http://www.embroideryarts.com/resource/faq.html

If you still have questions or are having difficulty we will be happy to provide additional technical support, but please take the time to describe your problem in detail. Contacting us to say that our product “doesn’t work” or that “it won’t let me open the files” are too general to provide a basis for us to try to help you.

For continued support, please provide information on which of our products you are having trouble with, how you purchased it (download or physical product) which embroidery software program you are using, which embroidery machine you have, and any error messages you are receiving.

We are happy to provide technical support for our own products but do not provide support for embroidery software programs sold by other companies, embroidery machines, or basic computer skills.

OVERVIEW
We offer our designs by download from our website to your computer, and also as packaged products on Mini CD's (Monogram Sets, LetterBits) or CDs (Collections, “Project Corner”, Big Name Dropper)

All of our products require installation to your computer, and include an Installation Wizard. The procedure is simple, and progresses through a series of installation screens. You will know the installation has been completed when you see a screen that says that the designs have been successfully installed.

If you want to preview the installation process:

http://www.embroideryarts.com/resource/install/install00.html

TOP 10 TECHNICAL SUPPORT QUESTIONS

1. I CAN’T OPEN THE DESIGNS

Did you run the installation wizard and install the designs to your computer?

If you try to open the installation file with your embroidery software program, or put one of our Mini-CDs or CDs directly into your embroidery machine you will not be successful.

The designs need to be installed - double-click on the downloaded file icon, or follow the directions on the product label to start the included Installation Wizard.

2. FOLLOWING A SUCCESSFUL INSTALLATION, I CAN’T OPEN THE FILES THROUGH “MY COMPUTER” OR “WINDOWS EXPLORER”

The design files that are installed to your computer are just like any other stock design of a dog or a car, but in this case they are letters of the alphabet.

Unlike applications or programs (e.g. Microsoft Word, Adobe Acrobat, etc.) which create start-up icons and entries under Programs on your computer, files need an application in order to open and view them.

If you add new files to your computer, then on first-use open My Computer or Windows Explorer and double-click on one of the files, you will see a Windows screen which asks you to select an application for these files from a list. Most embroidery software programs (e.g. PE Design, Viking Customizing Plus, Embird, etc.) will not appear on this list.

You are seeing this screen because your computer doesn’t yet “associate” a particular software application with these files. In effect, the computer is telling you “I have no idea what do you want me to do next.”

You will not encounter this problem if you open your embroidery software program first, then use it to open one of the designs by going to “File”, then to “Open”. Your embroidery software program is now “associated” with our files, so in future if you use My Computer or Windows Explorer and double-click on one of the files your computer will automatically launch the embroidery software program and display the design.

3. I CAN’T FIND THE FILE THAT I DOWNLOADED FROM YOUR WEBSITE

We get calls and emails from customers who report that they purchased something from our website, and that Our site sent the design “somewhere” on their computer and now they can’t find it.

We don’t control the location for downloaded files on your computer - you do. When you initiate a download from our website you will see a screen that tells you where the file will be going. Your computer will choose the location that you used for your last download from the internet. If this isn’t where you want our installation to go you can choose a different location.

If you have downloaded a file from our website and cannot remember where it went, you can easily find it by going to Start, then searching for the filename. Our filenames start with a five-digit number, then a dash, then four more numbers (e.g. 04102-0603) You will find the filename listed in the confirmation email that was sent to you immediately after your website purchase.

If you cannot find the file it may be simpler to go back to our website and redownload your purchase, which you can do for 30 days without additional cost, and for 2 years if you purchased the optional Extended Download Service. Use the Customer Service link

You will need your order number - listed in the confirmation email that you received immediately after purchase - and your password.

4. I CAN’T DOWNLOAD MY PURCHASE FROM YOUR WEBSITE TO A FLOPPY DISK

Regardless of the product, all of our website download files are a single installation file. They cannot be split across multiple diskettes, and although some of our individual letter purchases have small file sizes, many exceed 1.44mb, which is the capacity of a standard diskette.

For this reason, we recommend that you download your internet purchases to your desktop or somewhere on your computer’s harddrive, then start the Installation Wizard from that location. Following the installation you can copy this file to a different location as a backup copy (recommended) or delete the installation (.exe) file.

5. THE INSTALLATION WAS SUCCESSFUL, BUT I CAN’T OPEN THE FILES WITH MY EMBROIDERY SOFTWARE PROGRAM

Following a Welcome Screen and a Licensing Agreement, the Installation Wizard shows a screen that asks you to choose from a list of 7 embroidery formats (Note: the Installation Wizard writes a file to your computer’s Registry, so on subsequent installations of our products you may not see this screen because your computer remembers the format that you chose in the past.)

Did you choose the correct format?

We get technical support messages from customers who breeze through the installation procedure, clicking “Next” as quickly as possible without reading any of the screens and wonder why the designs are installed in .csd format when they wanted something else (Answer: ..csd is the first of the 7 formats, listed alphabetically, and will be the format installed if a different format isn’t selected)

We also hear from customers who have no idea what format they need and have chosen one at random.

