Frangipaniframer wrote: I think I will look at the Nobex saw seeing as a few of you have mentioned them
I use a Nobex mitre saw, in conjunction with an Axcalibur mitre trimmer, as I have minus-zero interest in calibrating, using and maintaining heavy machinery like a Morso. I can achieve tight corners with these two pieces of equipment, but the downside is that the process is much slower than using a Morso and I don’t think I could cut hardwoods with them. That’s fine for me though, because I’m not a high-street shop with high-volume framing, I only work part-time and I make sure I don’t have hardwood samples to offer to my customers. A mitre saw (and trimmer?) might be fine for you to start off with, but if your aim is to make a full-time business out of framing, you would probably need to upgrade to a Morso when you get busier so that you can work faster.
I get business from several sources:
- Web site. This is my primary source of customers as it comes top of Google searches for picture framers in my area. Make sure you put testimonials on yours as soon as you can.
- The local parish magazine, in which I have an advertisement.
- I have a road-side banner and I've had quite a number of customers through that, but not necessarily the first time they pass. It's quite common for new customers to say something like "I've seen your banner loads of times and I've kept meaning to call in but never got round to it." Hence what I said earlier about it taking time to build up the business and not expecting instant results. Once they do get round to it, they've quite often got more than one painting that they want framing.
- I recently did a door-to-door leaflet drop which was very successful. I've still got a stock of leaflets as I intended doing it every month but so far I've only done it once because at the present time I don't need another sudden influx of new customers. I had them printed at Vistaprint and they look very professional.
- Recommendation. This is invaluable, but it takes time to build up because obviously you need a customer base in the first instance before you can get recommended.
- I've attended local craft fairs several times. Apart from selling pictures there, it gets my name around, enables people to meet me and see my work, and they subsequently come to me for framing.
- In my area there are a few public notice boards that I advertise on.
PS. Make sure you always carry business cards in case an unexpected opportunity presents itself, as I've discovered it sometimes does
I hope you build up a successful business, good luck!