At A Crossroad, To Keep Going or Call It A Day?

[Scotchbrite]

We have talks of these big sign jobs, big event jobs, fleet graphics blah blah blah. Its all people talking a big talk because nothing seems to come to a head.

A lot of good advice already given, but I wanted to comment about these 2 sentences that jumped out to me. I can't tell you how many times over the years I've heard this kind of talk from customers. So many times they come in with a pickup they need lettering for and they tell you about how they're going to have all of these other vehicles that will need lettered. Or they're just buying one sign now, but as soon as things are going good they'll be ordering more signs. 99% of the time it ends up being just the 1 transaction.

Sometimes I think people say it because they have big plans for their business. Other times I feel like they are saying it hoping you'll give them some extra effort or a discount with the hope of more business to come.

 

[Gino]

A lot of good advice already given, but I wanted to comment about these 2 sentences that jumped out to me. I can't tell you how many times over the years I've heard this kind of talk from customers. So many times they come in with a pickup they need lettering for and they tell you about how they're going to have all of these other vehicles that will need lettered. Or they're just buying one sign now, but as soon as things are going good they'll be ordering more signs. 99% of the time it ends up being just the 1 transaction.

Sometimes I think people say it because they have big plans for their business. Other times I feel like they are saying it hoping you'll give them some extra effort or a discount with the hope of more business to come.

You forgot the third possibility. Maybe the work provided..... stank.

 

[Scotchbrite]

You forgot the third possibility. Maybe the work provided..... stank.

I almost mentioned that too, but was trying to keep my post brief. Admittedly it's a little hard to tell with vehicles, but with building signs I can be pretty confident it wasn't me when I can see they never put up another sign period.

And I might have made an ugly sign or 2, but I've never made a stinky sign. Our signs smell wonderful.

 

[JWitkowski]

I started a sign business many years ago, with no kids and my now-ex wife. We started from 0. Boy, it's tough. We managed to build a business in a rural area NW of Toronto with little competition around. When competition did begin to appear, so did price-cutting, by one competitor in particular. That made things harder again. A business friend of mine one advised that starting a business requires cash reserves that will carry you through a minimum of one year with no profit made. I didn't follow that advice because I didn't have it but still wanted to be in the sign business. I (we) had few expenses and almost no debt, though, at the start. And I was 23 years old and we had just completed a one year signwriting program at college in Toronto. My main bit of advice echoes some of the others: it's really hard to build knowledge from scratch as you're knee deep in trying to work out a beginning; experience gained elsewhere in the industry is a huge bonus, in my mind. My own main beef is that the sign & graphic industry suffers from an appalling lack of design background, skill & expertise. That means far too much work turned out is absolute crap and flies in the face of design principles. Do yourselves and the industry a favour and do whatever you need to do to understand how good design works. There are also many whose work is fabulous. If you can learn from them, so much the better.

 

[Gino]

I wasn't referring to you or your signs, but as a general rule as a whole.

I actually tell people, if they can see any flaws in the ink or teeny tine bubbles, their nose is too close to the sign. They're meant to be read, not smelled like flowers. I do know, some of those old vinyls had quite the stink to them and it carried on for a while after being outside, if you were too close.

 

[JWitkowski]

Toronto is very cutthroat for the digital printing world.


You can't throw a rock without hitting five print shops, and because of so much competition prices are so low there.. on top of being one of the most expensive cities to live in.

I'm not saying give up, but I would take a step back look at how much money you need to make in order to survive and see whether those goals are reachable in a time frame you are comfortable with.

You could be working for 5 years before you start making as much as you would just working for somebody else, unless of course you find a niche that nobody else does.

I believe AlishaP's bio says Trenton... not Toronto. Different market if doing work for local customers.

 

[Scotchbrite]

I wasn't referring to you or your signs, but as a general rule as a whole.

I actually tell people, if they can see any flaws in the ink or teeny tine bubbles, their nose is too close to the sign. They're meant to be read, not smelled like flowers. I do know, some of those old vinyls had quite the stink to them and it carried on for a while after being outside, if you were too close.

No worries, I didn't take it personal.