From architecture to print-on-demand entrepreneur

The transition from designing buildings to creating an online store might seem like a radical career shift, but for Alina Bibisheva, architecture provided the perfect training ground for entrepreneurship.

“Architecture was the best education in the world because it has all aspects of soft skills, hands-on strategy, design, engineering, and being able to learn new software quickly,” she says. 

The foundation prepared her to handle the various roles required in her business without getting overwhelmed. “I need to be my own accountant, customer service representative, designer, SEO specialist, and then manage all the software. All of these were really easy for me because I had prior experience.”

Overcoming the too-late mindset

When researching business opportunities, Alina was discouraged from entering established markets. 

“I started watching YouTube videos to get inspired on what business I should start. For as long as I can remember, no matter what platform you want to start on, people say it’s too late.”

Alina developed a different perspective, allowing her to move forward despite the negativity.

“I think there is never a single day when it’s too late. Even if it is late, you can still benefit from all the knowledge already there.”

This mindset is the key for anyone wondering how to make an extra $500 through an online business. Where some see barriers, entrepreneurs like Alina see doorways.

Finding the right mentors

Connecting with the right mentors early in her journey accelerated Alina’s progress.

“I came across these people called the Life Hacker Couple. There’s a pretty small group of us who all became pretty successful after joining their mentorship program. Other members include Cassiy Johnson, PassiveIncomeAngel, and JennyFromTheShop.” Alina says with pride.

Such a tight-knit community provides tactics and the confidence to keep going through the ups and downs POD entrepreneurs face.

Choosing consistency over speed

Alina approached Print on Demand with a long-term perspective rather than a get-rich-quick mindset.

“I knew from the beginning that it’s going to be more of a marathon than a sprint,” she says. “I had to do at least a little bit every single day. It was slow for me in the beginning. I started at the beginning of the year, and I saw real traction in Q4.”

When today’s work pays tomorrow’s bills

For Alina, the best mindset shift was recognizing the growth potential of POD businesses. Unlike her previous per-hour compensation, POD offered the opportunity to keep earning long after she closed her laptop.

“I was always paid per hour. But with POD, the earning potential was so much greater. I invested an hour today that keeps making me money in 2025. Some hours that I spent in 2021 still give me profits today.”

Navigating challenges as a traditional designer

While her architectural background gave Alina many advantages, it also presented unexpected obstacles. “I had my traditional design habits, and in architecture, you’re taught to create design purely from a creative standpoint, focusing on aesthetics or personal preference.”

POD required a different approach. “When I started doing POD, I realized that maybe that works in traditional design but doesn’t really apply here. Here, the customer is king, and you need to focus on demand – hence ‘Print on Demand.'”

Alina then shifted her approach from creator-centered to customer-centered. She found confidence in her work, knowing that her designs absolutely delighted buyers.

Picking the right platform for growth

Alina’s initial print-on-demand platform choice didn’t provide the profit margins she needed as a growing seller. “I realized that as a small seller, the profit margins were too slim to keep going. So I decided to give Printify a shot,” she explains.

Printify’s product migration assistance made the transition a lot easier. “There’s a beautiful program where Printify gave you a couple of engineers to transfer all your products,” Alina recalls. This drastically cut the time she would’ve spent on recreating every product in Printify.

Printify Choice slashed Alina’s workload by 80%

Once a seller starts getting more orders, operational efficiency becomes a top priority. But before switching to Printify Choice, fulfillment consumed hours of Alina’s time.

“I used to go into every single order and make sure mother-and-daughter outfits would be from the same Print Provider to avoid paying for two different shipments and ensure the items arrive together.”

The introduction of Printify Choice changed everything, and we can see why. “Since I switched to Printify Choice, I think I cut my processing time by 80% because I’m using it for almost all my products.”

Spending so much less time processing orders freed Alina to focus on business growth. “Printify Choice was a great decision for me.”

The benefits of switching to Printify Choice

Alina found that Printify Choice gave her consistent quality and some great perks.

“It was a no-brainer. It has the lowest price on the platform, the fastest fulfillment time, and the best product selection, so you don’t have to monitor anything.”

After switching to Printify Choice, she saw no drop in customer happiness. “Using Printify Choice has given me more confidence to use the Print Providers Printify picks for me. My customers were just as satisfied with my products as before, if not even happier!”

Delighting customers with surprisingly fast shipping

One unexpected benefit of Printify Choice has been enhanced customer satisfaction due to faster shipping times. It can very well impact reviews and repeat business.

“Some people were shocked by how fast their orders shipped. They ordered Monday and got their products Thursday!” Alina shares. “I always underpromise and overdeliver. So they’re thrilled when their package arrives much earlier than the estimate I give.”

Good customer service has always been important to Alina. “I focus on stellar customer service. No matter what happens, I’ll do my best to keep my customers happy. Printify was helpful because they had my back, especially if anything unexpected happened like things getting lost in the mail.”

Boosting profits $1 at a time

Lower prices with Printify Choice help you reach your profit goals, whether that’s an extra $500 per month or even more. 

