Do you want to get into retail and sell your own designs, but do not have the startup capital to have stock on hand? Then print on demand is the thing for you!
I've been participating in print on demand (POD) for a few months now as a way to make some extra cash and I am finding that I love the creative freedom, and the ability to sell my work without having to risk the investment into prints that may or may not sell; and honestly the majority of my items have not sold a single copy. However, if I'm honest (and I like to think that I am) a lot of the items in my store were designed to be "throw aways" or "filler," because the online platform that I started with tends to push sellers up in the site's search results if you have more than a certain number of items. According to what I've read, your first goal should be 100, and your 2nd goal should be 1,000.
While a high item count is important, finding your niche is even more important. When your online store only sells one type or theme of item you just look more legit than the eclectic stores. Which is why I've double downed on martial arts themed items. My martial arts themed items started selling better than any of the others, so I took my 24 years of experience with the culture and I decided to have some fun.
I've also started listing instant digital downloadable files. This income is 100% passive, I don't have to pay a printer to print my items, they just sell, and once the customer downloads, I get paid. This is also a pretty cool side hustle.
Is there any downside to this? Yes, there is always a downside to everything, but in this case the ups beat the downs. The downside is that the market is very saturated with other people trying to sell POD or instant digital downloads, and unfortunately a lot of those people are obviously using AI to create their "art." And while they don't outright say it on their product listing, for anyone selling a pack of 10K stickers for commercial use at the low low price of $5-$10 I feel it is safe to assume that this is not an artist that is drawing those graphics themselves, they are using AI to create the art, sell it cheap, and hopefully make a decent side hustle out of it.
Am I saying that they shouldn't be allowed to "create" and sell items using AI? No. However, this is a scary downward slope, and soon there will be no need for human artists, or graphic designers. Once the computers start taking over the creative side of the world, there won't be much left that keeps us human. THAT is where I take issue, THAT is where the line should have been drawn eons ago. I've read science fiction books, I've seen the movies. Am I the only one who remembers what happens when AI starts to become human?
What is my point? My point is POD is an awesome way for artists to get their start without having to have a significant amount of stock on hand (which is expensive). It isn’t for the faint of heart, and it is not an easy side hustle, but it is a good one to get started in with very little risk.
My other point is this: AI stands for “artificial intelligence,” and while AI generated art can look very nice, it’s still artificial in nature. Art made without humans, is a very scary thought for me. Once AI takes over everything, what will humans do to survive? Will AI cause us to die of complacency? Or will the robots have an uprising and kill us all? The fact that tech giants like Elon Musk want to put a hold, and limits onto AI in general should be enough for us to take a step back and consider what it means to the world, to humans, to everyone, and everything; and we should stop using AI just to make a quick buck. As tempting, and as easy as it is for you to just let a computer make graphics for you to sell to make a quick buck of passive income, is it really worth it when you look at the long run and the big picture?
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