POD: The Passive Income Generator You Can Start Today

Have you heard of Print-on-Demand (POD)?

This is a business model where goods are not created or printed until ordered. There are third party sites like Redbubble, Printful, Teepublic, Printify, and the OG, Cafepress, that offer people like us a way to create an income using their sites and printing apparel, stickers, pins, hats, and so on - all without managing inventory. This is also a fantastic way to control waste - you're not printing stuff and then dumping them into a landfill because of no sales.

I've found quiet success in my print on demand (POD) side business when I started in 2017. At one point, I was netting $400 per month. It's not enough to quit your job, but it would definitely help with groceries and gas. 8 years later, one POD shop yields about $25-50/month without active marketing activity.

Teepublic recently emailed me to let me know I hit my 1,000th sale! Would this be more exciting if it happened in 2 years instead of 8? Sure. But considering I’ve done basically zero promotion, I’ll take it. This was purely an SEO play with niche "designs" and strong product titles.

It's not difficult to set up an online POD shop. There are Youtube videos, podcasts, and blogs that can help you get started, things to avoid, and software to consider. But really, you just need internet access, Canva (or some kind of creation tool), and time to do keyword research.

Narrow Your Niche(s)

The key to POD: niching down. Like, way down. Think less “Father’s Day Shirt” and more “Slow Running Dad Who Trains for 5Ks and Drinks Craft Beer.” Specific is memorable. Specific is searchable.

Niche is something you can control, especially if you have an interest in a few niches. We want to narrow this down as much as possible.

For example, we don't want to create a Happy Father's Day t-shirt design or sticker design. That's too generic. The market is pretty saturated. I'm not saying never but we have finite resources, time, and energy. Let's narrow down that niche.

You could narrow it down to: Running Dads

And still, you could narrow those topics down even more by geography, language, slang, colors, and images: slow running dad, couch to 5k runner dad, marathon dad, dads who beer and run, you get the idea.

There is one rule to keep in mind: Do not use trademarked or copyrighted brands, slogans, or images. There are so many niches that I know you don't have to do that. You can be clever and creative without crossing legal lines.

What I’d Change This Week

If I could share one message in the POD world, it’d be this:

Stop trying to go viral and start learning SEO.

Too many people spend hours trying to make one design blow up on social media; niche SEO will get you traffic consistently.

My top-selling design from 2019 still makes me money every month because I optimized the title, tags, and description for the exact phrases people type into search bars. I do ZERO ads or marketing for this design. But I niched it down and there's a market for it - every year. (Confession: It's not Christmas-related.)

Starting a print-on-demand shop won’t make you rich overnight but it can open a door to a little extra income, to learning how e-commerce works without a huge upfront investment.

Your Turn

If you’re thinking about launching a POD shop or already have an idea rolling, just try. Make it a family project. Or something you noodle on when you have a few hours.

In fact, my middle school kid has asked me to help her build a Shopify site so that she and her friends could create stickers to sell and donate the proceeds to the kids who are unhoused. Friends, if an 11-year old can do this, so can you.