The question of embroidery formats is a virtual nightmare for design companies and embroiderers alike. In recent years the number of embroidery formats has grown past 20, propelled primarily by home embroidery machine manufacturers, many of whom introduce a new format (or license an existing commercial embroidery format) each time they introduce a new machine. There is little if any technical difference between them, and in the rare instance where a new format adds a technical improvement - for example, the ability to split large commercial designs into smaller parts for home machines with small hoops - the improvements don’t affect our designs.

We support 7 different formats. Since some home machines use existing commercial formats, it’s important to know which format you need. We have a list of our 7 supported formats and recommended formats for various machines:

7 Formats

If you have chosen the wrong format during installation we can provide instructions for reversing the previous installation.

6. THE INSTALLATION WAS SUCCESSFUL, AND THE CORRECT FORMAT WAS CHOSEN, BUT THE FILES CAN’T BE OPENED WITH MY EMBROIDERY SOFTWARE PROGRAM

With your embroidery software program open and running, if you go to “File”, then to “Open” you will notice a drop down-menu (a small downward-facing arrow on the right of the line just below the box for Filename) that allows you to choose the File Type.

Are you looking for the correct File Type (format) ?

If this choice is set to look for .pes format and you are trying to find .exp format files your designs will seem to have “disappeared.”

7. I CAN OPEN AN INDIVIDUAL DESIGN, BUT I CAN’T COMBINE ADDITIONAL DESIGNS - THE FIRST ONE DISAPPEARS AND IS REPLACED BY THE SECOND ONE

You are attempting to “merge” or “combine” more than one design into a new combination. If you go to “File” then to “Open” you will always get only one design onscreen.

This is because the function to add an additional design to the screen has a different name. Unfortunately, there is no common terminology from one embroidery software program to the next. Some call this “Merge”, some “Insert”, “Import”, and some require you to copy and paste.

We have a Tutorials section on our website for some software programs:

http://www.embroideryarts.com/tutorials/index.html

If we don’t have a tutorial for your software, consult the manual or help files, or ask the company that you bought your embroidery software from to explain this procedure to you.

8. I WANT TO ENLARGE (OR REDUCE) THE SIZE OF THE DESIGN

All embroidery designs (including ours) can be resized. Resizing requires special software, or is a feature of a digitizing and editing program. There are at least a dozen inexpensive stand-alone resizing programs, so resizing designs can easily be accomplished as you require it. We do not offer a resizing service.

9. I SAW THE INSTALLATION WIZARD SCREEN THAT SAID THE INSTALLATION WAS SUCCESSFUL, BUT WHEN I GO TO THE CORRECT INSTALLATION LOCATION AND LOOK FOR THE DESIGNS, ALL I SEE IS A FILE CALLED “NOTES”

Our Big Name Dropper products, and our CD Collections, have larger installation file sizes. If your computer freezes (too many other applications open and running ?) or if you interrupt the installation midway it is possible to end up only with the Notes for these products. Subsequent attempts to install won’t solve this problem without first removing the incorrect installation and the Registry information.

To remove the previous installation, go to “Start” , then to “Control Panel” and choose “Add/Remove Programs.” Find the product on the list, and proceed to remove the previous installation.

Once the previous installation is removed, reinstall from the original media (downloaded file or CD)

10. MY COMPUTER CRASHED AND I LOST THE FILES THAT I PURCHASED

We strongly recommend that everyone back-up their data - there are reasonably-priced external hard drives and back-up software that make this process painless and can be set to automatically back-up data overnight, etc. Restoring all of your applucations, data, and preferences is significantly more trouble than backing up what you have now.

If you have the original Mini-CDs or CDs of our products, or the original installation (.exe) file that you purchased and downloaded from our website, you can easily reinstall the designs.

Website download purchases can be redownloaded for up to 30 days - up to 2 years if you purchased the Extended Download Service.

This added protection can be purchased retroactively for only $ 4.99. For physical products purchased at trade shows or by mail-order from our website, we offer a replacement option for the same cost, plus shipping and handling for the replacement product.

You will need documentation on your original purchase.

DIDN’T FIND ANSWERS TO YOUR QUESTION ?

There is additional information on these and other issues in the FAQ section on our website:

http://www.embroideryarts.com/resource/faq.html

Although any monogramming business would love to be in a beautiful shop with great interior detailing, ample natural light for a warm and inviting environment, high visibility, lots of customer parking and low rent, not all will be able to find or afford the perfect setting - especially if you are just starting your business.

Some monogrammers run their businesses from their homes, either from necessity or convenience. If you anticipate that you can structure your business as strictly custom, without the need to deal directly with the consumer, then a home-based business may be the perfect situation for you. A good example would be a monogramming business that works for local linen shops - orders are processed by the shop, communicated to you, and then delivered to the shop when the order is finished.

