Finally! (didnt have to purchase any media)

I like being ready too.

Sometimes I just buy the max amount of material if the job pays for it all and I am ready for more.

You don't want too much hanging around though if it's not a common material.

 

Well done

 

Congrats, you are on your way to having 20 rolls of various materials hanging around in the space behind your printer. Not to mention the 20 more "end-of-the-rolls" with a couple of feet on that will be perfect for a little job.

I just threw out almost an entire roll of mesh because it had aged beyond use, then two weeks later had to buy another roll of mesh for a job that came in.

 

Yep...there's a lot of money in this business....but, unfortunately it flows the wrong way during the early years.

It's a great feeling when the business begins to mature and the cash flow becomes positive.

JB

 

congrats on your milestone! I do remember when the topic of inventory first became "money in the bank" ...instead of a direct "expense"...

...now, so you can feel it again, better go replace it

 

wow that was a blast to the past. I remenber that time.

Today i prob stock too much material. I must have 60 sheets of various substrait in the shop. Everything from duraply to dibond.....HDU to coro.......PVC to Lexan

 

yep, between Aluminum, dibond, coro, MDO, PVC, HDU, clear, white & non-glare acrylic or polycarbonite... I'm right about there too...

how do you store yours skyhigh?

 

Doug, I have a couple racks with dividers, unfortunately they are not equipped to handle as much as I have (especially when you throw in 1.5" HDU & 3x4 duraply). The rest is divided up and stacked against the wall.

It ain't pretty some weeks.

Ohhhhhh and to add to the clutter..... a good many years ago, I started saving signs that I replaced from the more "prominent" establishments in my area (pretty cool actually), in hopes that someday when I get that new building up, I could start my own little "Sign Museum", and display these from the walls. Unfortunately some of the most fantastic signs from my early days (before I got this brilliant idea) got disposed of. That would be the the neon & clocks & porcelain stuff.

Sick when I think of a few that I pitched.

 

WCS,

Nope, not dumb at all! That is very very nice! Having the materials for a job makes you feel so much better, doesn't it? I know the feeling, have been suffering through that pain myself. I feel like all I've done is shell out dough for my wide format printing, oh... because I have!!!!! Yesterday though, I made the comment that I think that even though I seem to have dumped a lot of money into our new Latex printer, I think it has paid for itself and paid a few bills too.

So, congrats & enjoy!!

 

Congrats! That means you are doing something right and steadily working your way into a profitable business. Just continue to stay vigilant on those media purchases and control the inventory. Nice job!

 

Sometimes its kind of nice when you get a phone call at 4pm and they need 20 4'x8' banners by 8 am, and you can say no problem, I have the material in stock!

Don't forget the rush fee in that situation though.

 

It's a lot different today from when I started.

Today, it's literally $1,000's of dollars until you've got a nice inventory going, but like I said..... when I stated, I bought a few quills and two or three 1-Shots and started lettering and making money immediately. Every truck had either a white lettering job, black or fire red or somewhere in between.

I still remember saying.... holy cow........ I just spent almost $50 bucks to do this job on my own. But when I got paid $100 at the end, I was in heaven. Back then, working for the sign shop I started in, my take-home was like $35, so side jobs were just fantastic. After ten years of that, I went out on my own.

Well done WCS.

 

Congrats! I know the feeling - just got back into the biz about a year ago and those first few jobs with virtually zero profit hurt but I also decided to "over purchase" the colors that i knew I'd be using frequently