The vast majority of us love to travel, and the NATS recording an increase in UK aviation traffic through August tells us it’s something more and more people are doing. As flights get cheaper and it becomes easier to book the journeys of a lifetime, travelling around the world becomes an ever-more alluring prospect. But travelling can still be an expensive thing to do – what if there was a way to actually make money while you were travelling?

There is! Print on demand and drop-shipping services, such as Printful, have made it easier than ever for you to design your own custom products and sell them around the world. The best part is that you can manage it all while you travel and see the world for yourself.

What is print on demand and drop-shipping?
So how does the process work? Print on demand works, as the name implies, by only printing items when there’s a demand – namely when they’ve been ordered. This means that you don’t have to bother with extensive inventory of pre-printed products waiting to be sold. You’ll have access to a number of white-label products that are ready to be customised with your unique designs. When they’re ordered, they’re printed – it’s as simple as that.

Drop-shipping is the process whereby customers order your products through your eCommerce platform – such as Etsy, for example. That order is then communicated immediately to your partner, who will then fulfil that order for you. They will print the order, pack it, prepare it for shipping, and then send it to the customer. That process is known as drop-shipping, and it’s essentially your partner fulfilling your orders for you.

How does it work when travelling?
So if you love to travel, how is this going to help you? Quite simply - you don’t need to handle the shipping of your products yourself; all of it is overseen by your drop-shipping partner. There’s no need for you to be tied to your home or your place of business, printing orders and packaging them ready for sale. All of that is handled at your drop-shipping partner’s distribution centre.

You can log in and manage your eCommerce platform from anywhere in the world, so wherever you find connectivity on your travels you can manage your business. Drop-shipping and print on demand services allow you to live your life and travel the world, while still making money from selling online.