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Thinking of Starting a Business

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Old May 22nd, 2009, 07:14 PM   #1 (permalink)
mscobee mscobee is offline
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Question Thinking of Starting a Business

I'm thinking of starting an embriodery business and wondering, is this really a lucrative business? I live in a small town outside Sacramento, CA and have lots of youth sports programs that would use me but with all the options on the internet could I compete with pricing to keep a business going? Any advise is much appreciated.
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Old May 23rd, 2009, 04:02 AM   #2 (permalink)
Earl Smith Earl Smith is offline
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Default Re: Thinking of Starting a Business

Lucrative business depends on how good you are. You say you are in a small town, then its easy to get known. Once people know you then they will come to you. ( If you do a good job and your prices are not too high ). The internet competition is still there but people like to have personal contact.
I am in a similar situation. People come into my shop, sometimes saying its cheaper over the internet. I always turn it back to them and ask if they have seen the shirts, or embroidery. What are the hidden costs? Can they get a small repeat order if they need some extras doing? What are the transport costs? etc etc. In the end the internet price wont be far off your price.
How many machines are you buying? A one head machine is OK for staters but you wont make much money from it, you will need to get a 4 head or bigger when things pick up.
My 2 cents worth, but good luck.
Earl
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Old May 25th, 2009, 01:00 AM   #3 (permalink)
megrisoft megrisoft is offline
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Default Re: Thinking of Starting a Business

Yes, i agree with Earl, the prices on internet may be less but when you combine with all the hidden costs, they increase from your local shop prices........

Also local shop have advantage of good communication....
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Old May 28th, 2009, 06:58 PM   #4 (permalink)
myserver myserver is offline
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Default Re: Thinking of Starting a Business

Hi, then you will need to have a complete Embrodiery digitizing software to start your business. I do have a complete set of Artist Pulse Tajima DGML Embrodiery Digitizing software version 9.1 rev A/ and rev J by Hirsh.
Drop me an email at [email address]. we can discuss the price.
I am located in Asia.
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Old May 30th, 2009, 09:45 AM   #5 (permalink)
twok4hd twok4hd is offline
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Default Re: Thinking of Starting a Business

myserver, I will have to respectfully disagree about needing digitizing software to start your business.

Learning digitizing is something that can not be learned or mastered overnite. Find you a highly recommended digitizer. If you are just starting out I would focus my energies on learning every aspect of the machine you are using and about the in and outs of the business as a whole. That is my humble opinion.
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Old May 30th, 2009, 08:04 PM   #6 (permalink)
Eric Eric is offline
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Default Re: Thinking of Starting a Business

I wasn't going to jump in on this one, but keeping my mouth shut is NOT one of my specialties. lol.

Lets take this down one notch at a time.

Internet competition is a funny thing, while almost all of your customers will complain about a cheaper price they saw online, when it comes down to it, with something custom, they want it live in person. Over the internet, who knows what kind of quality they are going to get, or if its even going to be done in the United States, There are a few major online embroidery places that have US addresses, but it is all done in india, haiti, china, etc... Hence the cheap price. Plus, the internet guys are going to charge shipping, so there goes your cheaper price.

Earl makes a great point too, if you are in small town america, its easy to get known, and grab business from all around. I am in somewhat small town, and I get a ton of local business.

Another great point made by earl which I 100% agree with, is the machine / head issue. You CAN make money with a single head, its how I started out. A single head will make you work your tail off for your money, if you are short on cash though, sometimes its the only way to start. I didn't start to make REAL money until I got a 6 head. Figure this, on a single head, you push the start button once, you get one item, perhaps that item takes 10 minutes to sew (using round numbers for easy math) then there are 50 people for a little league team (not uncommon) counting kids, coaches, parents, etc.... 50 items for small town USA sports team is an easy number to rack-up. So at 10 minutes thats 500 minutes, or just over 8 hours, not counting the "cleaning" that may be required tearing / trimming backing, snipping jumps, etc.... Now take a 6 head, and your job is done in 90 minutes. I'm NOT trying to discourage OR scare you, I'm simply trying to give you some reality. Do I think you NEED a 6 head to start, absolutely not. A single is fine, however, the bigger the machine, the easier life gets. As far as brand, for a single, buy a Tajima. I'm not going into why, just trust me. They're fantastic machines.