Even if you have a commercial embroidery machine - or two - a spare room or basement location can provide the basics that you will need.

Workspace

A few things to keep in mind when outfitting the space:

* You will be spending alot of time in this space, so make sure that it has good lighting and ventilation. A nice view of a meadow or some palm trees out the window will go a long way to providing some relaxation, but isn’t absolutely essential. Being able to see what you are doing IS essential.

* In addition to a stand or sturdy table for your embroidery machine, you will need at least one work table or work surface. Make it as large as possible.

* Cleanliness is essential for a monogramming shop, since the majority of your work will involve whites. Work tables should be easy to clean - a waterproof surface will be helpful and will extend the useful life of the work surface.

* Although there are plenty of sources for ready-made tables, think carefully about the work surface and it’s height off the floor. It’s possible to spend your day sitting down while working, but your work pace will be slower than if you are standing up and able to move easily from place to place. Consider custom made work surfaces, or customizing purchased tables to get the height correct for standing up. You will notice more physical wear-and-tear if you have to bend over uncomfortably as you work.

* You will need some amount of storage for your materials - thread, stabilizer, toppings, etc. Try to arrange this storage so that you can easily get to the things you use most, and don’t have to move other things out of the way to get to them. Also, try to organize your supplies so that they are either just below or just above the height of your work surface. Lots of bending up-and-down takes its toll on your back.

* You will also need a work surface for unfolding linens, and for refolding them after the monograms are applied. If you are extremely pressed for space you can use the same work surface for this process and also for cutting stabilizer, hooping, etc. but your workspace will be better organized and more efficient if you can devote separate work tables to different tasks.

* Are you left or right handed ? Do you prefer to move in a clockwise or a counter-clockwise direction ? Try to set up your work areas so that you move from one to the next in the most comfortable way.

* You will need an office space, or at least an office nook - a place for business computer, printer, filing cabinet, supplies catalogues, etc. Some monogrammers, even those who have ample workspace, like to organize everything in the same space, so they can be good multi-taskers. If you can manage it, consider a separate office, with a door that can be closed. If you have a commercial embroidery machine with auto-trimmers you can actually walk away from the machine occasionally to answer the phone.

* Many monogrammers overlook lighting as a major consideration. Bright is always good, but over-bright isn’t necessarily better. Don’t underestimate the physical and psychological effects that lighting can have on your productivity. Many people react poorly to standard fluorescent lighting, which can be very tiring, and can also affect the way colors look. Some natural lighting is ideal, but if this is impossible then consider either natural balanced fluorescent lighting, or incandescent lighting that shines up and reflects off a white ceiling.

Beyond the setup issues with your workroom, there are a few other things to consider.

* Some communities have ordinances that prohibit businesses in residential structures or neighborhoods. Investigate the zoning laws with the local building department. Pay close attention to distinctions that may be made between businesses that have walk-in customers and parking issues, as compared to those that don’t deal with this. If you are doing all of your work for outside sources and don’t deal directly with the public you may have the equivalent of a home office. Home offices are quite common in the modern world.

A monogramming shop is like a home office, and unlike one in some ways. Know what is permitted in your locale. We read a newspaper clipping several years ago about a home-based children’s clothing company. The article began “She didn’t think twice about calling the Fire Department when she smelled gas. But as she stood in front of her home, she realized that her secret would be out as soon as the firefighters arrived.”

* Talk to someone knowledgeable about tax law before deciding to deduct a portion of your home mortgage or rent payments as a business expense. You may well be entitled to this deduction, but the IRS has some fairly specific criteria that must be met.

* Talk to your residential insurance broker if your business is going to be home- based, and consider getting separate business insurance coverage whether you are home-based or not. This insurance can be arranged to cover office equipment, your embroidery machine, inventory, supplies, etc.

Retail Space

If you’ve decided to set up your monogramming business in a separate facility, all of the considerations above still apply, but if you are going to have walk-in customers your workroom will be the “back room” and you will need to create a retail space in front.

A retail shop can be as fancy and elaborate as you wish (and can afford) but no matter what it should include some basic features:

* Your business will by nature include consultation with your customers about their monogramming needs. Although you can have these conversations at a retail sales counter, it would be a nice touch to have a consultation area with a table and several comfortable chairs. The table should be large enough to spread out some samples and catalogues for linens, etc. but also attractive enough that it will look inviting even when there is nothing on it. A separate consultation room might be a good idea if the space is large enough, but it can also be located in a spot in the main store space.

* If you have a commercial embroidery machine, consider putting it in the front window, where it can easily be seen from the street. Although it may be a bit less convenient in this location it will certainly attract attention.

* You will need to display samples. Consider how broad your product base will be - is it going to consist primarily of sheets and towels, or are you also going to stock tote bags, baby clothes, sweatshirts, etc. Whatever constitutes your main line of goods should be displayed as samples.

