If this is something you're serious about I'll give you my 2 cents as somebody who prints stuff for a living.

If you're doing it as a fundraiser, normally you sell ads to cover the cost of printing. You gauge the market and say 'ok, realistically I might sell 5,000 so I'll be safe and print 4,000.'

Get your quotes and then reach out to sponsors. Let them know proceeds from sales will go to a charity. Once you've got enough sponsorship, make your calendar and then partner with some local businesses to distribute.

(05-04-2021, 03:52 PM)Benton Wrote: If this is something you're serious about I'll give you my 2 cents as somebody who prints stuff for a living.

If you're doing it as a fundraiser, normally you sell ads to cover the cost of printing. You gauge the market and say 'ok, realistically I might sell 5,000 so I'll be safe and print 4,000.'

Get your quotes and then reach out to sponsors. Let them know proceeds from sales will go to a charity. Once you've got enough sponsorship, make your calendar and then partner with some local businesses to distribute.

Someone on my team has a family member with a printing press so she said she thought she could get them to print it for us at no cost (or very little).  

The survey we have kicking online is also going to help us gage what kind of interest we have.

I'm also positive A LOT of families in the area will buy them from me just because my family is so big in the area.

The idea I had about selling them in high schools was kind of shot down when a teacher at the school I was presenting at on Friday reminded me that high schools might not sell things in their book stores with people in swimsuits, but she also reminded me that just mentioning it in the question and answer sessions would gain interest where students can reach out on their own.

We have 5 or so sponsors, so I'm thinking the big hurdle will just be distribution but hopefully local bookstores will be interested, as well as bookstores at local colleges.

Thanks for the insight because it definitely does help to have someone with first-hand knowledge offer their opinions on it!  I'll shoot it ahead to our my team!

(05-04-2021, 03:52 PM)Benton Wrote: If this is something you're serious about I'll give you my 2 cents as somebody who prints stuff for a living.

If you're doing it as a fundraiser, normally you sell ads to cover the cost of printing. You gauge the market and say 'ok, realistically I might sell 5,000 so I'll be safe and print 4,000.'

Get your quotes and then reach out to sponsors. Let them know proceeds from sales will go to a charity. Once you've got enough sponsorship, make your calendar and then partner with some local businesses to distribute.

If you don't care, I also may have more questions about specifics as things get worked out and we get closer to the actual printing.

(05-04-2021, 04:23 PM)BFritz21 Wrote: Someone on my team has a family member with a printing press so she said she thought she could get them to print it for us at no cost (or very little).  

The survey we have kicking online is also going to help us gage what kind of interest we have.

I'm also positive A LOT of families in the area will buy them from me just because my family is so big in the area.

The idea I had about selling them in high schools was kind of shot down when a teacher at the school I was presenting at on Friday reminded me that high schools might not sell things in their book stores with people in swimsuits, but she also reminded me that just mentioning it in the question and answer sessions would gain interest where students can reach out on their own.

We have 5 or so sponsors, so I'm thinking the big hurdle will just be distribution but hopefully local bookstores will be interested, as well as bookstores at local colleges.

Thanks for the insight because it definitely does help to have someone with first-hand knowledge offer their opinions on it!  I'll shoot it ahead to our my team!

(05-04-2021, 04:25 PM)BFritz21 Wrote: If you don't care, I also may have more questions about specifics as things get worked out and we get closer to the actual printing.

Distribution is always the kicker. I work with a number of charities and the majority are some form of civic group (American Legion Baseball, United Way, ACS, etc). They've pretty well got their distribution locked down as their volunteers meet with tons of civic groups. And when I was in newspapers, we just used our regular distribution base.

What you'll run into with most stores now (Books A Million, WalMart, Target, etc) is that they use an outside vendor for all that kind of printed material. That's why I'd recommend using small local businesses. You go to your local hardware store or BBQ joint, you'll get further than multiple hour-long meetings trying to sell them at Target.

But any time you've got a question about it, feel free to let me know.

Annoying is annoying no matter how many different ways you try to stay it's not true. 
Oh well..I'm done. Feel free to call me annoying. I embrace it..

