My wife and I have finally started a home based business, her end of it being painting murals for homes, nurseries, Pediatrician offices, etc. Anyone have any additional potential customer ideas and any constructive criticisim on her work?

The paint consisting of the rabbit/tree/worm/dino scene has been there since 94 or so, and it's holding up good.

That is awesome! I have my twins' rooms both done with murals. People pay big bucks for that stuff. One thing that I have been looking for is light switch covers - painted. Like this: example

I would love to have been able to find some to match my kids' rooms. I've seen some really nifty ones out there that were hand painted.
Also - cribs...some cribs have plain headboards that could use a nice mural done on them to spiff them up and make them unique.

Great Work!!!
My daughter is 11 now but if we lived closer when she was "little" I'd still be broke...
Good Luck.

That is great work,   What a talent she has!!!!!!!

Those are just beautiful!!! Does your wife paint anything on a smaller scale for children's rooms? I live far away, but am looking for a door sign for my daughter's room.

Those are REALLY well-done.  Seriously, quality stuff.  I'd definitely drop the cash to see that talent on my wall.

Those are amazing! You should have no problem building up a customer base. Once the word gets out, she will be a busy lady! Good luck with your business!  

amazing stuff

i like the planes

Your wife does excellent work!

Congratulations on the new business.  I hope the best for you.

When is she going to join AR-15?    

Nice work!  I love the painting on the ceiling!

Wow I wish you guys lived closer when my son was younger. That is so neat. I wish her luck ,I also wish I had that kind of talent.

Quoted: Your wife does excellent work! Congratulations on the new business.  I hope the best for you. When is she going to join AR-15?

She's not a shooter, artist and all.

Quite the lib sometimes.

I am sure that you already know this, but beware of copyrigthed material.  A local library hired an artist to do storybook characters on their walls and they have had to paint over them as a result of a lawsuit.

Anyway, they are terrific and I am sure that the word will get out about her talent!

potential ideas:

murals are EVERYWHERE!!!!!

Homes, restaurants, bars, spas, any type of retail store, schools, courthouses, offices, basically anywhere you'll find a wall!  Set up a website showing her work (info sites can be done quite cheaply - no need to do sales over the web), print business cards, send letters to local businesses, ta da, more work than she can handle.

Good luck!  She's very talented.

These are great!  She has a real talent .  I'd love that owl in my studio!  One thing I found while building up my quilting business is that most of my clients have come from word-of-mouth advertising.  All it takes sometimes is one happy customer with your phone number  to start the business rolling in.  I've left business cards and brochures all over a couple hundred mile radius, but almost all my customers have come from personal referrals.  If you can get your foot in the door at one of the businesses you've targeted, you may be surprised.  She might also consider doing some seasonal window decoration as a way to get her name known -- be careful though, if that's not something she enjoys doing it may detract from the work she'd really like to do.

Best of luck !

Those are really awsome.  The dinosaur is too  cool!!  Best of luck to her !

Very nice work and quite an artistic flair I might add. I was impressed by the owl and the dino. Both are very good quality IMO.  You have a good idea for starting a business. Something that you might want to keep in mind is that this is a customized business. Your customers will vary and so will their needs/wants. The customer base building will be a little tricky however it can be accomplished with a little bit of tweeking.

In starting any business, a focus should be on where your main market is going to be. This is probably one of the most difficult for any new business owner. Once you've figured out what your primary market is going to be, then you can start to focus on getting your clients. Since I'm seeing a lot of children's murals, I would safely assume that is the chosen avenue.

Next is to set up a portfolio of your completed work before you start marketing and advertising. You have to show what service you can provide others in order to sell. There are a few ways you can do this. One of which is to take photos and build a photo album of them. You could purchase a nice photo binder to display them in and start filling it with your creations. Another option is to take those same photos and put them into thumbnails onto a web page with a small description about the mural. Descriptions are always nice with photos because it highlights the visual to the reader and adds depth to it.

With marketing and advertising there are many options available for spreading your business name out. One of which mentioned was word of mouth. Another is use of a flyer or a brochure with a photo of a mural on the front of it. Inside the brochure you can have details about the business itself with more information about the business, what type of murals you provide, etc.  You can become involved with networks and talk to other business owners about building your business. In cases like this, you will find other people have gone through similar situations or are currently experiencing it. Networking is one of the most helpful ways you can build contacts with others. Grant it that you may not get clients, however you do tend to gain quite a bit of knowledge in business operations.

I've been building on a network (actually a few) since I started working on my consulting business and have met quite a few people. My effforts have paid off and my name has gotten spread around about the work which I perform. The web is flooded with advertising and competition. At the same time, when you're involved with a small circle even if it is for support and guidance, it does make a world of difference - at least in my opinion.

I'm not sure if your wife would be interested, however there are a few women business groups that I am involved in. If she would like to join them, they're free sign up.  If she does have interest, let me know ([email protected]) and I can relay the information.  

Tell your wife, "Well done" .....excellent work!

Sweet.  What 'tools' did she use?  ...airbrush, traditional brush, etc.

As for the lawsuit: OMFG.  That's more ridiculous than MLB telling little leagues that they can't use the 'big' team's names.  hock.gif

Quoted: Sweet.  What 'tools' did she use?  ...airbrush, traditional brush, etc. As for the lawsuit: OMFG.  That's more ridiculous than MLB telling little leagues that they can't use the 'big' team's names.

Traditional brush.

Sweet.

Quoted: Sweet.  What 'tools' did she use?  ...airbrush, traditional brush, etc. As for the lawsuit: OMFG.  That's more ridiculous than MLB telling little leagues that they can't use the 'big' team's names.

I know the lawsuit crap is ridiculus, but it amazes me what people will do to make a buck off of someone else.  Mrs. AZ-K9's stuff is so good that people will assume its the real deal, though!  I wish I had talent like that!