Advice on working from home please.

[JasonF 3]

Hello all,

 

I am looking for some advice on possibly making and selling some decals from home.  I do have a pretty good amount of experience with vinyl.  We have a Copam 48" at my job right now, and I have been working with that for the past year and a half.  I have made all kinds of things from very small and detailed, to quite large lettering and images.

 

So now I am thinking of getting a Copam for myself, and trying to sell some stuff from home.  I am wondering if there is any real money to be made by working in such a way.  I will also be a full time student, which makes it hard to have a regular full time job, so cutting vinyl on my off time would be perfect for me. 

 

I am just wondering if it would be worth the investment.  Since I wouldnt have a store, would I absolutely need a website?  How does everyone else fair that only works from home as a side job? 

 

Thanks in advance for any advice or help you guys can provide.

[WHIT72 36]

I work from home, I'm exclusively word of mouth. I do mostly t shirts but want to get into lettering and decals,.just can't find the time.

It keeps me busy, I have a fulltime career already. I just enjoy doing it.

I think if I put some effort into advertising I could easily be making some decent money, I'm just not at the point I want to get that involved, I have young kids so I want to spend the majority of my off time with them and my wife.

Maybe when there in school full time, that changes, and when the overtime bell rings I need to answer it.because it's a considerable amount of money. So a few things take priority over this for me right now but in the future I can see that changing.

For a college student, you could make some decent money if your work is tight and you don't have to compete with overhead.

[lueman 19]

Home based business is the way to go. When we first starting out, my wife started working from home 13 years ago and now we have a storefront, we never grossed below 30K even in this crappy economy. some tips:

 

A home based business  is all about service and personal attention to detail.

Try to have at least 1 (hopefully more) steady long-term clients that can pay the rent.

designate a percentage of the house as your work area, you'll use this percent when you do taxes & deductions.

GET LEGAL! get all the papers you need from the city/county state & get a resale certificate. Most cities allow you to have a small office out of your home so unless you are getting a 64" Muton you will be fine.

You can use your ssn for the IRS, but I've never seen any great benefit in not getting a dedicated EIN instead.

Use this forum a lot there are some outstanding members that can help with just about anything.

Good luck!

[JasonF 3]

Thanks for the replies guys.  So it seems that a lot of people get business from word of mouth alone.  So I'm guessing the majority of people that work from home do not have a website?  I know it could only help, but I don't think I can afford the cost of a website in the begining. 

[darcshadow 1,626]

A Facebook buisness page would be an easy start. Just use it more for showing what you've done/can do, and as a way for people to contact you. There are also tons of free web site services but they usually have annoying adds, and can be a pain to setup on your own.

[signyouup 178]

Use you car as a billboard for your business. It says who you are, what you do and shows the quality of your work at the same time.

[lueman 19]

Try to get contract work from your current employer.just show them it's less expensive to contract excess work, than to pay for overtime or adding an extra shift, especially they can take big tax advantages by contracting work out. Remember each employee costs an employer the rate per hour plus 15% for ssn & medicare.

[BannerJohn 1,324]

Once my friends found out I was doing vinyl...it was like the gates opened. 9 years later..I have never slowed down. It took a heart attack and 4 by-passes to get me a few weeks off.

[sleeveofwizzard 104]

I would recommend continuing to work for you current employer / going to school and see what you can do with vinyl in your spare time. If you work hard and get your name out there you will be successful. Give it some time and if you can consistently make enough money to pay your bills then you can consider quitting your day job.

 

I have found out that online sales are tough to get and only  good for a few people. I recommend concentrating on finding customers in person and creative ways to advertise for free.  

[JasonF 3]

Thanks for the replies and advice guys.  I guess I should have mentioned that my current employer is the US Navy, so doing contract work for them isn't really an option.  I will be getting out in about a month actually.  We have a copam here that we use to make stencils for aircraft, so that is how I learned.

 

I do plan on putting a logo on my car as well as some family members.  It is good to hear that you guys all do well without a website.  So I guess the general consesus on here is that it would be worthwhile for me to get a plotter and work from home?  I am just looking for something to generate some income while I am in school. 

 

This question may not be appropriate, and please let me know if so, but can I ask what the average income is for you guys that do this as a side job from home?  I am just trying to get an idea of what kind of returns I can expect. 

 

Thanks for the help so far guys.

[slice&dice 2,450]

While it's pretty hard to say what kind of income you'll derive from going ahead on your own, just remember that there's a very good mark-up in this business.

Materials that cost you under $25 will bring in nearly $100 if you are doing it right.

 

I run my sign-making operation out of a storefront, BTW.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[lueman 19]

Hi, Slice&Dice

 

Nice setup, where did you get that blue tape dispenser?? or is it a hand laminator??

[jaybyrd 3,770]

I have 1 also and think it came from earl mich. It uses old vinyl tubes and just comes as the 2 blue sides. Ended up going to a metal unit like uscutter sells after a while but those blue one's do get the job done.

[sleeveofwizzard 104]

I have a website and I am pretty sure most everyone else on here  does as well. You can get a completely free site or really cheap that still looks very nice and professional. I currently don't have a shopping cart or items for sale on my site but will probably add that someday. I do have ebay, etsy and facebook pages for my business and those are free or cheap as well. I do recommend having either a facebook or regular website to show examples and previous work on. Your customers will often want something to look at to understand what you are talking about.

[slice&dice 2,450]

Hi, Slice&Dice

 

Nice setup, where did you get that blue tape dispenser?? or is it a hand laminator??

