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Howdy from orlando...sort of

dwt

dwt

New Member
Howdy Ya'll from the land of citrus and conventions. Long time in the lurk and and glad to be here. Been tinting glass and laying vinyl for 15 years. Self employed for most of them. My wife and I are settled in a small town 20min north of Disney were I have my shop. It's like a slice of Mayberry RFD on the edge of town. Look forward to meeting some of you good folks at the sign show!
 
M

MITCHATEXOTIC

New Member
Hello from St.Cloud

I too originated as a window tinter....Now I run a multi-head embroidery shop that also does screen printing and large format printing......Lived and worked in the area since 1980...lets get together for a beer
 
dwt

dwt

New Member
Thanx for the welcomes. Yeah, its the ISA on april 8 thru 10. Orange County warmly welcomes the tax dollars. As for beers, I'd be glad to have one with a veteran of the central Florida tint wars. Seems like "back in the day" if you could tint glass it was a license to print money. Then the word got out and soon enough we were saturated with mediocrity... Much like this industry as well. In my area there must be a half-dozen sign shops. Some more professional than others and some you have to wonder how do they get away with it?
 
dwt

dwt

New Member
It's good to be welcome. It makes living in the sun belt a little warmer, Thanks Ya'll!
 
M

MITCHATEXOTIC

New Member
where we came from

I once owned a company Class on Glass we had 5 shops from Tampa to Sanford.I slowley sold them off as the margins declined,Had the opportunity to do some factory training for Madico. I am still a car nut and love doing high-end tintin but nobody is willing to pay for the effort it takes for the best they all want 99.00 lick em and stick ems, at least in this area.I currently enjoy the embroidery and screen print business but am always lookin for another adventure.....YEAH BIKE WEEK IS HERE.
 
dwt

dwt

New Member
Howdy to all you folks in the frosty tundra! If it makes you feel any better it was 40 on the dial when I woke up this morning...Coldest winter season I can remember down here. We are hoping for the weather on the chamber of commerce brochure but haven't seen it so far. Still better than the alternative of freezin' for the season...That's what keeps me down here.
 
dwt

dwt

New Member
Hey Mitch, I remember those stores. I always thought what a headache it must have been to schedule and coordinate all the people, product, invoices and the general riff-raff that is naturally attracted to the after market car industry. I moved out to West Orange to get away from all of the low brow street hustlers on the east side. Raised my prices to attract a higher end client. Laying vinyl is a natural progression for glass tinters. So is the rendering of art. You need to be creative to do both and survive in the changing environment.
 
deegrafix

deegrafix

New Member
Welcome from another Central Florida shop! I do mostly vehicles in Lake County. Orange is tough! Lots and lots of competition.
 
dwt

dwt

New Member
Yeah, Orange Co. is saturated with mediocre service and quality. There is a never ending flood of people hacking their way into professional fields with low to no overhead and minimal experience, quoting outrageously low prices to attract buyers and then hustling them with a bait and switch. It puts a black eye on the whole industry. Florida is a real transient state anyways. If you look in the phone book today half of the listings are out of biz leaving behind the legacy of cheap prices that put them out of the game.

Survival of the fittest indeed!
 
dwt

dwt

New Member
Hey Dave, thanks for trekking across the globe to see our fair city. We really appreciate all the commerce generated by the weary travelers that visit here. Behind agriculture, tourism is our #2 source of income. Development has slipped to #3 as we are now the 2nd leading state for foreclosure. he..he..Might be a good time to buy the vacation home in Florida everyone dreams of.
 
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