If you're not currently making photo buttons, you're missing the boat on what could truly be a fantastic business opportunity!
I say this
for three reasons.
First of all, making photo buttons is incredibly easy!
(or at least it is if you're making them with our Model 300
SX button machine).
To make photo buttons with the Model 300 SX you simply take the photograph,
cut it to size using the circle cutter that comes with our Model
300 SX kit, place the button parts into the machine, pull the handle down twice, and as quick as that, your photo button is made!
With the Model
300 SX, you can make a photo button, start to finish, in
15-20 seconds!
Second, making
photo buttons can be very profitable!
Photo buttons typically sell for anywhere between $5.00 or $10.00
each, while the parts needed to make a photo button cost as little
as 16 cents each!
(In a moment I'll tell you about a 15¢ item you can use to give your photo buttons the look of expensive jewelry. With the addition of this item you can turn the photo buttons you make into something you could easily sell for even more.
And finally,
making photo buttons is a business practically anyone can afford
to start.
The Model 300 SX Button-making kit, which includes necessary
to start your own photo button business sells for less than $500.00.
These are high-quality photo buttons that people wait weeks for when ordering them from a sports photographer or from a photo lab. But with your own Model 300 SX button machine, you could make photo buttons in seconds, while your customers wait!
Wondering
what type of photographs make good photo buttons?
Just about
anything people love in the form of a photograph, they will cherish
as a photo button.
Here's a good
example.
A number of years ago, before making my first button, I was dating a woman who had two boys. They both played soccer. A sports photographer took photos of all the players on the team and offered the parents the opportunity to purchase photographs and photo buttons. My girl friend purchased both.
She placed the photographs in a photo album and pinned the photo buttons to the visor in her car. Then, whenever she was driving back and forth to work, she had her boys' twinkling eyes and smiling faces there to keep her company.
What parent
or grandparent could resist such a delightful keepsake?
They can't...
and that's my point!
If you choose to make photo buttons there are many ways you could market them.
You could do as that enterprising photographer did, take the photos yourself and turn them into photo buttons. Or you could offer your services to photographers, schools, photo labs, print shops, copy centers, booster clubs, day care centers, church groups, etc, and make photo buttons with photos they provide.
The possibilities
are endless.
You could approach
photo labs in your area, have them mail you any photographs they'd
like made into photo buttons, create the photo buttons, and then
mail them back.
Or you might
take an afternoon each week and make the rounds to the photo
labs in your area. If you made a few samples for them on the
spot, they might be impressed enough to have you come back and
do them on a regular basis. (You might even provide a sign that
says "Photo Buttons Made Here" to help build
their photo button business... and yours!
You might even
contact photographers in your area and let them know that you
make photo buttons. They could then bring the photographs they
want made into photo buttons and you both could earn a profit.
If you have
a digital camera, you could take the photos and make the buttons
on location. Doing so is easy these days, since they now have
ink-jet printers that can print photos directly from digital
cameras without having a computer attached.
Doing photo
buttons in that manner can be very profitable. You don't have
to pay for film or expensive photo processing and people love
being able to watch the process unfold before their eyes and
also because they don't have to wait to get there photo buttons.
* *
* * * * * * *
So what all
do you need to start making photo buttons?
First of all,
you need a good quality button machine.
While Badge-A-Minit offers inexpensive 3" button machines, there are plenty of reasons why those machines aren't well suited for making photo buttons.
No matter which machine you have, all buttons are made by means of a pressing action; there is no heat or glue involved... the button parts are simply pressed together.
When working with photo paper, which is thicker and stiffer than the 20-24lb copy paper typically used in making regular buttons, you and your machine must be able to generate more crimping power or the photo buttons you are making will not stay together.
If you read the operating instructions for any of the Badge-A-Minit machines, you will discover that you have to use a "work-around" if you want to make buttons using the heavier photo-weight papers. (That's because their machines simply don't work well with heavier papers).
Their work-around is to have you cut the photograph to the size of the "face" of the button, so their machine doesn't have to wrap the photographic material around the edge of the button. By doing this, however, you end up with a product that is less desirable because your the image on the photo then stops at the edge of the button, instead flowing around to the back of the button. The metal side of the button will also show. And you may not be able to "trap" your photo in the center of the button, which will leave the photo sitting "off-center".
The Model
300 SX easily generates the crimping power needed to make photo buttons using photographic prints. It can due to its design and due to the fact that its dies are made of solid steel.
Steel does a much better job of transferring mechanical energy than dies made of plastic can. (That's why carpenters use hammers that are made of steel -- not plastic). And yes, the assembly rings on the inexpensive Badge A Minit machines are made of plastic.
The crimping power that can be generated by the Model 300 SX is second to none, so even when you are working with photo-weight paper, you never have to resort to the previously described work-around that owners of Badge-A-Minit machines must do for each and every photo button they make. Nor do you or your customers have to settle for inferior-quality photo buttons.
The Model
300 SX also works well with standard papers, such as those you would normally print from an inkjet or laser printer.
As described
earlier, the first step in the process of creating a photo button
is to cut the photograph into a circle. (Trust me, scissors aren't
what you want to use to do the job). The Model 300 SX Button-making kit comes with the AC-1 circle cutter, which is the BEST hand-held circle cutter on the market today!
The AC-1 is a high-quality cutting instrument and it too is made of steel. It is fully adjustable and can make the necessary cuts for any size button, ranging from 1" to 3-1/2" in diameter.
With the Model
300 SX, the AC-1 circle cutter, and just a little bit of practice, you can make professional-quality photo buttons, from start to finish, in 15-20 seconds!
(If you'd like to see a video clip of photo button being made
with our Model 300 SX button machine, just click here).
The Model
300 SX is versatile. It can make pin-back buttons, adhesive-back buttons, magnetic-back buttons, mirror-back buttons, and key-chain buttons!
Earlier I mentioned that I would tell you about a 15¢ item that can give your photo buttons the look of expensive jewelry. That item is something we call "Photo Enhancement Rings".
Look closely at the photo button that I made of my grandmother, Marva. It was a photo I took of her on her 90th birthday. Around the perimeter of her photo you can see a photo enhancement ring and what it adds to the overall look of her photo button.
Photo enhancement rings really do add an exquisite look to the photo buttons you make!
While I spent
most of this article talking about making photo buttons, the
Model 300 SX also makes "standard" buttons. That is, the kind you see used in political campaigns, grocery stores, and restaurants.
If you'd like
to learn more about making those types of buttons, click here.
If you're interested
in earning additional income for your family or adding a new
profit center to an existing business, there just isn't an easier
or less complicated way to do it than by making photo buttons.
I hope that
I have helped you gain a better understanding of what a great
business making photo buttons can be. But if you have any questions,
or if you would like to order one of our button machines, please
feel free to give me a call.
If
you'd like to order now, using our
SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM
simply click here
