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- Embroidery Business
Start & Grow You Own Embroidery Business At Home...

In this section you will find articles to help you start or improve your business, whether it's a brick-and-mortar embroidery busines, an online digitizing service, or even outside the embroidery sphere, these articles will help you grow your business!

We have also made DVD videos about building an embroidery business that you can watch at home on your DVD player and TV set. In our store you'll find a two-DVD set of videos called "DVD Video Set: Building A Successful Embroidery Business".  It covers topics like... "Home-Based versus Commercial/Retail Locations", "Choosing An Accountant", "Marketing Your Business", "Pricing For Profit", "The Best Machine For Your Business", and much more.

Should I Start An Embroidery Business?
Should I Start An Embroidery Business? From a recent email... "I was hoping you could answer a few questions about starting an embroidery business for extra cash when I need it or starting the biz full time? Is this business easy to get into, or is it saturated with larger businesses the same? I was thinking about starting with a Brother SE-350 would this be okay?" . . . Unravel This!
Effective Online Advertising
Effective Online Advertising One of our members recently emailed me with a question about advertising on Google's Adwords program. She has just set up her first website and is now wondering... "How do I get people to come to my site and buy from me?" . . . Unravel This!
Business: "WGIYBIWCO"
Business:  "WGIYBIWCO" In this business article, I discuss a concept called "WGIYBIWCO" which means "What Goes In Your Brain Is What Comes Out". For those who desire to open or grow their own business, it contains crtitical information to move you along the right path . . . Unravel This!
Removing Old Embroidered Lettering?
Removing Old Embroidered Lettering? Here's a from our forum... "I run a small embroidery business from my home and have had a couple instances where people have asked about having an embroidered name removed from a coat and a new name stitched in it's place. The first time, I was able to just cover up the current name with a design and stitch over that. Now, someone else has asked me about the same thing. What should I do?" . . . Unravel This!
A Digitizing Business
A Digitizing Business I get emails every week from people who are interested in becoming a professional digitizer. Some of them have already started digitizing as a hobby and are thinking of turning their hobby into a business. Others haven't started digitizing yet but are considering it as a business. This article is a guideline for what you'll need to do next and includes links to previous articles on related topics. It is a comprehensive look at what it takes to make money as an independant embroidery digitizer. Includes an in-depth look at all the steps and has links to detailed articles covering all the facets of doing everything it takes to make a business of digitizing. . . . Unravel This!
Getting More From Your OnLine Store
Getting More From Your OnLine Store From a member... "I have my own online store where I sell my quilts and things. I sell on ebay mostly. I was told in order to get traffic to my own online store I would have to start marketing and that it is really expensive. I am totally confused on what i should do. I was told that it would cost about 2,000 to market my store to search engines in order to get more business. I really want to sell more from my site versus ebay and their fees. Does anyone have any information or advice on where i should begin?" -- Of course I have some information! In fact this article is a great guide to getting your . . . Unravel This!
Create An Account For Automated Delivery Of Your Digital Products
If you sell (or "plan" to sell) any kind of file that can be emailed to your customer, then you should provide instant automated delivery.  Customers expect instant delivery in today's world and . . . Unravel This!
Automate Your Design Deliveries
PayLoadz  automated service delivers your digital products (like embroidery design . . . Unravel This!
Quick-Tip On Getting A Sign-Off
Use this method to protect yourself when doing embroidery work... . . . Unravel This!
Your Server: "Just Kick The Dang Thing!"
"Servers" are just another part of running a business on the internet. Here's a frank discussion (even though my name's Larry) about dealing with servers and hosting your own website . . . Unravel This!
Questions About Building Your Own Website
Part 2: The Shopping Cart
I see that some website owners are using zencart and some use oscommerce and some use another shopping cart that I can't think of... What do you recommend for a shopping cart? I want something that . . . Unravel This!
Questions About Building Your Own Website
Part 1
To Blog Or Not To Blog? One of our members wrote me recently with two questions about building her own website. The first question was... "I watched your dvd on making a website a while b . . . Unravel This!
Are You Selling On Ebay?
Do you own a business? Are you selling on ebay? You should be! If you're not yet then read this article! One of the realities of life is that there's never enough time to do everything we want or "should be" doing. In fact, . . . Unravel This!
Which Machine To Buy For Starting An Embroidery Business?
Some of the best "articles" about running an embroidery business are found in our discussion forum.  They start with a question from someone and draw on the experience of many other folks who hav . . . Unravel This!
How To Register Your Copyright
Are you registering your copyrights? While you do own copyrights to your work, you can't file a suit against someone until you've REGISTERED those copyrights.&nb . . . Unravel This!
VIDEO: How To Buy A Domain Name In 90-Seconds
You're ready to buy a domain name... now what? It's very easy to buy a domain name, you just need to know how and where to do it.  Here's a 90-second video showing both where and how th . . . Unravel This!
Corporation, LLC, or Sole Proprietor?
Q: "Would you recommend doing any incorporating or setting up of an LLC to launch our business under vs doing it as a sole proprietorship?" s . . . Unravel This!
