Suggestions to Diversify?

[sdstren 0]

Hi everyone.  I am new here.  It appears that this forum has been silent since May, so I hope others are still reading it and will reply.  My question is, what suggestions do you have for how to diversify your longarm business?  Otherwise, your income potential is limited to the ceiling imposed by how many quilts you can finish yourself, which Im guessing would top out at about 2 per day for queen size and above.  

 

Does anyone else do other stuff, or have ideas on how to increase income potential?  

 

 

[Zora 317]

I know a few other longarm quilters who also make memory quilts and Tshirt quilts to supplement their business income. Seems to work for them.

[Quilting Heidi 1,395]

I would guess that some didn't really understand your question, although the board has been a little quiet.  I would say if you want to be able to do more quilts you could get a computerized system and a hand's on system.  There are some that have 2 or more machines going all day.  You could also consider teaching.

[ffq-lar 3,550]

You could try---

 

Teaching piecing. Drawbacks---finding a place for classes. Advantages---a built-in customer base for your quilting business.

 

Teaching DSM and longarm quilting. Drawbacks---you might be training your competition. 

 

Make quilts to sell. Drawbacks-- it's hard to sell a quality quilt on etsy and get your investment out. Commission quilts are good if you get cost-of-materials up-front and a signed contract for the rest.

 

Pattern design. Digitized quilting designs, freemotion quilting designs, or original quilt patterns. Good money-makers.

 

Design and make rulers, templates, and stencils. This is more involved and there's lots of competition. 

 

Offer a BOM class locally or on line---you must do your own original design but you sell the full pattern or offer to sell it in installments on a blog. This also works with a mystery quilt. You'll have students in line for quilting if you have a gorgeous sample.

 

If you have two machines, do freehand/custom on one and also rent it. Put a computer on the other for extra income since you'll need to be there with a renter and also when you're using the computerized machine.

 

Good luck, find your niche, and make some money!