How to Know When You Should Hire a Vendor

As a small business owner, you’ve got to figure out how to be everything for everyone. And when your business starts growing and scaling, you run into a decision point: hire vendors to help you or start turning away orders. (Not many businesses want to turn away orders, right?)

So today, we’re talking about what it looks like to hire and collaborate with vendors. And guess what? It’s not as scary as it may seem…

Five Signs It’s Time to Hire a Vendor

Listen, we get it. Your business is your baby. It all started as a dream and has turned into a full-fledged business. You’ve spent countless hours of creative sweat and sleepless nights trying to grow your stationery business. But as it turns out, the candle can’t burn at both ends for long. If that’s where you’re finding yourself in this season, don’t worry. There’s hope!

Here are some signs that it might be time for you to hire a vendor:

1. When working around the clock becomes a regular rhythm.

Pulling all-nighters to stay caught up with your orders is often something many stationers know all too well. But when it becomes more of a regular rhythm instead of a once-per-quarter situation, it might be time to ask for help.

2. When it’s hard to balance your work and personal life.

What does it look like to create healthy boundaries around your work hours and stay healthy in both your work and personal life? Does that mean hiring an employee? Does it mean outsourcing your printing? Or does it mean finally purchasing that QuickBooks subscription to make the financial stuff a bit easier?

3. When you can’t keep up with your orders.

Remember how it felt the very first time you received an order? You probably felt so excited and giddy about the fact that someone loved your designs so much, they paid for them. But when you can’t keep up with the orders coming through, that excitement can quickly fade. If your orders are bringing you more dread than excitement, it’s time to bring in some help

4. When your get-to’s start becoming overwhelmed with have-to’s.

There’s a lot that goes into creating beautiful stationery. From design to print to packaging and shipping, each order can often have quite a few steps involved. At first, printing, packing, and shipping may have been fun for you. Not only did you get to be a part of each step, but you also got to make sure everything was perfect for your customer. But now? Those are the very steps that are keeping you from scaling your business.

5. When you stop enjoying your business.

If you’re constantly stressed, overwhelmed, and just not enjoying your business anymore, don’t give up! That just means it’s time to start delegating and get your time back.

What to Look for in a Stationery Vendor

For many stationers (and small business owners), it can be hard to trust other companies with your business. What if they don’t care about each order as painstakingly as you do? Here’s the reality: No one loves your business more than you do, but there are companies out there who genuinely care about the success of your business.

As you search for the best vendors, here are a few things to look for:

1. Happy Customers

One of the best things you can do as you begin researching vendors is to look for happy customers. Reviews can be one of the most helpful tools as you decide which vendors to choose from. If you see mostly satisfied customers and great customer service for those who have any issues, that’s a good sign!

2. Great Customer Service

Look for vendors who will walk with you along the way. There’s always a learning curve when it comes to working with other companies. And to make sure you have the best possible experience, they should offer to help you along the way.

3. Experience in the Industry

Experience matters. If your vendor is brand new as a business and to the stationery industry, you might be taking a pretty significant risk. And although collaborating with any vendor is a risk in itself, you can limit that risk by choosing a company who has experience working with other stationers like yourself. Chances are, they’ve worked through their hiccups, have a great process in place, and know how to partner with a business like yours.

Stationery Vendors That Can Help Your Business Succeed

Now that you’re on the lookout for a good vendor, you’re probably wondering what types of vendors to even look for. To be honest, there’s someone that can help you do about anything these days. Here are two areas where hiring a vendor can help save your sanity, time, and stress so you can focus on what you love to do most:

Printing Fulfillment

If you’re pulling all-nighters and spending most of your time working on your printer, making sure it’s calibrated, or having to reprint orders on a constant basis, it might be time to hire a printer (that’s us!). PrintsWell has been printing stationery for over three decades and we aren’t stopping anytime soon. We have state-of-the-art printers that can manage all your orders and amounts (from ten to 10,000 and more). Click here to learn more about why you should partner with us to handle your printing needs.

Drop Shipping

Many people don’t love the process of packing and shipping their orders. Especially when it’s starting to take up most of their time. Don’t worry, PrintsWell can take care of that too. Just create an account with us, order your branding materials, and we will take it from there. We’ll happily drop ship your orders directly to your customers, saving you time, energy, and stress. The best part? You can trust that your orders will meet “The PrintsWell Standard” of quality and care every single time. Learn more here.

If you're looking for a printing partner who cares as much as you do, you’ve found your people! Reach out to us here: fulfillment@printswell.com or call us at 205-588-4171. We can’t wait to partner with you.