Hey Melvin, thanks for the suggestion. I had to use hidem for one of my first marine projects a little while ago and you're right, it does look really nice.

I'm curious if anyone has an unexpected technique.. for instance, I heard somewhere that some people will run a wire through a sewn channel in the seat cover and twist it until it's tight underneath. No staples or rivets involved. It sounds interesting but I haven't tried it.

Hey Chad,
Thought I'd weigh in because I'm operating a pretty new upholstery business in (very) rural Maine. The location hasn't really been a problem for me so far -- especially because I focus on small projects (motorcycle seats primarily) and a large part of my customer base finds me through Instagram.

I don't really use social media in my personal life but I'm on Instagram a lot for business -- I post my work, but also shots of just what life is like in the shop, my own riding photos, customer photos. And people seem to love that -- I think because it adds a face to the business and it's more personal than a website.

I'm not sure why, but Facebook doesn't really do anything for me. For instance, on FB I might have 400 followers, while on Insta I have more than 1.5k and growing every day. Instagram is all visual so it works great as an artist's portfolio.

It's also worth mentioning that Instagram really seems to be a young person's platform. I'm in my late 20s, so obviously just getting started with business, but what I've found is that my generation seems to be very intrigued by custom work. We seem to seek out more personal, unique business experiences. And Instagram, just by design, pushes that work to the front. It's definitely a platform that I'd recommend.