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Who does this full time?

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Just for a fun little forum poll, who uses their cutter,software, etc for a means to support their family? 
 

The main reason I am asking is because my workplace of several years has shut down and has left me without a job.  Me myself I have a very entrepreneurial spirit.  I have also taken a interest in vinyl as well as the tools needed to help other businesses advertise in return to increase their success rate.  Also their is very little competition in the sign making/ vinyl business in my area.  Is this a viable option to match at least a decent income?  I have an ample amount of friends/family that run businesses so word of mouth advertising for me should be very easy.

 

Thanks!

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Hi i do , but also embroidery. If you have no competition so to speak then why not. It does take time to build up your business though and also if you notice on here a lot of the members diversify. Good Luck, 

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I do it pretty much 7 days a week -- but I gave myself 3-4 years to learn and upgrade equipment before i went full time.  now it fills the gap pretty well the governor created when he cut my retirement $350 month the month i retired from what I was told I would have for the previous 27.5 years.  I have been surprised that this year my cut vinyl work picked way back up after doing a lot of print work for the past 4 years.  I am guessing a good 50 percent of this year was cut vinyl.   Location is huge though - I have one friend that can consistently charge 3 times what I do because of his location with fewer competitors and lots of oil money in the area,  my area has lots of hobby cutters and where 4 years ago I was one of 2 solvent printers in the area I am guessing there are at least 6+ locally now.  
do your research and if it is promising jump in - but do the research well - as some have found out only after they have "opened full time"  there are a lot of cutters in homes now days with them selling so cheap.  that is where good solid work and fair prices that will sustain your business come in.  remember you don't just have to eat today you have to pay for upgraded equipment from time to time to stay competitive.  there is no way I could put work out as cheap with my p-cut I started with as what I can with the graphtec - lots less labor involved,  

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Wow this community is awesome!  Glad to see answers that do not bash my question.  I live in a small town where there is one go to shop for vinyl sport jersey numbering and lettering and also all businesses go through this vinyl shop because it is the only one around.  They are constantly getting bashed for their prices though.  I am going to start out operating from home I have a little income coming in for a little while so building a customer base isn't a issue as I do have a little time to get going.  I plan on ordering a Titan 2 and a cheaper 16x20 heatpress to get going.  Any and all help/tips is greatly appreciated.  I do plan to make a business out of this and even though I have did my research, experience triumphs.

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just lots of practice and steer clear of the things that can lose your business for you like NFL, NBA, nascar, harley, disney, monster, etc. they have companies that look for infringement and make their money by reporting it for prosecution.  find your niche and party on.  don't expect it to be a hit every day but keep your eye on the prize saving a little for upgrades and rainy days.   I think my first 5 years I did about yearly upgrades on cutters working my way up with profits.  now I try to change out equipment about every 3 years or so.  

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keep in mind things like software also need to stay fairly current - I do upgrade my illy, corel etc about every other time but with people sending me files to print I have to work with what they send many times.   starting out with cutting you will want good design software and cutting software fairly soon - there have been a lot of good comments on the new vinyl master that usc is offering with the new cutters. from reading the reviews it is a huge step up from scalp - 

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^what he said^

 

I did pretty much what you are contemplating. I have not moved past the home office and do not do it full time but bring in a steady auxiliary income by doing it nights and weekends. My best business helper is the shirt shop in town that makes a practice of bending people over. I still make good profits but give some incentives especially to my regulars. Good luck. 

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Started as a graphic artist but now I do creative and brand management for national distribution company from 8-5 on weekdays....then I get home and run Moody Blue Designs for the remainder of the evening until I go to sleep and do it all over again. Dedicate weekends to large installs such as full wraps and time consuming jobs that I can't squeeze in in my "after hours".

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Do HTV and decals after work, and on the weekends, ebay and etsy mainly.

 

Think it could be a full time job for someone willing to put the work in.

