The EASIEST AI Side Hustle Of 2024
Learn how to create a passive income stream with print on demand dropshipping
Starting an online business used to seem intimidating. You needed inventory, shipping logistics, marketing budgets — the list felt endless. But print on demand dropshipping has changed the game. Now anyone can start their own ecommerce store, even with no upfront investment.
In this post, I’ll walk you through exactly how I launched a print on demand business from scratch using AI tools. By the end, you’ll understand how to find a profitable niche, design products people want to buy, set up your online store, and drive traffic to start making sales. The best part? You can get started today for free.
We strongly recommend that you check out our guide on how to take advantage of AI in today’s passive income economy.
Why Print on Demand Dropshipping is a Beginner-Friendly Business
If you’re new to ecommerce, print on demand dropshipping offers the perfect way to get your feet wet. Here’s why it’s great for beginners:
- No inventory or upfront costs. You don’t need to carry any inventory or purchase products upfront. The print on demand supplier handles production and shipping entirely.
- Easy setup. It only takes a few hours to set up your online storefront on a platform like Etsy. Managing orders is simple with integrated services like Printify.
- Low risk. Since you don’t hold any inventory, there’s minimal financial risk involved. You can test lots of product ideas without a huge investment.
- Passive income potential. After the initial setup, your store can make money on autopilot. As orders come in, products get printed and shipped out automatically.
So if you want to try running an online business without a huge commitment, print on demand is a great way to start. You can run it as a side hustle until you’re ready to scale. Now let’s get into the step-by-step process…
Step 1: Find a Profitable Niche with AI
The first step is identifying a niche that has strong product potential. You want to find a specific audience that is passionate about a topic and willing to spend money.
My secret weapon for niche research is ChatGPT. This AI tool helps generate highly targeted niche ideas instantly.
Here’s exactly how I use ChatGPT to find niches:
- Ask for 15 broad niche ideas related to print on demand products like t-shirts, mugs, posters, etc.
- Pick one niche that sounds promising and ask ChatGPT to provide 10 sub-niche ideas within it.
- Choose one sub-niche and ask for even more specific niches related to it.
- Repeat step 3 until you have a highly targeted niche.
This process helped me zero in on the niche of “Black Cat Admirers.” Cat lovers are devoted pet owners who will happily buy products promoting their favorite felines. Focusing specifically on black cat fans allows me to better target that passionate subgroup.
Step 2: Validate Demand with Competitor Research
Once you’ve identified a promising niche, the next step is validating that people actually want to buy related products. A quick way to confirm demand is looking at competitors already selling in your niche.
I searched on Etsy for “black cat mugs” and found a shop called The Black Cat Collective. This store has made over $33k in sales, so they clearly have winning products.
I used the free tool Loox to analyze their top-selling listings. This shows you exactly which of their products get the most sales each month.
I made note of their 3 best-selling designs to recreate similar products for my own store. This data-driven approach takes the guesswork out of product research. I know these will sell because they’re already proven winners.
Step 3: Create Eye-Catching Designs with AI Graphic Tools
Now for the fun part — creating product designs that pop!
As someone without much graphic design experience, I used Canva to create polished graphics easily. With their one-month free trial of Canva Pro, you get access to over 75,000 design templates, photos, illustrations, and fonts.
Here’s how I used Canva to recreate competitor product designs:
- Search their template library for the product type (ex. t-shirt, mug) and edit the customizable template.
- Upload any images or graphics you need for the design. Canva has a huge library of stock photos and illustrations.
- Use their text tools to add any words or phrases. You can try out different fonts and colors.
- Arrange the elements until you have an eye-catching design.
For example, I created a tote bag design featuring a cute black cat graphic and the punny phrase “I’m feline good today thanks for asking!”
With Canva, you can easily create Pinterest-worthy designs even if you don’t have graphic design skills.
Step 4: Set Up Your Print on Demand Storefront
Now it’s time to set up your print on demand storefront on Etsy. This is where your products will be listed online for customers to purchase.
The first step is signing up for a free Etsy shop account. This only takes a few minutes.
Next, you’ll connect your Etsy shop to a print on demand platform like Printify. This seamlessly integrates product listings from Printify to your Etsy shop.
When customers order your products on Etsy, Printify handles printing and shipping them on your behalf. They partner with manufacturers around the world to produce everything from t-shirts to phone cases.
Some key tips for setting up your Etsy + Printify store:
- Pick a good print provider. Compare ratings and product quality to find the best Printify partners.
- Price competitively. Check competitor pricing and go a bit lower to attract customers.
- Optimize titles and descriptions. Use relevant keywords so your products show up in search. I’ll share how to do this with AI in the next section.
- Create mockup images. Showcase your designs on virtual products to make listings pop.
And that’s it — you officially have your print on demand store up and running!
Step 5: Drive Traffic with AI-Optimized Listings
Now that your store is ready, it’s time to drive traffic to your product listings using AI optimization tools. This will get your designs found by interested buyers searching Etsy.
The first step is optimizing your product titles and descriptions for search engine visibility. You want to incorporate relevant keywords so your listings appear when shoppers search related terms.
But writing SEO-friendly listings can be tricky. That’s where ChatGPT comes in handy once again.
Here’s how I use it to optimize my listings:
- Find a top competitor in Etsy search results for your niche.
- Copy their product title and description.
- Ask ChatGPT to rewrite the title and description to be more SEO-friendly.
- Paste ChatGPT’s new optimized versions into your own Etsy product listings.
This AI-powered copywriting takes my listings to the next level. ChatGPT integrates the perfect keywords to help my products rank highly and get found by buyers.
Another great way to drive traffic is sharing your product images on Pinterest. The visual nature makes it perfect for showcasing your designs.
To promote my products, I upload eye-catching mockup images to relevant Pinterest boards in my niche. For each Pin, I link to the Etsy product listings for people to purchase.
This simple strategy has generated hundreds of clicks and sales from Pinterest traffic alone. It takes just a few minutes to set up but keeps driving consistent traffic.
Start Your Own Print on Demand Business Today
And that’s a wrap! In just a few hours you can find a profitable niche, design sellable products, and set up your print on demand storefront.
With AI tools like ChatGPT and Canva, anyone can start running an automated dropshipping business. You don’t need startup capital or ecommerce experience.
The best part is that it can become a passive income stream over time. After the initial setup, you can spend just a few minutes a week maintaining your store while the orders roll in automatically.
So don’t wait! Get started with print on demand dropshipping today. Use this guide to launch your own store from scratch. Let me know if you have any other questions — I’m always happy to help out beginners.
I hope this helps you take the leap into starting your own business. Print on demand dropshipping is one of the most beginner-friendly models out there. Set up your store today and you could make your first sale tomorrow!
We strongly recommend that you check out our guide on how to take advantage of AI in today’s passive income economy.
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Written by Money Tent
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Money Tent offers cutting-edge online money-making strategies for beginners to leverage before they lose their appeal. 🤑 https://highticketaisystem.gr8.com/
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