New to Embroidery and jumping in head first

Hello my wife and I just purchased a single head Barudan. I have a family member that has been around the business Maintenance side for 25+ years, but not necessarily the day to day operations side. We are looking to start out very slow making odds and ends for friends and acquaintances locally. both have full time jobs but i would like to transition to this being my full time job. We are in South Florida.

Few questions:
Any recommendations on Suppliers? Greater fort myers area
Digitizers- recommendations?
Any pitfalls to watch out for?
whats the timeline on a small order? (I'm sure this is very subjective)