4 Reasons You Aren't Selling T-Shirts That No One Ever Mentions! (Print on Demand Help)

[@guycampbell733]

15:26 Just an update, I ended up selling FIVE of those "Somebunny" Shirts (3 in the week before Easter). I'm halfway through tier 10 because of you! 🙌 Thanks so much! 💯

[@LisaIrby]

Yaaaaaay!!!! Thanks for the update!

[@derekellisCAN]

Wow, you know me more than I know myself...lol. You are absolutely spot on, I am a perfectionist and OCD, I would work on a design for a few hours, then realize it's crap. This is something I really need to work on, thank you for this. Bless you.

[@cindydiel4324]

Thanks so much for this. So many of the things you talked about hit home for me. Another issue I think is comparing your work to others and thinking your stuff isn't good enough. Discouraging yourself before you even give a design a chance can make it super hard to keep creating. Put it out there and give yourself and the design a chance.

[@DocFear]

Someone just pointed me to your channel last night, and you are seriously the BEST for putting out helpful information. I watched like 20 of your videos already and your tips are wonderful! I'm no noob, just have had a hard time getting traction over the years. I think your advice is going to help me the most.

[@LisaIrby]

Awww thank you Gerald!

[@laurice8056]

OMG Lisa you’ve struck Every One of my Nerves with this video! It’s made me want to get out there, and like Nike said “Just Do It!” Thanks for sharing

[@tinam.9810]

I'm a pathological perfectionist. And I'm considering quitting POD, because it takes me like forever, every time :( Actually, I thought you were talking about me, without knowing me ;)

[@LisaIrby]

😀That goes to show you how many perfectionists I've encountered on this journey. This is such a hot topic in my group! You are not alone.

[@tinam.9810]

@@LisaIrby Thanks. It's encouraging to know that I'm not alone :) You know, my problem is I CANT give up, even when it seems necessary. So most probably, I wont be able to quit it eventually.

[@cindydiel4324]

I understand your struggle with being a perfectionist. Remember you look at the world in your own special way and only you can share that with others. Maybe you should do a perfectionist shirt for all of us. =}

[@tinam.9810]

@@cindydiel4324 Thanks, Cindy! Good idea, I thought to make a shirt "perfectly imperfect", because nobody can be perfect enough ;)

[@LisaIrby]

@@tinam.9810 Funny thing is there is actually a perfectionist shirt on FBA (not Merch) that has a 200K BSR right now!

[@oooBoEoNooo]

And by the way, Lisa's complete print on demand guide for beginners is also perfect for us perfectionists ;-)

[@sassnclass2054]

Gurrrrl, only 2mins into this video and it's OBVIOUS you know what you're talking about! I can't hit that SUB button fast enough because my author client wants to parlay his content into merch, movies, comics - it's all right there and YOU are a FAB starting point. THANK YOU!

[@richyrich4051]

Thanks Boss. You're so right about information overload. As an international designer, I decided to be more successful, I'll have to have that American mindset for POD, there's no st paddys day noise in Nigeria for instance, I already know most of my designs and sales will come from abroad. Thanks Boss for another helpful vid. I would like to see more detailed Algorithm and research videos ❤❤❤❤ Love you always.

[@MeetandVeg]

I second the algorithm and research videos :)

[@amylouisebrutonl9051]

Your advice has really helped me. I tried the optimise product choice. I started increasing sales. So gaining confidence I returned to choosing which product to default to, it went flat. So now I’m allowing Redbubble optimise the default choice. As soon as I did that sales started again. Your tips are great.

[@4agewise120]

I love the way you have shown adequate focus all these years.

[@Meloyadina]

Perfectionist 🙄, and late for holidays. This is my Sunday morning- Full Moon in Libra sermon. Thank you, I see myself & I feel inspired. 🙌🏾💛🕊

[@LisaIrby]

Full-moon in Libra sermon! I literally just LOLed. 😂Glad I could inspire.

[@tonydouglas1582]

Thank you

[@richardreid8908]

Only recently started POD and found your channel! Great advice and content! Really appreciate your hard work! Cheers!

[@LisaIrby]

Thank you Richard!

[@gowthamant4005]

Another problem faced by international designers is that, its often hard to know if a small phrase or common word is copyrighted or not. For example every year many people get banned for doing the 'peeps' design during Easter. But not aware of the fact that it's a popular candy in the US. A common catch phrase could be from a popular song that I have never heard. Its very hard even when you do a lot of research about copyrights.

