Lessons Learned From My ‘Failed’ Print-On-Demand Fulfillment Business

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In 2016, I had been selling on Amazon for a few years and decided to create a conference for people doing the same. I teamed up with another local Amazon seller, and we created the Rocky Mountain Reseller Conference. We had a blast putting the show together as it allowed us to network with many people from across the U.S. that were doing what we were doing in e-commerce.

One night after all the sessions were over and many were hanging out in the hotel bar, I overheard somebody talking about sublimating coffee mugs in their basement. After I got home, I immediately purchased everything I needed and started creating listings on Amazon. This was the start of my print-on-demand (POD) journey.

The Make Your Mark Design Journey

I absolutely loved the idea of the print-on-demand (POD) business model. The allure was obvious — with POD, you can sell customized products without having to carry inventory or manage a complex supply chain. As someone with an entrepreneurial spirit but limited capital, it seemed like the perfect business model for me. I eventually stopped buying other products for my Amazon business and went all in with POD.

As things progressed and I started making more sales, I saw the potential in offering this service to others. Eventually, I launched Make Your Mark Design (MYMD) as a POD fulfillment center, offering services like printing, packaging, and shipping for other people’s POD businesses. It was exciting to see MYMD grow from just my wife and I to a staff of 10 employees and 3,500 square feet of production space. For a few years, business was good. Orders were steadily coming in, and while margins were tight, revenue kept pace with expenses.

Then in early 2023, we hit a rough patch. While our 2022 Q4 was outstanding, January-March 2023 were slower that I’d ever seen. Suddenly we went from slow but steady growth to losing money every month. I realized too late that while our revenue had grown nicely year-over-year, our margins were shrinking over time. We had focused too heavily on bringing in new wholesale clients versus growing our own retail product lines. Wholesale margins are slim compared to retail, and this business mix ultimately sank us.

I struggled with the decision, but by mid-2023 I knew MYMD could not be salvaged financially. After exhausting all my options, including launching 200k+ T-shirt listings and moving our staff to a three-day work week, I made the difficult choice to shut down operations.

This meant letting go of all my local employees, many of whom had been loyal for years. Ending those relationships was the hardest part for me personally. Professionally, it was a major blow to close something I had invested so much time and energy into building. There’s a part of you that can’t shake the feeling that you’ve failed and let other people down. It was a rough season.

5 Lessons Learned in the POD Business

However, as the saying goes, when a door closes, a window opens. Shutting down MYMD freed up more of my time to focus on the retail side of my POD business. I found a new production partner, Gooten, that met my fulfillment needs for most of the products I was selling. And while I kept some of my equipment to do some local production, Gooten is handling 99% of my e-commerce fulfillment.

Outsourcing my fulfillment has allowed me to spend more time on my podcast, the Print On Demand Cast, which has been a lot of fun (if you’d like to hear the episode where I shared about closing MYMD with our audience, check out episode 158.) Plus, with my talented virtual assistants still on the MYMD team, we’ve been able to ramp up new product listings faster than ever before. I now have over 750,000 print-on-demand SKUs on Amazon, Walmart, Etsy, and Shopify.

There are probably a few of you reading this who find yourselves in a similar scenario. Here are a few key lessons I’ve learned over the past year that you may be able to benefit from:

1. Wholesale vs. Retail Margins – This may seem obvious, but watch your profit margins closely, especially the balance between wholesale and retail activities. The latter is almost always more lucrative per order. Don’t let wholesale overtake retail unless the volume makes up for smaller margins.
2. Cost Control is Critical – Expenses will creep up over time if you don’t actively monitor them. You have to balance investments in growth with keeping costs contained. I got too focused on revenue growth without enough emphasis on protecting profit margins.
3. Change is Constant – No matter how much you plan and forecast, your business will go through ups and downs. Don’t get too attached to one way of operating. Be nimble enough to adapt when needed.
4. It’s Not Personal – As hard as it was to close up shop, it wasn’t a personal failure. Businesses have natural lifecycles, and not all ventures reach maturity. Keep perspective on the difference between who you are as a person and your business operations. You are not your business.
5. Relationships Matter – You can’t do business without relationships, whether with clients, staff, or vendors. Nurture these consciously, especially when times are tough. It can pay dividends on the other side.

Despite having to reinvent parts of my business, I’m energized by the future. My passion for POD remains strong. I’m motivated to rebuild revenue, but wiser about how to protect profitability. With a great team still in place, I’m optimistic that we can use this experience to continue to grow.

The path of an entrepreneur is never smooth, but the obstacles along the way teach you so much about business and yourself. If you’re facing challenges in your current printing venture, keep the faith. With patience, persistence, and the willingness to make hard choices, you can steer your business in a better direction. Hopefully my journey can be your “proof” that setbacks often pave the way for renewed success.