I bought mine for my own work but the intent to have it as a business after I retire. Now keep in mind my retirement is still a good 10 to 15 years away! Well I didn't have many tops to quilt when my machine arrived. I only had one actually. I had a friend who lives half way across the country from me and she took up quilting, or more correctly piecing and she was prolific at it. Tons of jellyroll tops, TWO farmers wife samplers and one of the big CW anniversary quilts. I asked her if she was willing to entrust her tops to me I would quilt them at a minimal charge. It was a win/win for both of us. She got her quilts quilted and I gained invaluable experience. And her being a brand new piecer I was exposed to challenging tops right from the get go. Then our own VERY TALENTED Charisma floored me by asking me to quilt some of her tops. I will forever be grateful to Charisma for that. She saw in my quilting something I didn't see in myself. Her confidence in me allowed me to be confident in my own skills. She is a true friend and mentor and I owe all that I am to her and God (for the skills and talent, as well as the resources to get my Innova, I have been graced with) . Since that time 4 years ago I have been blessed by many of the fine quilters on this board to entrust their beautiful tops to me to help lovingly finish. So for me, it is not really a business but a passion that I get paid for. I treat every top that comes to me as though it was my own. I think about the person who made it the whole time I am working on it. And I have seen some of the most incredibly gorgeous works of art come to my rack. I am in total awe of the talent of so many of these wonderful ladies. And I would be lying if I said I didn't pray before every quilt for the Lord to help guide my hands and help to make these tops just as pretty as they started out if not prettier.
I still work full time during the week and quilt on weekends but I don't take in a whole lot of quilts because of the time constraints I have. I am also now making time in my schedule for my own quilts. So I still may make this a full time business after I retire, if my body holds out. LA quilting can be demanding physically. Especially if you already have an underlying condition like fibromyalgia or bad back or any number of ailments. I don't have any kind of CG on my machine. It is all hand guided. So I will spend many hours standing at my machine and if it wasn't for Aleve I would only be able to quilt one day a week as the other day would be spent recuperating! LOL