[@pythonjava6228]

Thanks for that. I was about to do a peeps design. I thought it's just short for people

[@gowthamant4005]

@@pythonjava6228 It is short for peep. But the word is also trademarked.

[@rbh1324]

Swear sus you made this and the 4pod video for me!!!!! I'm just starting my business now...was just about to get discouraged...as I've changed up things a few times.....when you started the "perfectionism and diversify" piece....im said to myself , "is she talking to me"!???? 🤦🏽‍♂️🤷🏽‍♂️🤣😭🤭 thank you sooo much! This is info/jems that come in that Instagram t-shirt guy's booklet that cost $40! But you got us for the $free.99! Lol ....sidebar: I haven't read his book...but I excluding the claimed contacts...im from NY and work in Marketing/fashion. I bet I know just or almost as much! This is dope tho sus!🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

[@WonderfulWorldOfStuff]

My number one tip on me overanalysing is I have a number of good friends & family, who will not hold back on the honesty, I understand each one has different tastes etc, but this technique has saved me so much time. I'm not overworking my designs. Another thing I have learned with my international sales is simply that my non-text designs sell better, cute is cute all over the world, clever art is exactly that, Don't get me wrong my phrase/puns & art designs are by far my Bestsellers. | A Big thank you as always Lisa, for your words of wisdom, motivation & inspiration | Much Love, Peace & Respect | Stay Safe

[@LisaIrby]

Hey! Long time no see. Thanks so much for sharing what worked. Can you clarify something? You said that non-text designs sell better, but then said your puns/phrases are your best sellers. I got a little confused on that part.

[@yeye99950]

I'm an "international" designer . You're 100% right. Besides, RB assigns us less traffic. It's almost imposible to get organic traffic if you don't want to published copywrited stuff . So market your products is a must.

[@LisaIrby]

Being able to drive traffic outside of RB is so underrated. Everyone seems to be focused on the RB traffic. You need to promote on social media, a website, etc.

[@dp5711]

Great points, Lisa! Count me among the perfectionists! 🙄 May I please ask ... what is your timeline for uploading prior to a holiday? Two months? Three? More? Is it possible to upload TOO early, perhaps enticing copycats, etc.? Thanks!

[@LisaIrby]

I like to upload 2-4 months early. Occasionally, I will upload earlier if it's a really good idea or I know I can combine a trendy topic with an upcoming holiday. For example, you start to learn that politics and Halloween are always going to be hot. So that would be something I would do earlier than average just from learning what has sold before. However, my average is probably 3 months. I don't worry about copycats. They are going to come no matter what you do.....early or late it won't matter. I certainly wouldn't let that prevent you from uploading a good idea early.

[@dp5711]

@@LisaIrby Hey thanks for this. Really great points! Accordingly, I will be uploading a few new Christmas designs now. They are cross niched and will hopefully get some traction early on. And you're right about copycats. They'll do what they will no matter what. Thanks, again!

[@thewiseman2976]

For newbies out there still looking for their path: This is the best youtube channel when it comes to LEARNING POD

[@LisaIrby]

Appreciate that! I'm honored!

[@freetobe343]

🤩 Wow!! Thank you soon much! Every beginner needs to see this video!

[@mounirab96]

Hands to God that I've had this exact idea in my mind for a period of time now, I consume a lot of information and I do little-to-none work. Thankfully, I've noticed this pattern and I started ignoring POD videos and ignoring the sense of " I'll miss something valuable if I didn't watch this" because 90% of the time, it's not something new. People love to clickbait and repeat the information just for views, thankfully people like you (which are very few) don't aim for views as much as aiming for a good and genuine piece of advice. I've made a decision that next time when I'm going to try something new I'll barely watch any videos about the topic, and let the experiment teach me and just go on with it, because I know that trial and error are the best teachers there are.

[@ortalhar-paz9969]

Thank you Lisa for the valueble information. but, as a beginner on print on demand, with no sales though many hours of designing and uploading, I'm starting to think that it's not worth it. I think that for a commission of a few dollars on each item, I'd need thousands of people buying my products every month to earn properly, and I doubt it happens at all :(

[@LisaIrby]

Yeah, I think it depends on your goal and what you expect to earn. I know a guy that started last year on Merch and he's making $250/month on tier 25 because he has 2 regular sellers. You don't really need thousands to sell when you have regular sellers. Only a small percentage of my designs sell, but the money comes from the repeat sales. When you have 20-30 designs selling multiple times per month, it can add up. That's also what happened to my friend I mentioned in November's video. She is selling two designs over and over again and it's inspired her to keep creating. Anyway, I hope you find something that works for you and you can enjoy.

