Are you tired of managing every little detail of your POD business? Wouldn’t it be amazing if you could automate most of the work, giving you more time to grow your business or enjoy your life? You’re not alone! Thousands of POD sellers struggle with juggling design, marketing, and customer service, but there’s a solution—automation.
In this blog post, I’m going to share 7 proven steps you can take to automate your print-on-demand business, so you can save time, make more money, and actually enjoy running your business. All of this can be applied to The Low Hanging system :)
Hi, I’m Kimberly, Rachel’s assistant, and I’m here to help you simplify your print-on-demand (POD) business! Ready to learn how to work smarter, not harder? Let’s get into it!
Step 1: Use the Right Print-On-Demand Platform (Your All-in-One Solution)
The first thing every successful print-on-demand seller needs is the right platform. A good platform handles everything from printing to shipping, so you don’t have to. Some top platforms like CustomHappy make this super easy. Once a customer places an order, these platforms automatically handle the rest.
Why This Matters: If you’re spending hours on packing or shipping, you’re wasting time that could be spent on growing your business or coming up with new designs.
Think about it: instead of manually packaging mugs or candles yourself, or even worrying about managing inventory, CustomHappy does it all for you.
This gives you more time to focus on the creative side of your business—coming up with fresh, unique designs that will grab your customers’ attention. Want to create a holiday-themed candle collection? CustomHappy has you covered. Interested in designing travel accessories like luggage tags or passport holders? You can upload your designs and let them take care of the rest.
By outsourcing these tasks, you’re freeing up hours of your time every week. Instead of dealing with the logistics of shipping and packaging, you can dive into designing new products, researching trending ideas, or improving your marketing strategies. This makes it easier to scale your business quickly, all while maintaining the personal touch of customized, high-quality products.
Step 2: Create Evergreen, Simple Designs That Sell
When it comes to POD, overcomplicating your designs can be one of the biggest mistakes you make. Instead of going fancy, focus on simple, bold designs that work all year round. Evergreen designs, such as motivational quotes or funny sayings, are proven to have wide appeal.
With platforms like CustomHappy, you can easily apply these simple yet effective designs to a wide variety of products. Whether it’s a funny saying on a mug, a motivational quote on a candle, or a personalized message on a travel accessory, simplicity is key. The best part? You don’t need advanced design skills to create these products. Just a good phrase, a simple font, and you’re ready to go. Inside of my Low Hanging System I teach you how to design phrases the easy way, avoiding any overcomplications so you can focus on the sales :)
Numbers Talk: Sellers who focus on simple, evergreen designs report higher long-term sales because these products remain relevant throughout the year.
The great thing about evergreen designs is that they don’t depend on trends or specific seasons. They have broad appeal and can sell just as well in March as they do in December.
This means you can make a one-time effort to create a simple design, and it could continue to generate sales throughout the year.
Step 3: Automate Your Listings (Save 10+ Hours Per Week!)
Once you have your designs ready, the next big time-saver is automating your product listings. Tools like GetVela can upload multiple listings to your store in bulk, meaning no more manual uploading of one product at a time.
With GetVela (or similar tools), you can upload dozens of products to draft mode at once.
The tool allows you to create or edit listings in bulk, apply changes to multiple items with just a few clicks, and even import your listings from one platform to another. So, instead of spending hours manually adding every detail for each product, you can let GetVela do the heavy lifting.
Pro Tip: While GetVela does allow you to bulk upload, we highly recommend keeping your listings in “drafts” then slowly publish them out to avoid robotic/spammy behavior :) You can also use Etsy’s “copy” button to create bulk actions inside of your shop as well as bulk editing things such as titles and tags.
By using automation tools for your product listings, you’re reclaiming time that you can now invest in more important (and fun) areas of your business. Whether that means brainstorming new design ideas, improving your marketing strategies, or simply relaxing and enjoying some downtime, bulk uploading tools give you the freedom to work smarter, not harder.
This newfound freedom also allows you to stay ahead of trends and keep your product catalog fresh and engaging. Instead of being bogged down with manual tasks, you can pivot quickly—adding new designs or seasonal items to your store with ease. And the best part? Once your bulk listings are done, they continue working for you, bringing in sales while you’re focused on higher-level tasks.
Step 4: Bulk Create Designs in Canva (Save Time and Scale Effortlessly)
Creating designs one by one can take up a lot of time, especially if you’re working with multiple phrases or ideas. But with Canva’s Bulk Create Designs feature, you can create over 100 designs at once by uploading a simple CSV file filled with your phrases. This is a total game-changer, allowing you to pump out designs in a fraction of the time.
All you need to do is set up a CSV with your phrases, upload it to Canva, and watch as the platform automatically applies each phrase to your template. In minutes, you’ll have dozens (or even hundreds) of designs ready to go—whether for T-shirts, mugs, posters, or any other print-on-demand product.
Bulk creating designs in Canva saves you hours of manual work, freeing up your time to focus on scaling your business or coming up with fresh ideas.
Step 5: Hire a Virtual Assistant (Outsource for Maximum Growth)
When your print-on-demand business starts growing, handling everything yourself can quickly become overwhelming.
Between managing customer inquiries, fulfilling orders, handling social media, and keeping up with inventory, it can feel like you’re constantly juggling tasks. That’s where hiring a Virtual Assistant (VA) comes in to save the day.
A VA can take over a wide range of tasks, from customer service and order management to social media responses and even product listings.
Hiring a VA allows you to delegate the day-to-day tasks that take up so much of your time. Imagine not having to answer every customer email or message, process every order manually, or keep track of your store’s performance. By outsourcing these tasks, you can free up your schedule to focus on growing your business—whether that’s creating new designs, improving your marketing, or expanding to new platforms.
Platforms like Upwork and Fiverr make finding experienced VAs easier than ever. You can find VAs with different skill sets and price ranges to match your business needs, whether you need help part-time, full-time, or just for specific tasks. The flexibility and affordability of these platforms make it simple to scale your business while staying within your budget.
Hiring a VA can save you 20+ hours per week, giving you valuable time to focus on high-impact activities like new product creation or business growth strategies.
Imagine having 20 extra hours in your week! That’s more time to brainstorm new ideas, research trending designs, or even just take a much-needed break.
By offloading repetitive tasks to a VA, you gain the freedom to work on things that directly contribute to scaling your business, while still knowing that all the day-to-day tasks are being handled efficiently.
Sellers who hire VAs report saving an average of 20 hours per week. Multiply that by weeks or months, and you’re gaining back hundreds of hours every year to focus on higher-level strategies or personal time.
Take Action Now and Free Up Your Time
Now that you know the 5 steps to automate your print-on-demand business, it’s time to take action. Don’t wait until you’re feeling overwhelmed. The sooner you start automating, the sooner you’ll have more free time to focus on what really matters—growing your business, spending time with family, or just relaxing.
Ready to start automating? Comment below with the one step you’re going to take first, and don’t forget to sign up for The Low Hanging System for more tips on how to grow your POD business with ease!
