With our easy-to-follow tutorial, you'll learn to:
Launch your store with zero inventory costs
Partner with top print providers
Start selling products that ship automatically — while you sleep

Whether you're a creative, coach, or side hustler, this guide shows you step-by-step how to build a profitable POD business with no upfront investment.
Click now to start your print-on-demand journey — and turn your ideas into products that sell!

This tutorial will show you how to start a print on demand business for free. You'll learn what print on demand involves and how it can help you build a thriving business working from home.

What is Print on Demand?

The short answer is that Print-on-Demand (or POD) is a business model that makes it possible for entrepreneurs from most any niche to create products that they sell online to earn semi passive income.

It's a model that allows business owners to partner (for free) with a printing company that provides full service production services.

There are roles that each entity plays in creating products and delivering them to customers worldwide. 

As a POD business owner, your role would include setting up a platform that provides the following:

• Niche specific graphic images
• A design creation workflow
  
• A shop/checkout platform
• Income goals
• A marketing plan
• A daily income generating routine
• A target audience
  

The role of the printing company (print partner) like Printful or Printify will provide the following services: 

• A free account
• An inventory of blank products
• Printing expertise, equipment and packaging supplies
• Drop shipping expertise that delivers products worldwide to your customers.

These companies provide a range of products from apparel, home decor, notebooks, calendars and hard copy books with no order minimums. You'll have a whole range of items you can use to create products.  

These print on demand companies have an order fulfillment process where items are printed as soon as an order is made without order minimums. Read on to get the details on how it works. 

How POD Benefits the Business Owner

With print on demand (POD), you (the business owner) can create customized designs for a variety of physical products like apparel, home decor (like the tote bag shown in the featured image) and textiles and sell them under your brand.

POD allows you to create your own custom printed products without maintaining inventory or having to invest thousands of dollars into equipment.

This method has been used by business owners on third party marketplaces like Amazon and Etsy since the early 2000s. Most recently, business owners have ventured out with their own platforms like WordPress and Shopify,

Niche Specific Graphic Images

You can use your creative skills and tools like Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, Canva, Kittl and more to create niche specific images that are placed on products you'll sell in your store. 

This requires the ability to perform research on platforms like Etsyhunt to see what people in your niche, (your ideal customers) are looking for, analyzing trends, reviewing the best selling products and other important data to understand which images are the best ones to create. 

If you're not a graphic designer and you're not interested in having to come up with your own designs, no worries. You can purchase images from other Etsy sellers and companies like Creative Fabrica and Creative Market that you can buy for commercial use and print on demand.

There are lots of images available, all it takes is a quick Google search to find the right images for your audience. Many image suppliers provide graphic designs in a number of different formats like EPS, SVG and PNG. 

Purchasing images is a good way to get your shop up and running, enabling you to start earning money as soon as possible. 

A Product Creation Workflow

POD allows you to create your own custom printed products without maintaining inventory or having to invest thousands of dollars into equipment.

To be successful you'll need a daily routine that allows you to be productive in creating and promoting your products.  That means creating images, and mock ups that you can place in your shop.

You'll also need to determine which images you'll place the images on. It will be a good idea to create a written product workflow that includes all the steps needed to get your products from idea to out the door.

Once your products are listed and ready to ship,  you'll need a routine that outlines how you sell them to new customers.

Once the sale is complete, you'll need to stay in touch with new and existing customers to motivate them to become repeat customers and give you recommendations and testimonials.

A Shop/Checkout Platform

To sell your products you'll need a platform that will make it easy for customers to buy from you. 

 ETSY: The Handmade and Creative Marketplace

Best for: Crafters, artists, vintage sellers, digital download creators, and those who want built-in traffic. 

Pros:

• Built-in audience: Millions of people already shop on Etsy daily.

• Quick setup: You can open a shop and list products in under an hour.

• Low upfront cost: No monthly fees; pay small listing and transaction fees instead.

• Ideal for testing products: Great platform for side hustles or starting a business on the side.

Cons:

• High competition: You're one of thousands of similar sellers.

