How to Make ₹1 Lakh Per Month with Instagram Photo Printing Empire

Hey Moneymint fans!

It's going to be a fun week! We have 700 new members, so let's say hello to them!

Let's get into this issue of our newsletter, where I'll talk about an interesting way to make money. Are you ready?

I found this interesting article that caught my attention “Info Edge's Subsidiary Body SIHL Plans To Invest Rs 4 Crore In Printo”.

What is Printo?

Printo is a retail chain that offers print and personalized gift services under one roof. It is known for providing personal & business print and corporate merchandise in the country. It delivers business cards, stationery, flyers, posters and other print-based accessories.

Why should Printo matter to you? Because we're going to start a business that's similar to Printo, but with a twist - we're going to print photos from Instagram for our customers.

Why? It’s simple to set up and many smaller companies are already successful with it. Here are some examples:

1. thesnapstoreapp

2. thesqaureprints

3. printking

The above are small businesses and if I talk about big companies like Canvas Champ, Zoomin, and Post Snap are all making money in this market.

Also, Printo has raised over 16 million dollars in this space:

I am sharing all of the above to show how much potential there is in almost every field.

Instagram Photo Printing Empire: Making ₹1 Lakh/Month

Now we can move forward with our plan to start a business printing Instagram photos. Not just any printing service will do, it needs to be unique in order to be successful. You could focus on a specific niche market, such as moms, kids, travelers, birthday photo printing, or even making wedding storybooks.

Example: How a small business is setting itself apart by printing festival clothes for kids on Instagram.

You can reach a lot of people by providing unique services that people use over and over, like birthdays which happens every year, so its never ending. Just think of other examples that could help you.

To give you more ideas, here's a story about Zach Katz, who is making $300k just framing other peoples Tweets!

And Tim Koa, who sells stickers on etsy and makes $150,000 a year.

The main points? Don’t fear competition and be unique in whatever you do. Don’t copy others and focus on giving your customers something of value. Also, be the absolute best in whatever industry you decide to start something. You need an edge to become successful.

Cough cough, I think that’s enough motivation for today. Moving forward.

To start, you’ll need a domain name, a website, social media accounts, suppliers, a payment processor and delivery partners. If you want to start out small, all you need is a social media handle and a WhatsApp number. Even though this is a less flashy approach, but I prefer it because it makes customers think they are dealing with a well-known brand.

Before you even consider doing this business, you need to know how the business will make money and how much you will make after paying for everything.

My favorite part is calculating paper money. Pun intended.

Now, the average cost of 20 photos charged by your competitors is Rs.299 plus delivery.

If you look at the price of photo paper online, you will notice that you can get 100 photo paper for Rs.125.

Next, you'll need a printer to print customers photos. The first option is to purchase a printer (costly). Alternatively, you could contact your local printer shop and negotiate a price with them. You can provide the photo paper, and they can charge you for printing.

Overall, the cost of printing 20 photos is approximately Rs.100-120, with an additional Rs.50-100 for shipping. The total cost of the product will be around 200 plus 18% GST, which comes to around Rs.36.

Total cost including printing, shipping and taxes: Rs.236

Your profit per order would be Rs.63 if you sell mostly through WhatsApp and social media. Assuming you’re selling 20 photos at Rs.299.

This may appear to be a small amount, and your profit may be even lower (Rs. 30-40), but our goal is to gain customer trust before you begin upselling higher-priced items. This is where the economics of your business will make sense. It is possible that you will lose money in the first few months of running this business, but believe me, you will eventually make a profit.

Some people might say, 'This is too hard. Is there any alternative?'

Well, there is. If you don't want to do all of the above, look for a printing service that will print and ship your photos. 

If you want to start a business without investing a lot of money, you must figure out something (like a jugaad) to make it work. And I believe in this approach of running a business without investing much money because you don't know how profitable or how long you'll be able to run it.

Now I have given you a few jugaads for running this photo printing business.

As I mentioned earlier, the aim of this Instagram photo printing service is just to gain customers trust, once you have that, you can sell so many other products such as:

1. Printed Phone Cases

2. Printed Couple T-shirts

3. Canvas prints

4. Photos with photo frame

5. Wedding Album with couple story

6. Mugs, Notebooks, posters, mouse pads, coasters, etc.

The best part is that you can sell all of these items for between Rs.500 and Rs.1500. And your profit margins will increase.

I believe that this is a long-term business and you cannot make a quick profit and then exit.

But how to reach customer?

We have a low-margin product, so paid advertising isn't a good option. How can we reach customers without spending a lot on ads?

We'll focus on building a strong social media presence (especially on Instagram and Facebook).

What is organic growth, and how do you achieve it?

To gain views, likes, and followers on social media accounts, you must first post interesting content in your niche. I believe Instagram will be the most effective platforms for this approach.

Whatever I've mentioned above, one store already does all of it: thesqaureprints

If you check their Facebook page, you will notice that there are hardly any followers. So, Instagram is the best place to grow your business. You can recreate thesquareprints page's viral posts by following their strategy.

They are really good at collaborating with influencers. And it's a genius strategy, simply send them your products and they'll promote them for free. To make this strategy work, you'll need to contact a lot of influencers. Not everyone will be willing to work in exchange for your products. Some will seek compensation, but we are not looking to invest our money at this time.

So, try reaching out to mini-influencers who currently have 5K or 10K followers, and I am confident they will agree to collaborate with you without asking for compensation.

I believe I have covered everything you need to know about starting this business and earning between Rs.50,000 and Rs.1 lakh per month.

Don't overcomplicate things, if you find something interesting, simply test your idea on social media. It will either work or not work, but if you wait 6 months to launch your business you will already be behind.

Just one more nudge before I leave…Always be closing!

That’s all for today. Did I miss anything?

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