For the pleasures it offers, I'm not sure anything can beat setting up a "store" at an online print-on-demand (POD) T-shirt site. You upload your designs, create an online store, specify the products on which your designs can be printed, and choose a markup over the POD-site's price for each. When a customer buys a T-shirt with your design, it is printed to order. Beyond simple income, a new POD T-shirt store offers seven delights.



The first delight is getting an e-mail from the POD site when you've made a sale. You put up your first design and wait, and wait... The very first e-mail arriving unexpectedly in your in-box has a special thrill. And even though the subsequent ones can never match the first, getting a couple of e-mails can make a bad day feel whole lot more cheerful.

The second delight is feeling a connection to the people who have bought your designs. You go to your account at the POD site and you see a list of transactions. You look at people's names in the state they live in and you wonder how they chose your design and what it means to them. But you won't know, you'll probably never know. Still, you feel close.

The third delight is receiving your first check. You set your options so that they'll send you a check every time your earnings are at least $25. When the first check comes in the mail, you go out and blow it all celebrating.

The fourth delight is encountering someone who is wearing one of your designs. The first time I saw a woman wearing one of my designs, we were in the same restaurant. I couldn't keep from glancing back at it again and again, beaming.

The fifth delight is telling people that you are a web entrepreneur and saying, "Guess how much it's costing me." You tell them, "Nada." You've supplied the computer, the Internet connection, and the time, so that's free. It doesn't cost you a thing to set up your shop at a POD site. Actually though, it helps if you start your shop already knowing how to -- tee shirt start-ups can be frustrating if you are feeling your way around in the dark -- so you spend a few dollars here and there on books to make your life easier, so you may be honest and just say, "pocket change."

The sixth delight is picking up a blend of new skills. You have to be both right brained and left brained. You need to use an image editor and reflect on how the design looks. You need to find out what people are looking for and the keywords they use when searching. You need to write advertising and promotional pieces, stretching both your prose and your empathy. It's an added benefit that these are all marketable skills.

The seventh delight is actually accomplishing something. While between gigs -- as I frequently am -- searching for opportunities online, it's all too easy to get bummed out, to start feeling hopeless and worthless, and to start getting really good at Freecell. It's satisfying at those times to create a new design and put it online.

These are seven of the delights of opening an online, print-on-demand T-shirt shop.