I am having a hard time getting a start in this business even though I was told that all the shops have a 6 month - 1 year wait list. The competition is fierce and my experience so far is that those that have lots of customers are very reluctant to refer anyone to another quilter for fear of losing the business.
I am in a small guild and there are three Long Arm Quilters already, before me. I asked for some feedback on one of my quilts and not one of them would offer any..
Also, more people are quilting on their domestic machines than ever before. And the home quilting setups are very popular right now also.
I am not trying to discourage you, but you need to be realistic. It will take a while to build up enough clients to keep you busy. However, I believe that once you get the clients, you will be turning away work too.