I read an online post by an independent digitizer who offered to complete and deliver a small corporate logo within a speedy 30 minutes and scratched my head in wonder. As an independent veteran digitizer, wearing all business hats, I’d have to relinquish some of the quality I’m able to produce, or some other step of the way for a 30-minute turnaround. Even for a simple layout, I’d need that much time just to prepare artwork, calculate a sewing path, determine style parameters and punch the design, which leaves absolutely no time for a test-sew, editing for polish, invoicing and delivery. I suddenly felt a bit slighted and critical of my own skills as I pathetically whined, “I wish I could do that.”

Then later I regained confidence when I read another post from the same digitizer asking what to do about many clients who hadn’t paid for delivered orders. Why did clients suddenly stop paying? Yes, there will always be a few wolves wearing wool out there, but if a majority of invoices are going unpaid, my guess is this digitizer’s wheel of business had started spinning a bit too fast. This sets the stage for digitizing errors to occur, as well as a great loss of individual attention many clients need – in other words, poor service that no one wants to pay for.

Granted, having orders coming in on a steady basis, while meeting every deadline, including the 24-hour rush order, is certainly a difficult thing to achieve without working many hours in high gear. And since the days of charging $30 for every thousand stitches are long gone, it requires many digitizing orders to barely earn a fair income. It’s helped that sophisticated software has allowed creating designs in less time, but it’s also raised the number of competitors. Unfortunately, the pressures of this scenario have caused many digitizers to work carelessly, leaving them perplexed as to why once-satisfied clients are no longer paying or returning. It happens quickly – the wheel spins so fast it seems nearly out of control when suddenly it comes to a screeching halt. What’s the solution? Slow down!

Easy to say, but slowing the wheel is not always easy to do. Usually, the thought of shifting to a low gear is smothered by fear of losing all business. Add to that offers from various competitors’ of “First design free! $1 per thousand stitches! 1-hour turnaround!” and it sets a flustered digitizer into a panic. It must be remembered that not all digitizing services are created equal and not all clients have the same needs. It simply requires targeting and acquiring clients whose needs can be filled by the services offered.

Embroiderers who are new to the industry benefit by working closely with an independent, skilled digitizer who has the time to exchange knowledge and who can help them produce quality. But too often only the numbers are considered and these potential clients clamber to find the lowest-cost, fast service. An extremely low-cost, fast service may or may not produce quality, but it should be noted it often employs a crew of digitizers, along with an office and sales staff. A one-on-one conversation with the actual digitizer is rare and if information is misunderstood, requested revisions may be slow or come with additional charges. Some of these services are known to be very reputable, but deliver exactly what is paid for – a design that needs polish. In this situation, the seasoned embroiderer with editing skills chooses a low-cost, fast service and accepts less quality, because investing their own time and labor to complete the design is a fair exchange for what is saved.

On the other side, some independent digitizers will neglect important steps that produce quality, while trying to match low-cost, fast offers, even when it drastically cuts their own profits. Imagine a two-person digitizing service trying to accept 10 first-time “free” orders in one day with a promised deadline of 24 hours. Even if it were achieved, it would eventually become an unprofitable nightmare! And if the goal is to grab new clients by offering them a free design, accepting too many orders could lead to an overwhelming schedule; errors slip by in haste and the plan fails. In an industry where “word of mouth” is the best advertisement, poor service and/or producing poor quality designs quickly closes a digitizer’s doors.