[@ortalhar-paz9969]

@@LisaIrby thank you... I appreciate the honest answer :)

[@Ash-dx4yv]

Thanks Lisa. These problems are killing me right now😂😅. Struggling between the culture and the language.

[@CheckFred]

OverWhelm!! .... GUILTY Your Honour ...... I even paused and scooted off to implement some 'Light-Bulb' moments during THIS Video Lisa :-) .......... Keep em comin ;-)

[@pauldessoy5369]

Thanks Lisa. Just starting out, very helpful!

[@tricktrick1665]

Found that you're on point about all what you've said... subscribed

[@SamanthaFl]

Great content, Lisa. Yeah, I usually upload ahead of each season. I also quit Merch Informer and all those FB groups because it was too distracting. I'm doing pretty good in other marketplaces except Japan. Only sold 1 shirt. Can't seem to crack the niche culture, yet. I have been watching those walking live stream YT videos in Japan just to see what they been wearing. lol

[@sassnclass2054]

ooooh! it sounds like there's a need for a marketing-oriented editor for those ads, huh? I could SOOO help.

[@Species710]

Brilliant, helpful and friendly.

[@jenny_rice]

Information overload, yeah. I watch a lot of POD content. Holidays - I'm not bad. Been thinking of ideas for Father's Day right now. Already have a few up for Mother's Day but may do a few more.

[@RoguePixel]

BOOM. Every point, bang on. Thanks for this Lisa. There's time to research and consume, and a time to just turn it all off and DO

[@LisaIrby]

Exactly!!

[@mannan]

As an international follower of yours, my followers on social media and my family told me that redbubble is not "user friendly" They said that when they click on my shop's link, they see alot of products that it was hard for them to find things .. they get overwhelmed and don't buy anything.. I think if redbubble gives us (the sellers) the option of making our store fronts either show the products or the designs, it will make it alot easier on our costumers.. I know that there is (explore designs) to click on, but somehow it gets missed because of the many things for a visitor who's never been to redbubble before!!

[@LisaIrby]

I have never liked the shop layouts. I agree. They are very cluttered and not organized in a logical manner.

[@mannan]

@@LisaIrby I've never seen anyone make a dropshipping site for redbubble products, although I've seen many video doing so on other platforms and I always wonder if it's possible🤔

[@konstantinosserres3598]

Nice content! Understanding the culture is the most difficult part from my point of view! Thnx for your efforts! Greetings from Greece!

[@plerdy]

Thank u! Your video inspire me!

[@sewme4]

Needed to hear this today.

[@setnancapue]

That's true, understanding or making puns or quotes for the US market when you are foreigner is not so easy.

[@aaronyoung8716]

If I do holidays it is always 3-4 months away from the actual day that I design my cutoff day for designing for that holiday is a month before the actual holiday cause in redbubble it takes about 3 weeks to get to the destination.

[@mar_ink]

"in redbubble it takes about 3 weeks to get to the destination" Can you talk to me a little about that? Is the algorithm of redbubble "hiding" your designs for 3 weeks after you upload it to the platform?

[@mar_ink]

@Lamba tamba16 aaah i see it! is a relief then. Thank you! 🌻

[@JonathanBarrientos]

Great information. I appreciate your perspective. I need to start just uploading and not procrastinate.

[@pauljbax]

Lisa, great video!

[@maaraanass4568]

Upload a lot of designs and give the holidays the importance and don't be perfectionism until you learn the domain as well

[@LisaIrby]

I agree that holidays are best to start with when you’re learning because there’s more opportunity and sales are more abundant than evergreen niches. I think I’m biased because that’s what I started with.

[@bluebellbell3725]

Thank you!

[@domarchie9558]

International POD creator's comment very good. USA market is the market and if you are from overseas you may not know what appeals in the USA.

