Start a Tombstone Business

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Start a Tombstone Business

You can help families commemorate the life of a loved one by creating beautiful headstones. A tombstone business is perfect for the person who is creative and empathetic to other people. Those who are grieving need someone who is kindhearted to help them choose the perfect memorial for the person they are burying. With the proper equipment, engraving headstones is much simpler than you might think.

Step 1

Learn the fine art of engraving. Take classes that specifically teach how to engrave granite. You can find local classes through engravingclasses.com, or you could study under another headstone engraver willing to mentor you. Once you've learned the basics, practice as much as possible on your own until you've perfected your skills.

Step 2

Locate granite suppliers. Memorial marker businesses utilize much more granite than the typical consumer might purchase. Contact local stone quarries to find out which ones have the lowest prices. You could also use a supplier directory such as Slab Market or Graniteland to locate suppliers around the country and compare prices. Don't forget to add in delivery charges to the overall cost.

Step 3

Find an office location in the area you would like to supply with headstones. If you can locate an office near the funeral home or cemetery, that would be ideal. However, any location that is easily accessible will work. Seek a building that has a small front yard where you can display some sample headstones for those driving past to see your work. You also want a workshop area that is separate from your front office area.

Step 4

Purchase equipment. In addition to granite slabs, you will need to purchase a Hoyer lift to move the stones around in your workshop and also onto your delivery truck. To shape the stones, you need a stone cutter for shaping and sandblasting machine for smoothing rough edges. You will also need an engraving machine. Most modern engraving machines are laser and controlled by a computer program. However, a few headstone businesses that still engrave by hand. This is not the most efficient way to create tombstones.

Step 5

Lay out your workshop so that the lift can take the granite piece from the first stage to the last in an orderly fashion. Be sure there is enough room for several people to move around the shop at one time during the busiest work days.

Step 6

Acquire business permits. Contact your secretary of state for a business permit. This will allow you to collect taxes. Also, your local health department may require an inspection since you will have a workshop area with equipment and dust particles released into the air during the engraving process. It is a good idea to contact them for a pre-inspection to avoid later having to make major, and costly adjustments.

Step 7

Plan your grand opening. Plan a small party with local entertainment, snacks and samples of your work. Invite funeral home directors and cemetery managers to introduce your services. These are the people most customers will contact first and they can refer business to you, so you will want to develop a good relationship with them. Send news releases to local media and try to secure interviews to get the word out that you are open for business. Put tombstones in front of your building to show off your work.

Tips

Add headstone cleaning and restoration to your services to increase your potential income.
A newer trend in headstones is photographs of the deceased loved one etched into the tombstone with a laser.

Warning

Pay close attention to detail and make sure the information, spelling and dates are written down and engraved carefully.

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About the Author

Lori Soard has been a writer since 1995, covering a variety of topics for local newspapers and magazines such as "Woman's World." For five years, she served as a site editor for a large online information portal. Soard is also the author of several published books, both fiction and nonfiction.

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Easy Tips and Ideas to Start Business

Although anyone can start a business, many people fail because of a bad product or improper research. If you want to start your own business, you can improve your chances for success before you even begin. In order to make your business successful, start strong and make sure that your idea will hold out for the long haul.

Have a Good Product

Ensure that you plan to sell something useful. Although you may think that your product is important or special, that doesn't mean the general public will agree. Ask friends, family and strangers what they think of your product. If they don't seem that interested, ask them why. With their suggestions, you can either improve the product or scrap the idea completely. According to Brad Sugars of Entrepreneur magazine, most small businesses fail because they sold a product that didn't have an adequate market. This also applies to small businesses that provide a service. A lawn-care business might be useful for part of the year in a northern state, but it is in-demand year-round in the south. Consider whether people will actually want to use your service and get constructive advice from those not afraid to give their opinion.

Research Local Businesses

Research local companies before starting up your own business. This will not only give you an idea of the amount of competition you will have, but it will also help you price your product or service. If you're looking to start a wedding photography business, you may find during your research that the market is over-saturated in your area. If not over-saturated, you should contact each business and ask them for a price list. Alter your prices so you can stay competitive with the competition in town. Researching similar local businesses will also help you decide where to locate your business location. Try not to start up a store or office close to another business of your type. If your small business is located away from similar business types, this will cause locals to choose you over businesses that are farther away from where they live.

Get Professional Advice

You may know someone who has started their own successful business. Ask him for advice and listen to his stories of how he started his company. You may gain useful advice on the good and bad ways to start a business. Local entrepreneurs can also introduce you to local product providers or advertisers that you may not have met without their help. Accept any advice with open arms, especially if the advice is coming from someone successful in the area.

How to Calculate Business Start Up Costs

Starting a business in no easy endeavor. It takes a great deal of research, perseverance and hard work. While sweat equity will make your small business more successful, you will most likely need real capital to get the business started. Before you start raising capital and/or investing your own funds, the first thing you need to do is determine the total start-up costs.

Step 1

Determine your costs of sales. For most small businesses this means inventory, the cost of raw materials, manufacturing equipment, shipping, packaging, and warehousing. However, not all businesses sell products. In this case, the cost of sales is primarily the direct labor involved in making the sale. For example, to open a small shoe business entails purchasing enough inventory ($10,000) to stock the store.

Step 2

Determine professional fees. Planning your business structure, i.e., limited liability corporation or general partnership, means hiring an attorney. There may also be the need to pay an attorney for help with establishing trademarks, copyrights, and patents. In this scenario, that puts total professional fees at an estimated $20,000.

Step 3

Determine technology costs. Technology can greatly reduce the cost of labor for small business if used effectively. Most small businesses require computers, printers, cell phones, website development, Internet access, software applications, information security, data storage, and outsourced information technology (IT) consulting. If the cost of technology is $10,000 to start, add an additional $5,000 a year for maintenance (hint: maintenance is not included in start-up costs).

Step 4

Determine administrative costs. This varies with business types and may include items such as business insurance, office supplies, product packaging, parking, rent, express shipping, desks, chairs, fax machines, phones, or anything else necessary to operate the business daily. A good estimate for start-up administrative costs would be $5,000 for the first six months.

Step 5

Determine initial sales and marketing costs. Now that you have your product, you need to let folks know about it. Sales and marketing costs generally include marketing materials for presentations, printing stationery, business cards, advertising, trade show events, and public relations. These initial sales and marketing costs can add up to $3,000.

Step 6

Determine the wages and benefits needed to secure a staff. This includes employee salaries, benefits, workers compensation, and payroll taxes. Let's put the cost of wages and benefits estimated at $20,000 for the first three months of business.

Step 7

Add all costs associated with starting the business for a total. Be sure to only include business start-up costs that will be incurred in the first three to six months of operations. For this example, the calculation is: $10,000 + $20,000 + $10,000 + $5,000 + $3,000 + $20,000 = $68,000.

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Wednesday, July 24, 2013