the casual quilter

Hi. I have a long arm and am in business to quilt for customers. I've been doing it for about 4 years or so. I do very little advertising and my client base is pretty much word of mouth. I have a really stable group of repeat customers. And I am a little busier with it than I intended to be. Not that I'm swamped with customers. But I want to keep my business manageable to keep my turnaround time short. I like to get the quilts back to their owners in 7 days or less.
I have a Nolting 24 with a stitch regulator. The "model" is 2ISKN. I love the Nolting, but I do wish I would have upgraded to the Pro because the settings are easier to program on the Pro. I have a 12 foot table, and that is as big as I need.
Something to consider is the supply expense when you are just starting out. Don't forget that you'll need a good supply of thread (I order most of mine from Superior), batting for customers who don't bring their own, long arm needles and miscellaneous tools.
You might want to consider getting a business license from the state where you live so that you can buy your business supplies wholesale. If you pay retail for your supplies, your proffit margin will be very, very small.
The learning curve for longarm quilting can be a little steep, but it depends on the person. It does take patience to get to the level of quilting that you want to be at. But it is all learnable and doable. The big thing for me was to not be afraid of just doing it.
I hope this has answered your questions. Feel free to PM me if you have more questions or if I haven't been clear.