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Establish your business practices
Now that you have the big picture defined, you need to make some decisions about the day-to-day operations of your business.
- Set up a pricing structure: Factor in all your costs, both start-up costs and regular monthly expenses, and decide how much you want to make each hour. If you are running your business out of your home, do not forget to add in telephone, electric, and other expenses. Find out what other embroidery shops in your area are charging.
- Decide what your business hours will be.
- Payment: Are you going to require a deposit when a customer places a large order? You also need to determine what types of payment you will accept and plan accordingly.
- Customer satisfaction: Do everything you can to keep your customers happy, but set up a contingency plan for times when they may not be.
- Sending out work: Know your limits. Decide beforehand which projects may be too big for you to handle and set up a system for sending work out to other embroidery shops. Decide what percentage you will charge in such instances.
Other Steps toward Success
Marketing: The best way to promote embroidery is through samples. Make embroidery giveaways with your logo on them and get them out into the community. Always wear embroidery yourself. Contact organizations that might need embroidered apparel and show them your best work.
Digitizing: In the beginning, consider sending out the work when you need a design digitized. Quality digitizing takes training and experience; practice reproducing the digitized work you purchase. When you can match the quality, then you are ready to do all the digitizing work on your own.
Vendors: When it comes to choosing blank products (t-shirts, caps, etc.), you want to provide your customers with a variety of prices and styles. But, you do not want to drive them (and yourself!) crazy with too many catalogs and choices. Choose a few vendors that will give your customers the choices they need and that you find easy to work with. But do not narrow your list too much - always keep several back-up vendors available for crunch-times and specialty items.
Education: Go to trade shows. They often provide seminars and different levels which can help you broaden your skill set. Trade shows always allow you to make valuable contacts and can introduce you to vendors and other embroiderers in your area. Also, read all the trade magazines each month. Build an archive of helpful articles so you can refer back to them. You can also use them to train new employees.
Here's a list of some trade magazines and associations to get you started:
Trade Magazines
Trade Associations
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