Expert: Shasta McLaughlin - 1/28/2010

Question
i have a job but i have been having airbrushing lessons and i have gotten pretty good. i am considering leaving my job to start up my own buisness which will involve painting bikes and guitars. how would i go about starting it up?

Answer
First you really need to know if there is a market for the kind of work you are planning on doing. In this economy I don't recommend quitting your job UNLESS you know you can live comfortably without it, you know there is a high demand for the business you are starting and that people are willing to pay a price that will allow you to live comfortably and even make money at it.

If many people aren't buying that kind of service for a price that you can make a comfortable living at then it's unlikely that a business of that kind will survive, let alone thrive and be profitable. You need to find out, especially in this economy.

Maybe it's something you want to do on weekends until you know if you can make it work.

If you decide it's still something you want to do... you will need to get the proper licenses for doing business in your area. Although the article I'm referring you to was written for artists and crafters looking for licenses the process would be the same for you.

License Requirements for Art and Craft Show Businesses - http://www.extravaganzacrafts.net/store/4184138/blog/post/3156706

You need to find out who needs your kinds of services and where they find those services. For instance bike or motorcycle shops might have some information on who (male or female?, age?, college graduate?, income level?, do they have children?, where do they live?) would want their bikes painted. They would also have suggestions on where those people shop and what processes you might need to take to find and reach them.

You need to develop a portfolio of your work, collect references and samples of your work so others can see and hear the quality of work you do. Take high quality pictures of any work you have done, try different angles and lighting, zoom in on details.

Music stores might be a good place to get information on people who would want guitars (and possibly drums) painted. Pawn shops might be interested in having you paint guitars and drum sets to increase their value if you could make it worth it to them. They would also be a good place to look for instruments you could paint to show as samples of your work.

If you do very high quality work you might be able to sell your sample pieces in a booth at a juried fine art show. These shows are more expensive than regular craft shows but they usually (not always) draw a customer with more money who is ready to spend more.

The biggest problem I see with going this route is the initial investment. It is costly to buy one used instrument let alone 10-40 (and you want to buy quality), then pay for supplies to fix them up, and booth fees, displays etc. The benefits are that you get to talk with people and learn what they really want thus you can hear from people where your business needs to go to be profitable.

This is just the beginning. Be sure to read the other articles on my blog - http://www.extravaganzacrafts.com - about bookkeeping for your business, displays, and business marketing needs (business cards, flyers, signage, follow up marketing).

Here to a profitable business,

Shasta McLaughlin
The Extravaganza Craft Productions
http://www.extravaganzacrafts.com