* Since you will need to display samples, consider doing so by creating an attractive display of samples that are also for sale. For example, if you carry hand towels, do some monograms on those items in several popular single initials - B, F, M, S .. perhaps a few others. You customers can see samples of you work, and if they happen to be lucky enough to need that initial they can purchase the sample - if not, they can place a custom order with you for a different initial or a multiple-letter monogram. The “stock” versions can be priced so that they are a bit less than the custom version.

* Have a catalogue of available monogramming styles, either as sewn samples or as a printed document. A sewn sample of at least one letter of the alphabet is a good idea so that the customer can see and feel a real monogram, but you should also have something that shows each letter of the alphabet in each style that you offer. People can be very particular about how certain letters look, and in any case it avoids surprises and misunderstandings if the customer can see exactly what they are getting.

* How many monogramming styles do you want to offer? There is one school of though that says you should offer only a few basic styles because if you give people too many choices they will have a difficult time choosing. The opposite approach also has its supporters - offer as many options as possible so the customer knows that they have access to a wide variety of  choices.

Perhaps a compromise is the best option: organize the styles that you offer into categories that take stitch count into consideration - basic, complex, elaborate. Each category can fit within a different pricing structure.

Embroideryarts offers a high-resolution printable catalogue of all of our styles. Our designs are easy to acquire, by download or by mail-order, so you could reasonably offer a great many styles even if you haven’t yet purchased all of them. A customer order would be the occasion to purchase a style that you don’t currently have in stock.

How to Find Customers

The most conventional way to let people know that your monogramming business exists is paid advertising in the local yellow pages, local newspaper, radio, TV, etc.

There is nothing wrong with advertising, and you should certainly do as much paid advertising as you can afford and that you feel is bringing you results. However, consider some less expensive advertising ideas as well. For example:

* Visit local linen shops and set up an appointment to speak with the owner about monogramming services. Bring sewn samples of your work. Discuss ways to provide the shop with a book of information about the styles that you offer. In this situation you will most likely be monogramming on items that the linen shop stocks, so be sure that you have a clearly defined policy about pricing and liability limits on customer-supplied goods (this issue was covered in previous installments of this article.)

* Remember Laverne from “Laverne & Shirley” ? A giant L on a cashmere sweater may not be your own personal style, but you should be able to come up with an alternative. The conventional wisdom in the general commercial embroidery industry applies to monogramming as well - always wear something monogrammed. It’s a conversation starter.

* Does your community have church auxiliaries, women’s clubs, civic associations, etc? Do they hold fund-raisers? Try offering monogramming as a door-prize at their next event.

* Every town has at least one real estate agency. Visit with the agency and offer to provide a “Welcome” gift to them for new home buyers. The gift could be a nice basket with fancy soap and a monogrammed hand towel. Offer this item to the agency at a very reasonable price, and don’t forget to include your business card in the basket. It’s a nice gesture to the new homeowner, costs a pittance compared to the 6% commission the agent made on the sale of the house, and can get you lots of monogramming prospects.

Resources

Every monogramming shop needs a supply of basic materials (thread, backings, toppings, etc.) as well as a supplier or two for linens/blanks - and don’t forget about monogram designs.

There are so many sources that we can’t really list them all, but here are a few selected sources to get you started:

Thread, Embroidery Supplies

RNK Distributing
3939B Paper Mill Drive
Knoxville, TN 37909
(877) 271-0557 tollfree
(865) 330-0034

ALLStitch LLC
3031 James Street
Baltimore, MD 21230
(410) 646-0382

Blanks, Linens

WHOLESALE LINENS SUPPLY INC.
6231 Nagel 2 West
St. Louis MO 63109
(888) 291-8900 tollfree
(314) 352-5000

ALL ABOUT BLANKS
849 Manor Oak Lane
Buford, GA  30519
(866)425-2657 tollfree
(678) 714-2606

Commercial Embroidery/Monogramming Publications

STITCHES MAGAZINE
5680 Greenwood Plaza, Ste. 100
Greenwood Village, CO 80111
(303) 741-2801

EMBROIDERY MONOGRAM BUSINESS
1115 Northmeadow Parkway
Roswell, GA 30076
(800)241-9034
(770)291-5534

Designs for Monogramming, Alignment Tools, Custom Monogram Digitizing

embroideryarts
17 Fourth Avenue
Nyack, NY 10960
(888) 238-1372
(845) 358-5546

download .pdf of Part Three

While there are new embroidery businesses sprouting up every day that are started by people with no background in embroidery, many new monogramming businesses are the result of a hobby that turns into a business.

Did you start out with an embroidery machine making gifts for friends?

As time went on, did you also do things for friends-of-friends, or next-door neighbors?

If you are regularly creating monogrammed linens or other specialties as a hobby, what is the difference between what you are doing and a monogramming business?

Quite simply, it’s the moment when you determine that you will charge something for what you do. Once over that psychological hump, you’re no longer a hobby monogrammer - you have a monogramming business. The next step is to make it successful.

One of the biggest hurdles to creating a successful business is determining what to charge for your services. This is one area where there can be a very different approach for a monogramming business than for a general embroidery business.

