Today, with access to the Internet, people have come to expect a certain level of personal choice. Many people enjoy having their own personal calendar set for personal use or as a gift for friends and relatives. A Custom-made calendar is a wonderful choice for a simple gift idea or a great way to spruce up the office.
These are wonderful gifts for parents or grandparents, as each month or each day can have an interesting picture of the children or grandchildren.
They are also great corporate gifts, where each location or each product can be presented on each page. The custom applications are endless.
Now, with the extensive set of specialty publication software and the power of personal computers, it can be moderately easy to set up a small publication firm.
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The most important set of skills needed for creating custom calendars is superior graphic design capabilities. Familiarity with the various graphics programs available to you, particularly products like Adobe Photoshop, is a must.
The cost to set up and run this type of business ranges from $1,000 to $4,000. Your initial setup costs include a personal computer, a photo-quality printer, and the appropriate software.
You will also need to pay for the design, development, and hosting of your Web site, and possibly your storefront solution and
merchant account setup.
All additional costs are associated with promoting your business online and offline and purchasing and holding a limited amount of inventory.
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This business can easily be started with one part-time individual.
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You may be faced with significant online competition. This business has a low cost of entry. For this reason, you many want to target your calendars toward one particular niche of online customers.
You might decide to specialize in pet calendars or corporate calendars. Also, consider what volume of calendars you will be producing. If you turn out only a few a month, then you may wish to use a high-quality desktop or industrial printer.
However, as your volume increases, you may need to utilize the services of a professional printing service, which may prove costly with little room for errors.
You could easily expand your product line once your calendars are selling. With e-cards popping up everywhere on the Internet, this too could be a logical next step for your site.
You could consider custom engraving, custom e-books, custom screen printing, custom mousepads, or other products that require the skill sets and the technology in your organization.
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Your market size will be large, and most English-speaking international markets will provide an opportunity. Be aware that there will be markets that are closed to you due to language barriers.