 

Wife and I started selling at the end of january this year and have done more sales than we ever expected.

 

Personally I'd skip the titan 2 start with the graphtec.

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^what he said^

 

I did pretty much what you are contemplating. I have not moved past the home office and do not do it full time but bring in a steady auxiliary income by doing it nights and weekends. My best business helper is the shirt shop in town that makes a practice of bending people over. I still make good profits but give some incentives especially to my regulars. Good luck. 

this year I used what I would have spent on rent for a building to replace the driveway cement and roof. For some a retail place is the way to go. For me it works well working from home.in my town the exposure would bring in some business but I don't think enough to offset how many days I would have to work to pay the overhead each month, I start every month in the black as far as that overhead goes
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Start out in your home if you can while working through the learning curve

Friends & a small town may not be able to support a full time retail store....

but will help get you started.

Look at the surrounding 50-100 miles to determine your local range.

 

AND an online presence will help get the word out.

 

Sue2

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I had a storefront for a few years, then got a decent offer to sell the business, and I walked away from it for a fistful of dollars.

 

Now I have returned to retail sign making.

Rental $400 on a small garage.

 

The flow of customers is reasonable, and I'm always doing some job or another.

 

I just now completed decals application on a "Roadside Assistance" vehicle.  $240.

Yeah, there's money in this gig.

 

Best of luck, take care.

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I had a storefront for a few years, then got a decent offer to sell the business, and I walked away from it for a fistful of dollars.

 

Now I have returned to retail sign making.

Rental $400 on a small garage.

 

The flow of customers is reasonable, and I'm always doing some job or another.

 

I just now completed decals application on a "Roadside Assistance" vehicle.  $240.

Yeah, there's money in this gig.

 

Best of luck, take care.

congrats - one more and you have worked enough to pay the rent this month so you can start putting food on the table !   the best gig to have is being the landlord - you get the rent sales or not!

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I also plan to expand with embroidery once I get the vinyl side down.  Thank you all for the help and words of advice!  Once I get started I may start a thread that will act as a blog to let newcomers understand the ins and outs of this business.  Rent around here is dirt cheap as $400 - $500 a month for a pretty convenient location.  If I do decide to get a storefront after a little while it should be easy on the wallet.  

Any advice on what type of clients to go after?

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I also plan to expand with embroidery once I get the vinyl side down.  Thank you all for the help and words of advice!  Once I get started I may start a thread that will act as a blog to let newcomers understand the ins and outs of this business.  Rent around here is dirt cheap as $400 - $500 a month for a pretty convenient location.  If I do decide to get a storefront after a little while it should be easy on the wallet.  

Any advice on what type of clients to go after?

I don't pick and choose, I go after everyone! Ha ha! I thought I would do property signs but turns out they don't pay much so I gravitated to vehicles and semi-permanent signage and then the apparel started to blossom as word got out. Now I do about 90% apparel and am buying a commercial embroidery machine next week so back in a little debt. 

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I don't pick and choose, I go after everyone! Ha ha! I thought I would do property signs but turns out they don't pay much so I gravitated to vehicles and semi-permanent signage and then the apparel started to blossom as word got out. Now I do about 90% apparel and am buying a commercial embroidery machine next week so back in a little debt. 

I saw on another post you do Logo Design?  Do you have any training in this or does it just come easy?  The reason I am asking is my graphic design skills aren't solid.  I can sketch on paper pretty good but on a PC it seems much harder for me to be "artistic," have any tips or links to any really good graphic design tutorials?  I've went through a few within inkscape but I am still struggling trying to visualize a idea and then put it on the screen.

 

I see most people rely on clip art, is this really a smart move?

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I saw on another post you do Logo Design?  Do you have any training in this or does it just come easy?  The reason I am asking is my graphic design skills aren't solid.  I can sketch on paper pretty good but on a PC it seems much harder for me to be "artistic," have any tips or links to any really good graphic design tutorials?  I've went through a few within inkscape but I am still struggling trying to visualize a idea and then put it on the screen.

