On the latest Embroidery Insider podcast, Henry Ma invited a very special guest, Linda Russell, to share a few pointers and experiences as an embroiderer in this industry.
Linda is one of Ricoma’s long standing customers and an embroidery enthusiast, who prides herself on making unique embroidered items and perfecting her sewing and embroidery craft.
This podcast dives into how Linda got involved with the embroidery business and the success that she’s experienced thus far.
You’ll discover…
- Linda’s secret for finding customers (Hint: It’s easier than you think!)
- What Linda’s niche is and how she found it
- Linda’s best advice for new embroidery business owners
…and so much more!
So be sure to watch the video or follow along with the audio version below.
How it all started
Linda fell in love with the art of sewing when she was younger, but began to take embroidery seriously about 25 years ago. She started out with a single needle machine at first, not knowing if she was going to like it. Now, Linda has a part-time embroidery business with her 15-needle Ricoma MT Series.
Linda transitioned from doing embroidery as a hobby to a business because she realized people loved her work. It was then that she decided to turn her passion into profit.
But Linda isn’t the only one turning her passion into profit. There are thousands of embroiderers succeeding in the business every day. If you want to learn how you can make $2,000 a week with your embroidery machine, click here to watch a webinar sharing our secrets to success in the biz.
Linda discloses her secret to customer acquisition
It’s as simple as her having a few friends who referred her work to others, Linda said. Apart from posting regularly on social media, Linda admits that word of mouth has been her most useful tool.
A few friends of hers told a few of their friends and from there, the word spread. She currently has quite a few clients under her belt like a little league team and, more recently, a restaurant!
She readily admits she did not know how suddenly her workload would increase. However, she’s very grateful for those who have used their network to advertise her business.
Click here to learn 3 proven techniques that embroiderers use to increase their sales.
Paving the way with free standing lace
Linda has used social media to her advantage and has sourced her designs for her free standing lace work via Facebook, in order to stand out in this industry.
How it started? Once she invested in her Ricoma machine, she began browsing through Facebook pages to learn more about embroidery and conveniently found a free standing lace page.
Just like that, Linda’s work ethic, passion and machine all worked coherently to carve a niche for her in the embroidery industry.
In fact, prior to finding an embroidery Facebook page, Linda had no idea what free standing lace was.
Like Linda, nobody’s born knowing. That’s why it’s important to take advantage of the resources the industry has to offer to become successful. Click here to learn how you can make $2000 a week with your embroidery machine.
Linda considers retirement while planning to expand her home business
Linda’s best advice to new embroidery business owners is to “buy bigger than you think you’ll need.”
Linda currently has a single-head machine and says if she knew where she would have been today, two years ago, she would have invested in a multi-head sooner, in order to have more flexibility.
Linda never thought embroidery would have taken off this quickly. However, she is appreciative that she has learned so much along the way.
Pro tip: Production costs actually decrease with multi-heads because the price per head decreases with the more heads the machine has.
Bottom line
Linda is only one out of the thousands of embroiderers making their dreams come true with Ricoma’s resources, equipment and support.
Take advantage of the resources available to you in this industry! Watch embroidery YouTube videos, join embroidery Facebook support groups and ask questions whenever possible!
Want to ask a question or share your experience with embroidery? Leave a comment below.
