The new year is quickly approaching, and with it, many screen printers are finishing off the year strong with the rush of the holiday season. But, even while you’re busy with orders this time of year, you can still look forward to the year ahead and acknowledge your growth opportunities.
This is the perfect time to set your resolutions and goals for 2024 so you can elevate your craft and stay at the forefront of what’s new in the industry. Take a look at some of the following ideas for screen printing New Year’s resolutions that you might want to consider adding to your own list.
Master Specialty Inks and Finishes
2024 could be the year that you delve into the world of specialty inks and finishes. If you’ve ever wanted to try out metallic inks, glow-in-the-dark inks, and high-density inks for more unique dimensions in your designs, now is the time to push yourself to experiment! You can even try out finishes you have yet to utilize in customer designs like foil stamping, puff ink, or soft-touch coatings to set your prints apart from your competitors.
Think of some of the customer requests you’ve had but turned down because you weren’t comfortable with the technique. This can give you a great starting point for what specialty ink or finish you want to master in the new year.
Invest in Newer Equipment
In the new year, you may make it a point to upgrade your equipment to improve efficiency and expand your printing capabilities. Whether you want to get your hands on a more advanced exposure unit or new online software for creating progressive designs, the new year is as good a time as any to make an upgrade.
Even if there’s a slight learning curve to adopting new equipment or technology, embrace the challenge and understand that investing in new tools can enhance your productivity and output quality.
Going Green
Across all industries, vendors and merchants are trying to find ways to adopt sustainable practices that are more environmentally friendly. The screen printing industry is not immune to such trends, and there are countless ways that forward-thinking screen printers can make their operations more sustainable.
One of the biggest changes you can make is to use recycled materials and substrates for your printing projects to align your business with more conscious consumers. Another way you can go green in 2024 is to lean more towards using water-based inks, which have less of an impact on the environment compared to plastisol ink.
Growing Your Online Presence
Being a screen printer in 2024 means you need to do more than just master your craft. Today’s digital landscape means having a strong digital presence is crucial for business growth. If you haven’t already, make one of your 2024 New Year’s Resolutions building or refining your website and leveraging social media to showcase your portfolio and engage with your audience.
You may end up surprised to see how much your online presence can help you gain more visibility and open up more opportunities and collaborations with other business owners.
