How much money do people make in this business?

[dmeehan31]

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE no one take this the wrong way, basically your vision and mindset set your limitations. For all the people who speak of working 80 hours and not making a lot may make them feel accomplished or it may make them feel like a failure.

I am new to the sign business (I have a successful dj business) and I am 1 of those who work loooong hours for little pay.

I am doing this because to me this is a no brainer money making machine especially tied in with t shirts.

I just need to learn the fundamentals and doing this on my own and taking pride in my business and not half assing it causes this.

If you do any kind of personal development or outside business training 4 books to read are:
Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki
Cash Flow Quadrant by Robert Kiyosaki
E-Myth by Michael Gerber
E-Myth Mastery by Michael Gerber

after reading and understanding these books and concepts, re-evaluate your own company and ask yourself how much you can make and more importantly how much more you can help others make by offering them employment as well

 

[dj_elite]

Enough to be almost debt free and work for myself and not a boss I hate. Not enough to live an extravagant lifestyle. I too started my business during the beginning of the recession and invested alot of time and money to keep it going. It took a while but things are starting to look better, well until my printer broke...... Thats the ups and downs of being self employed though. Positive you work for yourself and dont have to answer to a boss, bad because when something breaks you cant tell your boss he needs to get it fixed!

 

[rushworks graphics]

i know sign guys in our area are making upwards of 75k a month...yeah, a month! no joke!! the taxes they pay are unreal!! i know of another sign guy whos making 3 mill + and hes so busy hes turning business away! man....would be nice eh!

 

[jiarby]

There is a franchise sign company near me that has a wall of plaques for outstanding monthly sales...

180k for one month
240k the very next month
225 another...
180, etc...

There have a bunch like that

How much did he keep...?

That is the question.

Just like in real life you have to spend less than you earn. If you do that then you become rich.

Anyway...

At least I know, in my market you can sell between $0/mo and 250k/mo. Maybe more!?
Where you fall on that curve depends on your business plan and how well you execute it. If you are executing the plan but not seeing results then your plan is bad. Go back and revise it and find out. A business plan should be a fluid dynamic document... not a dusty leather bound tome you only used when you started and when you tried to suck some money out of someone for a loan.

 

[Wes Phifer]

Hey rushworks. You want to buy some ocean front property in AZ.

 

[CES020]

I'm working on my second million in this industry.

(gave up on making the first million) :Big Laugh

 

[rushworks graphics]

hey wes....yeah! ,lol....if you read my post i don't say i'm making that! i wish! just i know several people personally in our area and thats what they are making currently and continue to do so. hay, they are doing something right.....theres business out there still, even in this economy.

 

[petesign]

I've been open for 9 months now - after sitting out of the sign game for a few years. Started at the ground level and working my way up, I have a media and marketing background so have a lot of contacts in my market. My employees are doing okay, I have yet to draw a paycheck from this business... but things are looking up. If I could gross 250k next year, I would be over the moon happy, and really busy trying to get it all done... but I think it is a reasonable goal.

There have been months where I could have sat here and watched paint dry, but instead went out to as many networking meetings as I could, and there have been months where I was so busy I didn't have time to attend those same meetings.

The way I see it, the sign biz is a numbers game. Two guys can probably accomplish half of what 3 can.. and I am looking forward to having the third person work 40 hours a week really soon. (Just hired him and tried to stimulate the economy last week)...

Coming up with a reasonable shop rate and figuring out what it TRULY costs to make a sign took some time, and I am still figuring it all out - this business is a lot harder to own than it is to work in.. that's all I am gonna say. I still enjoy the sound of my printer, and still love designing most days.. but overhead, hard to please customers, unreliable suppliers, and taxes sure can take a lot of joy out of the American dream.

Best of luck to you!

 

[rushworks graphics]

+1 to petesigns...well said.

 

[gurvich]

We started business in recession in 2009 with one MIMAKI JV33-160 printer.
No we have 3 printers, ploter, laminator, cutter and all infrastructure to maintain printing house. The crises maid many people VERY strong.
This year we made 380k usd. In out country printing prices are very cheap comparing to US or Europe.

We print vinyll for 9 usd/m2 (ink + material + post production).
So you have to print very large amounts to easy decent money.
In any case I see big potential in this business.

 

[Travis Stanley]

I like to do Installs on resturants, So I can watch the people eat.

 

[Deaton Design]

Small towns like mine cant keep up several sign shops. There just isnt enough business to go around. Lots of people that already have incomes or jobs, adopt signmaking as a hobby or sidebusiness, and some to them give the work away, which drives pricing down. Ive contemplated more than once of closing the sign business, especially during slow times, and Ive had alot of those this past year. I recently went home based with a small, new shop built on my property, so that will take down my overhead, and Ill see how it goes. But if business doesnt improve drastically in the next six months or so, I may be forced with a, to me, unthinkable decision.

