WONDERFUL questions to ask ourselves - thanks

Where do Longarm quilters get computer designs? I won't be doing any freehand to start with but maybe down the road.

Where do LA get all there supplies? Do you get them at a discount for buying in bulk?

Well, you need a computerized machine to use computerized patterns. The computer (Compuquilter, Statler or Intelliquilter) will be programmed with some designs and the rep will tell you how to download others. Like almost all longarm supplies, they are found online.

I get all of my thread, rulers, needles, machine parts, and batting through websites and mail orders. The increase in shipping prices has been the number one reason for my prices going up in the last year.

I've never gotten a bulk discount but I am in business, so I buy wholesale.

I live in PA and there is a use tax here. That means that even though I buy batting from VA and they don't charge me VA sales tax, I am required to pay PA use tax on the purchase. It's as if I bought it here. Just one more little inconvenience of the business. The taxes and accounting are the one part of the longarming business that I loathe and detest. =sigh=

Are you using the long arm business software? I can't think of the official name for it.

No, Quilters Business Manager wasn't supported by the system I used when I started my business, and it doesn't calculate PA use tax.

So I'm on my own with my Excel spreadsheets. Thank goodness I worked for a financial corporation for three decades and can formulate a spreadsheet. It makes accounting easier. But not easy.