 

I see most people rely on clip art, is this really a smart move?

I took an online coarse to learn Adobe Illustrator and it has paid off in spades. I like to hand draw a rough sketch then scan it in and work over the top of the drawing. Doing a logo for someone is as much about selling them on an idea and helping get from them what they are thinking. Several have had a good idea ahead of time and one took me forever but then did several thousand dollars of work with me after the thing (and he was the son of a friend so I didn't charge him the extra). 

 

I try to steer them toward cutter friendly designs (did I just say that out loud. What a self serving comment...). If you look at most of the really great logo's they are usually simple, easy to recognize and cheap to reproduce in mass quantities. 

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I took an online coarse to learn Adobe Illustrator and it has paid off in spades. I like to hand draw a rough sketch then scan it in and work over the top of the drawing. Doing a logo for someone is as much about selling them on an idea and helping get from them what they are thinking. Several have had a good idea ahead of time and one took me forever but then did several thousand dollars of work with me after the thing (and he was the son of a friend so I didn't charge him the extra). 

 

I try to steer them toward cutter friendly designs (did I just say that out loud. What a self serving comment...). If you look at most of the really great logo's they are usually simple, easy to recognize and cheap to reproduce in mass quantities. 

Gotcha!  I will look into a online course for design.  Thank you for your time and words it means a lot!  This forum is way more helpful than the others that pertain to vinyl.  

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Gotcha!  I will look into a online course for design.  Thank you for your time and words it means a lot!  This forum is way more helpful than the others that pertain to vinyl.  

Now that's funny you would say that and I know EXACTLY which one you are probably referring to. I mostly just search over there. Not much use asking a question. They have a large knowledge base though if you can filter the flame throwers. 

 

I spent a few hours every night for about 3 or 4 months to get through the course. I don't say that is a required thing but the time spent learning probably wouldn't change all that much. 

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I cannot recall seeing any people in the graphics side of this business mention InDesign by Adobe.

 

Yet, I would think it's the way to go for print media creation.

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I cannot recall seeing any people in the graphics side of this business mention InDesign by Adobe.

 

Yet, I would think it's the way to go for print media creation.

Yeah I just checked it out definitely cool if I was doing full color banners or media.  Strange that no ones ever mentioned it and I have never heard of it.  

Thanks for sharing this!

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I cannot recall seeing any people in the graphics side of this business mention InDesign by Adobe.

 

Yet, I would think it's the way to go for print media creation.

 

InDesign is part of the Adobe Creative Suite of programs.

 

I use InDesign daily (I own a small print/copy shop) and would

not consider it a graphic design program for creating logos,

banners, graphics or even many of today's graphic intense

business cards.

I use it mainly for brochures, flyers, posters, programs,

booklets & text applications.

 

I find InDesign's linking to outside graphics & photos (rather than

saving them in the file) to be irritating at times.

 

CorelDraw is my go-to program for design & graphics......

 

Sue2

 

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Also no one said that you should skip the cheap heat press. Since you will be one of 2 in that business in your town having a name brand heat press and vinyl cutter will work in you favor. also don't go for one of the all in one heat press either. look at something like stahls hotronix , Geo knight, Insta Press yes the price is high but its worth it in the long run. I do this part time as I work for American Apparel distribution and I work from home. I do apparel, sublimation, decals, silkscreen ,hats and I also have a DJ rental business and I'm A DJ also. I'm also looking at getting into the embroidery business soon. I'm look at either a Tajima, SWF or Toyota 16 thread single head but with a large sewing field.

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I cannot recall seeing any people in the graphics side of this business mention InDesign by Adobe.

 

Yet, I would think it's the way to go for print media creation.

I use InDesign daily...moreso page layouts than actually designing. Leave the logos and images to be done in Illustrator and Photoshop then just simply link into the InDesign template and package for print. 

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