“Printify Choice helped me a lot with my margins. Especially with sweatshirts, where it’s a $1 difference – that was big. If you sell 1,000 sweatshirts in a year, that’s $1,000 extra in your pocket. It’s that simple.”

These small per-item savings add up fast across hundreds of orders. Combined with the time savings from simpler order fulfillment, Alina’s business became more profitable without extra work.

Tips for new and existing POD sellers

Alina’s advice is simple for beginners wondering how to make an extra $500 a month with Print on Demand: skip the Print Provider research.

“If you’re just getting started, don’t become an expert in all the Print Providers. Just go straight to Printify Choice.“

And for experienced sellers? Alina suggests updating your existing listings to Printify Choice.

“Start with your absolute bestsellers,” she says. Changing your best products to Printify Choice first will save you money right away.”

Her recommendation: tackle your 10 most popular products first.

“Put a little time into switching your top 10 products. From there, just switch others as you have time.”

According to Alina, the best part is the long-term payoff.

Once you update a product, “it’s done forever.”

From first sale to $10K months, Alina’s Looks into the future

So, what’s really possible with Etsy POD in 2025? For Alina, $500 per month was just the beginning. In 2024 alone, she sold between $300k and $400k on Etsy, consistently hitting over $10k per month. And she wants others to know that it’s never too late.

“There are about 100 million buyers on Etsy looking for the next fresh design. When you know exactly what works and what doesn’t, and you have a clear plan with systems and processes, there’s no limit to what you can do.”

Now, after growing both her customer-facing shop and her digital mockup business, Alina created a course sharing the strategies that helped her succeed, aiming to support others in building the freedom-filled business they want.

“My business has given me the freedom to spend more time with my family,” she told us. “I’ve been able to live in five countries. I get to do work I really enjoy on my terms. And I want to help others have that same experience.”

And there’s plenty more ahead for Alina. Here’s to Alina’s continued success and all the entrepreneurs she’ll inspire along the way!

When Simone Cassarino left his economics studies in 2020, he wasn’t sure what would come next. 

Like many of us during the pandemic, he searched for a new direction. What he found was an opportunity to turn his creative interests into a successful Etsy shop that quickly blossomed into a seven-figure business.

“I always knew the internet could offer great opportunities,” Simone told us. “There are billions of dollars going around in so many industries and niches. I just wanted a small percentage of those billions for me – it would be life-changing.”

Little did he know that this life would indeed change in just a few years.

Building foundational skills through Fiverr and RedBubble

Simone’s first earnings didn’t come directly from Etsy or Print on Demand. Before launching his Etsy business, he developed his skills and tested the market’s response to his work. He began teaching himself graphic design and found his first paid jobs on Fiverr.

“My first gig was creating logos on Fiverr for startups and small businesses,” he shared. “The price was low because I was a beginner, but it gave me my first online income. That was very encouraging because I had results in the first few weeks.”

The timing worked in his favor. “During the pandemic, tons of people were right in front of their computers trying to create side hustles and needed logos for their new businesses.”

He also opened a RedBubble shop during that time to test his designs on products. “With RedBubble, you simply upload the design, and they take over everything. You take the percentage profit, which is only a few bucks per item.”

While this generated some income, Simone realized its limitations. He knew he couldn’t make a full salary from it and started looking for bigger marketplaces to scale his business.

Finding low-barrier entry points to eCommerce

The pandemic pushed many of us online, searching for ways to make money from home. Simone was no different, but he had clear ideas about what kind of business felt right for him. eCommerce offered multiple options, but not all aligned with his values or creative interests.

“I was looking for something with a low barrier of entry,” he recalled. “I wasn’t interested in dropshipping and just reselling products from AliExpress for five times the price without offering much more.”

Instead, Print on Demand caught his eye. It let him create designs based on his ideas and sell them without worrying about inventory. It was a perfect fit for someone with limited starting capital but growing creative skills.

 “I was curious about creating designs from my own ideas, putting them on products, and selling them worldwide without worrying about stock issues.”

Identifying the perfect market entry strategy

Simone researched major eCommerce platforms to find the best fit for a newcomer with limited resources. Each option had different advantages and challenges.

“I found out about Etsy, but there were also other options like Shopify or Amazon,” he explained. “With Shopify, you need to bring traffic yourself and pay a lot for advertising. With Amazon, you need different approvals to sell with Amazon, and they have very restrictive listing rules.”

Etsy offered the ideal balance: an established customer base with straightforward seller onboarding. “On Etsy, you’re already relying on their customer base. You just open an account, create a name for the shop, and you’re ready to sell.”

Capitalizing on pandemic-driven product demand

Simone’s market entry coincided with unique timing: the sudden demand for face masks during the pandemic. The new product category presented an opportunity with less established competition. 

For those of us who remember the early pandemic scramble for masks, this makes perfect sense – people were desperately searching for masks that weren’t clinical-looking, and Simone was there with the right product at the right time.

“I was really lucky because face masks were a new product for the pandemic. People were starting to wear them everywhere and wanted interesting designs. With t-shirts or other products, there was already a lot of competition, but with face masks, I was a brand-new seller in a brand-new niche.”

