How to Sell & Compete With More Competition in 2021 (Make Money With Print on Demand)

[@SamanthaFl]

I focused more on learning new design technique in 2021 and driving more traffic to my social media business accounts.

[@LisaIrby]

Smart. I also think that’s why my RB sales are still strong. I’m using social and not just relying on organic.

[@asireart5170]

@@LisaIrby Lisa I had 3 questions after seeing all your videos which I will be delighted if I a received reply. 1-You mention that don't want to make public your store because of copycat and thieves which is understandable, but when you promote it through socials and pinterest, it still can be in the eye of thieves. So how you avoid this part? 2-How many hours you dedicated at the beginning of your POD journey? 3-What you do about eye pain and strain because of long hours on the computer?

[@relaxingsoundsandmusic9905]

Great video! Did you read my mind when you made this? You covered my recent concerns and boosted my confidence🙂

[@MyZenTime]

I feel you with the adverts! I've tried courses on fb before and not seen good results 😕

[@MyZenTime]

Question: how many designs do you have live (on average) and do you ever retire designs?

[@kickpuncher5572]

This is the best Merch by amazon/ POD KZbin channel! Another great video, thanks!

[@LisaIrby]

Thank you.

[@yallalearnarabic1677]

Thanks Lisa, great video. What kind of ads did you Ron for POD?

[@LisaIrby]

Amazon Advertising.

[@RichyRichMusic]

How do you title patterns with regards phone cases? Do they just sell on phone cases after you title the patterns generally or do you for example title- Striped phone case? Secondly, do you advise to turn off other products when targeting phone cases on a site like RB for example? If you have to use phone case in the title.

[@LisaIrby]

I never add product titles, in fact RB says you shouldn't do that. Those same patterns can work on other products. I just make my patterns large enough so they fit multiple products. I never turn off products. I try to enable as many as I can.

[@RichyRichMusic]

@@LisaIrby Thank you Boss.

[@AemikArt]

Please what kind of Ad did u run ?

[@emmafifield2400]

I’m from Australia and I’ve tried & tried to get on merch, but just can’t get accepted.

[@LisaIrby]

Don't give up! Try different strategies every time you apply. Some say showing your artwork helps.

[@bradholmes1832]

I really appreciate, the wealth of honest, succinct advice, you give, Lisa! That's why, I know, your Experience - Works! Brad Holmes Tai Chi Gold Coast & B Rad Designs

[@baslielalene4702]

Never give up.

[@LisaIrby]

That's right! I have had so many comments over the years of people saying they are glad they never gave up because they finally started selling after a long period. Someone just told me that on Twitter the other day.

[@fortymbrass]

I love you, Lisa. Thanks for a refreshing view on this topic.

[@sanifsameer1510]

Fabulous

[@jeannealberts817]

Hi Lisa. I would really like to purchase your course. Would just like to know, will it still be relevant as you mentioneded that you don't do keyword research anymore. Maybe I misunderstood. Thanks

[@LisaIrby]

Good question, Jeanne. So I had two POD strategy courses. The Merch course and Niche Shop Success. The Merch course I took down focused a lot on creative ideas for different niches. A lot of those niches mentioned in that course are extremely basic and saturated. Plus I don't do as much research anymore on Amazon. I do some, but not enough to sell a useful course anymore, so I took it down. Plus, a lot of my Amazon strategies are on KZbin now. The Niche Shop Success Course that is still live is a bit different. It's an evergreen course for people looking to build on ONE niche and focus on ONE audience. That's why I believe my RedBubble sales are still strong. Most people don't do this. They just build a shop on random niches and never build anything long term. So that courses focuses on keyword research in the beginning to find a main niche, but there isn't a ton of keyword research in that course overall. It's about finding a main niche you can grow and target. And the research strategies there are evergreen and very relevant. So if you want to build a niche shop for the long term, that's the course for you. If you are just going to build a shop or POD account and do the multi niche designs with no focus on a specific audience, it's not going to be for you. But the strategies are still evergreen and relevant. Plus, you get access to my private FB group for more tips. Hope that helps.

[@jeannealberts817]

Thank you for answering my question.

[@judehogue1560]

Lisa make a video on teepublic

[@lucysnowe31]

Thank you. This was super helpful. I love your content!

