If you were starting over, what would you do/buy?

[Letterbox Mike]

If I were in your shoes, I'd forget about production for now. I would hone my design and salesman skills to perfection. Learn how to market the living daylights out of your business. Brand yourself perfectly. Get a really top notch sales office with a killer showroom. Sell based on design. For the first year or two outsource all or most of your production, don't invest in much or any production equipment beyond maybe a plotter for quick/dirty jobs. Save the money in investing in equipment and put it into creating and selling your brand. Put out top notch work that everyone recognizes and more sales will follow. Once money is flowing in the door, then start investing in bigger/better production equipment and a larger facility.

A big mistake a lot of people make in this business putting the cart before the horse. They blow every penny for startup on the biggest and best of everything, only to find out they needed that money to actually promote themselves. Then they're sitting there with bright shiny new printers and plotters, only to discover they now have no money for promotion, which equals no business to pay for and drive all that equipment. There are plenty of people out there who are more than capable of doing the production end of the business for you, but only you can run your business.

Invest in your business, let the rest follow.

 

[Craig Sjoquist]

Agrees with Threeputt ... PC hardware / software and learn design well.

I'm sitting with very little of both hard & software, the good skills I have does little with out software or knowhow and the PC to handle it, but with it I could broker work out all day long with little expense and work and much better profit.

 

[rm25x]

insignia- I think thats exactly the direction I am going to take with my business. When I first started, I thought it was all about the equipment. But I am learning equipment is just a small slice of the whole pie.
I like the idea of a showroom/design studio and farm out all of the production work to someone who has the right equipment for the job.

 

[Letterbox Mike]

if you can't design or sell, that equipment might as well just be a pile of firewood.

There will come a time at which it makes a lot more sense for you to do production in house, but it won't be immediately. Until then, just learn your craft and sell your services. Production is a natural progression of that, not the other way around.

Don't fall victim to the Field of Dreams mentality.

 

[Dice]

RM make sure that in 6 months to 1 year your not on here selling your brand new equipment. Many so called signshops go and buy the equipment thinking the work just rolls in after that point.

As others have stated you need a plan, a business and marketing plan. How will you obtain clients and have a monthly business income to justify the purchase of a printer?

Commit your plan to digital paper. It doesn't need to be an 80 page full business and marketing plan, you just need to work out your finances and marketing.

I would say build up your client base, outsource everything and wait until you do $5k a month in revenue. Then you will have a solid enough business and be ready to purchase a printer.

 

[Letterbox Mike]

I would say build up your client base, outsource everything and wait until you do $5k a month in revenue. Then you will have a solid enough business and be ready to purchase a printer.

I'd at the very least double that figure. $5k a month isn't much at all, and it can sucker you into taking on a lot more overhead than necessary way too early. If you're outsourcing $10k-$15k per month of printing (not what you're spending, but what you're actually selling), that's when I'd look at bringing it in house.

 

[rm25x]

Ok guys good points.
Another question for you, what would you focus on offering and outsourcing in my situation to get started? I am thinking banners and yard signs of course, but is it worth dealing with shirts? Larger signs? etc?

I know its going to be a balance between cutting myself short and biting off more then I can chew...

 

[Letterbox Mike]

That is something only you can answer.

Start by addressing what products or services are needed in the area you want to serve, or at least figure out what will sell in your area. Does your area have a large tourist trade and need someone who specializes in dimensional signs or historic signs? Is your area manufacturing heavy and need someone who can do alot of labels, safety signs, or other manufacturing related signs? Are wraps a marketable service in your area? Or does your area just need an all-in-one shop that they can get everything from business cards to a vehicle wrap and everything in between from?

There is no right or wrong answer. It depends on what your area needs, what your market will bear, what you are capable of selling and what you are capable of actually producing through whatever means you choose.

It may end up that you are good at designing and selling high end sandblasted monument signs and your business may evolve into just designing and installing them and you may never touch the production end in house. Or you may find that wraps are a big seller in your town and you'll end up aligning yourself and your equipment so.

Step one before you spend a dime needs to be a significant amount of market research on your part.

 

[Just Another Sign Guy]

just to be clear in my opinion no business plan is complete without addressing marketing.

i am exhausted and really shouldnt write this post half way because of how serious of a topic i believe this is but i a rough outline of a somewhat complete biz plan would include.

statement/ summary; typically a business plan starts with this just so that if you utilize it for financing,etc that ppl can get an overview and not have to read the whole thing if they are not interested.


industry overview; an overview of the industry and where you fit into it.

market analysis; description of who your target market is, what their needs are, how those needs are currently being met and how you will meet those needs. demographic info, geographical info ,etc.

analysis of competition; who are your competitors, how you will compete, why customers will choose you over competition, etc.

***MARKETING PLAN*** advertising strategy, promotions, benefits of your products/services, sales strategy, pricing


Management plan; internal / external management, legal structure, blah blah blab blab

Operating plan; location of biz, equipment, employees, inventory, process of creating product or delivering service...

Financial plan; money needed, what it is going to cost and why, financial statements, projections, goals, etc.


now obviously i have not elaborated on the above topics but it really is important to go through the process of thinking of all of these aspects or you are going to overlook something. it is hard enough to succeed in business to do so without a plan is really setting yourself up in my opinion of course.

 

[rm25x]

Thanks for taking the time to add your input. I will get a business plan in order asap. AND I am going to do as much market research as I can. I believe after listening to you guys that it needs to be my number one priority.
Thanks again everyone for the advise.

 

[Letterbox Mike]

A tip regarding business plans and marketing plans. If you've never written them before, I might suggest at a minimum you go to the book store and pick up a couple good books on writing them, as well as marketing in general and thoroughly read them before starting. Not surprisingly, a poorly thought out or written business plan can have a massive negative impact on your business. You may even also want to seek the advice or assistance of a friend or family member who is experienced with business plans, or pay a local MBA student for a few hours of their time to help you hit the ground running.

 

[rm25x]

Yup thats exactly what I did, I picked up a couple from the library.

 

[UFB Fabrication]

The best way to make a million bucks in the sign industry is to start with 2 million.

 

[Jillbeans]

If I had the power to go back in time I would have gone to college to be an art teacher.
Or some sort of art historian.
When I started in signs some sort of talent was involved, now anyone can buy their way into the business. I am not against using modern equipment, but it seems that as soon as one aquires it it becomes obsolete.
I also think it is very important to learn how to market yourself, and sell your work.
Love....Jill

 

[jscarl]

I have to go along with Jill. YOU are the most important tool in your shop. You need to be able to sell yourself as knowledgeable or you will not make it.

 

[rm25x]

Thats what I am counting on, is that its easy to buy your way in. Only I plan to use others who already have done so for most of my production for right now.

I agree though, a lot of the art that went into sign work and sign painting seems to be going away. It is sad.

 

[Mikeifg]

The one thing I would personally have done differently is not bought my printer, but it sounds like you already have that planned out with a sub. I didn't know about subs that could basically print it for my cost when I bought my printer, so if I had to do it over again, I'd either not get one, or get a smaller version that doesn't take most of my income to the shop to pay for it.

Totally agree with you on that one