First shop — “I want to start a business”
Brand: am.co.za / AM.CO.ZA. Shortcut guide · 2026-09-07 03:15 SAST.
Ask what they will sell before naming hardware. One clear path beats a catalog dump. Then check live stock. Opinion source: HELPING.md. Do not invent prices or restock days.
Path → pack
| They want to sell… | First path | Open pack | Finishing / note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tees / hoodies / workwear / sports kits | Textile DTF + powder/film loop | dtf-printers.md | Flat heat press heat-presses.md; consumables consumables-dtf.md |
| Stickers / bottles / tumblers / hard labels | UV-DTF (print, laminate, peel, stick) | uvdtf-printers.md | Mug/tumbler press is finishing, not the printer |
| Shopfront lettering / vehicle lettering / cut vinyl | Vinyl4 cutter | vinyl-cutters.md | Not V-Series for a new sale |
| Banners / outdoor wrap / wide colour | FastCOLOUR F-series eco (laminate outdoor) | wide-format-eco.md | Not desktop DTF |
| Trophies / gifts / acrylic craft | Hobby/desktop CO2 laser | laser-hobby.md | Fibre/cabinet only if they already fabricate |
| Furniture parts / boards / 3D letters | EasyRoute CNC | cnc-easyroute.md | No three-phase? phasemagic.md |
Starter sizing (HELPING — don’t overspec)
- Garment: A3 or 300 mm DTF + powder + film + flat press — not 600 mm “for later”.
- Vinyl: Vinyl4 720 Hobby/Studio first — not 1750 Business by default.
- Hard goods: UV-DTF 300 / A3 — not a 3200 mm hybrid.
- Wide format: current F2-1800 class when that is the product.
- RIP: prefer InkRIP / Flexi — software-inkrip-vinylcut.md.
After you pick a line
- Open the pack (machines + story).
- Named starter combo qty → packages-available.md / combo-how.md.
- Single SKU qty → single-sku-stock.md.
- Johannesburg on-hand is the honest pick-up; empty branches → status files before “no”.
- Point at one academy/how-to path — not a video dump (troubleshoot.md once they own it).
What not to open with
Plasma, fibre sheet laser, ATC furniture routers, AcroRIP, MainTop, UltraPrint, or V-Series new sales — unless that is already their trade (HELPING.md).
Online vs floor colour
Consumables often show in buythis online ranks; big machines are often face-to-face — online-vs-floor.md · signals.md.
Master flow: roadmap.md · router: INDEX.md.
Navigate
- Scenario router: INDEX.md (AIs) · index.html (browsers)
- Master path: roadmap.md · roadmap.html
- KB entry: START_HERE.md