• Limited branding: Your shop lives under the Etsy umbrella.

• Fees can add up: Listing fees + transaction fees + advertising fees = surprise expenses.

• You don’t own your audience: Etsy controls the customer data, not you.

Etsy is great if you:

• Want to get started fast with low risk.

• Are selling creative, handmade, vintage, or digital products.

• Want to test the waters before building a full-scale brand.

WORDPRESS + WOOCOMMERCE: The DIY Powerhouse

Best for: Entrepreneurs who want full control, strong SEO, and the ability to grow their brand on their own terms.

Pros:

• Fully customizable: You own your site, your customer data, and your design.
• SEO-friendly: Great for building organic traffic over time.
• Scalable: Start small, then build out memberships, courses, blogs, and more.
• Affordable long-term: Only pay for hosting + optional add-ons or themes.

Cons:

• Steeper learning curve: You’ll need to be comfortable with plugins, themes, and tech stuff.
• Maintenance required: You’re in charge of updates, security, and backups.
• Upfront setup time: Takes longer to launch compared to Etsy or Shopify.

WordPress is great if you:

• Want to build a long-term brand and grow your own audience.
• Plan to offer multiple income streams (products, services, affiliate links, courses).
• Prefer having full creative and strategic control.

SHOPIFY: The All-In-One Storefront

Best for: Product-based businesses ready to scale fast with a polished, professional online store.

Pros:

• User-friendly: Super easy to set up and use with no coding needed.
• Beautiful themes: Look professional from day one.
• Built-in ecommerce tools: Inventory, shipping, taxes, payment processing—handled.
• App integrations: Add features like upsells, email marketing, print-on-demand, and more.

Cons:

• Monthly cost: Plans start at $39/month + transaction fees (unless you use Shopify Payments).
• Less SEO control: Good, but not as flexible as WordPress.
• Customization limits: You’re somewhat locked into their system.

Shopify is great if you:

• Are ready to invest in your brand and build a sleek, scalable online store.
• Sell physical, affiliate or digital products (especially in volume).
• Want an easy-to-manage shop with strong backend support.

So... Which Platform Will You Love?

If your short-term goal is to make money quickly and test product ideas:

→ Start with Etsy.
Low risk, easy launch, and a ready-made audience make it a great testing ground.

If your long-term goal is to build a brand and grow multiple revenue streams:

→ Go with WordPress + WooCommerce.
It takes more effort, but the payoff is full control, better margins, and real business freedom.

If your goal is to scale a product-based brand and want a pro-level shop without the tech hassle:

→ Choose Shopify.
You’ll get a clean, user-friendly store with plenty of power to grow.

Pro Tip:

Some business owners combine platforms. For example:

• Start on Etsy to gain traction.
• Build a WordPress site to grow your brand and list-building.
• Move to Shopify once you're ready to go big.

Here's How to Sell with Printful

POD is a great option for anyone who wants to make money selling their own products without creating products, maintaining inventory, investing in expensive equipment or shipping products.

It's a great choice if you're a graphic designer who is already creating logos, designs and other graphics for yourself or other clients.

And even if you're brand new to designing, if you're willing to learn design, print on demand can be a great way to earn while you're learning. 

Print on demand is also a great choice for those who want to work from home. If you're interested in starting an online business, consider exploring POD as an option.

There are many benefits to this business model, and it's becoming a popular way for people from all backgrounds to build full or part time income.

Starting a POD Business

Here are the steps you should take to start an online business using print on demand:

Find A Niche That Has High Growth Potential

There are many different niches that offer high growth potential. However, some niches are more profitable than others. 

• Health and Wellness: This niche allows you to create products that help those with an interest in this topic to find products that will help them on their journey. Customers can personalize items with their names, initials, or special dates.
• Home Decor: This niche covers a large variety of products and expressive elements used to enhance mood, personalize space, and create inviting environments. From minimalist designs neutral tones to luxury products with ornate designs, these items can bridge the gap between visual aesthetics and sensory experience. Consider designs with color depth, texture, and a feeling of warmth that replicates a number of invigorating experiences. 
• Technology: Create custom designs or technology themed merchandise like t-shirts, mugs, or tote bags.
  
