A very accomplished and successful embroiderer has the following story to tell:   Having been in the decorated apparel industry for 21 years has been an incredible journey. However, sometimes it's easy to de-value what we do on a daily basis.  On several occasions we've needed gifts for weddings, anniversaries, etc., and would go to various retail stores and look for an appropriate gift. Sometimes, a gift would be very easy to find and other times we felt as though we'll never find that perfect gift. One day, we needed a present for family friends who were celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary. After coming up blank, we finally went to the store and bought a nice blanket that we figured they could place on the back of their couch. My wife suggested that we put their names, wedding date with a nice design on it to make it a more personal item. (Creative DRAWings can help you come up with a unique, perfect and personalized design with little effort on your part)

I resisted this idea a little, as I felt that it would seem like we took the cheap way out. After all,  we are in the embroidery business, so I felt the impression would be that we were trying to save money on a gift by doing it ourselves. At the party, as the couple opened gift after gift, they smiled nicely and thanked the givers. But when they opened our gift, they cried! The husband has since passed away but to this day, the blanket still sits on the back of that couch.

I've spent most of my career preaching to others about not de-valuing their products or services based on cost. Don’t charge less because you don’t have rent or other overheads. So the lesson I learnt is that even though you have no costs (other than your time) to embroider a personal gift for someone, the value of that present is priceless.