Best Home Business In A Down Economy
Article by Sarah J Doyle
In every stage of the economy there are businesses that flourishwhile others seemingly stand still or regress. The same thingapplies to a certain few businesses that grow stronger becauseof the flat economy.
A Sewing machine repair business is among those that continue togrow faster during the down times in the economy.
Mindel, a world renowned supplier of consumer and mediaintelligence, has released it’s annual prediction of trends forconsumers and businesses for 2009. The key theme, according toMindel, is a return to basics since financial instability tendsto make people feel insecure. This company predicts that as budgets tighten, consumers will focus on traditional activitiessuch as sewing, cooking and gardening.
Reuben O. Doyle, sewing machine repairmen for over 30 years and author of Sewing Machine Repair as a Home Business manual, sayswhen the 1989 stock market crash occured and the aftermath ofuncertainty was headlined in every newspaper, his sewing machinerepair business more than tripled. “I was getting calls frompeople who were dragging their previously unused machines outof attics and storage and needed to get them serviced so theowners could get back into sewing again”. He reported thatnew sewing classes were popping up in people’s homes and ascommunity education programs, and calls for servicing themachines were keeping him on the go constantly.
Tamera Fidler, manager of Nancy’s Sewing Basket in Seattle,says their sewing classes are full. She has a business theory.”We started in a recession. It seems that when there’s arecession, we get busier. From last year, I’d say business isup 20 percent.
In addition, the sewing surge is apparently one of the factorscontributing to the recently reported 70% increase in sewingmachine sales on eBay over the past several months.
Jeremy Segal, owner of The Direct Sewing Machine Supply Companyin Bristol UK is quoted as saying “when times are hard, therecycling ethic and ‘make do and mend’ philosophy make a comeback. That’s what we are seeing now – lots of people are investing in a sewing machine.”
At Omaha (NE) Bryan High School, students represent the surge inpopularity of sewing classes in the Midlands. Enrollment insewing and fashion design classes has more than quadrupled sincethe 2002-03 school year. That’s a major change from two orthree decades ago, when sewing classes were so “last season” to many teens. Krystal Kolb, family and consumer science teacherat Bryan feels it in her full class schedule. “If we could havemore sewing classes, they would take them,” Kolb said. “The last two years have been crazy.” In 2002, 56 Bryan studentstook two courses — one in sewing, one in design. This year,251 students are enrolled in four – three sewing and one design.
Can you see the trend here? Do you understand why the sewingmachine repair businesses not only flourish, but take offflying when the words “recession” and “credit crunch” fillmost of us with dread?
Assess your own skills to see if you could fill this particular need. In his book “Sewing Machine Repair As A Home Business”Reuben O. Doyle says that nearly anyone could get into thebusiness. He even recommends buying a cheap machine from ayard sale or flea market and make the repairs on it to getyou started and build your confidence for doing repairs onmachines for actual customers. The opportunities are endless!
About the Author
Sarah J. Doyle is author of over 25 business, sewing and how-tobooks; her husband Reuben is author of four sewing machine andserger repair books. Visit http://SewWithSarah.com for sewing info,and http://SewMachineRepair.com for sewing machine repair information.
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