Starting a small home printing business

[Paul_GCP]

Hi,

For a while now ive been contemplating starting my own small printing business. I would like to be able to run this from home however I would be willing to expand given the right circumstances.
Ive just a few questions id' like to ask you guys and I basically just want to get to know your ideas.
Firstly, I will be offering duplication services. Id be looking to produce and print things such as: flyers, leaflets, business cards, letterheads and all other basic things to get me started. Also ill be offering a full design service that I would charge hourly or for free for larger quantity orders.
Also, this may sound amatuerish given that I have been researching for a while now, but would a good quality colour laserjet printer with a duty cycle of around 30,000 per month be sufficient to get me started? I dont have much of a budget to get me started (aound £600-£700) and I reckon I could get myself the things I need for around the £500 mark. Maybe im being naive, but as I say, I only want to operate small and build progressively, as of course its a new business' objective to survive first.
I was wondering what would be the best way to market my business? Ill be advertising in the yellow pages and also ill put an Ad in the local newspaper. How about printing 500 or so flyers and posting them into local businesses? Or emailing local businesses?
Ill be offering loyalty packages aswell, with return customers being granted 10% off their orders.
Any help is appreciated.

TIA

 

[DiscoverCRM]

Hello,

Its difficult for you to quantify what your costs will be, for example will your first print run be 5000 colour brochures? would this affect your cash flow, obviously colour will be a larger drain, bearing in mind businesses would appreciate 30 days credit so start up and inital running costs may be more than you have accounted for.

I think Flyers, or emails followed with that personal call, woul be the best place to start but all this ads to your costs. so although initial start may be easy running initally may provide more of a challenge than you fully appreciate.

The reason i say this is I train people in marketing there business online. some of the modules of my course have 7 books consisting in total of about 400 pages, my inital quote from prontaprint was £300.00 for printing, I tested and including binding i could print them for £70.00 hoever when i actually did it, my time, waste and other factors made my best guess of £70.00 amazingly short of the mark. so please check your factors as acuratley as you can and account for everything.

Just make sure you can afford to make a go even if things dont hit the ground running.

You may also want to consider direct mail, and direct email marketing i find them very effective. B2B and B2C

Carlton.
DiscoverCRM

 

[Paul_GCP]

Thanks for the quick reply.

You are right about the costs and initial outlay, and I have considered them merticulously. I have no doubt in my ability to produce the goods if there was demand. My main source of anxiousness is obviously sourcing the demand.

For example, if someone came to me with a request for 5000 colour brochures like you stated, I could most definately get them produced within the next 48 hours.

Thanks again

 

[Minuteman Press]

Tia,

Your set-up budget sounds very low. Happy to advise - feel free to PM and we can talk in more detail.

Peter

 

[Paul_GCP]

will do, thanks for the help.

 

[Chris Ashdown]

Printers often print many orders on a single sheet and then cut to fit

With your design skills you may be better to contact local printers ans see if you can work with them, you give them the print ready artwork and they print for you (far, Far cheaper than inkjet)

The customer does not know the sub contract work, the printer gets better value on his print run and you do not need to spend hours printing single pages

Customer wins all round with professional print

 

[easiprint]

I started just the way you describe about 13 years ago. Little black and white laser printer in the spare bedroom (colour laser printers were very expensive back then!) A few things to bear in mind. If you are going for a colour laser printer, be very careful with things like toner usage, drum life, etc. Don't take any notice of the manufacturers page life for these things. When you start doing solid coverage jobs, as most leaflets and brochures are, the toner you will use will be very high. I've lost money on jobs in the past due to the toner costs. Also, the drums may need replacing sooner to keep the quality to a saleable level. It may be worth you looking into getting a reconditioned colour machine on a click charge. For example a Xerox DC12 could be bought for a few hundred, and if you can get it on a click charge it makes quoting a lot easier. No unexpected bills coming in. (just in case you don't know, a click charge is a price you pay per print which then covers all toner, repairs, etc. sorry if you did know!). We now have three Xerox digital presses, all on click contracts and I wouldn't have it any other way. Also, bear in mind that when people go to a commercial printer, very often their work will have a bleed, but many small laser printers cannot print on oversize paper to allow this.

Other things you will need - guillotine for cutting down? Booklet maker for stapling and folding brochures? Folding machine?

When I started, I made friends with a local printing company who could do anything I could not. Because I was putting regular work their way I got good prices. It's hard getting new clients, but if you get one and you cannot do their job due to equipment limitations, they won't be back.

Best of luck.

 

[neildigital]

I would consider as so many new into the print industry, by reselling print from a larger company. Find a good, reliable print company, then build up a client base before getting into the production yourself.