Now as far as what myserver and twok4hd said, I don't completely agree with either. You definitely DO NOT need a fabulous Pulse system, until you get your act together, and figure yourself out, contract out your digitizing, there are a million digitzers on here, just make sure you are getting a good US / Canadian based digitizer, there are lots that have a US address and phone # but all send their digitizing overseas, god knows what quality you could end up with. BEWARE. However, one piece of software I DO think you should get is at least a basic lettering software, for doing team names, player numbers, etc... Most of them are way easy to use / learn, and are relatively inexpensive.

A little about me:
I started my embroidery business by total accident, my grandmother wanted a viking embroidery machine to tinker with, so for her birthday my mother bought her one, well, she had no clue how to use a computerized sewing machine. So I started to show her. At the time I was in school at Culinary Institute of America. We used to have to wear our chef's whites to ever class, our name was embroidered on all our jackets, well, as we either lost, or wore out our stuff, the school store used to charge a bunch of broke college kids $50 for a chef's jacket. Thats where I got the idea, I used to tell everyone run down to Work n' gear, grab a white dickies chef jacket for $20 give it to me, and I'll charge you $5 for the embroidery. Thus my business was born. I started out with a single needle home machine, today, 10 years later, I run over 400 heads, and have a laser bridge.

I don't want to say its all skill, even though I like to think that I am that good at times, if you ask me, it comes down to an idea, some creativity, hard work, and a little plain ol' dumb luck.

Whelp, I've rambled on enough now ...
Good luck in whatever you do,
Any other questions, just ask me.

-- Eric
:-)
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Old May 31st, 2009, 10:47 AM   #7 (permalink)
twok4hd twok4hd is offline
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Default Re: Thinking of Starting a Business

I guess I wasn't real clear earlier. One of my many faults :-) (just ask my wife). Eric is correct. At a minimum you need a lettering software not a full blown version of a digitizing software.
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Old June 1st, 2009, 06:29 PM   #8 (permalink)
dangig dangig is offline
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Default Re: Thinking of Starting a Business

agreed, lettering is the way to go, when i started out i tried to run a machine and digitize, i still cant digitize, but i can run a machine. i started with a single head, just like eric, bought another single head. than bought a 6 head. than bought another 6. if you ask me honestly, if i could do it all over again, i would of bought a 4 head to start. A good single head is about 8500 used i think, and a good 4 head is about 14,000 when you avg that out it would cost you 32,000 to buy 4 single heads and only 14 to buy 4. As for brand im not going into it, tajima like eric said.

i do not do website stuff so im going to shut up now.

but its true everyone starts somewhere. cept i dont have a laser applique machine like some ppl lol:P..
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Old June 2nd, 2009, 12:18 PM   #9 (permalink)
Eric Eric is offline
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Default Re: Thinking of Starting a Business

Hey hey hey ... I'm a big boy, that likes big toys.

The accountant is going to pitch a fit over it though, but oh well.
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Old June 9th, 2009, 02:52 AM   #10 (permalink)
Eric Eric is offline
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Default Re: Thinking of Starting a Business

Hey Tyrk

I have my laser connected to tajima's, with the manual etching station.

Tajima doesn't make lasers though, they sell another brand of laser called the Se-It, however, mine is not a Seit , mine is a Proel, Itialian made laser, with a bigger cutting field, and slightly more power than the seit. Its a touch slower than the seit, though, but at full power I can cut leather.

YES! I LOVE IT! It makes applique incredibly easy, it has tripled (or more) my hoodie business, I can do tri-layer chenille applique in about 20-30 minutes, versus 90 after you tinker with the placement, tackdown, adhesion, then finally satin stitch. You just lay the material over the shirt, and its does a tackdown, cuts, about 20 seconds per shirt, peel the excess away, and Viola! Although, ALWAYS do a test shirt first, if your laser power isn't set right its very easy to cut through the shirt, trust me, it was a heck of a learning curve, ruined countless things till we got the hang of it. LOL.

These pics were taken the day the installed it, they were testing the laser on the hooped stabilizer here:


The T-Bars in from of the machine are for larger items, eg, when I do hoodies I have these, the carriage presents itself forward, and these offer support for the hoop to ride along so the laser can come by and cut them accurately:


The whole setup-end to end. There is also a table that goes under where the laser is parked so I can etch on denim, fleece, cut freestanding applique, and a bunch of other cool stuff:


What can I say ... I'm a sucker for toys.... LOL

BTW, got your e-mail about the barudan, Do I know you? Your name looks awfully familiar, have I done work for you? I keep trying to email you back, but it keeps getting bounced. Pls call me on my cell in the morning.
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