Die Hard, my all-time favorite Bruce Willis movie, holds a lesson that may be one of the hardest learned for new sellers in POD.

The lesson? You have to save yourself.

In Die Hard, Bruce’s character found himself trapped in a Los Angeles skyscraper with a bunch of hostile terrorists, all the while the outside world didn’t initially believe his calls for help were legitimate.

Making tshirts is definitely less harrowing than battling terrorists BUT the point here is that each of us has to be our own hero.

It’s a point I have made before but it’s worth making again.

If you’re new to print-on-demand and follow people who endlessly flaunt the wealth they’ve acquired online, please stop and evaluate the sanity of purchasing any resources from those mysterious individuals.

You don’t need a hero or a guru.

If you’re struggling, chances are it’s not because of a scarcity of resources in your toolbox. If you don’t have or can’t afford the latest and greatest design software, graphics, fonts, subscription image library, or training resources and strategy guides, you can still survive and thrive in POD. Some of the best and brightest in our business started with nothing in their toolbox and found a way to learn the ropes and succeed.

Remember the reason so many people initially flocked to POD: there are few if any cost barriers to entry. Don’t allow others to put such barriers in your mind. Conserve your cash until you have it to invest and only after carefully evaluating the value of whatever you’re thinking about investing in.

Just like Bruce eventually made it out of that building and a really scary situation, I also believe that YOU or any seller currently in a scary POD situation can make it out alive so long as you maintain a clear focus on what it takes to really hone your craft and treat running a POD store like a real business.

YOU have to learn far more about design than you may have bargained for. YOU may have to become a better communicator so that your product messages and listings are more compelling. YOU may have to put in more time to study aesthetics, keyword research, brand development, advertising strategies, and market analysis.

Learn to count on yourself and you’ll never consider needing anyone or anything to save you from another sales slump.

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