Lemon Tree Tami Posted March 27, 2015 Report Share Posted March 27, 2015 My business, The Quilted Lemon, only opened up in September. It's slowly getting there. Very slowly. But there are a few repeat clients so that makes me happy. One of the guilds that I belong to has asked me to do a short presentation on longarm quilting so hopefully there will be some quilts from that. And then today I just met a client for the drop-off of a custom baby quilt. Since that was custom work of piecing as well as binding after the quilting, it was a lot more than what I've been getting for just the quilting. The bay area is fairly affluent so I'm hoping that the quilt shop will send more people my way for custom baby quilts. The owner was happy that I had the clients choose their fabrics from the shop and buy them there. A win-win as far as I'm concerned. Now maybe he'll have more people call me. At any rate, I'm just happy that my Freddie and IQ have been so easy to work with. I'm still doing just E2Es but I'm learning new tricks everyday. I may play around with mixing different panto designs for a semi-custom look that would work better for the modern quilts. The forum has been my go-to for any sort of pitfall or question that concerns me. The custom baby quilt had a minkee backing and the forum had great advice on how to handle it very successfully. So a big thank you to all of you for being available to dole out advice when needed. It's like having my very own team of cheerleaders. Beachside Quilter, Sheagatzi, dbams and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheagatzi Posted March 27, 2015 Report Share Posted March 27, 2015 Glad it's picking up for you - slow and steady. Your repeat customers will be telling their friends. And then someone will take a quilt you have done to their guild meeting - and then...you can't keep up! :-) It's all good! Lemon Tree Tami 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JenniferBernard Posted March 27, 2015 Report Share Posted March 27, 2015 Hang in there. If you quilt it, yet will come! In the meanwhile keep trying new things. The more you challenge yourself, the more your skills grow. Lemon Tree Tami 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shirleyl Posted March 27, 2015 Report Share Posted March 27, 2015 It takes a while to get established. Hang in there, it will come! Shirley Lemon Tree Tami 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ffq-lar Posted March 27, 2015 Report Share Posted March 27, 2015 I started out the same--slow to build and most of my business (still) comes from my guild and word-of-mouth. Expect that you will double your business every year until you reach the level you are comfortable with. And a good piece of advice is to try to determine what your max number of quilts per month might be. Many longarmers find they overextend themselves, so schedule the quilts and you can give your customers an idea of when their quilt will be returned. Your talent and good work will take you far. Congrats, Tami! Lemon Tree Tami 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RitaR Posted March 29, 2015 Report Share Posted March 29, 2015 Congratulations, Tami, and continued good luck. I'm so happy when a relatively new quilter is seeing progress and building your business. I find it is better to over price what you think it would take in whatever method of pricing you use, than to undercut. Plus the clients think they are geting a bonus. Continued Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klwheeler Posted April 2, 2015 Report Share Posted April 2, 2015 Yes Tami, I had several years before I got repeat clients and lots of business. Then just as my quilting business started taking off my husband moved us to the Pacific Northwest where there are lots of quilters and my business is nonexistent. So do I try to start it again...sure why not but on my terms. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lisa-J Posted March 25, 2020 Report Share Posted March 25, 2020 It's nice to hear you're doing so well. Develop and grow your business. It's always hard at the beginning, then when you have a lot of orders, it will be easier and new ideas for expansion will appear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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