Pricing Models

In the commercial embroidery business in general, many shops rely on a time-honored model based on the number of stitches in the design - usually calculated in 1000 stitch increments.

This approach starts with analyzing the design to be embroidered, then charging so much per 1000 stitches. Adjustments are made for the number of embroidery machines in use - a factory setting with a 12-head commercial embroidery machine might charge $.70 per 1000 stitches or less, while a small shop with one single-head machine might charge $1.25 or more per 1000 stitches. Using this model, there is always an adjustment made for the quantity, on a sliding scale - the more pieces, the lower the cost per piece.

It can be very instructive to use this model, since it requires you to address the time factor involved in sewing a design, and the amount of time involved obviously has something to do with what you charge.

There is another model, based on a per/hour cost to run the embroidery machine. This model is also based on time. This per/hour cost is arrived at by analyzing all of the individual costs that go into operating your business, including such details as:

* Equipment purchase (which may include interest for borrowing money to purchase the machine.)

* Materials (thread, stabilizer, toppings, etc.)

* Rent

* Utilities (electricity, heat)

* Operator salary (including withholding taxes)

* Workers compensation insurance for employees

* Business insurance

* Accounting Costs

* Advertising

* Misc. Expenses

The more detail the better. All of these costs are totaled up on a monthly basis, then divided by the number of hours you intend to work within that time period. The result is a cost per hour for operating your business. Since the majority of small monogramming businesses have only one machine, this figure could also be thought of as the machine operating cost.

How many hours do you want to work each day, and how much money do you want to make? Don’t be greedy, but also don’t sell yourself short.

Let’s suppose that you want to work an 8 hour day - like a regular job. In a regular job if you were paid by the hour, and worked 5 days a week, that’s 40 hours. Working 50 weeks out of the year, you would be working 2000 hours. If you were being paid $20.00 per hour, your pre-tax income for the year would be $40,000.

Comparing the Two Models

In theory, these two approaches should produce the same cost for a given monogramming job.

In order to test these models, let’s construct a simple comparison. We’ll use a design with 5000 stitches - a common starting point within the embroidery industry.

A 5000 stitch design, calculated at $1.25 per thousand stitches, is $6.25 per item. The majority of shops that use this model also charge a setup fee - sometimes called a hooping charge. The assumption is that there is an investment of time for alignment, cutting stabilizer, hooping, etc. before you even turn on the machine. For the sake of our very general experiment, let’s add a setup charge of  $2.00, which brings the total charge per item to $8.25.

Now, for comparison, let’s try the other approach.

Making a very casual guess on the results of your business cost analysis, imagine that it produced the conclusion that your hourly machine operating cost was $40 per hour. Although this may strike you as high, at this cost basis, working 8 hours a day, 50 weeks a year, your business income would be $ 80,000 - not an unreasonable target for annual sales for a small business.

Using the same 5000 stitch design, you will need to determine how long it will take to sew the design in order to apply that result to your hourly cost.

Coming up with this number may seem simple, but it’s important to think about this carefully. The maximum speed that your machine can sew is not the best number to use. Some commercial machines can sew as fast as 1500 stitches per minute. However, this speed is too fast for small, detailed designs like monograms. Regardless of what the manufacturer says, you will not be running your machine this fast. High operating speeds create more wear on the machine, more operating noise and vibration, and can have an effect on the quality of the sewout. Higher speeds also increase thread breaks.

Tread breaks will completely change your calculations - and regardless of the quality of the digitized designs there will always be thread breaks. Also, even without any thread breaks your machine will not be operating at the maximum speed that you choose for the entire embroidery sequence if there are trims or color changes - the machine will slow down or stop for these tasks.

Taking all of these issues into consideration, and using a worst-case scenario, let’s determine that the production speed will be 250 stitches per minute. That means that the 5000 stitch design will take 20 minutes to sew out, which is 1/3 of an hour. Dividing the $40 per hour cost by 3, the cost for this job is $13.33.

The per-1000 stitch model for this job, using these admittedly casual figures, is approximately 60% less than the per-hour model for the same project.

Which one is correct? The simple answer is “neither one”, but setting out to revise them will address some important issues.

Another Look at the Hourly Model

Starting with the per-hour calculation, simply changing the per-hour cost from $40 to $25 will get the two cost calculations to match. You may think that change is entirely justified because:

1. You are the operator, and don’t need to pay yourself a salary.

Consider: If you aren’t making any money, you don’t have a business, you have a very time-consuming hobby. It’s reasonable to assume that you may be willing to work for less than CEO salary levels while you get your business established, but you should always pay yourself something - or at least plan to in your pricing scheme.

2. You are operating your business from your home, and don’t pay rent.

Consider: Do you always want to operate from the spare bedroom, or does your overall plan/fantasy include a nice monogram shop in it’s own location? If you don’t include some factor for rent (call it a savings account if you like) you’ll never be able to afford a separate space.

