11 Honest Small Business Tips for Cup Makers

Nobody starts a cup business because they love spreadsheets. But the makers who are still going in two years all worked a few things out early — and most of them the hard way.

Here’s what’s worth knowing, minus the hustle-culture nonsense.

1. Sell five before you buy anything

Before the printer, the branded packaging, the logo — sell five items to five people who aren’t your friends.

You don’t need a setup to do this. Order five UV DTF transfers from a printing service, buy five plain glass cans, and apply them yourself. That’s a fraction of what a sublimation setup costs, and it’s enough to find out whether people will actually pay you.

If five strangers pay you within a month or two, you have a product. If they don’t, you’ve saved yourself the cost of a full setup — and it only cost you five cups to find out.

2. Know what one cup actually costs you

Not the wrap. Everything. The blank, the transfer, the packaging, the postage, the market fee, and the platform commission.

Most makers discover their “profit” was covering materials and nothing else. You can’t price properly until you know this number.

3. The pricing formula everyone ignores

The standard is:

(Materials + your time + tooling) × 2 = Wholesale
Wholesale × 2 = Retail

That doubling isn’t greed. It’s what absorbs fees, breakages, the ones you remake, the hours you spent at a market that was dead, and the tax.

Price your time in. If something takes an hour, an hour of your life is a cost. Charging “just materials plus a bit” is how makers end up working for $4 an hour and wondering why it feels like a chore.

4. Your first price is too low

Almost everyone underprices at the start, because it feels safer.

Cheap doesn’t win — plenty of buyers read it as lower quality. And you can raise prices, it’s just harder once people are used to the old one.

5. One or two channels, done properly

Instagram, TikTok, Etsy, your own site, markets — you cannot do all of them well while also making things.

Pick one or two and show up consistently. Consistency beats presence everywhere.

6. On Instagram: Reels get seen, Stories build regulars

Reels are what the algorithm pushes to people who don’t follow you. Stories are what keep the people who already do.

But “post five times a day” is the fastest way to burn out. Three or four good posts a week you can sustain will beat two frantic weeks and a month of silence.

Show the making. Wrapping a cup, peeling a transfer, the seam meeting up — process outperforms finished-product photos consistently.

7. Markets: know your numbers before you book

Stall fees are real money. Before you book, work out how many cups you need to sell just to break even — fee, travel, stock, and your day.

If that number makes you wince, it’s the wrong market. Some are worth it for the exposure alone; plenty aren’t.

Take a card reader. Cash-only stalls lose sales all day.

8. Impulse and gift items sell hardest at markets

People at markets buy things they can hand over to someone. Occupation designs are perfect for this — “my sister’s a dental nurse” is an instant sale.

Bring a range of price points. Something small under $20 catches people who won’t spend $45 on a stranger’s stall.

9. Plan seasons months early

If you’re making Halloween cups in October, you’ve missed most of it. Be ready six to eight weeks ahead.

There’s a full calendar here if you want the month-by-month version.

10. Don’t sell the same designs as everyone else

The fastest way to end up competing on price is to sell what’s on every other stall.

Look for designs that aren’t circulating everywhere — or commission something exclusive that’s yours alone. It costs more up front, and it’s the only thing nobody can undercut.

11. Protect the bit you enjoy

You started this because making things is satisfying. It’s very easy to end up spending every evening on admin, packing, and posting, and none of it on the part you loved.

Batch the boring jobs. Do all your posting on one day. Buy the file rather than spending six hours designing something yourself at midnight.

The business exists to support the making, not the other way round.

One last thing

Everybody’s first year looks like a mess from the inside. The makers who seem effortless are just further along and better at editing what they show you.

Keep going. 💕

Want to save yourself the design time? Browse the shop — every design is an instant download with commercial use included.