 

[schramm]

I do most of my signs on glass or antique mirror that I make. My business is a little more unique then some but then again I dont do normal signs. Problem with asking how much can someone bring in (being in it for 2 years already) is:

1) Have you been in the black for 2 years? If so, what % of your income was positive profit?
2) How much of your equipment do you actually own and how much of that do you have lease or loans on.
3) Do you have employees?
4) Do you do all your work in the shop or on the road?
5) How much of your monthly (black) income goes back into the business?

I could go on for days with questions that would make you think about your business. Question shouldnt be posed to how much can be made in this industry but instead how could I change what I am doing to make more out of my business! I think a lot of people would give you smart suggestions but rarely would anyone let you know how well that they are doing at the present time.

Just food for thought, but honestly the sky could be the limit OR this could be your last year depending on how well you do!

 

[adkmaid]

what i made..........when it was a BRUSH/TALENT ONLY business, was FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!
very little money paid to any suppliers, no vinyl, no computer, no plotter or printer, no lease payments, no inks to buy!!!!!!!
in those days i got paid $200, and maybe $10-20 bucks was invested in material!!!!!
since then............its been a downhill run with all the plotters/printers cuttin each others prices..........just to make a payment.
i still PAINT, and the profit in this is STILL BOUT 80%!!!!!!!!!!!! thats makin money.

I have to agree with this post most of all, it was all fun and games when just a paint box in the back of the truck was all I was concerned with. Now with the printers and all the aggravation that goes along with it is nothing short of a nightmare. I love just going north to do gold leaf on wooden boats with the trusty paint box, wish the economy would turn around so more boats sell so I can do more.
But....I am one of the lucky ones that stumbled into a government sign painting job 26 years ago and I have advanced that shop from a brush and screen printing shop to a digital shop so I have 40 hrs to play where i have a retirement (eligible for retirement in exactly one year from today at 55 happy b'day 2 me) and health insurance. I probably work at least 30 hrs beyond that in my side business and sometimes upwards of 50 in busy time. It has cost me husbands, boyfriends, my kid and grandkid's childhood and so on so really was it all worth the over the top hours to get to where I am today???? I just dont know. I certainly am not rich in the material sense of the word but I can pay the bills. I just always followed a phrase i heard a long time ago "if you love what you do, you will never work a day in your life". I think most of us do this because we love it. or like me I have a real hard time doing anything but this type of work, hell I cant even cook. I am only happy when I am working with my hands and smelling paint fumes. I cant put a pricetag on being happy

 

[wetgravy]

I know that as a sign man I make more working for others than working for myself ... not much interest to do it on my own really. I make more money doing design work (logos, occasional websites, etc) and Illustrations than sign work just because the overhead is incredibly different and in fact, my plotter cuts more than 7 times the paint masks, green films and rubyliths than vinyl. Overall, when I rely on myself for my pay ... murals and paintings bring in more income than what I make at a sign shop. I enjoy working with others though and like the lack of stress that comes from not having to constantly be filing paperwork/taxes/invoices/etc and lastly not working in a bubble where I really only have myself to bounce ideas off of ... so I take that pay cut just to be a little more care free ... and I can still do illustrations and paintings on the side.

 

[Mosh]

Been in the sign game since 1988 and...well I think I will stick to farming. Beans are almost to $15 and corn is over $5. Do the math and you can see why my shop truck in a vette.

 

[CheapVehicleWrap]

Been in the sign game since 1988 and...well I think I will stick to farming. Beans are almost to $15 and corn is over $5. Do the math and you can see why my shop truck in a vette.

I don't blame you mosher. Beans are up to $45 and corn $35 here.
But how the heck did you get your shop truck inside of a vette?

 

[visual800]

since most on here is self employed asking what they make is impossible to answer AND once that figure is told it would be depresing.

3 years ago best year in business I billed out $130,000. I BILLED OUT! LOl I have no idea what the hell I made and I dont care. The business has allowed me to be debt free. the business is (or was) able to buy anything it needed and pay it off early. the business pays for my insurance, food, utilities, vehicle, gas and anything else I need. I could posible get a bottom line from my cpa but i bet deep down i dont wanna know it lol

 

[watchdaride]

Its like any business . If your a hands on worker you will only make a modest living $60K a year. If your a manager and good at motivating and managing people and a big staff you can make $250+ /yr. I suck at managing people. I always want to get my hands dirty . that's my downfall.

 

[iSign]

Its like any business . If your a hands on worker you will only make a modest living $60K a year. If your a manager and good at motivating and managing people and a big staff you can make $250+ /yr. I suck at managing people. I always want to get my hands dirty . that's my downfall.

best answer yet!!

well, except for the guy who said "read rich dad & e myth" ...as that's pretty much the same answer!!