I setup myself 3 years ago, with printing inhouse and the machine/equipment costs way higher than figures you have quoted. And a problem I found was noone would deal with a new company, ie. courier company, paper suppliers, etc.

Neil

PS. again if you want to chat more, being a small company still, email me or phone

 

[Paul_GCP]

Thanks for the replies, its really refreshing to see established people offering advice and help, thank you.

I understand everything you guys are saying, I have thought about the toner costs and that is the main thing that is making me sit on the fence as to whether to really get into the business. Ive found a few good websites, including Tonergiant that offer good prices for toners. But as you say, I cant see the printers achieving the manafacturer quotes.
Of course i suppose the main thing is just getting the equipment together and planning out costs so that pricing can be established. It would appear to be an uphill struggle but its still something that I wish to get into. As i say, I dont want to take the market by storm, just want to get established with a few clients. Im at a loss as to the best approach

Thanks again

 

[easiprint]

So long as you are not relying on it to pay the mortgage, then I say go for it. I did and don't regret it at all. The only way to learn is to do it. When I set up, I had experience in digital print as I had worked for printing companies for several years, but I still made many mistakes, as the only way to learn how to run a printing company is to do it.

Your main hurdle will be getting the equipment you need on that budget. If you can make do with an A4 printer for now, you can get a brand new Xerox for about £300. It will not do heavyweight card, but will be fine for leaflets, etc. You can also get it on a PagePack contract, which is similar to the click contracts the bigger machines use. You will pay a set price per page. It may be 8p or 9p per page, but when you consider the price of a set of toners could be £600+ and you could only get 2000 pages from that set making 30p per page (I know, I have done it), that makes the pay per page prices look better, and you will always know what to charge to make a profit. Other manufactuers do similar schemes now. When you're in pay for print, it is the only way to go really. Not used them myself, but printerland do the pay per print schemes on many printers. http://www.printerland.co.uk/ManagedPrint.aspx

 

[Paul_GCP]

Thanks again

That does seem pretty interesting. Though its taking some understanding! haha
Ive looked at a few A4 printers that I can get four toner cartridges that (apparently) I would be able to get 2,000 pages out of. Tonergiant offers value packs for all four together for around £160.
Would a decent colour laserjet for around 200-300 such as a HP CM1312 be anygood?
Baring in mind that im only wishing to produce business cards, flyers, leaflets and brochures. I can obtain a booklet machine so thats not a problem.
Ill continue to have a look at these schemes you have forwarded. Again I thank you, and thank you for your patience!

 

[office man]

Hi there,

I both sell laser printers and i am also a printer so i might be able to help.

If you are trying to achieve a business print level of printing you are not going to achieve this on an laser office style printer (sorry to let you down) - sure you will get a good quality finish and on some jobs it mass well pass scrutiny.

However; there is a reason that most printers lease very high quality (and expensive) machines to run their jobs - that's what you need to get the professional (and if you are charging then its professional that you are offering) finish.
You would be far better researching for a 'trade only' print house so that you can be the broker. You get the sales, they do the work.

Trade only printers will discount heavily to you as the broker, they only work with brokers, they will not go direct and they have the machines, infrastructure and experience to provide you and your clients with the level of quality that you can charge for.

hope this helps

 

[Davek0974]

Hi
I've been a printer, both commercial and in-plant for over 30 years now, in your position i would look to brokering the work, i.e. you get the jobs and an established printers makes them for you, its lower profit but less outlay.

What is your skills-base? Do you know anything about print, page-makeup, layout, finishing etc? Would you be willing to learn Quark x-press or Photoshop or Adobe In-design software etc?

The days of running a printers in the garage at home are long gone now, jobs are hard fought-for and a little knowledge goes a long way. Don't forget that if you feel you can produce jobs on a laser printer at home then so could the customer, this is what has killed small printers off.

Its a tough life being a printer at the low end of the scale, customers rarely want to pay you the going rate, then sometimes fail to pay at all, its a lot of hassle for little return these days.

Sorry to sound so pessimistic but i try and tell it how it is in the world of print, its not rosy any more I'm afraid. See if you can find customers first, then see what they would like printed and if you could do it yourself. Once you get a customer base you might be OK, but you will definitely need to look at your budget.

