How to Start a Home-Based Address Label Printing Business
Despite the popularity of email, text messaging and social networking sites, people continue to mail letters. Address labels certainly facilitate the process, so if you have a knack for design and a desire to help people stay in touch, a custom address label business may be right for you. It requires minimal supplies, so you can work from home.
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Instructions
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1
Give your business a memorable name that conveys what you sell. File a DBA ("doing business as") form for this name with the county clerk, who will require a filing fee of $10 to $100, depending on your location. Contact city hall and the secretary of state to find out whether you must file there too, which will likely require more fees.
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2
Download address label templates. These are typically in formats such as DOC and ODT that allow you to edit the labels in a word processor. Choose free templates as you can to keep your costs as low as possible and increase your profit. Note how many labels are on the sheet in each template because this will determine what kinds of address labels you buy. Common numbers are 10, 15 and 30.
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3
Buy a package of blank adhesive address labels for each type of template. Choose labels with a glossy finish, if possible, to give your labels a professional look. As with the templates, buy the least expensive labels you can find to increase your profit. A package of 100 30-label adhesive sheets costs between $13 and $45, as of 2010.
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4
Open each address label template in a word processing program to practice making labels. Type your name and address in place of any example information in the first template label. Highlight the entire label with the cursor, right-click and choose "Copy." Highlight the next label in the template, right-click and choose "Paste." Continue until you have changed all the labels in the template to show your address, then save the file with your name and an identifying number; for example, "marysmith1.doc." The number will allow you to save multiple templates for a single customer.
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5
Place a sheet of adhesive labels into your printer. Select "Print" from the word processor under "File."
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Calculate the cost of your supplies. Divide this amount by the number of address label sheets you have to determine the minimum amount to charge customers per sheet. For example, if you bought one package of 100 sheets and you paid $25 for all your supplies, you must charge 25 cents per sheet to break even, more to make a profit. Use the prices of other custom address label businesses to determine how much customers are willing to pay.
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Repeat Steps 4 and 5 to make example labels to show potential customers. Only include your actual address if you want customers to come to your home. Otherwise, include a fictional address or the address of the post office box where you want customers to contact you.
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Make fliers to advertise your business in your community. State your business name, prices and contact information and include example labels. Because not everyone uses postal mail, focus your advertising efforts in places like business offices and stationery shops, where you know people still send letters.
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