[@flickingerstudios2426]

I always look forward to your videos Lisa! I appreciate the quality content that you give and that you take the time to make a good video instead of putting out several so so videos a week like some people do. Thank you! My question is....what do you mean "Scaling Up"? You mentioned several times in the video that if a tee sells well, you scale it up. But I don't know what it means. Okay, my other question / comment is....gulp, I'm a perfectionist too. Here is where I get stuck: I want to offer my t-shirt designs in S - 3XL or even 4XL. How do you make a design that looks good on all these sizes? Do you only offer certain sizes because of this issue? I'll make a design so that it uses the max available space (12" x 16") available with PRINTFUL. Then I'll make my listing in ETSY drafts. Then I'll go back to Printful, merge the listing with Printful, choose a size and scale it up or down for each size with an easy drag of the design. It's easy to do, just time consuming! So my perfectionism is in wanting to offer designs to people of all sizes, not knowing how it will print, making a listing where I upload the designs for each size one at a time. This takes awhile! So then, I don't upload anything for awhile because it takes so much extra time to upload all the sizes. I know (think!) you don't use Etsy and Printful, but maybe you could give us a general idea of how to design for people of all sizes? Or let us know that you don't design for people of all sizes because of this issue. The reason why I upload one size at a time is because I have done a design before, uploaded it, and then let Printful (and Printify's!) POD provider scale it as they see fit. They don't / didn't use the max space for the larger sizes and it looked small on the larger sizes. I also welcome comments and tips from your viewers on how they handle this! Thank you!

[@LisaIrby]

This video explains my scaling strategy kzbin.info/www/bejne/eaLHiXt8mLuqj9U Let's say you sell a graduation design that says "This Mom is Proud of Her 2021 Graduate." Once that sells, I'll create one for a Dad, Grandmother, Grandfather, etc. So you scale it by taking the same phrase and apply it to other people. I'm not using Printful anymore so I haven't had the issue with this. I've never, ever uploaded more than one file unless it's for RedBubble and I want a different design for the phone case or a vertical product. I would reach out to them to see if they have suggestions. This seems like a very inconvenient issue that they can fix. That seems so time consuming and that would deter me from uploading too!

[@flickingerstudios2426]

@@LisaIrby Thank you so much!!!

[@beintouch99]

Thank you

[@rbh1324]

Also for your international students....America is a Hallmark-y, weather festive Holiday country....it actually makes Us a very creatively unique and really fun place to be. Even tho we have complexities. 🤷🏽‍♂️ as for understanding our tv/internet meme culture... its something sortve like an "inside joke"...you need to know the jokes roots in order to understand the joke🤷🏽‍♂️

[@johnta17]

zoom upload party procrastination together!

[@LisaIrby]

LOL right!

[@hopeweathers4351]

Thank u so much for the info I am just starting out.

[@sakethkumar8638]

I'm from India country difference is really my problem

[@pushismano77]

Just thought about you today 😊. Merch somehow does not work for me, a year of uploading tier 10 and only 6 sales 🤔. I a m a graphic designer so my skills are fine, something else is wrong 😀

[@LisaIrby]

You are not alone. A lot of designers tell me they struggle with POD, which goes to show it's definitely about creativity and niches. I also believe some people get lucky enough to be interested in niches that are not competitive. That's what happened to my friend. She just started in October and she has been getting multiple sales per week since she started. It's mostly the same few shirts, but is in a niche that has never really been competitive. And you really need to understand the niche to make creative shirts. So she combined a pop culture phrase with her niche and the shirt idea blew up so much other people scaled her idea to other niches. Sometimes it's just that ONE niche or ONE T-shirt that can set it off for you. That's what happened to her.

[@pushismano77]

@@LisaIrby a good idea, I just keep on going, something will click 😀, I like drawing and it's fun for me. It's better than staring at the wall 😉

[@analialecumberri3695]

I thought I was the only one, I've been on Merch for more than 3 months and I made only 2 sales in February. I've uploaded so many t shirt designs with no success that now I'm uploading designs for iPhone cases to see how it goes

[@LisaIrby]

@@analialecumberri3695 I've done better with phone cases than expected. I really had low expectations given the price point but I've been surprised with sales practically daily. BUT I will admit, most of my sales are the same T-shirt niches I'm selling in.

