signsbygeorge
New Member
Howdy from the great state of Texas. Here in Austin we like to talk big and carry a bigger (mahl) stick.
Actually, I'm from Alaska and transplanted to Tx in '86. Started a knock-out sign shop (since my artistic skills are rudimentary) in '88. I was a screenprinter in AK and did most of their new street signs for 2yrs. This tells you how much road building this state does, with a population of 500,000 (then) and an area 2 1/2 times the area of TX.
As a 20yr old knock out sign shop, we have had ups and downs. Can't say we burned the town up, and I've lived in my shop for the first 5 out of 8yrs. No, the shop wasn't in my home; I lived in a strip center who tolerated me as a live tenant during the 80's recession.
I know knock-out screenprinting and have breathed my share of solvents. And many others. We started with a Gerber 4B and now have 2
Summa plotters which were demos from when they had their business here. I bought a Saber 408 in 2000 during the dot.com boom. Tivoli Systems bought my Gerber and blew it up with a power surge. It sits on a bench on my back wall. Still has the eleven fonts I gave a pound of flesh for then. 3yrs ago I bought an old Mexican's electric business, and he held my hand for a few months. Last summer we got a Roland 54" eco-sol printer. And it mostly sits, since my version of marketing is to wait until they come. If you build it, they will come, right?
This website is great, a well of information. It's good to know how things are in other parts of the country. Sign people come in all shapes and attitudes, that's for sure. We've got our share in Austin. Crooks and thieves. Suckers get their 5 months in as Signarama and then disappear.
(Lost 3 going on 4 in last 4-5 yrs with no survivors) 123 sign shops listed in the yellow pages and more in the flea markets and underground. I'ts easy relatively to get your plotter and get started. My manager was his own co. for 5 yrs like me and had a few bad months. (He is a manager of two if you count him himself) It's not so easy to stay alive and solvent.
We hear stories all the time of sign guys who took their 50% deposit and obsconded into the wild blue yonder! In a town of 600,000 only 4 Fastsigns and one Signs Now! are still alive and chirpin'. Compare to Dallas
with 30plus Fastsigns.
Well, I ramble.
Actually, I'm from Alaska and transplanted to Tx in '86. Started a knock-out sign shop (since my artistic skills are rudimentary) in '88. I was a screenprinter in AK and did most of their new street signs for 2yrs. This tells you how much road building this state does, with a population of 500,000 (then) and an area 2 1/2 times the area of TX.
As a 20yr old knock out sign shop, we have had ups and downs. Can't say we burned the town up, and I've lived in my shop for the first 5 out of 8yrs. No, the shop wasn't in my home; I lived in a strip center who tolerated me as a live tenant during the 80's recession.
I know knock-out screenprinting and have breathed my share of solvents. And many others. We started with a Gerber 4B and now have 2
Summa plotters which were demos from when they had their business here. I bought a Saber 408 in 2000 during the dot.com boom. Tivoli Systems bought my Gerber and blew it up with a power surge. It sits on a bench on my back wall. Still has the eleven fonts I gave a pound of flesh for then. 3yrs ago I bought an old Mexican's electric business, and he held my hand for a few months. Last summer we got a Roland 54" eco-sol printer. And it mostly sits, since my version of marketing is to wait until they come. If you build it, they will come, right?
This website is great, a well of information. It's good to know how things are in other parts of the country. Sign people come in all shapes and attitudes, that's for sure. We've got our share in Austin. Crooks and thieves. Suckers get their 5 months in as Signarama and then disappear.
(Lost 3 going on 4 in last 4-5 yrs with no survivors) 123 sign shops listed in the yellow pages and more in the flea markets and underground. I'ts easy relatively to get your plotter and get started. My manager was his own co. for 5 yrs like me and had a few bad months. (He is a manager of two if you count him himself) It's not so easy to stay alive and solvent.
We hear stories all the time of sign guys who took their 50% deposit and obsconded into the wild blue yonder! In a town of 600,000 only 4 Fastsigns and one Signs Now! are still alive and chirpin'. Compare to Dallas
with 30plus Fastsigns.
Well, I ramble.