[@bothornton4150]

Hi Lisa, What ads are you using/learning? Are they FB or AdSense or Amazon?

[@LisaIrby]

Amazon Advertising.

[@bothornton4150]

@@LisaIrby thx

[@AemikArt]

@@LisaIrby what other ads can I run if I don't have Amazon advertising?

[@LisaIrby]

@@AemikArt Facebook or Google. I personally haven't had much luck with those.

[@DezmondAbrams]

Nothing like organic results but I LOVE fb ads/paid ads game. You just get so much data/results back faster depending on your spend of course. Looking forward to seeing your paid ads results/growth!

[@LisaIrby]

Yep. Seems like a much faster way to scale if you learn what to do. I’m dedicated to learning this time. Not gonna give up like before.

[@MyMerchJourney]

Subbed 🙌🏾

[@No_Show94]

Yeah i think it is

[@pinoytunes7707]

Thanks for the new video Lisa. I'm in redbubble since Feb and now making a few sales. I want to start with MBA but got rejected. So I thought of starting KDP with the same designs or open a shop in etsy (still using POD). I know it depends on a lot of factors, but personally, which POD site do you think will be worth putting on the effort this 2021? I want to be ready for q4.

[@LisaIrby]

The only way to know is to work on it for a few months and see if the time you're putting into it makes sense for you. This is such an individual experience, and my opinions are going to be biased based on my own success. The only way to know is to work on finding niches and uploading for 2-3 months. See if it's worth it for you. If you can find a few niches to sell in regularly, you will find that it will be. I hate to be vague, but there's no way I can answer that for you. It's definitely more challenging now for the average person.

[@nannetteknox4627]

How did you learn Photoshop? Did you take a course or teach yourself?

[@LisaIrby]

Combo of self taught thanks to KZbin and my former 9 to 5 job that forced me to learn it.

[@nannetteknox4627]

@@LisaIrby Thank you. I’m trying to do the same. Are there any KZbin videos that were particularly helpful for you as a beginner? My desire is to learn to create Photoshop typography designs at the next level.

[@LisaIrby]

@@nannetteknox4627 Not one in particular. I tend to just search for whatever technique I want to learn at the time so I can’t really say it was one channel specifically.

[@nannetteknox4627]

@@LisaIrby Thank you. That’s been my strategy as well.

[@LisaIrby]

@@nannetteknox4627 One thing that helped me learn was just to focus on the techniques I wanted to learn instead of trying to learn the entire program. I mainly use it for distressing, text designs, slicing, making arc'd text and other pattern effects. So I just learn little by little as I go instead of just trying to learn the entire program....especially since it's not really for T-shirt design.

[@flipbydemand]

Apologies accepted 😂🙏

[@domarchie9558]

Got knocked back by MBA and just do Redbubble. 1 sale every 2 to 4 weeks with over 360 designs. Its painful. Too much competition and a waste of time. Very few people make a lot of sales.

[@LisaIrby]

I hear about people on RB with very high numbers of designs .... like 800 and no sales. Yikes! Yeah....there is no way I'd continue with those kinds of stats. That's very demotivating. Guess I got lucky with a few niches. My daily sales started around 150 uploads or so. What do you mean you got knocked back by MBA? Did you lose your account?

[@domarchie9558]

@@LisaIrby Daily sales at 150 designs is great, I'm nowhere near that. It's tough. Was your 150 and daily sales in Redbubble only? MBA didn't get in. Might have to use different emails. There no reapply button. Think people must use different email addresses.

[@LisaIrby]

​@@domarchie9558 Yes, after 6 months to a year or so I was getting daily sales on RB. I don't remember the exact timeframe or amount, but something like that. My MBA sales have been even better than RB for a longer period of time. I don't remember, but I'm pretty sure I was on the 100 tier when the daily sales came on MBA....back in 2017. And sales were coming from the same small amount of designs. I hardly ever have a day without sales on either platform. Occasionally I will have a zero sale day on RB, but it's rare. The only fairly recent zero sales days on Amazon were early in the pandemic. What's interesting is I actually sell a greater percentage of my designs on RB than I do on MBA. But income is better on MBA. On MBA....I sell about 20% of what I upload. On RB, it's closer to 50-60%. Maybe it's because I have a single niche. I get repeat customers and requests. I think people really underestimate the value and performance of a niche shop.

