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huny1
Posts: 2
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Rank: Newbie
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| 18 Jan 2012 5:18 PM |
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Hey everyone. Well, it's been a rough month. My husband lost his job (his boss was his dad) and I am realizing that I cannot be an accountant and be happy the rest of my life. This is a huge transition time for us but I have decided that I might as well take it to the max! I'm going to get started on the dream I have always had, because why not? I am going to open my own embroidery and seamstress shop. I am just here for advice on the first steps. I've been looking at locations through this www.rentdigs.com place so I don't really need help with that, but what I do need to know is....everything else. Should I hire employees? Should I keep track of the money on my own? How many machines do I need? Any advice would do me some good. Thanks.
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delfius
Posts: 197
Location: Sydney, Australia
Rank: Hooked
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| 18 Jan 2012 10:33 PM |
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Nice to see you going for your dream! I'm sorry to hear about your husband's job (that must have been hard on his dad too to have to make that call).  But it's nice to see you're going through this with a positive mindset!
A few months ago, I stumbled across a cool piece of advice which read "Don't hire anybody without trying to do it yourselves first".
I can't remember exactly where I read it so take it for what it is, but to me it seemed like good advice, because it helps to be familiar with all aspects of your business and even if you find you won't have time to do everything yourselves, you'll at least be in a position of experience when it comes to interviewing someone for the job. 
As for "how many machines you need", well, you only really need 1. I've seen little shops and kiosks with just 1 machine that has the capabilities to do both embroidery and sewing. Or maybe you want 2 machines if you wanted a dedicated embroidery machine and another one dedicated to sewing.
You should also consider getting good software to create your embroidery designs. Good embroidery digitizing software is expensive and takes a bit of time (i.e. money!) to learn, so be sure to consider carefully which one you want to go for. But having good software will give good return on investment, by reducing the time it takes to create designs, with better quality embroidery and smoother machine operation.
Good luck with your dream!
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Ballads, duets, and a fun dose of pop/rock http://www.youtube.com/user/delfiusgarland |
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huny1
Posts: 2
Location:
Rank: Newbie
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| 18 Jan 2012 11:37 PM |
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wow, thanks for the great help! I really appreciate you taking time to answer my question and I feel like I have a better idea of what I'm going after now. 
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delfius
Posts: 197
Location: Sydney, Australia
Rank: Hooked
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| 23 Jan 2012 8:55 PM |
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You're welcome, I'm glad I could help. Just one more thing I forgot to mention, but maybe you've thought about it already... consider setting up an online shop! Online shopping is the way of the future. (though I'm not sure if that was part of your dream or not).
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Ballads, duets, and a fun dose of pop/rock http://www.youtube.com/user/delfiusgarland |
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crumrinegl
Posts: 6
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Rank: Novice
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| 09 Feb 2012 11:17 AM |
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| Starting out I guess the first question is what is your experience like? Do you have the stuff it takes to do the work, or will you need to look for expertise right away. Secondly, when looking at packages, take the time to explore some of the business offers from the commercial machine makers. some offer complete packages that include both embroidery and Direct to garment processing. the question I would be asking is what sort of market is there where you want to open shop? Going out and spending large sums of cash and not having the customer base locally is a recipe for disaster. When considering digitizing software, just remember that you can hire that out and purchase a lot of digitizing service for the thousand or so dollars it will cost you, and while you are learning and using the software, you are not making any income. Focus on those functions that bring in cash. Hire out the rest. When considering your equipment that you need, yes you can do embroidery on a single head, single needle machine. But if you are looking at production, then a larger multi needle machine makes way more sense as you will produce several items in the same time it takes you to change the thread color, re-thread the machine etc. Remember, to make money, you need to be efficient. And anything you can do to reduce your production costs adds to your bottom line. |
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jenniferB
Posts: 4
Location:
Rank: Newbie
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| 31 Mar 2012 4:46 PM |
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Starting up needs great determination, courage and money. Small business owners and freelancers sometimes run some of the simplest companies out there. A simple business, however, does not mean a business with no costs; here are some of the costs you need to consider. The basic recurring costs of business is from paying for raw materials through to paying the rent or the heating bill. All of us are good at some things and not so good at other things. Part of owning and operating a business is knowing what your skill sets are.
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