3. The machine isn’t actually running 8 hours a day.

Consider: The per-hour figure isn’t really a per-hour machine cost, it’s a per-hour cost for operating your business. The more business you have the busier you will be, but what happens when you aren’t busy? Your costs don’t stop. Try to keep in mind that unlike a business that sells a product, purchased from another source for a certain price, a monogramming business is a service.

4. The operating speed could easily be increased from 250 stitches per minute to something higher, thereby reducing the time and the job cost.

Consider: While 250 stitches per minute may well be slow for you, be careful raising this estimate too far without some basis for doing so. If you haven’t been paying close attention to how long it takes to embroider a design, choose one with two or three colors and approximately 5000 stitches, and sew one or more samples. Time yourself.

Another Look at the Stitch Count Model

The per-1000 stitch model probably also needs some revision. For one thing, it doesn’t take into consideration what other companies may be charging. Finding out what the competition is doing is always instructive, but use this information in an informed way.

The 1000 stitch model assumes that there are multiples required: 12 shirts with corporate logo, 48 hats, etc. It works best if the multiples are larger quantities, and if those quantities are relatively consistent from one job to the next.

Many corporate embroidery purchasers have the multi-head embroidery pricing structure already in their heads, either from previous orders or from having seen ads in airline magazines, etc. for embroidery jobs. Small shops will of necessity be more expensive, and most customers won’t understand why.

A small shop with only one embroidery machine can’t possibly compete with a larger shop on price alone. Anyone with one single-head embroidery machine (home or commercial) who has ever taken on a job for 200 logo golf shirts for a local restaurant or a church fund-raiser can describe the feeling of complete exhaustion at the end of a 12 hours day, coupled with the sinking feeling that not enough money was made.

While it is tempting to simply set your prices a little lower than the competition, we feel that this is absolutely the wrong concept. Typically, this approach results in the new low-price shop not making enough money and going out of  business.

We also feel strongly that in starting a monogramming business, rather than a general embroidery business, you are embarking on a different path, and although it can be useful to consider the pricing structure of the mainstream logo embroidery businesses, it’s important to realize how your business is different:

* Most of your jobs will be small quantity - one set of towels, one receiving blanket, etc.

* Monogramming requires a special environment - an extremely clean shop and equipment are a major requirement, since most of your projects will be with whites. Many commercial shops can’t meet this standard.

* Larger embroidery shops don’t want to do small jobs. They hate “onsey-twosey” projects because they make their money on larger quantities. As a small  monogramming shop you aren’t in competition with larger commercial embroiderers.

* Things for the home are intrinsically more valuable than embroidered items for the workplace. Customers understand this, and are willing to pay more for high-quality results.

* You can charge more for a “specialty” than you can for something that can be obtained from a wider variety of sources.

You may want to consider reducing the cost per 1000 stitches at bit, charging a lower per-item setup fee, or reducing the setup cost on multiple items somewhat in order to get your prices down to a level that you are comfortable with.

If you carefully analyze your own situation you will be able to come up with a pricing structure that you have confidence in, and in the process you will also have a better understanding of what it costs to run your business.

If all of this seems too daunting, you might consider purchasing special software for pricing. Two examples:

“Pricelist Professional for Embroidery”

http://www.smrsoftware.com/

“E-Z Estimator”

http://www.ezestimator.net/

Blanks

The preceding pricing discussion has only been about the cost of embroidery, and hasn’t considered the item to be monogrammed, where it comes from, or what it might cost.

In monogramming as well as general embroidery, the items that you apply embroidery to are often called “blanks.” In order to operate a monogramming business you are most likely going to need a supply of monogram-friendly items.

It is typical to purchase these items at wholesale cost and then mark them up for retail sale. There is no exact science on how much to mark up the items, but you should always apply some mark-up - it’s another income area for your business.

Some monogramming shops try to keep their markup low, reasoning that it allows them to keep their embroidery costs a little higher. Some shops take exactly the opposite approach.

No matter how you address this issue, try to consider not only your cost for the item itself, but also shipping costs, the time it takes to source the item to get the best quality at the best price, the cost to store your inventory, credit card interest payments, etc. If you take the same detailed approach to this issue as you take toward pricing the monogramming you will see that there is more involved than you might have realized at first.

What sorts of items should you carry? That depends on how specialized you want your shop to be. Unless you are going for a very narrow focus (monogramming for pets, or monogramming exclusively on hand-made purses) some good choices would be:

            * Towel Sets (Bath Towel, Hand Towel, Washcloth)

            * Shower Curtains

            * Robes

            * Baby Blankets and Receiving Blankets

            * Bedding (Sheets, Duvet Covers)

            * Tote Bags

All of these items can be successfully  monogrammed regardless of the type of machine you have. This is a very brief list, and could easily be expanded.

How much to have on hand? If you have a limited budget and limited storage space, these factors will largely answer these questions. You can always order what you need as you go. Try to focus on basic colors - white is always in fashion - with other options as special order items.

