I work from home, both with an employer, and i also have my own business. I turned my love of cars, and 30 years of photography experience, and created a dye sublimation business. Ive sold on Ebay, (until they literally drove me from their site with outrageous, and continually increasing fees), then began selling on Ecrater, after creating an LLC. Most of my business, (Dye Sublimation), was actually run at car shows, swap meets, few craft shows, where we would photograph show cars on site, then put them on mugs, towels, mousepads, keychains, hats, water bottles, etc, while they waited. I loved the shows, and the cars, but there was always a huge risk of bad weather, poor economy, or just poorly advertised shows. You could make a ton at one show, then lose your shirt at the next one. I have also done a few dog shows, and although the money is actually more stable, and predictable, I just dont enjoy them as much. The great part, was building a vast library of photos of muscle cars, that i am able to put on my items, and just sell out of my e-store. I have also had a few girls that work selling my items to their friends, and i pay them a percentage of everything they sell, a few have worked out great, (one with church groups, the other mainly with veteran wives, and moms), but many that have tried just never got much going. The lack of success of some of the people that tried, is what has prevented me from advertising for "contractors" to try. I have also done 1 "party", that was actually a complete blast, where people brought tons of pics, i set up my "shop", where the women could choose pics, then items to put them on, buying them on the spot, then taking them home with them. Many of them even wanted to learn to make the items themselves, and actually did.
Of course setting up a niche' is really the way to go, and unlike Walmart, or Zazzle, etc... I offer the digital editing of the pics, and creative "flare" to accompany it. I guess its the difference between an "Earl Shine" paint job, where you take the car completely ready for the paint job with all the body work finished, or to a body shop, there they will do everything for you. I guess the long winded post just means there are LOTS of things that you can do online, to make money, and sometimes the best ideas will be from combining out of the box thinking, with something that you honestly love. Im not sure if this pic will post, but ill try to add a pic of one of my mugs.
12-12-2011, 02:11 PM
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