(05-05-2021, 12:08 AM)Benton Wrote: Distribution is always the kicker. I work with a number of charities and the majority are some form of civic group (American Legion Baseball, United Way, ACS, etc). They've pretty well got their distribution locked down as their volunteers meet with tons of civic groups. And when I was in newspapers, we just used our regular distribution base.

What you'll run into with most stores now (Books A Million, WalMart, Target, etc) is that they use an outside vendor for all that kind of printed material. That's why I'd recommend using small local businesses. You go to your local hardware store or BBQ joint, you'll get further than multiple hour-long meetings trying to sell them at Target.

But any time you've got a question about it, feel free to let me know.

Thanks for the info!

I’m sure I’ll need more help and it’s relaxing to know that I’ll have at least one outlet for help.

That does make sense about the big chains and we’ll most likely be targeting small local businesses and bookstores.

If we run into trouble, could I have the person on my team reach out to you for the printing?

It’s not a big deal if you’re too busy or anything, but figured I’d check.

(05-04-2021, 04:23 PM)BFritz21 Wrote: Someone on my team has a family member with a printing press so she said she thought she could get them to print it for us at no cost (or very little).  

The survey we have kicking online is also going to help us gage what kind of interest we have.

I'm also positive A LOT of families in the area will buy them from me just because my family is so big in the area.

The idea I had about selling them in high schools was kind of shot down when a teacher at the school I was presenting at on Friday reminded me that high schools might not sell things in their book stores with people in swimsuits, but she also reminded me that just mentioning it in the question and answer sessions would gain interest where students can reach out on their own.

We have 5 or so sponsors, so I'm thinking the big hurdle will just be distribution but hopefully local bookstores will be interested, as well as bookstores at local colleges.

Thanks for the insight because it definitely does help to have someone with first-hand knowledge offer their opinions on it!  I'll shoot it ahead to our my team!

The one at the top of the screen???

(05-05-2021, 10:49 AM)Sled21 Wrote: The one at the top of the screen???

That might be funny if I hadn’t already mentioned that we posted it on Facebook and they sent it in an email to students at Thomas More. The survey we sent out was also more complex.

Stop trying so hard.

(05-05-2021, 12:17 PM)BFritz21 Wrote: That might be funny if I hadn’t already mentioned that we posted it on Facebook and they sent it in an email to students at Thomas More. The survey we sent out was also more complex.

Stop trying so hard.

No one is trying anything here. I simply asked you a question, as I didn't know about your Facebook poll. I think the fact you are so f'n touchy about this is that deep down you know what people are telling you is correct and don't want to hear it. You're trying to push an idea that is outdated. At any rate, I'm out of this discussion....

(05-05-2021, 01:34 PM)Sled21 Wrote: No one is trying anything here. I simply asked you a question, as I didn't know about your Facebook poll. I think the fact you are so f'n touchy about this is that deep down you know what people are telling you is correct and don't want to hear it. You're trying to push an idea that is outdated. At any rate, I'm out of this discussion....

That was OBVIOUSLY a sarcastic comment because you think you’re clever but it was a failed attempt.

As I stated earlier, my team sent out a survey.

A few people with bias posted that it was a bad idea and then I posted actual data that killed all their (your) criticisms.

(05-05-2021, 02:02 PM)BFritz21 Wrote: That was OBVIOUSLY a sarcastic comment because you think you’re clever but it was a failed attempt.

As I stated earlier, my team sent out a survey.

A few people with bias posted that it was a bad idea and then I posted actual data that killed all their (your) criticisms.

Ok buddy, go full speed ahead with it.... good luck to ya. 

(05-05-2021, 03:06 PM)Sled21 Wrote: Ok buddy, go full speed ahead with it.... good luck to ya. 

Thanks.......  we were waiting on your approval.

I'll let the team know that it's good to go.  

I realized that we can also sell them in bookstores and other places in the areas that the other models live. I'm sure that they have a lot of family and friends that would buy it and maybe their names are also big in those areas.

If we can do that, I think it could increase our sales by a lot, and especially since at least one model was in the military and lost his legs, so other military friends of his will be big into buying it.