sew right - I am in the thinking stages of starting an alteration business with a sideline of sewing lessons and birthday parties for older children. How do I figure out if this would be a profitable business? Any ideas? I have done alterations for dry cleaners, so I do have some experience.

There was a story this week on Good Morning America regarding women starting a business out of their home. One woman they featured did start a business to teach sewing lessons. I think they said she was making around $25,000 a year doing this part time.

Like the other poster, I thought there wasn't much of a need for sewing lessons. However, there apparently is some sort of niche there.

Check out http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/ and look for Monday or Tuesdays (January 29th or 30th) show for more information.


Suzanne
SHB Consulting, Inc.
www.newbiz-coaching.com
Utilize the "Entrepreneur Handbook" as a roadmap to get your business started on the right road.

I think your alterations/sewing lessons combination can be a good business. I would ditch the birthday parties. It would be too difficult to market the business if it is all over the board. Stick with the sewing end of it. Work it from home if at all practicle to contain the expenses. I would advertise in my local park district brochures since they generally are distributed to all homes. Families are drawn to those types of ads. You can target women as well as young girls (not to say males couldn't be your customer too, but traditionally it's more female).

I recently was trying to teach my adult daughter to use a sewing machine and I wished there were some classes she could take. I can see a market for this. Good luck!