My Mom left me an inheritance when she passed in 2012 and April 2013 I bought a used Gammill Classic Plus on a 14' frame. I was retiring in a year and half and planned to quilt for others at least enough to pay for my quilting "addiction"--later I hoped to get enough business to routinely pay my health insurance--that hasn't happened!
I've taken lots of LA classes, including one on maintenance and one on running a quilting business. I've also found my area (8 counties included) machine quilters guild very helpful.
I am very glad that my quilting business does not have to pay off a debt on the machine! My local area has a number of very good LA quilters and also some that charge well below a level that they are actually making any money. My area Gammill rep told me a couple of years ago that she is cautioning those that purchase a new machine with the intent of making a substantial income that the recent market of sit-down and mid-arm machines that are affordable for quilters to purchase and do their own quilts has made a cut in LA income. I would agree from my own experience and that of LA friends.
My 2 LA friends that seem to have steady customer quilts both have robotics and are able to charge less for E2E than those of us without . My other close LA friend doesn't do pantos generally, but she has built up a large clientele over the 12 yrs she's been quilting--and she says her business pays her about $15,000 per year--but she also quilts most days at least 6-8 hrs daily. She also does not do heirloom/show quilts.
I do almost strictly custom work--it's what I prefer and while I'd like more income from it, I also find that between a part-time job and working on my own stuff and family,etc, I wouldn't have time for more really.
Remember as a business, you will need to check into your state's laws--do you need to carry business insurance if customers are bringing quilts to your house? What is the state sales tax? Do you plan to do enough to do separate business records/taxes? or just add to household income? I really wasn't prepared to even think about that stuff and appreciate my machine quilters guild and classes to help with that. One LA friend that retired from IRS pointed out that if you are not paying sales taxes you are more likely to audited for any business deductions.
How to get customers--you need to be involved in a couple of guilds and be sure to show your work; enter local quilt shows; work with a LQS doing samples in return for referrals, etc; do some charity work (but if you are planning on making money, watch that you limit how much time you allot for charity); get business cards printed; put up a business FB page and other social media. I was told to start with the prices you plan to charge--you will need to learn how to use your machine (charity quilts work well here) before you actually start quilting for hire. Good luck!