We have to start somewhere, and it’s not easy to decide when we should officially become a small business. It’s not easy because of the intimidating amount of information you have to digest before turning your passion into a money-making machine.
“Where do I even begin?” is a commonly asked question. If you’re working on projects for friends and family, you’ve already begun. It’s time to start making an income from your creativity and your machine. You have a skill, and charging for it is a must. After all, fabric and thread aren’t cheap.
You have invested your time and money into providing value for your friends and family, so it’s time that you get the compensation you deserve. That’s how every business comes to life. You offer great value, and in exchange, you earn money. True customers will always understand that.
Understanding the three personalities of every new business owner
The journey of starting your business begins by wearing the hat of the technician.
The Technician
This is the part of you that fell in love with embroidery in the first place. You enjoy doing the work, creating the art. You are the technician. You’ve honed your skill and, at some point, decided that you should get paid for it.
The Manager
This is the part of you that craves order and organization. The manager puts systems and processes in place to ensure that things get done efficiently.
The Entrepreneur
The entrepreneur is the reason why you’re reading this article in the first place. This is the part of you that has the vision to learn how to start an embroidery business, to start taking names and kick butt. The part of you that knows you can get more out of your hobby by turning it into a hustle.
Understanding how they work together
The problem is that these personalities don’t always get along, and that’s when a business typically fails. The technician dislikes doing managerial work. The technician wants to create art and be left in peace.
The manager doesn’t always get along with the technician. The manager wants the technician to do things in an orderly way, and the technician doesn’t always agree because it’s getting in the way of the art.
The entrepreneur only shows up in the beginning, gives you that spark, and leaves you to figure out the rest. The entrepreneur drags the technician and manager towards bigger and better things, whether the technician and manager are prepared for it or not.
When learning how to start an embroidery business:
This is the key to applying the following points properly. When starting a business, we forget that working on the systems that drive your business is just as important as the craft of machine embroidery itself. You must approach the systems that run your business with as much enthusiasm as you approach embroidery.
Having a hobby that can earn you money is a dream for most people. It’s challenging to find something that you like to do with your time and earn an income from it. This doesn’t mean that you need to quit your job and begin your embroidery business, no. It means that you can start small and begin to grow and adjust as demand for your work increases.
Chances are, if you’ve invested this much time, energy, and money, you owe it to yourself to start generating a return. There are a few essential secrets that you need to know before embarking on your journey, things that will help you figure out precisely what you need to learn before moving forward.
1. How to start an embroidery business: Create a website
Yes, it can be disconcerting to try and wrap your head around the process, but these days it’s much easier to build a website than you might think. If you can set up your machine, digitize your designs, or embroider garments for friends and family, then you can build a website.
Easy to use drag and drop website creators like Wix and Squarespace allow you to put a fully functioning website together in a short amount of time. Still uneasy about building your own website using these tools? Sites like Udemy provide cheap courses that will teach you to build your website in a day. You’ll surprise yourself, your friends, and your family.
Remember to upload some high-quality images of your work and add contact information on the front page. There is no use in having a website if people can’t see your work and don’t know how to contact you.
If you’re looking for quality embroidery designs that’ll make your work stand out and impress, check out our giant collection of close to 30,000 embroidery designs! As long as you give us credit by posting a link back to our site when you use our designs in the sample photos posted on your website, you’re welcome to use our designs to showcase your work online.
2. Find a Niche by letting it find you
This is important if you want to grow and increase your income over time. Contrary to what many people believe, offering embroidery services in all sectors of the market will not land you more customers.
Think of the phrase “Jack of all trades, master of none.” If you try to cater to everyone, your marketing message won’t be clear, and you won’t be catering to anyone. Having a clear niche allows you to target a specific audience and provide the specific services the audience requires. Here are just a few examples:
- Athletic teams/Schools
- Weddings and bridal parties
- Moms/Moms-to-be/Grandparents
- Focused Niche Market
It might be hard to find a niche right away. This is because you haven’t experimented enough. Start broad. Yes, finding a niche is crucial, but first, you must start broad and then narrow it down.