Profits... Short-Term vs Long-Term
I had to laugh when I heard this because I had the same experience with AOL and WISHED I had recorded the conversation... span style="font-size: mediu . . . Unravel This!
Becoming A Professional Digitizer... Is Selling Through A "Mall" A Rip-Off?
I receive an email like this every few days.  The writer is asking about getting started in selling designs. My advice follows...   . . . Unravel This!
Adding A Zero To Your Business / Part-5 of 5... Follow-Through
"Marketing consists of a message, a medium, an audience, a strategy, and follow-through." You've made it to the last artic . . . Unravel This!
Adding A Zero To Your Business / Part-4 of 5: "A Strategy"
So far we've covered the message, medium, and audience... now let's move on to "Strategy". span . . . Unravel This!
Adding A Zero To Your Business / Part-3 of 5: "An Audience"
How many people are seeing your ads? When you advertise yo . . . Unravel This!
Adding A ZERO To Your Business / Part-2 of 5: "The Medium"
Marketing consists of a message, a medium, an audience, a strategy, and follow-through. span st . . . Unravel This!
Adding A Zero To Your Business / Part-1 of 5: "The Message"
Adding a zero to your business can make all the difference in the world! How can that be you ask?  A zero is . . . Unravel This!
Copyrights And Digitizing
Most of us have never had any reason to try to understand copyrights and how they work until we got into the machine embroidery hobby. Now it is crucial that . . . Unravel This!
Get Your Business Going Online
How do you get customers to find your website?  That's the $64,000 question!  What would someone search for if they were trying to find your product?  Make a list of those key word . . . Unravel This!
What Sells?
When starting an embroidery business, we're confronted with a huge pile of questions, but the one most commonly asked is "What sells?" "What Sells" is literally the $64,000 question.  . . . Unravel This!
4 Tips For Increasing Sales
Linda set up a craft mall booth and has been doing very well with her sales. Here's some advice she gave on making sales... "Some of the vendors at the market are having a hard time se . . . Unravel This!
Brother SE-270D Embroidery Machines At Wal-Mart
Brother SE-270D Embroidery Machines At Wal-Mart Wal-Mart currently sells the Brother SE-270D embroidery machine. What does that mean to the future of machine embroidery as a hobby? How many people buy their first embroidery machine at Wal-Mart? And Vanna, can Goofy buy a clue? . . . Unravel This!
Business Lessons We Have Learned
Nancy's recent post about a customer that placed a custom order then didn't pay for it made me think about what lessons people have learned about running an embroidery business when they went to "the . . . Unravel This!
Business: "The Partnership"
Here's a silly little story: Mr Norton and Mr Cramden are both mechanics and they work on side jobs at their homes as well as working together at the local bus garage. One day Mr Cramden i . . . Unravel This!
How To Keep Your Website From Being Really Annoying
One day I decided to go surfing through the web to find out what's new and who is innovating out there. After a couple hours of clicking through websites, I was ready for several margaritas! . . . Unravel This!
Business: Your "Numero-Uno" Asset
Steve is our chiropractor. One day I noticed a USB flash-memory stick hanging on a cord around his neck. When I asked him what was on that memory stick, the answer he gave may surprise you! " . . . Unravel This!
Search Engines & Your Web Site
I was recently asked by someone starting their web business about search engine optimizing their website. They had an offer from a company that would optimize her existing site for he . . . Unravel This!
Need Help Building A Website?
I have been building our websites for over four years now. One of the secrets to building a successful site is really the same as one of the secrets to good embroidery... use the right tools and . . . Unravel This!
Business On Target!
An Interview With Amy Ainsworth
Amy is one of ATW's members and owns an embroidery business. The following is an interview I conducted with Amy recently. Her userid on ATW is "Veridianmind" and Amy has bee . . . Unravel This!
Start Small But Think Big
One of the hurdles to growing a small business into a large business is changing "systems" to allow your work to happen on a larger scale. The catchword is "Scalability" and you hear it constantly in . . . Unravel This!
Business: Choosing A Machine
by Larry Pike
Here's a question posed in our Discussion Forum recently and my answer.  This is a question that everyone starting an embroidery business asks so it's worth repeating here! P a . . . Unravel This!
Marketing Your Embroidery Business
Building Your Customer Database Instantly!
Looking for keys to Marketing Your Embroidery Business?  You want your business to get moving F-A-S-T and you know you need to build a potential customer list to advertise to in order to mak . . . Unravel This!
Business: The KEY To Getting Customers
by Larry Pike
Your #1 job as a business owner is getting customers. But HOW do you do that? This morning I talked with an embroidery business start-up owner. I will call her "Miss D." She was FRUSTRATED that he . . . Unravel This!
Craft Show Business Tips
Often members ask "I have rented space for an upcoming craft show. What should I make and how do I price items for the craft show?" Craft Shows take some time to figure out. With experience you wi . . . Unravel This!
