Got to thinking................................

[bob]

I think you would do a great job of yelling at kids to get off your lawn. "Begone from my cultivated argrostis tenuis you adolescent specimens"

I have no doubt that I could do a passable job. And do so while not sounding like 17th century gentry. Nice try but if you have to reach for it, it doesn't work.

 

[Gino]

​

 

[nickgreyink]

Got a summer job working construction between sophomore and junior high school years. Then went into the work study program my junior year as a graphic artist for a local car floor mat company who I also rand the printer for. Did that for 3.5 years into my first few years of college that I took locally, then transferred to a bigger college and had to quit that job. Kept the Georgia HOPE Scholarship all the way through until I graduated into the bad economy.

Job hunted. Worked as a seasonal engraver for Things Remembered. Job hunted.

Worked for GEICO at their headquarters. Hated and felt trapped by corporate culture.

Got offered a job while at GEICO by some guy who owned a sign shop and saw me run the printer and make their graphics at the floor mat job. Moved back to Georgia and been here ever since!

 

[billsines]

I was a high school math teacher. So getting into CNC, knowledge of coordinates was right up my alley. HUGE learning curve, we've learned alot along the way. Very grateful to be where I am today, this month marks my 10 year anniversary getting away from teaching and being in signs.

 

[petepaz]

went to school to be a graphic artist and finally when i was 20 got a job for a printing company (same one i work for now) and we evolved in to a sign company. well at least part of the company. when i started all we did was silk screening and hot stamp roll labels. as business slowed the owners sold the company and the new owners wanted to grow the business so we got in to digital printing and then followed vehicle graphics, truck lettering and signs. still do silk screening and hot stamp roll labels but we added a whole lot more.

 

[dawnpease]

Since, I've been on this forum, I've read over and over again about all these people who have done something else before becoming a sign person. Perhaps more than one job or vocation.

So, what have you done before entering into the sign industry ??

​

This is a bit long but I hope you enjoy it. I was a 26 year old housewife with an 1 year old and a 2 year old when my husband decided he didn't want to be a husband and father anymore, so he left. I had no education beyond high school and I had worked on and off as a waitress. I had to go on welfare. I had no skills and no hope. While on welfare, a program was offered as a "retraining" to those who had been out of the workforce for more than 5 years. There was a lot of aptitude testing and placements in different industries to see where your skill set was. Apparently I had "some" artistic ability as I had a steady hand at toll painting. LOL! Really? One of my placements was in a sign shop. I was hooked. Like everyone else, I never paid much attention to signs or how they were made or mounted. Never mind the design aspect and the impact of color, shape and font. A sign just got me to where I was going. The government at the time would offer an employer half my wage while I was being trained. First day there the boss told me "I haven't gotten the paperwork done yet. Come back next week". This went on week after week. Finally in frustration she told me "I don't have time for this. The job doesn't exist"(at the time I had no understanding of peak season). I went home and cried. Then I went back and said "Give me the paperwork. I'll do it". At the time, vinyl and plotters were fairly new and most images were drawn by hand. My boss was an old school hand painter or as the trade was called then "a sign writer". I came in at a very interesting time, when changes in the industry were occurring at an incredible speed. I left the industry for awhile to work for a big corporation (cleaning the screens for screen printing was making me sick) and hated every minute of it. I went back and made a deal with another employee that I would do everything for the screen printing except cleaning the screens. I was back doing what I loved. Today I own my own shop with 4 full time employees, a spray booth, 2 large format printers and all the other fun stuff we use in our industry. I still don't consider myself an artist. I employ artists. But I love every aspect of the business, especially running it.

 

[MichaelWilson]

An aerospace engineer for over 20 years specializing in parachute design. Eventually became president and CEO of three different aerospace companies. Had enough of the corporate world about ten years ago and quit and bought a small sign company. Work harder and longer for less money than the old aerospace days but wouldn't go back .

I have completed graduation from the University of Central Florida. After that, I started my signage business and still working from last 10 years.

 

[Kottwitz-Graphics]

I worked as a waiter in several restaurants. I got tired of that, quit, went to work midnight to 6 am shift at a convenience station. That lasted all of 4 nights, and quit at 3 am, after thinking I was about to be robbed... the next morning I walked into the local trophy shop where I bought vinyl decals for my truck club, and was offered a job. That was 1990.

 

[Johnny Best]

I worked as a waiter in several restaurants. I got tired of that, quit, went to work midnight to 6 am shift at a convenience station. That lasted all of 4 nights, and quit at 3 am, after thinking I was about to be robbed... the next morning I walked into the local trophy shop where I bought vinyl decals for my truck club, and was offered a job. That was 1990.

You know you told that story on post #28 but you left out the being robbed part.
By the way, it's Wednesday.

 

[JTBoh]

In Order:
Dishwasher (2 years)
Retail Clerk (1 year)
First Mate on a Water Taxi (3 years, 400 days of sea time)
Carpentry (5+ years)
Real Estate Photography (3 years)

Signs, last 9 years
Sign Production/Installer (9 years)
Sales (8 years)
Graphics (4 years)
Everything on a project from start to finish, just the last 3 years or so.

 

[Gino]

Ha......... I'm still washing.... well, she washes and dry everyday and on weekends sometimes twice a day.