In the beginning, do precisely the opposite of niching down. Then find out what sort of machine embroidery you like most and can generate a decent profit. That’s the secret. When you’re just getting started, don’t worry about finding a niche immediately. It will eventually come to you – just don’t stay broad.
3. Invest in embroidery software that saves you time
One of the hardest things for new entrepreneurs to learn is to walk past a small pile of money to get to a bigger pile of money. I’m talking about reinvesting your dollars on software or systems that do time-consuming tasks for you and generate more income in the long term.
For example, these days, you can have your groceries delivered to your front door. Some people might scoff and say, “I’m not that lazy to have someone else deliver my groceries for me!”- those people aren’t entrepreneurs. Bear with me.
The entrepreneur understands that time saved is time that can be reinvested into the business to improve its systems and generate more profit. Paying someone to deliver your groceries might cost up to $10 and take over an hour.
What if instead of doing it yourself and saving $10 an hour, you pay someone $10 to do it for you, and make $50 an hour embroidering at home? Not only have you enjoyed embroidering for an hour, but you’ve also made $40 working for a customer.
4. Invest in an embroidery machine that you can rely on
To produce consistent results and guarantee the same high-quality work on all of your orders, you need a machine that can deliver. It is one of the most critical aspects of your business. The more time your machine is up and running, the more value you can offer to your customers, and the more money you can earn.
Many embroiderers learn to embroider on low to mid-range machines, and it’s completely understandable. However, if you plan on turning your hobby into a business, this is a necessary investment – a machine that is reliable and will last you a lifetime.
There are many options to choose from, and it can be quite intimidating. I want to make it easy for you. If you’re going to take your business seriously and rest assured that your machine will deliver what you promise to your customers, I highly recommend using a multi-needle embroidery machine to increase your workflow. Now when it comes to making money with multi-needle machines, there are a ton of factors to consider so I suggest checking out our article What is the Best Embroidery Machine for a Home Business if you’d like to learn more.
Remember, you are the artist, and your customer trusts you to put their vision onto fabric. If your tools can’t deliver your promise, well, it’s a recipe for disaster.
5. Test and Practice
The most important promise your business makes to its customers is the ability to deliver high-quality work. It doesn’t matter if you have the best machines, the best thread, or the best systems in place if your embroidery skills aren’t up to par.
Knowledge and practice are two things you can impact the most starting now. The central theme of this article is investing time back into yourself and your business. It’s a sure-fire way to grow and become profitable. We are here to help you with that.
We want to give you the tools you need to succeed. Want to improve your hooping skills? Check out this video. Want to improve your understanding of thread types? Click here.
Conclusion: use these 5 steps at any stage of your business for better results
Whether you’re thinking about starting your own business, or have grown your business successfully, using these five crucial steps will benefit your business. Create a website; this will allow you to access a more extensive network of clients. Let your embroidery business niche find you; start broad and narrow your options down. Invest in the proper embroidery software and a reliable and high-quality machine; these will save you time and earn you more income.
Lastly and most importantly, you must always deliver high-quality work, which occurs with practice and knowledge. Since you’ve got practicing covered, let us help educate you on making money with embroidery.
P.S. Ready to improve your embroidery skills and get the best results without wasting time? Our Free Beginner’s Embroidery Course is perfect for you! This course covers the essential techniques and tips to help you avoid common mistakes and ensure your projects turn out great. Don’t waste time on trial and error—start learning the right way today!
I would like to know more about embrodery business, so that I can grow my business
Definitely! We do offer a “how to make money with embroidery” course that can be found here if you’re interested 🙂 https://embroiderylegacy.com/how-to-make-money-embroidery-business/
I would like to speak with people who have the same machine as myself.
You may find others with the same machine in our Facebook group, feel free to join Krystal 🙂 https://www.facebook.com/JohnDeerEmbroidery