A recent class I took for my Entrepreneurship degree had me design and launch a t-shirt company. During this class, I could not stop thinking, that there is no way this will work. The t-shirt market is way too saturated to ever succeed? I knew it was just an assignment, but it still bothered me that it was a company I could never scale…or so I thought until I discovered the story of Bryson Oppermann, founder and sole operator of Got Funny t-shirts.
Bryson was a full time marketing director with a passion for art and design. One day he was showing some of his friends his art, when someone made a slight comment about how they would wear that design on a shirt. Bryson got the idea to start a little side hustle. Like me, he did not believe that this is something anyone could do full time. He started posting some funny videos about his shirts on tiktok and after a few days of this, one of his videos blew up. As a consequence his sales exploded, and within days he had sold hundreds of t-shirts.
There was nothing special about his t-shirts. They were cool, funny designs not unlike something one could find on etsy. What sold the t-shirts, Bryson would later reflect, was his style of promotion. People liked his personality. Consistent posting of videos took time, so he eventually quit his job, and took on the job of selling t-shirts full time. Today, Bryson pulls in over $1 million annually, all as a one person crew.
Bryson is a true testament of hard work, creativity, and passion. There is nothing special about Bryson or his company. He runs a basic Shopify store, and prints all of his t-shirts through Printful, and yet he is a successful entrepreneur, making a six figure income. Through creative marketing, and hard work, Bryson turned a basic t-shirt design, into a top 1% income. To check out his store, visit gotfunnymerch.com, and to check out his full interview, visit the UpFlip YouTube channel.
*BE ADVISED: shirts may contain explicit langauge
This is an awesome post! It’s crazy to think that just t-shirts can be so profitable. But it’s exactly what you said: it’s all in the marketing. Bryson wasn’t just selling t-shirts, he was selling his personality as his brand online. Reflecting on my own experiences, I’ve been swayed to buy things because I simply like the personality and the brand of the seller. I think it’s valuable how we can reflect on the power of this marketing and possibly apply it to our endeavors. Great post!
I really enjoyed this post! I like how you connected to this story personally with how you did the same thing as Bryson for a school project. Mentioning how saturated the T-shirt market really helps convey how hard it can be to jump into a highly competitive market. I never really considered just how valuable marketing would be in that market, but you explained very well. Bryson’s marketing of his t-shirts is what made him standout and find customers. Sometimes it not just the great idea someone comes up with but making sure you advertise it right and find the right audience are key parts to having success with entrepreneurship. Great Job!