[@blackkitt98]

@@pushismano77 Have you tried simple text-based designs instead of arty or image-heavy designs? I have a good eye but I'm not a trained designer. I started Merch last August and I'm Tier 6000. I chased trends, which is exhausting and not really fun, because I wanted to tier up fast in time for Christmas. If a design didn't sell in 2 weeks I took it down to make room for something new. (I saved title, bullet points, description in a spreadsheet so that I could upload again easily once I got more slots.) But none of the shirts that sold when I was in T10 were trends and I tiered up to 25 after four and a half weeks. But chasing trends did pay off later. See if anyone you know wants a specific shirt and make it for them. Make a design for yourself and buy it. (Ideally these would be designs that other people might want too because you wouldn't want to delete anything that sells.) Do whatever you can to get out of T10! You're almost there! Deleting designs and trying new things was the most helpful thing for me. You can do it too!

[@jerseygurlinmaryland]

Outstanding content! Thank you so much.

[@anirudhbarman]

Thanks so much for this video.

[@TheMusicalHarmonee]

I started a poetry t-shirt business that I’ve been advertising through Instagram, but haven’t been able to get any sells even though I have followers.

[@yjchung6100]

I looooove your channel. I am struggling in pod world as an international designer. And I didn't know that I was a perfectionist until now. How possibly can you uplaod 50 designs for 1 day?

[@LisaIrby]

A lot of people scale. So if you create one design that says "I am an Awesome Teacher", you can make 30 other designs quickly by changing Teacher to "Nurse". That's what a lot of people do when uploading a lot.

[@adelikhalil4335]

Great job, thanks

[@Woolovetoyou]

Hi I am from India, I love your videos

[@Jovel_]

REAL TALK

[@Uncle_Baby_Billy]

Great advice as usual 👍

[@Raya7766]

Hi. Thank you. Could floral and abstract prints and motivational quotes be considered as niches?

[@LisaIrby]

No a niche targets a person typically. What you just described as a design style you can apply to a niche. So a floral design for a stepmom would be an example of using a design style for a niche.

[@mrtaxliens1]

Lisa Besides Facebook what are the best ways to advertise a new POD Design as a beginner?

[@LisaIrby]

I still get most of my sales from being found on the POD site via search but outside of that I use Pinterest. I also have a website for one of my biggest niches.

[@mootastica3146]

I’m from the UK, and have found I can only make sales in the UK on Amazon merch, who knows why 🤷🏼‍♀️

[@LisaIrby]

And as a US citizen, I've had VERY few sales from International markets. So little, I rarely upload most designs there. I think it's because so many of the niches I sell in aren't popular over there. Goes to show familiarity with the culture is so important.

[@mootastica3146]

@@LisaIrby 👍🏻 I didn’t realise I was so British 😂 I’m hoping to sell in the US at some point, I sometimes wonder if Amazon are not showing my designs in the US? Then again I do overthink things.

[@ricnyc2759]

1- Saturation. There's a million youtubers teaching a billion viewers to upload a trillion designs in the same niche to the same PODs. How many "funny cat" designs does the universe need? 2- Bad designs. 3- Price is wrong (too low or too high). 4- The algorithm is hiding your products (I've especially noticed it on Etsy and Merch by Amazon. There's nothing organic about Etsy and Merch search results). Your designs will stop selling for no reason. There's nothing "established" or that will sell for sure. All my best sellers on Amazon just stopped selling.

[@LisaIrby]

I believe with Merch they are constantly rotating designs so the new designs can get ranked and tested and ranked. With so many designs being uploaded now and so much competition certain designs will only be featured or ranked for so long. I have certain designs that have been out there since 2018 that are selling regularly and I have others that have dropped off. I believe it just depends on the niche and the competition. I’ve noticed the rotation has been going on since 2019 or so. I have just learned to except the ups and downs of this and that keeps me sane. I always remind myself that if I don’t own Amazon I’m just a player. The best thing to do is diversify and enjoy the ride otherwise it will make you crazy. No one really knows what the algorithm is doing except Amazon.

[@ricnyc2759]

@@LisaIrby Yes, I think they are always rotating the designs.

[@assortedbibssundayfootball1312]

Hi Lisa. Please expand on why you don't use merch informer. We started and then stopped using it because the data for the UK market was misleading and prices in dollars. What was your reason.

[@LisaIrby]

They gave me a free copy in exchange to promote it for affiliate commissions. I really wanted it to work for me so I could confidently promote it, but I can't promote something that hasn't really helped me. Seems disingenuous. Maybe I'm not utilizing the data correctly, but I just do better on my own with manual research and niches I'm more familiar with.