• Graphic Design and Illustration: If you love design, leverage your graphic design skills to offer unique, custom prints, posters, or digital artwork that customers can order with personalization, their preferred designs or custom messages.
• Web Design and Development: This niche caters to entrepreneurs and businesses looking for website-related merchandise such as branded t-shirts, mouse pads, or stickers with web-related graphics.
• Small Business and Entrepreneurship: Start creating merchandise that empowers and inspires entrepreneurs. This might include motivational quotes, office supplies like cards, notebooks and journals, business-related tools, and merchandise that celebrates entrepreneurship.
  
• Authors and Writers. If you write books, you can design products centered around writing, short stories and poetry. These items can celebrate popular culture, specific book characters, specific genres, and carry humorous, sarcastic, or serious theme. You can give your products personality traits and mood you want to give them. 

Print on Demand for Books

Another idea for authors includes print on demand for books. If you're an author or an aspiring one, you can create eBooks and publish them in your store for sale.

With the explosion of Kindle books on Amazon, it's clear that there is a niche market who enjoys reading books on a device, versus flipping through the pages of a hard cover or paperback book. 

This means that you'll likely earn more per book sold when you sell eBooks. Kindle Direct Publishing is a great print on demand option if you're creating books for sale on your platform. Lulu and Barnes and Noble offer eBook publishing as well. 

It's important to start a business in a niche that you enjoy so that you'll love working your business and creating products.

Building a Platform That You Own and Control

Video Training on Print on Demand

Many of the platforms you might use to sell your product like Etsy, Facebook, eCwid, etc., don't make it easy to build relationships with your customers.

As a matter of fact, communicating with customers on some platforms is pretty limited. And the customers you obtain on those platforms are not your customers, unless you can get them off the platform to an offsite list.

With Etsy, you're really limited on the extra conversations that can happen other than those that strictly related to the order. They have now integrated with aWeber and other email marketing providers to allow you to build a list. 

It's still a good idea to check the Etsy's policies to make sure you're using email in a way that keeps your account safe. 

Once you use your email marketing strategy to build a list, you can use it to promote your products to customers to build your own relationships.

If you're looking to start a thriving online business of your own that you control, one of the easiest ways to do so is by creating your own website.

Websites allow you to build a brand and distinguish your business from the other businesses that might be selling the same items you're selling. They also allow you to promote products and services directly to customers. 

Websites provide a place to send potential customers to learn more about your business. Having a site that you own and control is an excellent way to collect leads and build relationships with prospective clients that can turn into partnerships, repeat business, referrals and more. 

We recommend building a self hosted WordPress site for your business, even if you are on platforms like Etsy, eCwid, Facebook or eBay or any of the other sites and marketplaces where you may be selling your products.

There are many different types of websites, such as blogs, eCommerce sites, and informational sites. Each type has its own set of tools and features. WordPress is a free open source platform that powers 43.2% of all websites on the Internet.

Selling items like t-shirts and coffee mugs is very profitable, because everyone uses these items. It's a matter of finding your niche and being consistent in adding new products and keeping up with trends. 

Build an Email List and Start Promoting Your Products

Once you've got a store up and running, you'll need to promote it. This means getting people to visit your site and learn more about what you offer.

One of the best ways to do this is through a combination of email marketing and social media. By attracting people to your business using social media and inviting them to sign up, you can engage with your audience by sending out emails to your list, keeping them updated on new products and promotions.

If you're looking to build an email list, there's one thing you should know before you get started: You can't just send out any old email blast and expect people to sign up. Learn more about how to get started with email marketing.

The first step in creating an email list is to create a landing page where visitors can enter their contact information. After they fill out the form, you'll be able to follow up with valuable content.

Once you've built your email list, you can promote your store through social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, Tumblr, and YouTube. These sites allow you to share content for free, which helps drive traffic back to your website.

These are the steps you should take to start a print on demand business for free. For more business building tips and resources follow us on social media using the buttons below.