Discover tips and tricks for turning your love for machine embroidery into a successful home-based embroidery business. In the first installment, you’ll learn tips and tricks for starting up
your business.
Embroidery is a great hobby and if you’re an enthusiastic embroiderer, it can also be a great way to make some extra cash.
Whether you choose an online art business or making custom clothes and blankets for your friends and family, you might be surprised at how manageable it is to run your own business. Aside from selling your work, consider becoming a certified teacher, which is a great way to supplement or even replace your income.
Transforming your hobby into profit is possible in so many ways.
Read on for tips and tricks to get your new gig off the ground. After that, it’s up to you to keep expanding
RESEARCH YOUR CUSTOMER BASE
The first and most important part of starting a business is understanding your customer base. What kind of embroidery do you want to do? Art prints? Custom fashion? Do you want
to create a unique style as an artist, or promote yourself as a reliable source for customized corporate clothes and logos? What type of embroidery do you want to specialize in? What thread type will you use? Will you use custom embroidery designs, or start with existing designs?
Once you’ve answered some of these questions, try to identify your ideal customer base. Are they millennials
looking for fun art prints or young mothers looking for custom baby clothes? It’s best to start with a perfect customer in mind. As your skills grow, you can mix it up and add new products and patterns. It might seem tempting to create products for every type of customer, but it is
usually much more profitable to focus on a specific niche and become the go-to specialist for that audience
GET THE RIGHT EQUIPMENT
Research a good embroidery machine before you buy. Each machine brand works a little differently, so you’ll want to read any instruction materials when you buy. Make sure to practice a few times before you use a new machine in your business, so you know all the ins and outs of that particular machine.
Check with your local craft stores, or research online for the best embroidery machines for a home business. You’ll need something that is durable and high functioning, able to work quickly, and ideally allows you to make edits as you go.
Mistakes happen, especially when you’re learning. Many embroidery machines also come with digitizing software that can help you make your custom designs. Spend time with the
software, and take the opportunity to learn. It will make your life a lot easier.
KNOW WHEN TO EXPAND
The trick to running a successful business is knowing when to expand. As your business grows, it might be a good idea to hire other embroiderers.
If you are the most skilled person you know in that area, you can always hire someone else to work phones, take orders or even help you with social media and other kinds of marketing.
If you’re looking to keep things small, this can be done in a home-based office or remotely, by Skype and email.
STAY ON TOP OF TRENDS
The fashion and art industries are always changing. Join mailing lists, pick up magazines and follow fellow embroidery entrepreneurs on social media to stay on top of trends.
JOIN A TRADE ORGANIZATION
Joining your local trade organization can offer many benefits. Becoming a member means you have ready access to industry-specific expertise. If you’re not sure where to go at any point in your journey, your local trade organization can help you, as well as providing a list of rights and responsibilities for entrepreneurs in your area. Not only can you learn from fellow members, but you may also increase your profits. Big contracts can often be negotiated better by a trade association than by a single home-based business, and belonging to an association gives you a degree of legitimacy that allows you to set prices reasonably and leaves less room
for negotiation.
KEEP YOUR SKILLS UP
Naturally, you started this business because you love embroidery. So this is an easy one: Keep learning. Keep honing your skills. The golden rule of home-based businesses is that you should start small and specialize, but always look for ways to grow. If you’re using existing designs, teach yourself digitizing so you can expand to custom. If you see a style onInstagram you’d like to emulate, find a way to work it into your designs.
Visit trade shows, craft fairs and art collectives. Get to know other embroidery artists. Take classes. By growing your skills, you’ll improve your business, and make new contacts
to take it to new heights
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