JaneBanks Posted November 25, 2006 Report Share Posted November 25, 2006 Hi all, I'm thinking of starting a quilting business from my home, and one reason is because I keep hearing everywhere that in my area (Overland Park, KS), machine quilters are in low supply and high demand. I've heard it often enough to almost believe it, but I'd feel more comfortable with cold, hard facts! I know quite a few things about starting a small business and about marketing -- the only piece of the puzzle I'm missing is how to research the market in my area. I'm not sure which questions to ask and where/who to ask to find out if I really will have no trouble getting all the business I want. I get scared when I read about people who've had 3 customers in a whole year... Has anyone done this kind of research and would you be willing to share how you did it? Thanks a million! Jane Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mary Beth Posted November 25, 2006 Report Share Posted November 25, 2006 Jane, You might want to search back through some of the posts here - we have had a number of discussions and these ladies are geniouseses The one thing that comes to my mind is to ask questions at the local quilt stores and strike up a conversation at your guild meetings. (Although I would try to stay quiet about starting a business until you find out as much as you can from the guild. You don't want the current quilters to think you are moving in on their territory). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JLM Posted November 26, 2006 Report Share Posted November 26, 2006 Are you a member of any of the local or state quilt guilds? Do you have friends and friends of friends who would use your services? Sometimes the quilters who are backed up for months are the ones who do custom and heirloom quilting. This is labor intensive and is not where you make money. What are people willing to pay in your area? and is machine quilting well accepted? I did a survey of attitudes toward machine quilting members of my local quilting groups for a talk that I did at MQX. I asked if it would be okay from the leaders of the group and they allowed it. AQS has done some research on quilters in general, and that is available on their website. There used to be a listing of all longarm quilters on George Goumas' website, and before he took it down last year there were 3729 longarmer's listed. It was really amazing how many longarm quilters there are out there. Check if there is a local longarm group. Our Denver group has over 65 members but is willing to help out new members. Quilting is both fun and hard work, take a close look at your local situation before you leap. It definitely helps to make a formal business plan. Janet Mohler Colorado Springs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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