Selling In A Craft Mall
Here's a question posed in our discussion forum about how to increase sales in a craft mall booth and a few tips from a lifetime of sales and marketing experience... "I took pictures of my craft b . . . Unravel This!
Name Designs Added Today
6/23/05
We have added a BUNCH of name designs this week. Look in the Design Library under NAMES for the updated list. The new update will bring the name lists to over 1,600 designs. We are trying . . . Unravel This!
Members... "Building A Successful Embroidery Business"
Members... "Building A Successful Embroidery Business" This new video set "Building A Successful Embroidery Business" covers the step-by-step process of making a successful home-base embroidery business. . . . Unravel This!
VIDEO: Building A Successful Embroidery Business
VIDEO: Building A Successful Embroidery Business This new video set "Building A Successful Embroidery Business" covers the step-by-step process of making a successful home-base embroidery business. . . . Unravel This!
A Formula For Making Sales
by Larry Pike
I have been working with a friend on building her embroidery business. Her concept was to market to a business niche and offer embroidered ready-to-wear items. The email today from this person said sh . . . Unravel This!
eBay Verified Rights Owner Program (VeRO)
eBay Verified Rights Owner Program (VeRO) What to do when your copyrighted works are being stolen and sold by thieves on eBay. Every few days we get an email from a member telling us that somebody on eBay is selling copies of our designs illegally. We always look at the auctions and most of the time determine that the person has simply used the same artwork that we have to digitize from. We thank the member for telling us and file the email... . . . Unravel This!
Comparing commercial embroidery machines and some advice from Mr Shakespeare on the subject...
Question: "Is there a particular industrial machine you would recommend for a business? I am interested in a 15 needle single-head machine. I have an SWF where I work..." . . . Unravel This!
So You Want To Digitize!
by Ron Bynum
I personally know a lot of folks that own one or more embroidery machines. Whether they use them for business or hobby, they all have one thing in common - they love embroidery. They spend countless hours at their machines embroidering anything and everything in sight. Sounds familiar doesn’t it? . . . Unravel This!
How to get the Media to talk about YOU!
By Dr. Letitia S. Wright, D.C.
How to get the Media to talk about YOU! I'm a media person. I don't know much about embroidery but I do know a business from a hobby. A hobby isn't really something to give media time to. But a thriving exciting business is. How will YOU show me that is a thriving exciting business that I should put into my newspaper or magazine or talk about on my radio or TV show? . . . Unravel This!
Embroidery Machines For Your Business
What embroidery machine do you use in your business? Our survey of over 300 embroidery business owners has revealed tons of usefull information, especially usefull for those just starting out in t . . . Unravel This!
The Dream of Word of Mouth Marketing Part 2
By Dr. Letitia S. Wright, D.C.
The Dream of Word of Mouth Marketing  Part 2 Publicity is the method of stretching your advertising dollar. When people see your ads and then see articles, TV and radio interviews that match what your ads say, people will find you believable and want to buy from you... . . . Unravel This!
What Makes Machine Embroidery So Expensive? Or Is It?
By Ron Bynum
What Makes Machine Embroidery So Expensive?  Or Is It? Understandably most of our customers have no concept of what it takes to get a “good” design into the machine and ready to sew on their garment. But that’s OK. How would they know unless someone explained it to them? Let’s face it, if they could do it themselves they wouldn’t be in your shop in the first place. . . . Unravel This!
Customer Relations and the Embroidery Business Owner
by Larry Pike
Customer Relations and the  Embroidery Business Owner One of the toughest challenges in running a business is dealing with people. Here are some tips for where you can LEARN this skill... . . . Unravel This!
The Dream of Word of Mouth Marketing Part-1
By Dr. Letitia S. Wright, D.C.
The Dream of Word of Mouth Marketing Part-1 You love embroidery. You have turned it into a profitable business. You don't place ads or get booths at events. You don't have to, people hear about you and come directly to you for what they want. You have all the business you need. The money is flowing to you and none of your overhead goes to newspaper or magazine ads. Happy customers come to you and buy a lot. Then something happens... . . . Unravel This!
I Wish I Knew Then What I Know Now...
My parents friends would say those words when I was a teenager and I would go nuts!  But they are useful words when you are starting a business - when you can get them from somebody els . . . Unravel This!
Embroidering Customer Provided Goods – Is It Risky Business?
by Ron Bynum
(Here's an article from Ron Bynum on a problem everyone in the embroidery business runs into and usually it's on their first job!)   If ever there was a Catch-22 situation in the . . . Unravel This!
Survey Results Summary
Results are in from our 2005 Survey of Embroidery Business Owners.  Below is a link to the results of the survey. Over 250 embroidery business owners took the time to complete the questions a . . . Unravel This!
Which machine should I buy?
Several common questions when starting an embroidery business revolve around "What machine should I buy?"  Here's an answer you will want to read before making your . . . Unravel This!
Cost Analysis Worksheet
Cost Analysis Worksheet Many people start with embroidery as their hobby, then a friend asks them to do an embroidery job for pay... and they're off-and-running! How much should you charge? This article answers the question of "What's the right amount" for you! . . . Unravel This!