When it comes to small businesses, a vital aspect of any business start-up is attracting customers.

You already have ideas about what you want to do, you know what you want to sell, you have a product or a service and you wake up one morning like... actually, expectations don't compare to reality at all.

The hardest thing in a business is to make yourself known. It's very easy to rent a commercial space in a backyard and open a fruit and vegetable stall. Or to copy your neighbor's business and open a similar business across the street from him.

Considering that the neighbor has already formed a commercial ford and that the world already knows that cheese pies are sold in his shop, it will be easier for you to just set a lower price and that's it. When there is a queue at your neighbor's, customers come to you. But it is not a healthy habit and not a good long-term strategy. This is a scam. In general, Constanta is full of such examples of a scam. In 2014 in Poarta 6 for example, on an intersection of 2-3 streets there were a number of 4 pharmacies open.

We still have examples today, where in a 4-street area in the center you have 10 different cafes, all with similar prices. Ok, the customer market is divided, you eventually manage to find a balance. There are some who drink their coffee at Coretto today, at Haute Cup tomorrow and the day after that go to 5 to Go. They are guests by profession, it's like visiting your uncle, widowed aunt and cousin all in the same week.

T-shirts Constanta is not a typical business. We do not do t-shirt customization as a service integrated into a suite of other services - as happens in advertising production businesses in Constanta or other places around the country.

We don't print flyers, we don't make outdoor banners, we don't print mesh, we don't wrap cars. I'll never put your order on hold because that client with that big hotel came to me and wants 6 roll-ups quickly by Wednesday.

You call me on the phone, on WhatsApp or by email, you tell me what you want to do and we do it together. We collaborate for a short period of time (those 2 days that the order takes, I will probably ask you questions on WhatsApp or send you pictures during the printing process) and that's about it. I call you when you have to pick up the order. We also have a contract with Sameday courier so they can be delivered, if it's a matter of time and logistics. The initial trip to the workshop is not necessary, all communication is done online or by phone. You just come at the end to pick up, that's it. Time saving.

We also don't rely heavily on piece-by-piece customization, as happens in the small customization shops you find in the city center or in large shopping centers/malls.

Constanta T-shirts is actually a creative workshop first and foremost. It started because of a hobby, screen printing. From a hobby and many many experiments in the garage it turned into something that brings joy to people, a little more quality than you find here and there and some money to go out for a weekend fun for me. It doesn't bring me either pension money or money for a Mercedes. It's a lucrative hobby, like taxiing for those who like to drive cars, for example.

It's more of a relaxation hub for me and maybe a help for those who need to make gifts or start their business with uniforms for their employees.

We don't have a real store with beautiful windows and products on display to attract customers inside. We don't have a small neighborhood shop where an old man can come and chat from time to time and in the meantime remember that it's his niece's birthday. It's an online business, which uses the workshop to print T-shirts and other clothing items.

I really like playing with screen printing paint, mixing colors, trying new techniques and trying to make everything more and more efficient with each order. On average, if I have everything I need ready, it takes me about 6 minutes to print a t-shirt in series with 2-3 colors. This means that I can reach a production of 10 t-shirts per hour, 40 t-shirts per day maximum.

T-shirt production/printing is not difficult, I have a rotary carousel and I turn out printed t-shirts quite efficiently with it. The preparation process is the one that takes the longest, though. Preparing the stencils for printing takes about a day on average - it depends on how many colors I have to print. That day I just sit in the workshop developing and preparing everything. I mix my colors and arrange everything so that the next morning I can start printing. Usually that day I can't actually do any customization anyway because I'm waiting for the unprinted t-shirts to be delivered from the supplier.

If we set the graphics today and place the order for the t-shirts from the supplier, tomorrow I prepare the templates and the day after tomorrow I print or finish printing if there are any left. Usually - in the afternoon, after a few coffee breaks, the order is ready. Look for me on Monday morning, as it is usually a good day to start a project like this - Wednesday it is ready for pick-up.

Statistics from the last few months show that tricouriconstanta.ro is maintaining a stable trend, neither ascending nor descending in Google searches. I managed to stay first at

CUSTOMIZED T-SHIRTS CONSTANTA

And steal an order or two from the other companies in the city. I'm glad that I managed to gather courage and move on with the money from the orders I received.

The .ro domain has been renewed, so this year will be an interesting year of consolidation. Last year the strategy was to expand and grab a small percentage of the market. Just for fun, let's see if it works. It worked. I managed to go to work at my regular job and make t-shirts. Interesting.

Losses? Yes! There were months when I had to pay for the website out of my own pocket. Did the money come back towards the end of the summer? A little... yes. But I still bring money from home from time to time.

CONSTANTA T-SHIRT PRINTS

With only 925 impressions in 6 months for t-shirt printing Constanta, it's clear from a distance that they're not among the favorites. Google probably displays sites with sponsored results or sites from profile companies with much more experience in the field.

It's hard to fool the algorithms, so I'm going to have to not fool them at all. When you want to be number one, you push yourself and work until you get there. So I'm going to post more often, I'm going to maintain my Facebook page, my Instagram profile, and I'm going to be more active on TikTok.

But when to do all this when you actually just want to print t-shirts? I have no idea, maybe I'll ask my wife to be the New Media Manager. Although she doesn't want to. Or maybe I'll look for a smaller or larger influencer.

It's hard to go up against dinosaurs or as someone on TVR1 used to call them "sacred monsters" like the guys on Stefan cel Mare from Digital Print or the guys from Carrefour from Magazinul de Cadouri. I'm not even talking about Sian Image or other big agencies in Constanta (Tipografia Muntenia, Tipografia Dobrogea).

I have my own market and my own clientele, I don't sell Chinese gifts, photo frames or cheap t-shirts with expired messages printed before the customer arrives. Because I really do

T-shirt printing in Constanta

And wait, I haven't paid for a Google Adwords campaign yet. That'll be my birthday present.