Is LA small business friendly, can a hairstylist and handbag maker survive and survive there?

[2sleepy]

Originally Posted by sport69

California to me, is more progressive and forward thinking.

handmade merchandise is probably not going to be in much demand in Los Angeles unless the brand name is already recognized, it's a huge area and that makes it very expensive to effectively advertise in. I may be wrong but the only potential market I see for handmade bags by an unknown designer is in a small, upscale resort town or on the internet.

The only hair stylist that I know who makes good money is my friend's daughter who does weddings, she's booked up a year in advance and takes in over 100k a year, but that's in Northern California.

[ryanms3030]

Originally Posted by sport69

For that reason, what other Californian cities would you suggest?

Austin TX is one of the most "progressive" places I've ever been and a lot cheaper then LA and better economy, no income tax etc. As for CA, LA and SF are pretty "progressive" but CA is not as a whole. Once you get outside of those two major cities most of CA is very conservative

[ryanms3030]

Originally Posted by 2sleepy

handmade merchandise is probably not going to be in much demand in Los Angeles unless the brand name is already recognized, it's a huge area and that makes it very expensive to effectively advertise in. I may be wrong but the only potential market I see for handmade bags by an unknown designer is in a small, upscale resort town or on the internet.

The only hair stylist that I know who makes good money is my friend's daughter who does weddings, she's booked up a year in advance and takes in over 100k a year, but that's in Northern California.

And $100k in northern CA is equivalent to about $35k in the part of Florida that OP lives in. So unless OP is making significantly less then $35k they can't expect a big boost lifestyle in CA. And in Los Angeles making $100k as a hair stylist is not the norm as research says that avg salary for a hair stylist in LA is around $35k which would put you almost in poverty here. So OP trying to break in a hair stylist in LA not knowing anyone would probably have to start at that level which would mean living in a crappy area and still having 1 or 2 roommates and having to spend all their free time hustling with purse business or something else to make extra money. Realistically OP would probably be working 60-80 hours a week, be dead broke and not be able to enjoy any benefits of living in LA