Good luck, honestly

 

[easiprint]

I agree with officeman on the whole (as we offer a trade service too and supply many brokers!), but I don't think you should dismiss getting your own machine for some jobs. You've got to start somewhere, and as I did many years ago, I think a mix of the two would be a good way forward. Get your own machine, but make sure you understand that it will not be able to handle all jobs so you will need a trade supplier also for jobs your machine cannot handle. For example the HP CM1312 you specify would not be able to do A4 brochures, as you will need an A3+ printer. It would also not be able to feed the heavyweight card people expect for business cards. Having a trade supplier will be essential, as you cannot pick and choose which jobs you supply if you want to build a business. Also bear in mind that the quoted toner figures are usually based on 5% coverage - text only really. Once you get into solid coverage you will not get anywhere near the quoted pages from toners.

 

[Paul_GCP]

Thanks for the replies, found this thread a real eye opener.
Without a doubt, its definately something that still interests me, but I think on closer inspection ill get back to doing a lot more research before having a go. Perhaps look at brokerage a bit closer to get some more experience within the industry.

Thanks a lot, sorry if ive seemed to waste your time!

 

[nmsptyltd]

Printers often print many orders on a single sheet and then cut to fit

With your design skills you may be better to contact local printers ans see if you can work with them, you give them the print ready artwork and they print for you (far, Far cheaper than inkjet)

The customer does not know the sub contract work, the printer gets better value on his print run and you do not need to spend hours printing single pages

Customer wins all round with professional print

I can say this is one option you could do. But if you are really determined to start your own business, start with the people closest to you. You can start by accepting print jobs from people you know. Events which require invitations or notices printed with your name and address will be one good marketing strategy. Eventually, when people see the work you've done, and with the power of 'word-of-mouth' your business will be known. Easily said but I know its a long process.

Hope that helps Goodluck!

 

[nmsptyltd]

Printers often print many orders on a single sheet and then cut to fit

With your design skills you may be better to contact local printers ans see if you can work with them, you give them the print ready artwork and they print for you (far, Far cheaper than inkjet)

The customer does not know the sub contract work, the printer gets better value on his print run and you do not need to spend hours printing single pages

Customer wins all round with professional print

I can say this is one option you could do. But if you are really determined to start your own business, start with the people closest to you. You can start by accepting print jobs from people you know. Events which require invitations or notices printed with your name and address will be one good marketing strategy. Eventually, when people see the work you've done, and with the power of 'word-of-mouth' your business will be known. Easily said but I know its a long process.

Hope that helps Good luck!

 

[NEPrint]

Wow this forum is fantasic,

I too went along the lines of setting up my own printing business from home and its going great, we use printcarrier.com to do orders we cant handle you will hear horror storys from ppl about them but as long as artwork etc is set up ok then you dont have any problems, as they will just print it if its good or not the only problem i have is paper supliers, i find paper VERY expensive maybe im going to the wrong places :| if anyone could advise that would be great

P.S everyone keep up the good work, wish i had found this when i was atarting up

 

[easiprint]

Wow this forum is fantasic,

I too went along the lines of setting up my own printing business from home and its going great, we use printcarrier.com to do orders we cant handle you will hear horror storys from ppl about them but as long as artwork etc is set up ok then you dont have any problems, as they will just print it if its good or not the only problem i have is paper supliers, i find paper VERY expensive maybe im going to the wrong places :| if anyone could advise that would be great

P.S everyone keep up the good work, wish i had found this when i was atarting up

Paper is expensive these days! Are you buying enough to be able to buy from the merchants? We use Premier Beswick (www.paper.co.uk) for most of our paper, but they will want you to be placing regular orders with them.

 

[reggiemental]

In line with some of the earlier comments, I would definitely think about outsourcing to begin with. Many established printers need to outsource work on a daily basis, whether it's continuous stationery, specialist labels, printed envelopes, thermographed/laminated/die-cut business cards etc. etc.

The kit you are thinking of buying is at the low end of things quality-wise, so you'll be extremely limited in what you can professionally produce and as someone else mentioned, bleeds will cause you problems if your machine is not capable.

I'd suggest spending your time on finding the work, getting it professionally produced, packaged and delivered whilst you concentrate on finding the next job. Find a good supplier who will check your artwork before an expensive mistake is made, and stick with them. Leave equipment failures, paper buying and print finishing (unless you enjoy working when you should be in bed asleep!) to someone else whilst you concentrate on the most difficult part, getting that all-important next job.

When you approach a print supplier, tell them exactly what it is you're doing and ask for trade prices. Any decent company will oblige and that way, your clients won't be paying over the odds and you'll still be earning for very little effort.

If you approach this correctly, it can prove to be very lucrative so tread carefully before considering trying to do everything yourself.

Just my 2p, but whatever you decide I wish you the best of luck!

Paul

P.S. More than happy to have a chat. Drop me a PM if you need to.