a bigger ethos across the board for so many business owners that this is like a perfect solution to it, which is so cool. Yeah. Oh my gosh, well, like I'm sold. So whoever's listening is like, oh my gosh, this is amazing, too, because this just sounds absolutely awesome. So tell us a little bit more about this masterclass or where people can find you on Instagram, your course all of the fun things. Bring us up to speed on what you offer. Yeah, so

28:57

I'm mostly hanging out on Instagram and Tiktok. I'm more consistent on Instagram. My handle is Audrey can deal it's at our UI KNDIL And I have the free masterclass coming out that I would love everybody to join but also if you're looking for something that is completely done for you to Toriel style everything you know to get from start to full blown print on demand business owner I do have a signature course that you can find on my website at Audrey candido.com

29:29

Oh my gosh, I love it. All the support all the knowledge you are such like a print on demand guru. So it's been awesome to just like hear more about it because this is a super unique up and coming business model. I think it can help so many small business owners. And it's just awesome to hear from someone who's been doing it for like three years, right and like all the knowledge you have, and just being able to understand the benefits and how it works and the connectivity. So this is an awesome topic. I know people will Sing are going to just be just as excited. I will definitely make sure to link where people can find you, your masterclass, sign up your course. So for everyone listening who's interested in that, that will be in the show notes. Is there anything else you want to leave people with in terms of print on demand any final words of wisdom on this topic? I know that's like a nuance. But

30:24

like, like I said before, just get started. Do not let overwhelm stop you from this opportunity. My dams are open if you just want to bounce ideas off or just like talk to me. I'm here for you.

30:36

Oh, my gosh, I love it. Well, thank you so much, Andre. It was so great chatting with you. And I will for sure be seeing you at your masterclass and I know we will talk soon. Thank you so much for joining me here on the product based podcast.

30:49

Thank you. Thanks for having me.

30:54

Thank you so much for hanging out with me here inside the product biz podcast. If you love this episode, don't forget to subscribe and to leave a five star review. And if you're interested in learning more about product biz Academy my signature group coaching program for handmade small business owners like you who are looking to create consistent online sales with their business, then go to the product biz podcast.com to join the waitlist. Doors are currently closed but you'll be first notified when they reopen. Thank you so much, and I'll see you on the next episode of the product biz podcast.