Customer-Supplied Goods

Some monogrammers solve the issue of blanks by only monogramming on customer-supplied goods. Even if you provide your own blanks for monogramming you will certainly be asked if you will apply a monogram to a customer’s dress shirt, jacket, towels, etc.

It is critical that you have a policy on items provided by your customers and that whatever that policy is you have thoroughly considered it. If you don’t, and your answer to any question is ... “Sure, we can do that” ... you will develop a policy by trial-and-error.

Some things to consider:

* If part of your profit on a particular monogramming job will be expected to come from a mark-up on blanks that you purchase at a wholesale cost, you won’t have the opportunity to add that mark-up on customer-supplied goods. Consider adding an additional fee to compensate, perhaps called a “handling charge” or something like that.

* Although you won’t be happy, you can usually replace a towel with a poorly aligned monogram or some other “mistake” with another one if you purchased it as a blank. How do you replace a customer-supplied item? Consider a “risk assumed” policy that says that you aren’t responsible for mishaps if the customer supplies the goods, or at least limits your liability to a specified amount - a percentage of the total job cost for instance. One side benefit of a clearly defined policy is that it creates some incentive for the customer to purchase the blanks from you.

* Messing up a relatively conventional pillowcase is one thing - the same problem on an irreplaceable family heirloom pillowcase is quite another matter. Unless you enjoy living dangerously - and charging accordingly - consider a policy that refuses jobs if the customer-supplied item is worth more than a specified amount.

* Whatever you policy is, put it in writing. Have a sign in your shop that details the policy, and add the details to your Order Forms for the customer to sign and approve.

download .pdf of Part Two

Have you ever thought about starting your own monogramming business, and wondered how to begin? This is the first in a series of articles that we hope will be of assistance to anyone who is thinking about monogramming for fun - and profit.

or Home Machine   Commercial Machine

Equipment

Unless you are planning to create monograms done entirely by hand, and have the patience and skills to carry out this plan, you’ll need a computerized embroidery machine.

Embroidery machines typically fall into two categories: home and commercial. Until a few years ago it was easy to tell the difference.

Home machines were small, lightweight, and relatively inexpensive. They were essentially sewing machines that had an embroidery module or attachment. They had a small sewing field - typically no larger than 4” x 4” and a slow sewing speed.

Commercial machines were large, heavy, and quite expensive. They had the ability to sew smaller designs and also large jacket-back designs up to 12” x 14”. Most were multi-needle, with the ability to preload up to 18 thread spools, and a mechanism to automatically trim thread at the end of one color and move on to the next color in the design without intervention from the operator.

Recently, machines in both categories have undergone a design and marketing revolution. Home machines have added more features with larger embroidery fields and higher prices.

Commercial machines have gotten smaller, lighter, and less expensive. Purchase prices have converged at a midpoint - price alone is no longer the determining factor in a machine purchase.

The type of embroidery business you want to start may help determine the type of equipment you need. For example, if you want to embroider on pre-constructed baseball caps you will definitely need a machine that comes with a rotating cap frame attachment. If you want your business to specialize in large multi-colored designs on the backs of sports jackets then a machine with a very large sewing field and automatic thread trimmers is probably a must.

These two examples describe the embroidery business that you may have seen in a mall or a small shopping center or storefront in your area.  If this isn’t the type of business that you imagine then you should consider equipment from a different perspective.

If you’re interested in a monogramming business - as opposed to a sports logo and golf shirt business, consider machines from a variety of perspectives:

* Although you may be lucky enough to get an account providing monogrammed linen for very wealthy and large families, most monogramming orders will be small quantity - a few towels, or a set of linens for a bride.

* Despite a growing revival of interest in very large monograms for chair backs or shower curtains, the typical monogramming order will require fairly small designs and a fairly small hoop size.

* There is a huge tradition for single color, white-on-white or tone-on-tone monograms. Home machines don’t have multiple automatic thread changers, but designs of this type don’t require them.

* Monograms on towels or linens are double-sided - they have a front side, but the back side is regularly seen, unlike a baseball cap. If you do tone-on-tone monogramming it will be extremely useful to use a bobbin thread that is the same color as the top thread. This is easy on a home machine, where winding your own bobbin is a typical part of the process. Commercial machines don’t have built-in bobbin winders, since the majority of  commercial embroidery machines use pre-wound bobbins (white or black thread).

* A commercial embroidery machine can sew at up to 1500 stitches a minute, and this feature is quite impressive when seen at trade shows. However, in practice the faster the machine goes the more vibration and noise it creates, and thread breaks increase. 600 stitches per minute is a more practical maximum speed, and for fine work you may want to slow down even more. A home machine can match this speed.

* Most embroiderers who have had experience with both home and commercial machines will admit that it is significantly faster and easier to rethread a home machine.

* Unless you plan to purchase several embroidery machines, you are embroidering your jobs one item at a time whether you are using a home or commercial machine.

