Do friends and family tell you that you are a creative person?
Do you enjoy designing things, especially clothes?
Do you have causes that you are passionate about?
Then Spring might be a work-at-home opportunity for you!
What is Spring?
Spring once known as a Spring is an American company founded in 2011 by Walker Williams and Evan Stites-Clayton in Providence, Rhode Island. It is a social commerce platform that allows people to create and sell custom products with no upfront costs. It literally lets you sign up and start designing your own T-shirts using their system. Basically, you can do it for extra money or even as a business.
You can use some of their graphics and texts or upload your own pictures to design your own unique T-shirts. You can also choose the color of the T-shirt as well. Then you set the price, decide how many you want to sell, and find your audience. Spring will print the shirt, ship it out to the customer, and send you the money.
Spring claims that it has designers making over 6-figures a year. They have also been written up in Forbes, Fast Company, Tech Crunch, and Wired.
How Does Spring Work?
Spring has a 90-minute video, a checklist, and a blog with success stories and tips. Once you set the sales price, Spring will suggest a base price. You will earn the difference between the base price and the sales price.
There is even Spring University, where they will show you how to set up a campaign. Many designers also get designers on Fiverr, Upwork, Freelancer, Craigslist, and a host of other design sites to design their T-shirts there. Basically, if you can imagine it, there is someone out there that can design it for you. Then the Spring designer—you—simply uploads the customized design to the Spring system.
You choose between 5 to 21 days to print your minimum of T-shirts. If you reach your minimum goal, your T-Shirts print. If you don’t reach it, they don’t print. So, really make sure that you have the right audience for your merchandise, and they are ready to buy.
How Do You Get Started at Spring?
First of all, you will need to sign up with Spring and create an account with your contact information. You may receive your commission via a paper check, PayPal or direct deposit.
Make sure you do read the Terms and Conditions to get started. There are several points to remember when using third-party designers. You don’t want to get closed down due to a copyright violation.
If you go to Spring University, they can teach you a few good marketing tips as well as show you how to do a Facebook ad to promote your T-shirt. T-shirts tend to do well in the $16 to $24 range, while hoodies do well in the $34 to $39 range. While most designers stick to T-shirts and hoodies, but you may expand out to cell phone cases, campaign buttons, and drinking cups.
What Do Others Think of Spring?
The company itself maintains a 5-star rating on Glassdoor. However, for designers and companies they are giving it a 4.5 out of 5 star rating, such as in this review.
How Can an Interested Individual Start Designing T-Shirts at Spring?
Just go to the website and watch the short introductory video, the 90-minute video, and look at the checklist. Also, read the terms and conditions. If you are still excited, then sign up with an account. Have fun and make money!
Are There Other Sites Similar to Spring That I Could Use?
Absolutely, there are! I never back down from an opportunity to expand on a possibility.
While I counted as of this writing almost 20 different design platforms—all with the ability to design T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, and cell phone cases—I will mention just three more of them here. I will also mention something that stood out for me with each of these three.
Redbubble gives artists the ability to showcase their work with more of it on display. In other words, it is almost like having your own catalog or brochure displayed there. Zazzle also offers the ability to create stationery and business cards, and last but not least, there is Teepublic. This platform touts the ability to not only help you upload or design great work, but create long-lasting designs that won’t fade or peel from the fabric or item.
My Coaching Two Cents’ Worth on Spring
I think this is a great opportunity to use your creativity in retirement, especially if you enjoy designing. Even if you have found another side hustle, you may even like to design shirts and hoodies for it.
Rarely, do I write reviews on THIS blog for a particular company. I usually just give you ideas or list a few places for those ideas, but sometimes I do like to just peel back the curtain as so to speak to let you start thinking about what is possible. The possibilities are endless if you know how to learn to think like an entrepreneur in semi-retirement or any phase of life for that matter.
Personally, I would recommend using a platform like this and then having your own website or Facebook page as well. This will increase the exposure for your business.
Again, have fun and make money! For this and more ideas, visit the WAH and Freelance Page here.