[@assortedbibssundayfootball1312]

@@LisaIrby Thanks for the fast response. We're spending quite a lot of time on merch but not getting great results because it is over-subscribed and we're in the "perfectionist" camp. Have seen your Pinterest video and might utilise our Pinterest account. Was one of the first year users of Pinterest and have a large collection related to events and parties etc, but also a t-shirt page. Enjoyed your tips as always.

[@bjcronje]

Luckily I have no problem with not being US or UK as I grew up traveling a lot and lived outside South Africa as much as inside. I have made a couple spelling "mistakes" where I used Queens English instead of American.. I love designing and hate research and uploading

[@LisaIrby]

Yes, the research has never been my favorite part.

[@eab6840]

Great content thanks for that! Any advice about T-Shirt pricing on Etsy?

[@LisaIrby]

It would be the same tip for any platform. Compare the pricing to shirts in that niche and start with a comparable price. Then if it sells, gradually increase a dollar or so.

[@angelarizzo8924]

Hi Lisa, Can you please do another updated video on reporting infringement on MBA. The form no longer allow you to provide the image in the dropdown menu. I filled it out once and they replied that they are unable to verify that I am the rights owner. My design were copied pixel for pixel, it is very clear. They even copied my title and description. Thank you so much!!

[@LisaIrby]

I need to look into this because another student of mine had this same problem. I have to look into it. Haven't filled out one in a long time.

[@angelarizzo8924]

@@LisaIrby Thank you Lisa. I love all your videos they are very informative and helpful. :-)

[@maximusdoomed]

WOW! Lisa, you kicked a lot of us in da booty with that and you werent weaing chucks! Great vid and excellent info.

[@LisaIrby]

😂

[@Jovel_]

TRUE. TRUE. TRUE. TRUE. TRUE. AND TRUE. 😍

[@ZAPRandom]

Amd what about more artsy designs? Take a look at Design By Humans homepage. That's the kind of designs I do. Not text based or niche or puns or jokes but I do sell and that's what I like to create. What do you think about these types of designs Lisa? Thanks!

[@LisaIrby]

That's another key. You have to cater to the POD audience's buying preferences. Society6 and Design By Humans both have very artsy audiences, so that's why it's important that your art style matches the typical buyer.

[@kelloh8]

Ive started on RB end Oct 21. I totally agree about over thinking n researching which I'm guilty of it. I've stopped bcos it's so draining n confusing. I just researched n create n upload. May I know if its a must to upload 100 designs before I see sales?

[@LisaIrby]

I think the worst advice anyone can give is estimate uploads needed for someone else. There is no way to know due to unknown variables like niche, conversion, and competition. I know people with 800 designs and no sales. I also know people who got a sale under 10 designs. Spend more time learning the platform. Study the best sellers by sorting products on every shop by best sellers. What do customers seem to like? Is it pop art? Abstract? Patterns? Artistic? Take notes. Learn what customers seem to like on the site and don’t worry about numbers. I think my first sale came on all my shops within the first 20 designs. But it was a different time. Another variable that makes that question hard to answer. Imagine how de-motivating it would be if I told everyone else to expect that. That’s not the norm. Wish I could be more specific but that’s misleading and unknown.

[@kelloh8]

@@LisaIrby thanks Lisa for your selfless sharing. It helps a lot.

[@LisaIrby]

@@kelloh8 No prob!

[@janis3686]

hi Lisa how many designs do you have uploaded ?

[@JulesMakesYouThink]

ooh i get it, Im wasting so much time in hesitation, after watching this video only five times LOL

[@LisaIrby]

😂😂

[@Shopgirl2000]

When you say - I made a sale so I scaled it. What does that mean exactly? How do u scale it?

[@pythonjava6228]

Probably that you continue to make designs for that niche or keyword or art style??

[@lovinglife1455]

If you have a design that says Best Dad Ever and you notice alot of sales then you scale it by creating new designs and changing one word(or something else). So then you would create Best Mom Ever, Best Daughter Ever, Best Pop Ever etc. Now you have scaled that design by focusing on other groups/categories.

