Small Business Entrepreneur Blog

Yesterday I’ve mentioned www.bootstrapme.com as a great source of ideas about starting a business on the cheap. But just as I clicked Publish on the article, I realised I have something to say about the “Bootstrapping a print solution” idea. And mostly that I can’t agree with all the points there.

First of all, choosing just about any basement to start this business is not the smartest choice. Location is important (and ventilation is important as well). Let’s think about what would be a good location for a printing business. Somewhere were people are coming to print things, copy things. Hmmm, shouldn’t that be somewhere near a school, or university? Students are printing courses, projects or fliers to announce stuff. In fact I usually look for a printing office near our universities when I have big volumes to print, where the prices might be better as they never run out of business. Well, they do run out of business in students vacations.

And here we are at the second layer of things you should consider when bootstrapping a printing business: I go print out near Universities because it’s cheaper. But hold on, if you actually own the printing business and your not exactly a customer, then cheaper means bad business!! So before going further, what’s the monthly volume you should print to make a living? And how badly are you going to be affected by fluctuations in the demand (like students vacation)?

The third layer of evaluation the opportunity to open a printing business on the cheap is the real up-front investment you should do. Ok, let’s assume you could buy a second hand printer and some supplies with $300, but if we are talking about creating the “wedding announcements, greeting cards, fliers and business cards” the article mentions about, then you need a PC and software for the graphical creation, which is not cheap! And, not to mention you still need money for supplies (but maybe you cash in advance) and most important to have the know-how to use the software for the creative. By the way, if you find a good spot to locate the shop near the consumers (as I said schools or something), chances are that you might need to rent the space. More costs!

I’m not entirely convinced that in today’s world you could do without an online presence. You need a site to attract visitors and buyers! And sites don’t come cheap either.

So if I were you, I would read the article the following way: if you are a student and need some extra cash, you might open a printing business on the cheap (maybe around $300 as the article suggests), provided that you can use a space in the university and you can work after classes.

Let’s evaluate this.

• You are a student, so we can assume that you don’t have a family to support, and have the minimum income to live (maybe from your family).
• The University is the place where lots of people need to print lots of stuff. You already know most of your potential customers and can establish personal trust relationships with them so they can give you the printing job and don’t go for the competition.
• You have some available time after classes, which is basically free of charge.
• You might be able to use some space in the University so you might not need to spend money on rent (or even if you do, is probably acceptable).
• You might already have a PC in your dorm that you use for the papers. You might get the software to do the creative on special educational terms. And you might know somebody that could help you use it.

Now you have a chance. What do you think Shawn?