 

http://www.signsupply.com/Only_Ordway/current/accesories/tape_dispenser_OAO.asp

 

I love the thing, it's a real good dispenser for app tape.

[jaybyrd 3,770]

If I can find my old 1 I'd let it go for $20 shipped. If any interest pm me.

[JasonF 3]

I have a website and I am pretty sure most everyone else on here  does as well. You can get a completely free site or really cheap that still looks very nice and professional. I currently don't have a shopping cart or items for sale on my site but will probably add that someday. I do have ebay, etsy and facebook pages for my business and those are free or cheap as well. I do recommend having either a facebook or regular website to show examples and previous work on. Your customers will often want something to look at to understand what you are talking about.

 

I do plan on making a facebook page at the very least.  That is easy enough to do.  How do you go about getting a free or cheap wesbite?  Do you make it yourself, or are there some providers that do it for you? 

[darcshadow 1,626]

Just do a google search for free web hosting. There are dozens out there. Building the page may take some time and reading though. Some hosters have tools for creating web pages and getting up and running with a generic format pretty quickly. Others just assume you know what you are doing and leave it at that.

[sleeveofwizzard 104]

I use Wix.com and my wife has a photography page on another site that I can't remember the name of but just about identical to my host. I think I pay $9 a month that includes hosting, a domain name, and design features. I think my site looks pretty good and it took me about an hour to make using their tools. I had tried a cheaper host that had some tools for designing the site but I couldn't get it to look like it wasn't made by one of my kids. 

[slice&dice 2,450]

Wix rocks.

[WiL1978 46]

Thanks for the replies and advice guys.  I guess I should have mentioned that my current employer is the US Navy, so doing contract work for them isn't really an option.  I will be getting out in about a month actually.  We have a copam here that we use to make stencils for aircraft, so that is how I learned.

 

I do plan on putting a logo on my car as well as some family members.  It is good to hear that you guys all do well without a website.  So I guess the general consesus on here is that it would be worthwhile for me to get a plotter and work from home?  I am just looking for something to generate some income while I am in school. 

 

This question may not be appropriate, and please let me know if so, but can I ask what the average income is for you guys that do this as a side job from home?  I am just trying to get an idea of what kind of returns I can expect. 

 

Thanks for the help so far guys.

 

I actually learned the same way.. Air Force, did all the stenciling on the aircraft. I am Army now, about to get out, and have kicked this off full time.. I do this out of my house, because I am still Military, however I believe when I get out, I will still do this from my home. My suggestions are the same as everyone elses, but ill add a few.. CAR CLUBS.. your biggest money maker.. The design Never Changes, and clubs are always adding new members.. I have 4 car clubs I cut for currently (All Out Of State) and I make anywhere from 150-500 a month off them.. Plus, its an easy way to get your name out.. I not only do the club logos.. they all contact me for standard decals as well.. you Have TO Be Dedicated to SHIPPING though.. I do all orders and ship within 24 hours for my car guys.. because they are my biggest customers.. I do their shirts (standard Heat Transfer) as well..  you will be a bit surprised, once you get into a few car club circles, how fast your business will spread. I use a Facebook Fan Page only.. because Most Everyone is on Facebook..  its Free.. and simple to upload pictures to immediately after you make something.. then you can get the "Pages" APP, and Manage your Fan Page, directly from your phone..

 

Feel free to contact me with any questions you have along the way.. And Thank you for your Service Bro..

 

WiL

[slice&dice 2,450]

Yep, FB is the way to go.

 

[JasonF 3]

I actually learned the same way.. Air Force, did all the stenciling on the aircraft. I am Army now, about to get out, and have kicked this off full time.. I do this out of my house, because I am still Military, however I believe when I get out, I will still do this from my home. My suggestions are the same as everyone elses, but ill add a few.. CAR CLUBS.. your biggest money maker.. The design Never Changes, and clubs are always adding new members.. I have 4 car clubs I cut for currently (All Out Of State) and I make anywhere from 150-500 a month off them.. Plus, its an easy way to get your name out.. I not only do the club logos.. they all contact me for standard decals as well.. you Have TO Be Dedicated to SHIPPING though.. I do all orders and ship within 24 hours for my car guys.. because they are my biggest customers.. I do their shirts (standard Heat Transfer) as well..  you will be a bit surprised, once you get into a few car club circles, how fast your business will spread. I use a Facebook Fan Page only.. because Most Everyone is on Facebook..  its Free.. and simple to upload pictures to immediately after you make something.. then you can get the "Pages" APP, and Manage your Fan Page, directly from your phone..

 

Feel free to contact me with any questions you have along the way.. And Thank you for your Service Bro..

 

WiL

 

This is awesome advice!  I had not thought about clubs and such.  I will definitely look into this more.  There are a lot of bike nights and car shows around my area so that could work out pretty well.  Thanks for the tip, I really appreciate it.  It's good to hear someone from the same background as me is doing well with this. 

 

Thanks to all the other as well for the replies.  This thread makes me feel a lot more confident in taking the plunge and buying a plotter. 

 

I just did two huge logos for my best friends dads plumbing company.  The first one went on the bed topper to his pickup truck, and the second covers the entire side of his E350 van.  I did these free of charge because they are good friends of mine, and also since we had a ton of 48" vinyl laying around work.  But I would imagine I could have made a few hundred bucks off these two jobs. 

[lueman 19]

Thanks saved the link!