วันจันทร์ที่ 19 มกราคม พ.ศ. 2552

Be The Sewing Machine Repair Expert In Your Town

By David Trumble

Have you ever heard that it takes money to make money? Have you perhaps invested several hundred dollars in a business opportunity only to realize it really did not offer results? There are literally thousands of books, courses, and programs promising a dream of working from home, but how many really pay off?

Deep inside of us there a wish that we could suddenly be rich and live a life of ease and comfort. The con artists understand this very well. Maybe that is why we are bombarded with so many sure things that offer unbelievable riches with little or no work. Arent you a little tired of being conned?

Dont get me wrong, I still believe in my own home based business. I still believe people can make a living without a job. I assure you, I am not some rich guy either. You see, I still believe in work too. I just like to work from my house instead of driving to some factory job or office.

Since the late 1960s my wife has operated an intermittent sewing business from our home. Now she did not get rich, but the extra money did help. As a small church pastor for over 30 years, we had to pinch every penny. By working only a couple of hours per day, Donna was able to bring in a few hundred dollars a week. When she didnt want to work, she didnt. Her business activities were a bit hit and miss. She would go for a year or so, and do no business at all. If she was teaching school, she did less sewing. It was her choice. When we needed extra money, she would let her friends know and maybe run a small classified ad in the newspaper. In a matter of a few days, she would have work to do.

Donna had become the consummate seamstress with a good reputation, but until we moved to Texas in 1992, she had only dabbled in sewing as a business. Then with the five children almost grown, she decided to get serious. With a small classified ad and a few business cards, she began getting huge amounts of custom sewing work. To our surprise, many people were calling asking for sewing machine repair too.

I thought I can do that. So, in 1992, I started learning how to repair sewing machines. I ran a little ad in the local newspaper, and soon had half dozen machines to repair every week. Over time, we opened a sewing store, and the repair business grew. We expanded and the repair business grew. We now own three sewing stores and do about 150 sewing machine repairs each month.

Not everyone sews today. Those who do, however, do so with such passion that it overwhelms. When I talk with non sewers, and mention what I do, they sometimes look at me as if to say, You arent Amish are you? Many people just do not realize how big the sewing business is in America.

We did over a million dollars in sewing machine sales last year, and did not even scratch the surface of our potential. Across the nation there are over 85 million sewers. Over 5 million brand new sewing machines sell each year. That is a bunch of sewing machines to service every year. The potential is awesome.

So, exactly how can you make money repairing sewing machines? You can quickly learn how to do the work. You can start part time working on your kitchen table or in your garage. Forget about overhead, large investments, employees, and loads of government red tape.

Begin by servicing machines for a few friends free of charge. Then repair a few more at a nominal fee. Let word of mouth advertizing work for you. Then print up and distribute a thousand or so business cards to let people know what you do. Run a small ad in the classifieds. Send special offers to community clubs, churches, sewing shops, etc. Let people know you do sewing machine repair. If you have competition, and most communities you wont, find out what they charge and charge a bit less. Increase your pricing as your skills and numbers grow.

Nobody can guarantee you will make any money at all in your own business. It is certain that if you do not work at it, you will make no money. On the other hand, the potential for your own sewing machine repair business operated from your home is very real. For example, lets say you decide to charge $80.00 per standard service. Since you have no overheard, employees, or other major expenses the $80.00 is yours. If it takes you 2.5 hours to complete the service, what is your hourly rate? Now can you live with better than $30.00 per hour? If you did just one machine a week you would earn over $4,000 per year. All this for working about 2.5 hours per week at home.

But what if you get aggressive. Maybe you are not satisfied with one machine a week. Maybe you decide you want to work your business say ten to fifteen hours a week and do say 5 machines a week. The numbers stay the same, but you multiply them times the added machines you do. In short order, you could be earning a part time income of better than $20,000 a year.

Now if you were to expand and set up a few collection sites in quilt shops, fabric stores, and other repair shops; what kind of potential do think you could achieve?

What if you could increase the number of sewing machines you service to 10 or 15 per week, what would that do? At 10 machines you would earn $850 per week or $44,200 annually. At 15 machines you would earn $1275 per week or . Perhaps you are getting the idea. To do ten machines per week would only require about 25 hours per week. To do fifteen per week would involve about 38 hours.

This is not get rich quick scheme. There no empty promises here. This is a working business that you can work. If you are good with your hands and mechanical things, you can do this. If you learn the secrets of sewing machine repair, you can do this. If you have common hand tools, you can do this. If you have half a dozen hours a week to work, you can do this. Forget about overhead, large investments, employees, and opening a store front until you decide that is what you want.

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