[@domarchie9558]

@@LisaIrby that's incredible. I would love to have someone survey people on Redbubble and see the stats. I'm guessing you are in a very small minority. Think most people make very little.

[@LisaIrby]

@@domarchie9558 And to those who earn daily like me, I'd love to know more about what their strategy is in terms of niche vs. random. I may have to drum up some data and do a survey to report on a video. Could be interesting.

[@mayacordalia]

I got denied for Merch By Amazon. :(

[@LisaIrby]

Wait a few months and re-apply. I've heard that it's not good to keep bombarding them with submissions just FYI.

[@mayacordalia]

@@LisaIrby thanks for letting me know, because I wasn't planning to apply again. I thought it was 1 strike and you're out.

[@LisaIrby]

@@mayacordalia No someone recently told me on Twitter that they got in after reapplying. I think it’s fairly rare but don’t give up hope.😀

[@mayacordalia]

@@LisaIrby thanks

[@Jivolt]

It’s over saturated with copycats, that’s fer damn sure.

[@LisaIrby]

LOL! Someone just said they stopped accepting people from certain countries. Not sure if that is helping or not, but I personally have seen a slow-down in blatant copycats, but maybe I'm just not looking as hard.

[@Jivolt]

@@LisaIrby Remember a while back when Redbubble stopped accepting applications for a handful of countries? Copycats and design theft dropped about 99%. Then RedBubble decided to give those countries a 2nd channel and the copycats and design theft skyrocketed. I spend 1-2 hours every single morning reporting stolen designs in every POD platform. Especially on Etsy. Etsy is absolutely awful for design theft.

[@LisaIrby]

@@Jivolt And the fact that it is mostly automated theft, makes it even more of a headache. The theft happens immediately after uploading thanks to bots/software. And people wonder why I don't share my designs. I had enough of an issue with not even sharing. I can't imagine how much worse it would be!!

[@SamanthaFl]

I reported an Etsy seller that stole one of my copyrighted design that a top seller on my MBA. Etsy took it down but then that seller did a counter notice. Etsy said "unless you notify us of an action seeking a court order against the allegedly infringing member, the member may reactivate or repost the material specified in the counter notice in 10 business days." I can't even do anything because this seller is in another country and I don't think it worth the hassle or money. I really hope that a major company like Disney goes after Etsy. Major companies won't sue small businesses because it bad publicity.

[@LisaIrby]

@@SamanthaFl That happened to me on Etsy as well. Sucks.

[@josh-pc2il]

I've been trying to get into merch since 2018 still no luck😥. I know I'd do well on there because I do very well on Redbubble. I think they stop accepting people outside of the US, Canada and UK

[@LisaIrby]

Yeah they've definitely stopped accepting as many people.

[@analialecumberri3695]

I got accepted in December 2020 and I'm from South America

[@josh-pc2il]

@@analialecumberri3695Good to know. May I ask what steps did you take. Did you link to your website? and type of details did you put inside the about me section?

[@analialecumberri3695]

@@josh-pc2il I don't have a website. I only had a Redbubble account back then, so I left the link of my shop (I don't have any copyrighted or mature content on my shop, indeed a lot of my designs are for kids) I wrote to them in my native language (Spanish) because my English isn't good enough and told them about the the kind of designs I make and that I already had more than 90 designs published. I also said that I'd love to show my designs to more people on Amazon and I already had designs ready to upload. And that I had already read and understood the Service Agreement and the Terms of Use.

[@josh-pc2il]

@@analialecumberri3695 Thanks for the info. I'll give it another try and see what happens.

[@pushismano77]

2 years on Merch, tier 10 , 8 sales

[@LisaIrby]

Yikes! We gotta get you some sales!

[@pushismano77]

@@LisaIrby I got account acidently 😆, I'm theatre costiume designer, I do kdp for fun and somebody told to apply to merch, I did and got in submited just my Behance profile for website 😊. Now I have no job and started to look for something to do.

[@LisaIrby]

@@pushismano77 Gotcha! Well, I hope you can break through. It's very rewarding if you can just find a few niches to sell in.

[@asireart5170]

@@pushismano77 May I ask you how is going with KDP? It's more intimidating than POD from what I've heard. Are you more focused on journals, notebooks?

[@Jivolt]

Reported the Bitcoin condition moment guy.

[@LisaIrby]

Thank you.