Retiring

[Earl Smith]

It has come to that time in life where I have to think about slowing down and retiring. But, due to the fact that I have moved around a lot from country to country, I do not have a decent pension. I make a reasonable living from my embroidery , t-shirt and mug printing business but that cant go on. I live an hour away from work with my girlfriend and cant see myself driving up and down the Autobahn at 80mph when Im 65+. Im 62 now and have three years to come up with a solution.
Here is my question. Could I make a living just selling printed mugs? I do mugs now but only as a side business but what if I concentrated on this? There are a few members on here that , I think, do just that. Or are you/they doing this as a side business too? I could do this from our spare bedroom so no extra costs other than a bit extra on the electic bill.
Looking for a little insight, is it worth it? My alternative is to rent a unit near me and carry on with the embroidery business but this is an expensive alternative and dont really want to do this as it will mean that I have to keep the business running full time to pay its way and I dont fancy that in my retirment.
If you dont want to reply on the open forum you could PM me. Im not after knowing about your profits or how much your turnover is. Just , is it worth it?

Thanks
Earl.

[edwardsmedia]

Earl - If you feel passionate about sublimation and want to keep going then why not just do mugs :) As you know you only need your computer, printer, and mug press (maybe keep a box or two of mugs under the stairs)
I don't see why not, I wish all you all the best in you're retirement when that maybe Earl :)

[pw66]

Is there no way you can carry on with the t-shirts and embroidery in the spare room? Even with just a flat press, small cutter and a pigment printer you will have the options of vinyl, transfer and sublimation for the garments.

[Earl Smith]

Is there no way you can carry on with the t-shirts and embroidery in the spare room? Even with just a flat press, small cutter and a pigment printer you will have the options of vinyl, transfer and sublimation for the garments.

That would be great if I could. But in typical german fashion we live in a small flat and the noise of the machines would annoy the neighbours. The plotter, Oki white, and press would also come with me so I will also do that.

[froggy]

It has come to that time in life where I have to think about slowing down and retiring. But, due to the fact that I have moved around a lot from country to country, I do not have a decent pension. I make a reasonable living from my embroidery , t-shirt and mug printing business but that cant go on. I live an hour away from work with my girlfriend and cant see myself driving up and down the Autobahn at 80mph when Im 65+. Im 62 now and have three years to come up with a solution.
Here is my question. Could I make a living just selling printed mugs? I do mugs now but only as a side business but what if I concentrated on this? There are a few members on here that , I think, do just that. Or are you/they doing this as a side business too? I could do this from our spare bedroom so no extra costs other than a bit extra on the electic bill.
Looking for a little insight, is it worth it? My alternative is to rent a unit near me and carry on with the embroidery business but this is an expensive alternative and dont really want to do this as it will mean that I have to keep the business running full time to pay its way and I dont fancy that in my retirment.
If you dont want to reply on the open forum you could PM me. Im not after knowing about your profits or how much your turnover is. Just , is it worth it?

Thanks
Earl.

IMO it depends on how you intend to sell them, online is a struggle. If I were in your position I would look at a business model which supplied retail trade, eg produce a range of mugs for the pet trade ( dog breeds- cat breeds) , look at the retail price point as an impulse purchase price point say £3.99 rrp (sticker them with this price point, produce POS with this price point) supply at £1.50-£1.75 ish (no credit facilities) dont think that the retail punter will pay £7.95 a mug cos its got a pug on it, you want your retailers to move stock, so price it as such. With a bit of work you could move decent numbers and provide for a decent retirement fund.

I have a friend who only sells pet related pottery, mugs key rings etc has a decent living from it.

Good luck

[Andrew]

As you are experienced I think you have plenty of opportunities to tick along. Off-load the embroidery if it is not viable from home and set-up in a room what will work for you. I wouldn't limit yourself to mugs though and try and stay flexible instead so you can react to new opportunities. Mugs are quite saturated but there are other niche items which you can move on the likes of Amazon/Ebay. Not sure how the postal costs work in Germany for other continental countries but you should have plenty of scope.

[Earl Smith]

Thanks for the replies. The idea of just doing mugs from home was a long shot and one I didnt think would produce enough turnover. But thought Id ask in case I was wrong.

My initial idea was to concentrate on embroidery from a lock up and to specialise and concentrate one one or two types of customers.
Im going to start a new thread about this to see peoples thought on this and to pick a few brains again.