kcollinsdesign
Old member
I always mark up my wholesale costs. I also charge for my time. I make plenty of money, and rarely leave any on the table.
My clients receive professional advice, and I help them find the best deal I can for their production expenses. I am open and honest, and let my clients know about good deals from reliable companies if they want to order the products themselves and save a little money. The little secret here, is that they know already. They've already looked it up on the internet! My clients appreciate my candor and honesty, and I have a deep book of satisfied clients that continue to work with me.
Years ago I divested myself of equipment and overhead. I clearly saw the day coming where I had a shop full of equipment and employees sitting idle due to new opportunities being offered by modern logistics and the internet. One of the things I am trying to express with my posts (especially for those contemplating getting in to this business) is to take a look at wholesale and shipping technologies, and carefully consider your business model before investing in expensive production equipment and overhead.
There are plenty of big sign shops that can profitably run their own print, painting, and fabrication operations. Most medium to small operations will struggle with this, and will be better served outsourcing those products that require substantial equipment and overhead investments to produce.
When I started, I had a box of brushes and paint and went door-to-door doing window lettering. I also got into show cards, grocery store signs (paper signs that hung in windows advertising weekly specials), window splashes, and car lots (prices for cars painted on windshields). Clients started asking for more permanent signs, so I moved into a shop and started painting MDO and aluminum signs. Soon I was carving and painting Redwood dimensional signs. I added sandblasting (but gave that up when a local sandblasting outfit offered to supply that service at about a tenth of my cost). We got into electrical signs, and before long had a fleet of service trucks, a large shop, a neon plant, and a bunch of employees. The turning point for me came when we considered buying a paint booth and a paint mixing capability. The local code would not allow it at our location, so we looked to outsource painting. After considerable research, we began to outsource not only painting, but fabrication as well. Then along came digital printing suitable for outdoor use. We bought a Gerber Edge. A few years later large format printing came along. Again, we analyzed the cost of in-house production vs. buying from wholesalers. We found several local shops who had made the investment, and had to keep their machines and employees running. Eventually, those sources dried up as the wholesale printing market matured. LED lighting came along, and the neon plant was sold for scrap. We started ordering wholesale channel letters (who doesn't do that now?), and eventually all of our electric signs. Now Electronic Message Displays are the big thing. Who makes those in house?
I left the sign shop to concentrate on design. The local electric sign shops transitioned to doing mostly installation and maintenance, receiving signs on their dock from sign-forwarding companies who work with corporate accounts. I never regretted the move. I have never been in a better position to serve my clients and make a good living. Perhaps what I did was not for everybody (I have a solid portfolio and a deep book of clients after almost 40 years in this business). I am sharing my experience (hopefully) for the benefit of those who have faced the same dilemmas as I have as this industry has changed through the years.
My clients receive professional advice, and I help them find the best deal I can for their production expenses. I am open and honest, and let my clients know about good deals from reliable companies if they want to order the products themselves and save a little money. The little secret here, is that they know already. They've already looked it up on the internet! My clients appreciate my candor and honesty, and I have a deep book of satisfied clients that continue to work with me.
Years ago I divested myself of equipment and overhead. I clearly saw the day coming where I had a shop full of equipment and employees sitting idle due to new opportunities being offered by modern logistics and the internet. One of the things I am trying to express with my posts (especially for those contemplating getting in to this business) is to take a look at wholesale and shipping technologies, and carefully consider your business model before investing in expensive production equipment and overhead.
There are plenty of big sign shops that can profitably run their own print, painting, and fabrication operations. Most medium to small operations will struggle with this, and will be better served outsourcing those products that require substantial equipment and overhead investments to produce.
When I started, I had a box of brushes and paint and went door-to-door doing window lettering. I also got into show cards, grocery store signs (paper signs that hung in windows advertising weekly specials), window splashes, and car lots (prices for cars painted on windshields). Clients started asking for more permanent signs, so I moved into a shop and started painting MDO and aluminum signs. Soon I was carving and painting Redwood dimensional signs. I added sandblasting (but gave that up when a local sandblasting outfit offered to supply that service at about a tenth of my cost). We got into electrical signs, and before long had a fleet of service trucks, a large shop, a neon plant, and a bunch of employees. The turning point for me came when we considered buying a paint booth and a paint mixing capability. The local code would not allow it at our location, so we looked to outsource painting. After considerable research, we began to outsource not only painting, but fabrication as well. Then along came digital printing suitable for outdoor use. We bought a Gerber Edge. A few years later large format printing came along. Again, we analyzed the cost of in-house production vs. buying from wholesalers. We found several local shops who had made the investment, and had to keep their machines and employees running. Eventually, those sources dried up as the wholesale printing market matured. LED lighting came along, and the neon plant was sold for scrap. We started ordering wholesale channel letters (who doesn't do that now?), and eventually all of our electric signs. Now Electronic Message Displays are the big thing. Who makes those in house?
I left the sign shop to concentrate on design. The local electric sign shops transitioned to doing mostly installation and maintenance, receiving signs on their dock from sign-forwarding companies who work with corporate accounts. I never regretted the move. I have never been in a better position to serve my clients and make a good living. Perhaps what I did was not for everybody (I have a solid portfolio and a deep book of clients after almost 40 years in this business). I am sharing my experience (hopefully) for the benefit of those who have faced the same dilemmas as I have as this industry has changed through the years.
Perhaps, we can all take a lesson here and apply ourselves to make this community a better place to be, huh ??
