Discussion Is there any young future Sign employees???

[Jays-zw]

Hi everyone, I'm turning 52 years old this year and I started in the sign business in 1992 as a sign painter. After 25 + years I've noticed that we don't see anyone anymore stopping by our shop looking for work or just to stop by and say HI and share their experience in the business. The sign industry has always been a sort of a odd ball, you never hear little Johnny saying I want to be a sign maker when I grow up. Maybe it's just me and I'm old news??

thanks for listening

 

[Johnny Best]

I Just have to say... I absolutely love the back and forth between Notarealsignguy and JBurton on this forum. I have so many reasons for shouting this out, but in a nutshell, it's like watching a tennis match, and I can't always agree ( because wtf do I know) I like what you said. And it's either informative, or entertaining.
My point... It's the good natured discourse that I appreciate.

Oh my!

 

[Scotchbrite]

I'm the kid of the shop, been that way since I started at 14 pushing start on the CNC on the weekends.
We had a kid, 18, who spent months looking for anything that would hire him without a GED, walking around for applications, then he found us on indeed. He was a rare breed, worked from $9 to $14/hr in two years, then his family moved and he really wanted to stay near them, so there he went, off to do asphalt at a 2$ pay cut...
Being the youngest used to be fun, have old farts call me about what to do, while climbing on a billboard, but as the years have gone by I'm starting to feel the creeping dread of 'who's going to do this after me..." Anyways that's why I had kids. Generation 5 better be able to rope some of their age group in with them...

I'm generation 3 and my kids have ZERO interest in the business. They're both freshman, one in college and the other high school. I do wonder if maybe they'll come around someday and all of a sudden be interested in it.

I technically married into the business so I had no idea it might be something I'd end up doing. It is ironic tho when I was a kid my grandma told me I should do "commercial art" (back before "graphic design" was a thing) but I never gave it much thought. Now I chuckle and think about how grandma knew what she was talking about.

 

[Geneva Olson]

You want to reach the young folk, you have to go online. Download that tiktok, snapchat, instagram etc. and be the next big sign celebrity.

It's true. become an influencer.

Funny story, a friend of mine's son thought I was "new" in the industry...and I was, but I had my boyfriend teaching me the ropes. Mainly on auto wrap installs. The friend's son was sending me videos on autowrap installs. One video was of a young pup wrapping a mirror. He was clearly at the end of the install and he took a heat gun and heated the vinyl and it shrunk around the edges of the mirror cap and he said, "i love it when it just wraps itself". I never said a word to my friend's son but I can tell you, me and mirrors have a hate hate relationship.

 

[Geneva Olson]

Seems the young folk want to be wrappers. Nothing wrong with that. It's a good intro into the sign biz, i.e. lettering and design in addition to wrapping. There's just as much profit in truck lettering as there is in car wrapping, in my opinion.

The best money we have found in this business is partial wraps, lettering, wall graphics and GENERATORS!