Hustles
Chris Heckman found a print-on-demand shop after failed stores
Chris Heckman left an Amazon job, failed at stores and took on heavy card debt. He tells Upflip the print-on-demand brand that worked started with about $20.
Chris Heckman did not start print-on-demand with a clean plan. He left a job at Amazon, opened stores that failed and says he piled up nearly $100,000 in credit-card debt trying to make ecommerce work.
The shift he describes is boring on purpose. He stopped chasing perfect websites and tested simple products against what customers already wanted.
He and his wife now run a print-on-demand shop he says hit seven figures. The episode's startup figure for the idea that worked is about $20 in supplies, after the expensive misses.
Tests instead of a perfect site
On Upflip he talks through the stores that did not sell and the habit of trying a design before building a brand around it.
The debt and the later sales are his account. The business is shirts printed after a string of shops that did not survive.
