Greeting Card Business: The Joker Greeting Cards Way

If you want explosive growth in profits for a business you’re planning to start, then the greeting cards business might not appeal to you.

Make no mistake, there is money in the greeting cards business: According to Business Wire, the industry has an estimated worth of USD 19.25 billion in 2022 and is expected to be worth USD 20.66 billion by 2030.

These numbers might seem big, but the CAGR is just 0.9%, which is way, way below most industry standards.

However, despite this, there are still entrepreneurs who’ve managed to not only thrive but become very profitable in the greeting cards business.

One of this is the Joker Greeting Cards company which sells prank greeting cards. Just to give an idea of how profitable the company has been, it is primarily staffed by one person only but still manages to earn USD 100,000 a month in gross sales.

However, this is not the important figure. I’m sure that you’re interested in this one-person company’s net sales. Well, as of 2019, its’s USD 30,000 a month or USD 360,000 a year which is an impressive amount considering that the average salary in the U.S. is USD 60,000 per year.

Here’s a few information about Joker Greeting Cards, maybe we would all learn a thing or two about its business model and how it managed to crack the greeting card business successfully.

The Details:

1. Info About the Joker Greeting Card Company

The Joker Greeting Card company was started in April 1, 2015 by Travis Peterson, who formerly worked in the investment banking industry before deciding that he wanted to make his own products for himself rather than for somebody else.

The company sells prank gifts but is mostly known for its prank greeting cards that have no off-switch and loops non-stop, on purpose, until its battery dies. As you can see, this is a step above traditional humorous greeting cards which are designed to be just humorous.

Some might consider the company’s product to be bordering on being irritating, but this is the reason for its success. It has successfully captured a market niche in the greeting card industry which is not always served: customers who are looking for more extreme greeting cards.

The company is based out of Irvine, California and have some workers in Salt Lake City, Utah. Their warehouse is located in Utah as well. The company outsources its manufacturing in China and works with another team on product design.

Travis is the only full-time employee of the company. He also acts as the president and co-founder. He built and maintains the company’s website in Shopify, does customers service, brokers wholesale deals, social media marketing, does product development, and so on.

The lessons we can learn from this is that you need a differentiating factor for your products to make them stand out from the products of your competitor.

The Joker Greeting Card company appeals to more extreme customers while offering something new that the market doesn’t supply yet. They captured a market niche in an already saturated market.

Also, Travis has proven that you can establish a very profitable business while also being a “lone wolf”, or by doing everything by yourself without needing a partner or full-time employees.

He doesn’t even need manufacturing facilities or process workers. Like many modern business owners of today, he outsources his tasks to save on startup capital while streamlining his business.

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2. How the Company Started

The company’s story and Travis’ itself is an inspiration to would be entrepreneurs. As previously stated, he already has the mindset of an entrepreneur from the beginning: leaving a safe job as an employee to try to be his own boss.

His first venture was an online content business: personal stories. However, after 2.5 years of hardwork trying to make his startup work, he realized that it wouldn’t get off the ground. He failed to gain both investors and clients for his online content business.

While he was trying to establish his startup, he also dabbled into prank cards which was inspired by his childhood stories about his prank loving father.

He decided to give prank greeting cards a try, posting his prank greeting card business in KickStarter which was a resounding success. His company then naturally grew to become a real business success story.

The entrepreneurial success we can learn from this is that many entrepreneurs don’t succeed in their first few business ventures. Usually, it takes a couple of tries before they stumble into a successful venture. Also, just like many things in life, business success can come by chance.

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3. The Company Wasn’t Always a Success

But if you think that his company’s trajectory to success has always been in the upswing, think again. He was just getting used to success when he noticed that his sales were on a downward trend.

He doubled his marketing efforts including engaging potential customers in social media, but in the end, it was his 15 to 30 seconds length advertisement videos that helped regain his lost sales.

Also, he almost lost his business when his manufacturer shipped him defective products, causing him to lose a lot of customers. But he didn’t give up. He asked his customers for forgiveness and begged them to give him a second chance.

The important lesson that we can learn here is to always save as much money as you can, even when it seems that you would be making money forever. There are no guarantees in life. Your fortunes can change in an instant and you might need your savings to tide you over later.

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4. Art Can Be Tricky

We can consider greeting cards as pieces of art. Their main use is usually to delight the people who possess them. Their appearance and what’s written on them is subjective, meaning that not all will be pleased by them.

There is also the danger that their appearance and what’s written on them might not convert to commercial success because so few customers like and eventually buy them. This is the danger that Travis realized after he has spent quite a time in his business.

This is the reason why although he is involved in the creative process of his business, he leaves the actual creation process to the professionals which he pays. He knows his limitations. He knows that he is good with running a business, except on product design.

The lesson we can learn from Travis is that he knows how to delegate. He outsources the parts of his business that he cannot handle or good at, making his business life easier.

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5. Take Care of Your Staple Products First

Travis has always welcomed new ideas and is not afraid to try them out. However, he admits that sometimes, he makes mistakes with his ideas.

For example, his best sellers are birthdays and Christmas cards, but he admits that he doesn’t give them the attention they deserve. He rushed into putting out new products like baby cards and “I’m Sorry” cards. However, these and other cards didn’t sell well.

He ended up with a shortage of birthdays and Christmas cards inventory, while his baby cards , “I’m Sorry” cards and the new cards he introduced gathered dust in his warehouse, remaining unsold.

The lesson we can learn from this is to build up on your strengths or what products of yours are selling really well on a regular and consistent basis. Usually, it is your staple products that would tide you over during the lean times of your business.

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Final Words

Though there is a lot of money in the greeting cards business, the industry is not poised for much growth. If you are looking for an industry that has high growth potential, the greeting card industry might not be for you.

But there are some companies in the greeting card business who have managed to become success stories by creating new products that most companies in the greeting card industry aren’t offering yet.

The success of Joker Greeting Cards is very real as it exemplifies any normal businesses who got lucky after many tries, and after many upward and downward trajectory in business. They are a real inspiration to any aspiring entrepreneur.

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You Might Be Interested To Read This Article:

Fake It Till You Make It: Is It Really Alright to Do So?

There are people who fake it till they make it. We can use card players as an example. Let’s say a group of people are playing poker, would a person holding a bad deck of cards show in their face that they have a bad deck of cards?

Let’s also take the competitive world of boxing or mixed martial arts. Would a boxer or mixed martial artist signal to their opponent that they are hurting and is just about ready to be knocked out?

But these are good example of fake it till you make it. There are also bad examples like when you hide to your investors that your business which they invested in is losing money and you instead deceive them by telling them that your business is running well.

Even governments engage in fake it till you make it strategy. For example, many governments would tell their citizens that they are winning a war when it truth they are losing. This might be a gray area when it comes to ethics as government don’t want their citizens to lose faith in them.

Simply put, there are instances in life when it is permissible to fake it till you make it. The idea being that you are not causing harm to the people you are trying to convince: ...

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