Printing as a business can be a very profitable business, but it must be properly organized. It is advisable to find out how to carry out all actions in stages.
Business features
Before you open a printing business, you should decide how much it can be profitable. First of all, consider all the pros and cons of this business. Among the advantages are the following:
- You can start work with several printing and copy machines in your own apartment;
- a fairly high demand for services, especially in those areas where educational or other institutions are located whose work is related to documents;
- the possibility of parallel implementation of other business ideas;
- a variety of printing equipment, which has a very reasonable cost.
However, printing as a business is not without certain drawbacks:
- today this niche is pretty full of competitors;
- a similar thing pays off for a long time;
- sometimes, in order to open such a business, one has to invest a lot of money in it.
As for the profitability of the presented business, it depends on many factors, and keeping a small printing house afloat can be difficult. However, this is quite possible if you approach the work correctly.
How to start a mini printing house?
You probably already have a question about where to start the printing business. The answer is simple: you should first legalize and formalize your activities legally. That is, obtaining a license and a certificate of private enterprise is required. Moreover, you have the opportunity to pay taxes on a simplified system.
You will also have to contact the tax and pension services, as well as the social insurance fund. Naturally, you should open a bank account to which earned money will come, and also with the help of which you can pay taxes and buy supplies.
You will need to submit a lease agreement to the registration authorities. To be able to work, you also need to draw up a fire evacuation plan and obtain a certificate of compliance with all the necessary safety requirements.
Features of the choice of premises for work
Printing as a business is already a mastered niche of entrepreneurial activity, but a competent organization can bring your business to a high level. So, in order to safely begin work, it is necessary to choose a suitable room.
In principle, beginners can try to work even in their own home. However, if this is not possible, then try to rent a small room, which will fit several computers, a photocopier, several printers. This is enough for the first time. In the future, you can expand.
Try to choose a place by which a large number of people pass daily. It is very beneficial to install small printing houses near educational institutions. After all, printing services are always needed by students.
Your printing office should be clearly visible, for this you need to order a bright sign, on the wall of the building you can hang a poster with a list of the services provided.
Keep in mind that you should just deliver equipment and supplies to your place of work. Naturally, the room should have good electrical wiring and protection against accidental ignition.The fact is that you will have a large number of devices turned on daily for a long time.
Your office must have easy access. It is undesirable for this purpose to use a living room, since the noise of operating equipment can get on the nerves of your neighbors. The printing business is in fact not very complicated, if it is thoroughly understood.
What services can you provide?
Now it is advisable to figure out how you intend to work. That is, you need to determine what printing services you can carry out. If the enterprise is small, then you can perform this work:
- make color and black-and-white photocopies, print out abstracts, diploma and term papers, brochures, photographs from electronic media;
- search for information;
- to make business cards, calendars, prospectuses, posters, leaflets, labels and other products;
- to bond manuals, to laminate documents;
- print on various media (discs, metallized paper).
Naturally, the gradual expansion will enable you to introduce new printing services: the manufacture of paper packaging, printing on large-format sheets, the production of plastic cards, labels on transparent film using ultraviolet or metallized inks. The product range can be expanded indefinitely, if, of course, you intend to grow your business.
What equipment will be needed for work?
Naturally, without special equipment you can not make a single product. First you need to get a computer, a copy machine and a printer. An additional tool can be a laminator and binder.
Note that the printer must be in color. If your business pays off and you want to expand it, you can add other printing machines. For example, a digital duplicator is not superfluous. Naturally, it is not as good as a high-quality copy machine, but for the manufacture of 5000 copies of simple products it is quite suitable.
To print large sheets you need to purchase a plotter. Of course, it can not be called "cheap pleasure", but it can greatly facilitate your life.
A small monochromatic machine, a risograph, which can only produce black and white products, will also be useful to you.
Naturally, you should also buy a variety of cutters and a brochure machine.
How to choose the right equipment?
In order for your mini-typography to work for a long time, and you do not have to deal with equipment repair daily, you should initially purchase high-quality machines. They must meet certain criteria:
- Quality. Printers and automatic copy machines must make a good impression without smearing the ink. In addition, it depends on the quality of the equipment how long it will be able to work in high load mode.
- Speed. In the case of large orders, you must be sure that you can cope with the task in a timely manner.
- Diversity. It is advisable that you have the opportunity to produce both color and black and white products.
- Cost. Naturally, it is difficult for a beginner to buy all the necessary equipment from scratch. However, it is better to pay more for one high-quality unit than to purchase several cheap devices, the repair of which will subsequently take much more money.
How much will the organization of the case cost?
Printing as a business requires a fairly large injection of funds. Naturally, a small studio will cost less. Consider the approximate amount you can spend on opening a small start-up office:
- obtaining a license and registering a business - $ 300;
- rental of premises and payment of utilities (electricity, water, telephone, Internet) - from 1000 cu per month;
- equipment - from $ 10,000;
- staff (1-2 employees who can perform most of the work) - from 1000 e. per month;
- consumables (depending on the number of orders) - from $ 1,000 per month;
- unforeseen expenses (repair or replacement of equipment) - from 1000 c. e .;
- taxes
- advertising and promotion - from 3000 c. e.
Total your expenses for a start will be at least 60 thousand dollars. As for profit, it depends on the quality of your work and the intensity of promotion. Net income can range from 2,000 to 5,000 dollars per month. Naturally, with a large load and a wide range of services, earnings can increase. However, there are such "pitfalls" as competitors and "dead seasons" (summer).
Features of business advertising
In principle, there is nothing complicated. You can paste your ads on all the posts in your city, but this may not bring the desired effect. You can also use advertising platforms in the local press, public transport.
If you don’t have time to promote your own business, you can entrust this task to an advertising agency. Naturally, you will have to pay for this, but the campaign will be carried out with high quality, and you will not have to worry about this issue.
Useful Tips
In order for your printing industry as a business to develop well, you need to work efficiently. Understand that you need to build a regular customer base, and for this you simply do not have the right to let customers down. Do the products on time, do not make mistakes, communicate with the client extremely politely and professionally, provide him with an example in which he will be able to make his amendments.
Use the services of a professional manager who will be able to research the market and determine those areas of work that will be most beneficial to you.
