Why don't you buy a skillet and a spoon and then log on to a food forum and ask them how to open a catering business??
I didn't wake up one day and decide to be in the sign business. I was an IT weenie for 15yrs and since 2004 ran my own business doing small business IT services, including websites, brochures, business cards.
My wife worked P/T for some folks that owned a trophy shop (they cut vinyl with their laser engraver!). We decided to buy their store and start making signs with the correct tools in addition to all the laser stuff we make.
For me it was an evolution of my life's experience for the last 20 years that has led me to where we are now. That is difficult to pass to another in a paragraph on a forum.
The reason experience is so valued is because it is taked a long time to accumulate and is hard to get.
I would recommend starting out by finding a shop that needed part time help and seeing if you could work there for a while and learn the tricks of the trade using THEIR tools and materials. If you still like it then you will have a better understanding about what equipment you need and will be better equipped to strike out on your own.
If you don't do that then you should prepare a business plan (seriously!). The business plan is the equivalent to a recipe for a chef. It has the ingredients and procedures for how you are going to build a successful business. Without that you only have a skillet and a spoon...no direction.
Ask yourself:
What am I going to make?
How am I going to make it?
What equipment do I need?
Where do I buy the equipment?
What raw materials & supplies do I need?
Who will I buy them from?
What does it cost to manufacture and sell my product?
How do I set pricing for my products?
How will I market my product?
Who are my customers?
Who does my potential customers buy from now?
How will I get them to buy from me instead?
How large is my potential customer base?
Who are my competitors?
Where are they located compared to me?
What products do they offer?
How do they manufacture & market their products?
What competitive advantage would I have compared to them?
How am I going to finance my business?
What are my monthly expenses:
Rent, Electricity, Insurance, Taxes, Office Supplies & Equipment, etc..
What regulatory requirements are there: Business License, LLC/S-Corp/SoleProp, Tax ID, EIN#, City Zoning Laws.
How will I finance my business?
How much starting capital will I have?
Where will I get it?
What if I need more?
Will I buy or lease my equipment?
How will handle a cash flow problem?(customer orders 500 signs...you have to buy more vinyl than you have cash.... Or Customer that ordered 500 signs calls back next month and says they need 5000 this time...or customer that ordered 5000 take 60 days to pay!)
There are a zillion more. These are questions that you get answered when you prepare your business plan
Sure...
you can sell your bike and buy a cheap cutter and some 651 and sell peeing calvins to all your buddies at the skatepark, but don't confuse THAT with starting a business.
And so...
To be helpful to you:
The CE5000-60 at about $1500 is a great entry level cutter that does optical registration (will contour cut printed stuff) and comes with a stand and rollers for holding material.
CorelX3 or Adobe Illustrator will work as your vector programs (pick one)
Forget about Photoshop for now, you are just going to be cutting vector outlines. No fills or bitmaps, unless you start jobbing out digital prints.
Make friends with a distributor. (Fellers, SignWarehouse, Beacon) Look for someone with a local distribution warehouse and try to get them to give you free shipping. Youwill want a place you can go to TODAY if you need to to fill a ruch order.
Go ahead and spend a couple hundred bucks to set up an LLC company, get an EIN#, get a sales tax ID, and open a business checking account. It will be illegal to sell products without collecting sales tax and you need those things to get a sales tax ID, check with your local state govt. It's the right thing to do.
Print some postcards/business cards to hand out to customers.
Get a web site, then set up a shopping cart (hence the need for a merchant account, and consequently a business checking account, and EIN#, etc...) otherwise you are stuck using ebay/paypal with the other noobs.
Invest in a couple vector clip art collections and printed catalogs that you can show people.
Figure out how customers are going to find you. Marketing!
Make a bunch of samples. Give them away as fast as possible. Maybe small flag decals or something
Buy raw materials, a few colors vinyl (black, red, blue, white), and transfer tape. Get a bunch of squeegees and knifes with extra blades.
Get a good safety straight edge ruler.
Look into a big squeegee or speed press if you are going to do coroplast. If just RTA's then skip it.
That should kill about 2K, and leave you with $1000 of operating capital. In 30 days tell us if you have grown or shrunk that balance.
