I have a small at home quilting business, I am a stay at home mom and needed a little extra $...I fell in love with making baby quilts while expecting our daughter...quilting seemed to be one of those "at home businesses" that can actually work, its actually something you do, and if there is a demand in your area go for it. I did however work on my own quilts and designs and make quilts for friends and family for a year to practice free motion and patterns before I actually got my 1st customer who just wanted quilting done on her quilt. I have a business management degree as well. I wish you the best, as far as books and articles, I never bought any of those, I was self taught and had a very creative mind haha and it just kind of took off. Best of luck! Oh and I do not have a long arm, I have a Janome 1600P(mid arm) on a 10' Grace pinnacle frame. I learned all about it on youtube..and I also took a class on it to make sure I was doing everything right.

I own a Nolting 24" PRO on a 12ft table. I only quilt for myself. BUT I suggest you join these 2 popular longarm forums and ask those questions.

http://mqresource.com/forum/ all makes of machines
http://forum.apqs.com/ mostly apqs machines but others join too

Most of those on these 2 forums are in business and have been for sometime. You will need to 'join' in order to view/post.

There are many of forums for long/short arm machines on Yahoo also, here's 2.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Nolting_longarm_quilters/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MQSG/


Good Luck

Forgot to add .... your bread'n'butter will come from doing Pantographs ... big money makers. Custom quilt takes a long time and in order to make money on custom you'll need a fairy high price per inch.

This young lady is self taught and one fabulous quilter
http://greenfairyquilts.blogspot.com/

If you remember that it's a business first and a longarm business second, that would be a good start. If you're just looking to make a few extra bucks in your spare time, that's not a business, it's a hobby-for-hire.

Talk to the folks at SCORE and the SBA, make actual contact with people who are successful in business, any business to start with, your focus on longarming businesses can come a bit later. There are a ton of resources for entrepeneurs available if you're serious about it, but the best is always face-to-face interaction with qualified, professional advisors, not books, articles, and message boards.

Besides everything listed above check out Linda Taylor, professional machine quilter and teacher, on the web. She has a book about starting a quilting business. Then there is a magazine - Professional Machine Quilting that has a lot of information about starting a business and keeping it running. MQS is put on by IMQA which also publishes a magazine for the machine quilter. Go to IMQS.org and check out their classes. MQS has moved from Overland Park, Ks to Wichita, Ks and will be held May 15 through May 18, 2013. MQS has classes on everything from starting a business to making an award winning quilt

All the studying and research aside, you have not mentioned whether you have made quilt tops, quilted on a machine, hired a long arm quilter to quilt for you.

Contact your state university extension services. I know our UW has many resources available pertaining to starting a business.

I think Craftsy has a class on starting a business from home. One thing to remember all it takes is one unhappy customer to cause a lot of lost business, especially if the customer belongs to a guild or quilt group. My town has seen two LAs go under in the last year due to poor quality quilting. Knots on the back, skipped stitches, poor quality batting, cheap quilting thread, pucker and pleats and the worst, the bubble of fabric in the quilting . The quilt when taken in to show at guild from a new LA is picked over with a fine tooth comb. Be ready to have your work judged.

Sounds like you're doing your homework. From Bobbilinks: "check out Linda Taylor, professional machine quilter and teacher, on the web". I had a book and I think this might be the author. It was very good with what to expect, how to price, advertising, forms, etc. The best advise I found was to determine how much time and investment you plan to make, I think this is part of a business plan. If you enjoy quilting as a hobby, this step will make it a business.

Think about your skills and appitude. If you determine this is what you want....Go For It. You'll meet some great people.