Last year we received around 2000 unbranded punch bag sleeves and now need to have them branded. The big problem is they are already made up and no longer a flat piece of material which is how the printing would be done. If our client had only asked first before going ahead when ordering.
One of my business contacts I have been dealing with on and off for the last 10 years is a screen printing specialist and because he is a specialist in his field his skills are very much sought after. When I spoke with him late last year he gave me an estimated time line of the beginning of April as a starting date. That time line still stands as the one very big job he undertook is now coming to an end.
Bigger Is Not Always Better
He has many regrets taking on such a big job as all his smaller clients have been waiting patiently for him to become available again. The years it has taken himself to build up a client base has been under threat as his clients cannot all wait that long. He mentioned in our last conversation yesterday he wished he had not taken on this big job as it is not just a monetary thing, but more on a personal level. The job s so big it is being done inside and outside of his premises and he has no time and is very stressful.
Our job we require done is a big job, but more of a fiddly job that will take time as each bag has to be stenciled individually. I have a plan to speed things up and make it easier which will make the job cheaper for my client in the long run. This idea we have no clue if it will even work and will only find out once we start the printing process. I have had a good 5 months thinking up ideas and they may be good on paper, but as we know the real world is not on paper so who knows.
In the past personally I have always chased the big accounts thinking bigger is better and this is a flawed idea. Rather have 50 smaller clients who will make up for one big client as you are not placing yourself under so much worry and stress. At the end of the day you earn the same amount of money whilst not consuming all your resources.
A good example is one client I was chasing on the packaging business side would have used nearly 20% of the entire factory production time not allowing for any other clients production. The only viable option was to invest and expand the factory or not do it at all.
My business partner argued and he was right is to stick with the current client base and help grow their businesses so you end up with far bigger clients. You can add smaller sized accounts along the way, but avoid the big boys because it could set you back years of work by losing old existing clients in the process.