Starting a Business

if you think you will have a lot of work, start with commercial...

I haven't used a home machine but in addition to hats I would want to know how well a home machine will deal with the additional bulk of heavy jackets.

I agree, if you think you'll have plenty of work and can afford it I would purchase a commercial machine. Will you purchase a heat press? That's another cost to consider if you want to do teams.

It's better to start with a small one-head or two-heads commercial machine.
Sew/embroidery machine has it's limits when running productions.

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I am in the same boat. . .I have a night job and just opened my own embroidery business. I have a SWF 1501C machine and have had great results with it. I would love to cater to sports teams but I don't know anything about this business so I figure I would learn as I go. I got a great start with SWF and their classes, but I think that this business is just a learn as you go type of thing, there is not manual to it. If you have anything to share I would be glad to share with you anything I have and that goes for anyone :)

When starting an embroidery business its important to spend some time thinking about how your individual assets can work for you to help make your business profitable. What are your interests (hobbies), strengths and weaknesses? A hobby can become a profitable business niche. Your strength in sales may indicate that you'll need another person for non sales tasks. Your weakness or lack of interest in digitzing may say that you'll need to contract out that aspect of the business.

Its also important to consider your connections. Are you friends with a shop owner who might sell your work? Do your kids play sports? Does your aunt work at a school? In addition, think about who you connect with. Do you associate well with small business people, sports types or car people?

Finally, consider potential needs. Is there a service that your competitors don't provide that you could? For example, can you provide better customer service, quicker turnaround or better quanlity?

Running a business requires wearing many hats. If you wear the ones that fit you better you'll probably be happier and your business will be more profitable.

When sales can comfortably handle the machine payment, then and only then would I recommend purchasing anything. Outsource everything that you want until the numbers make sense. To me machines are like Workout Equipment... everyone has the best of intentions... they buy all this stuff and then rarely, if ever, use them enough to get their money's worth out of it, let alone see more than that.