My friend bought one to start her business. It took probably 3 years to get a decent customer base. I know she doesn't make "a living" from her longarm though. I got a sitdown machine to finish more quilts. People have asked if I quilt for others, but I'm not interested in it. I think I'd be a nervous wreck over every little area that doesn't look perfect if I was getting paid for it.

i purchased mine with an open mind. My experience is I'm always concerned if people will like it. I like artistic pieces & they're few and far between. I'd rather create tops than quilt. And I'd like that space for something else. Now I do it only for fun and willing to help others quilt their own tops on it. I'm considering a sit down machine.

For fun. I don’t want to turn my favorite hobby into a job I’ll dread having to do!

One of my doctor's nurses makes quilt tops. When I donated some quilts for patients to use while taking chemo. She saw my quilting and really wanted me to quilt her tops. I had to tell her I would not quilt them. The quilts I donated never made it to any patients. The nurses and office workers kept them. Now I only donate to kids in foster care.
I don't need any aggravation. I only use a DSM.

Yes, for fun. It would not be any fun if it was for work - that would be too much pressure for deadlines and perfection. I do my own quilts and charity quilts and am quite happy with that.

Nurses and office personnel keeping the quilts you made for the patients would tick me off big time!

At this point in time I still quilt for myself, a friend or two, and lots of charity quilts.
When/if I do for profit I would need a business license and to make sure the income wouldn't be so much that it hurts me financially. Though this is a possibility in the future though.

My longarm is for my hobby/entertainment. I love machine quilting and enjoy the challenge. I don't want the pressure of suiting someone else and working on someone else's quilts. It's pressure enough to make them and give them away either to charity or family on my own terms! I admire those people who are comfortable working on other peoples quilts. It would be great to get all that extra practice though!!

My thoughts exactly! I have been waiting almost two years to purchase my own LA (had to build a room over the garage first) and now that we have sold one of our retail businesses, I’m looking forward to spending more time quilting for myself. I’m hoping I can make up my mind this Fall as to which machine.

I always caution people to think carefully about turning a hobby into a business. I did that with another hobby and it took all the fun out of the hobby. It was years before I started to enjoy that hobby again. I started to do the same with quilting and quickly stopped. The pressure of having to meet another persons timeframe just did not work for me.