After comparing platforms, he found that Printify offered competitive pricing for masks. The design requirement simplicity also helped. “Printify was offering face masks at a very good price compared to other platforms. I decided to use Printify, create the listings, connect my Etsy shop, and import all the links.”

The results were immediate. “I had my first sale on Etsy within 24 hours of opening my shop because I was one of the first to create these listings for face masks.”

Managing quality challenges in a new product category

Of course, being an early seller in a new category wasn’t all smooth sailing. As with any new product category, face masks presented quality issues. The pandemic complicated things even more. “During the pandemic, I saw struggles with stock issues and long shipping and production times.“

His response to these challenges set Simone’s successful Etsy business apart. Instead of getting defensive or disappearing, he focused on making customers happy – even when problems weren’t his fault. 

“I tried to be a good seller, being kind to customers. If they weren’t satisfied with the products, I used to provide refunds without questions.”

This approach stemmed from a long-term perspective that continues today.  “I still immediately offer a refund or free replacement if a customer is disappointed, even for shipping issues I can’t control. I want to treat customers the way I would like to be treated.”

Making a strategic product transition

While face masks got Simone’s foot in the door, he knew they wouldn’t be his forever product. The margins weren’t super high, and demand would eventually drop as the pandemic subsided. So, he developed a clear transition strategy for sustainable growth.

“I knew face masks were only for the pandemic. My strategy was to let my Etsy shop grow with sales and good reviews, then switch to long-term products like t-shirts and sweatshirts to build a real business.”

After his first summer on Etsy, he gradually introduced apparel products with higher profit margins. “I started selling t-shirts, slowly transitioning from face masks for the long term. By Christmas 2020, I was making my first sales with t-shirts.”

It’s easy to understand why Simone’s Etsy shop outlasted the pandemic boom. He used a trending product as a launchpad for a more sustainable business.

Refining product strategies for a competitive advantage

Moving from face masks to apparel brought new challenges. Suddenly, Simone needed to think about sizes, colors, mockups, and variations – complexities that didn’t exist with single-size face masks.

Interestingly, he took a different approach than many sellers. While others offered dozens of color options, Simone kept things simple.

“Many sellers provide dozens of color options, which I think is confusing for buyers because they don’t know which to choose. I always pick not more than five colors for t-shirts. I think it also gives a more premium idea about the design, and shirts can be more exclusive. It’s working so far.”

Today, his product mix has evolved, and his bestsellers have a personal touch. “T-shirts make up the majority of sales, followed by sweatshirts and mugs. Most of my sales are personalized orders, which is great for Etsy. People go there to find personalized gifts that they can put a name or dates on.”

Using Printify Choice for a competitive edge

When Printify introduced Printify Choice, Simone was among the first testers. The program automatically selects the best Print Provider based on price, quality, and customer location, and it really improved his experience.

“The first thing I noticed was the lower price compared to other Providers. My main Print Provider was Monster Digital and Printify Choice had a slightly lower price.”

But the biggest deal was speed. In a world where Amazon has trained us all to expect near-instant delivery, this speed boost gave Simone’s Etsy business a sharp competitive edge.

“Etsy actually promotes your shop more if you have faster shipping times. With Printify Choice, the shipping time is one to two days, sometimes within 24 hours.”

The most impressive part for us was the reliability during the holiday rush. “During Q4 before Printify Choice, I had many more issues with quality, lost orders, or damaged shirts. With Printify Choice, the last two holiday seasons had only a couple of issues with all my orders.”

Anyone who’s run an eCommerce business or a successful Etsy shop during Q4 knows what a massive difference reliability makes.

Diversifying through multiple shops

Simone came up with the idea to create a brand new Etsy shop, this time with a different approach. This time, he won’t be selling t-shirts. 

The new shop will focus on higher-margin items. “With high-ticket products, I can make the same amount of money with fewer sales than I would with t-shirts,” he said.

Printify’s expanded Product Catalog makes this strategy possible. “Printify now offers so many new print-on-demand products – tech accessories, car accessories, home living items.”

His approach is to focus on gaps in the marketplace. “A good idea would be to find what’s not on Etsy, bring it from other places like Amazon, and add my own style,” he explained.

This kind of adaptation and innovation is exactly what keeps a successful Etsy business growing even as markets shift.

Living the digital nomad dream

Perhaps the best part of Simone’s story is how his Etsy success has transformed his life. Beyond the impressive sales numbers, it’s given him the freedom to work from anywhere.

“I became a digital nomad, which was one of my dreams. Traveling the world while working and making money without worrying about a traditional job.”

What started as an experiment with face masks during a pandemic has evolved into something remarkable. “It’s crazy to think that in the past, I was just trying with face masks, and now I’m getting close to having a million-dollar business,” he reflected.

Though competition has increased and Etsy has changed, Simone remains adaptable. His journey from graphic design beginner to successful Etsy business owner shows what’s possible with the right timing, strategic thinking, and tools like Printify Choice.

Simone’s journey offers a blueprint for those looking to make it big on Etsy with Print on Demand: identify emerging opportunities, provide exceptional customer service, adapt to changing market conditions, and use tools like Printify Choice to stay competitive and profitable.

Bravo to this champ!