One of the big areas of training for new embroiderers that is not easily found, is the area: "How do I run my embroidery business and make a profit?" This was a huge struggle for me and this is a real battle for most embroiderers. It is not the kind of business that most people understand. When I started my business, I did not have an accountant. When I started working with an accountant, it was very hard for him to understand my type of business. Yes, like any other business, I needed to make a profit but there was a lot more to it than that.
I had to have my accountant come into my business and actually work with me and watch everything that was going on so that he could understand the problems and many issues that I was struggling with. The embroidery business seems to be unlike any other type of business. IT is labor intensive, more so than many other types of businesses.
It was not until I almost lost my business and educated my accountant that he could actually help me turn my business around and make it profitable.
Before I begin sharing the knowledge that I have gained along the way, I want to tell you how I started my embroidery business. It was not the correct way to get started. I made so many mistakes.
Learn From My Mistakes
There is no reason why you should start your embroidery business without the sufficient knowledge that will help you succeed right from the very beginning.
My experiences will only touch the surface of what you should learn before you actually start your business, but it will help get you on the right track and get you thinking about what is actually involved and the correct steps to take.
There is a lot of information available today and it is always a good idea to absorb all of the knowledge that you can get before you get started. If you are someone that has already started your own embroidery business and are not having the type of success that you developing your own profitable embroidery business.
The Wrong Way To Started
I started my own embroidery business over 30 years ago as a result of a good friend asking me to embroider a name on a jacket.
That was the beginning of a very small embroidery business that started in my home, but grew and became a medium sized multi-head embroidery business.
I gave my gift items to many friends and family members for special occasions and this blossomed into a business that I loved and had a lot of fun with. Free word of mouth advertising helped my business to grow very rapidly and I had to move it from my home into a retail location. I soon found myself with so much work to do that I did not have enough time to get it all done, even after hiring some help.
I did no preparation or research and had no idea how to run a business. I loved what I was doing and it did not seem like work.
When I was asked to put that first name on a jacket, I knew almost nothing about embroidery except that it could be done on my regular home machine. The instruction manual that I received when I purchased my machine. The instruction manual that I received when I purchased my machine said that it could be done. This was back in 1978 when they did not have home embroidery machines. It was a regular home sewing machine that had a zigzag stitch. That home machine with a zigzag stitch opened up a whole new world for me.
I had no one that I could call on for any type of training or advice. I found myself running like a mad person trying to learn how to do they type of embroidery that my customers were asking for, and run a business at the same time. I look back and wonder how I ever made it.
Starting your new embroidery business without enough preparation and research is the perfect recipe for financial disaster. Starting your own embroidery business is just like starting any other type of business and should not be entered into without a lot of preparation just because you like to sew or do embroidery.
Embroidery is an exciting business and can be a very lucrative business when it is started properly with all of the right resources and preparation.
7 Key Elements To A Highly Profitable Home Based Embroidery Business
Only 79% of the embroiderers that start their own business survive past the first year. Many others fail within the next 2 or 3 years. This is a sad fact and it has little to do with the intentions and effort of the embroiderer. It has more to do with having the right systems, approach and tools in place.
There are 7 key elements that I have found to be very important during the early phase of starting your own embroidery business or trying to achieve a highly profitable embroidery business.
- Planning
- Marketing
- Pricing
- Niche Marketing
- A System To Organize and Manage Your Business
- Finding Good Employees
- Education
- Action Plan
The first 7 are the Key Elements. Number 8 is your Action Plan. It is very important to start taking action immediately. So many times we find a good book and discover that it has a lot of great points, but after we finish this reading and lay it down, we do not go back and take the steps that have been suggested to take to make our situation better.
I want to help you understand the importance of these key elements and help you avoid the mistakes that I made when I started my embroidery business. Read all the way through before you try to create your Action Plan. Go back and re-read each chapter again. As you are reading it for the second time, concentrate on each chapter and apply what you are learning as you create your Action Plan. This is very important. Each time I read something I learn from it. When I go back and read it again, I am amazed at what I missed.
If I had had a guide to get me started, I would have seen a return on my investment much sooner and it would have saved me many years of frustration and anxiety. I was determined to have the best quality embroidery in my area and give the best customer service that I could afford to give. Through much trial and error, I was able to accomplish this.
I want to help you in your journey to building your own embroidery business; the type of business that gives the satisfaction that every business owners searches for.