[@kernzdiy3446]

I'm from the caribbean and my problem with POD is understanding the phrases and keywords that is being searched for. One thing I have realised tho, is that longtail keywords according to how you arrange it will bring you traffic and sometimes it could be to specific. When it comes to trends and holidays the marketing side of it, time difference causes an issue. However,tho i haven't made sales just like lisa said creating designs way before than the holiday itself has shown to bring traffic early out.no sales on that don't know why. Hope my info was helpful. But i would like to no from lisa is POD suggestable to us international newbies. Do you think we have a standing chance of making sales.

[@LisaIrby]

You have a standing chance if you learn the culture. If you truly do not understand why someone will buy a shirt or the various events, niches that draw sales, it will be more difficult. You can use research tools, but so much of selling is understanding the buyer in that niche. Otherwise you will be tempted to copy or make similar designs for what's already out there. A lot of sellers are always in reactionary mode. They react or create AFTER something gets hot, and you want to learn to be the trendsetter with your ideas. I am working with a student now who does a lot of variations of existing designs. That's not really the best way to go, but they do not understand the culture or language and it makes it harder. I empathize with people in other countries because if I were in their shoes, I'd probably struggle too. I can't imagine trying to understand the German audience, for example. That's probably why I sell very few products in International markets.

[@kernzdiy3446]

@@LisaIrby thanks so much lisa i completely understand and i will try to understand the culture better. That is one thing i never thought would affect me seeing as much as we view things on the net or tv or social media we never truly understand what it is like. We have an idea but not the true experience. But thanks anyways, greatly appreciated ,will work on it!

[@amybruder5182]

So I shouldn't have spent six hours making my own vintage sunsets and then another six hours mixing and matching them for one t-shirt? LOL. I'm a perfectionist but I enjoy the design part so much that I'm OK with that. I can get away with it since I'm only in tier 25. If I ever get to tier 5000 I'm going to have to speed up my process.

[@LisaIrby]

LOL! The fact that you are enjoying it is what counts!

[@ODfromCG1981]

Perfectionist I'm not...four sales in nine months and I'm having fun.

[@sakethkumar8638]

First comment lol

[@shicreates7381]

I gave up. People tell me my designs are great, but it seems like it takes $100 in marketing to sell 1.

[@LisaIrby]

Now I'm curious to why you think that. You definitely do not need to spend any money....even in 2021 with more competition. My good friend just started and is selling 50-60 tees per month with no paid ads. I really think it comes down to some people knowing about less saturated niches that most other people aren't well versed in. She's in a niche with about 1000 shirts and it's a niche very near and dear to her and they happen to be selling well. That's the luck part that comes in for some people. I think a lot of people who struggle end up making great designs but are all targeting the same ole same ole niches. Digging deep to those lesser known niches is so important in 2021. They are still there. Trust me. Sorry to hear you gave up. Hopefully you'll find something you can enjoy out here. Take care.

[@tonydouglas1582]

How can I join your private group??

[@LisaIrby]

You have to be enrolled in one of my passiveshirtprofits.com courses. The link will be in the course.

[@Light-ttt]

I am a perfectionist and I am so sick of myself, waisted so much time just to find an idea a niche for my shop , nd now I'll just fkn start this shi i am so done ughhhh

[@LisaIrby]

If I had to give the #1 reason people struggle, it's perfectionism. I don't think a lot of people realize that those who end up earning/selling are the ones uploading the most and just trying things. I don't care about failing or doing it wrong. I just need the experience so I can compare what works and doesn't. I have a friend who is struggling with this very thing. It's so common. Don't be so hard on yourself. Just put it out there. You'll get more comfortable with it not being perfect. You need the experience way more than you need to do it right. My failures have been my best lessons. Perfectionism will keep you stuck and you won't get the necessary failures to learn. It's OK if you don't get it right. No one gets it all right the first time. You got this!

[@Light-ttt]

@@LisaIrby you are right , I am new to this and i am so confused, i am a digital artist , my artistic skills are good and I can make cool stuff I believe, but i don't know what to creat , should I just creat whatever and see what sales then make more of that , or chose a niche and make designs can u suggest something please lisa, i hope you reply because this is so important to me and i really need your guidance , I am struggling 😭😭

[@LisaIrby]

@@Light-ttt It's all about research FIRST. Find keywords that have lower number of results (under 1000) because that's low competition. Don't create blindly without any strategy for demand. Research is key.

[@Light-ttt]

@@LisaIrby thank u so much🥰

[@kelloh8]

I struggle to understand the lingo such as puns😅