* Commercial embroidery machines cannot be easily used to sew a hem or make a buttonhole - they are embroidery-only. If your monogramming business also involves making items to sell - not just purchasing pre-constructed blanks - you will still need a  good sewing machine.

* Durability may be an issue with a home machine, since they are not intended to be used in a factory environment. Many newer machines have stitch counters - like an odometer in a car - that allow a technician to see how heavily a machine has been used within a period of time.

* If you intend to open a storefront business, or even one in your home that potential customers can visit,  a commercial machine is more impressive and industrial looking than a small home machine.

Where to find equipment

It’s useful to do research online when considering embroidery machines. Our Links section has a link to the websites of both Commercial and Home machine manufacturers.

http://www.embroideryarts.com/link/index.html

However, there is really no substitute for seeing a machine in action, and talking to a sales representative about different models, their features, and their costs.

The commercial embroidery industry presents trade shows for these machines as well as software options.

There are other shows that may be more useful to someone contemplating a monogramming business than mainstream commercial embroidery shows. Traditionally thought of as “home” or “hobby” trade shows, most shows of this description now include exhibitors showing commercial embroidery machines along with those that feature “home” machines. If you are fortunate enough to live near a well-organized show, make plans to attend. However, if there isn’t one in your area, or if you have to wait a year to attend something close by, consider traveling to one - if you are shopping for equipment you will be making a significant investment - it’s worth some effort to be confident in your choices.

If you have already purchased a home embroidery machine for a sewing hobby and are considering starting a monogramming business, do you need to go out and buy a different machine?

We are asked this question regularly, and feel that the most honest answer we can offer is .. in most cases, no. Starting a small business that will be successful has a lot to do with creating a workable business plan. If your new business starts out with significant debt it will be at more risk for failure.

If your business becomes successful and you have more work than your home machine can produce then you will have a good reason to consider a commercial machine at that point. This is the natural evolution of many successful small embroidery businesses. Most monogrammers whose business grows this way opt to keep their home machines - for sewing samples or creating special displays, etc.

Software

Embroidery software programs are an essential part of starting a monogramming business. As with embroidery machines, there are too many options.

We feel strongly that most startup monogramming businesses can easily get along without purchasing digitizing software. Aside from the expense, don’t underestimate the learning curve that is associated with mastering any software program. Beyond the technicalities of the program itself, successful digitizing depends on some background in embroidery with professionally digitized designs - the more monogramming experience you have, the more likely it will be that you can create good designs yourself.

Even if you already have an embroidery background from a monogramming hobby, you may still want to hold off before purchasing digitizing software. Why? Have you ever heard the expression “ there are only so many hours in the day ”? Unless you have help in your small monogramming business you will be hard-pressed to find the time to digitize designs, write orders, sew samples, order supplies, answer the telephone, be relaxed with customers and answer their questions, produce top quality monogrammed items, eat dinner, sleep, and have some time left over once in awhile to just stare off into the distance.. or whatever else you’d like to do for recreation.

Looked at from the opposite perspective, can you get along with just the machine (home or commercial) and no software at all?

No. There are a few things that will be essential.

There are software programs on the market that allow you to manipulate embroidery fonts into a variety of shapes, add borders, etc. These programs are fairly basic in the styles they offer, and must rely on a minimum of underlay in the letters themselves since they have to be squished and stretched into so many different shapes and configurations. These programs (e.g. Monogram Wizard, Magnificent Monograms, etc.) may be quite useful to you for simple and relatively small monograms.

Many of our customers own one of these programs and still purchase designs from us because of the variety, digitizing quality, and historical accuracy of what we offer.

We provide an individual design for each letter of the alphabet. There are two common tasks that you will need embroidery software to accomplish:

1. Merging or combining designs together. This process makes it easy to create two and three-letter monograms, with complete control over the spacing and placement of each letter.

2. Resizing. A program that allows you to change the size of the design - and the density and the number of stitches in the design - is invaluable. Whether you are resizing individual letters or a complete monogram, a resizing program is essential in a monogramming business. One good example among many - it’s common practice for a monogram done on a hand towel to be a bit smaller than the same monogram done on a matching bath towel. With a resizing program you can create the bath towel version, then resize the monogram slightly smaller for the hand towel.

There are at least a dozen stand-along merge and resizing programs on the market, for example - Embird, Smartsizer, Dakota Sizer, Melco Sizer, BuzzSize, etc.

Some embroidery machines allow merging of designs and a limited range of resizing capability on the machine itself. Despite these features, our customers tell us that they prefer to accomplish these tasks with a program on their computer because they have more confidence in the results if they can see them on a larger conventional computer screen.

If you are intent on purchasing digitizing and editing software for your monogramming business, be sure that the software includes merging and resizing capability - almost all do.

One last thought about equipment and embroidery software - you may be able to get a package deal if you get everything from the same vendor, but there is no technical requirement that everything come from the same source. So long as you can save designs in a format that your machine can read, the various parts can come from different manufacturers.

download .pdf of Part One