Sign Business as SIDE HUSTLE...

[jchristians]

Anyone on here have any ingenious ways of operating a sign/design business as a side hustle, while maintaining a full time job?
I am assuming technology would be heavily utilized with appointment-only type hours.
I "think" (or am a pansy and not willing to risk) I need to keep my full-time design job as I have a family and wife stays home with kiddos.
I have a location for my business, but, just can't take the full on plunge!
Thanks much!

 

[petepaz]

can the wife handle phone, emails and any foot traffic then you do the work after your regular job ends

 

[Gino]

With the internet, social media and so many means to find anyone or anything...... the sky's the limit. If you can't make a sign shop worth while by putting in 20 hours a week, then don't do it. If you don't wanna see people or deal with customers, I'd say you're well on your way. The days of going to a sign company and seeing all the cranes and bucket trucks out on the lot are gone. Having 28 employees to most people will scare them away, as they think they are gonna pay for all that overhead, for a simple little dumb sign, when all they want is something designed by some couch potato and pumped outta some cheap printer and pay as little as possible for it.
Keep mom at home tending the kids and put in an extra 15 hours a week and make thousands of extra dollars a week. You can do it...... we all do it. Ain't nothing to it.

 

[petesign]

Broker for the first year or two and expect to lose money... slowly you will become profitable.

 

[0igo]

its very possible. first thing i got in order was pricing my banners and car decals or lettering. 2nd thing was ask gino for help on everything else.

 

[Gino]

its very possible. first thing i got in order was pricing my banners and car decals or lettering. 2nd thing was ask gino for help on everything else.

Awwww, shucks igloo............ ​

 

[0igo]

Awwww, shucks igloo............ ​

remember when we first met? it didnt feel real at first, but i knew then we would be bffs

 

[decalit]

I have been doing just that for about 4 years. Be ready for NO LIFE. I don't hardly have time for anything, usually my brain is fried by the end of the week with all that is going on between the two jobs, trying to remember to send out proofs, order material, plan everything, etc. You can make good money but at some point you wonder if its worth it. I am at the point where i need to do one or the other.... but just have not made the jump....
Some will tell you to turn down work when you get that busy but its hard to do when you over price a job so they go somewhere else- but they approve it anyway.... just food for thought

 

[jchristians]

I have been doing just that for about 4 years. Be ready for NO LIFE. I don't hardly have time for anything, usually my brain is fried by the end of the week with all that is going on between the two jobs, trying to remember to send out proofs, order material, plan everything, etc. You can make good money but at some point you wonder if its worth it. I am at the point where i need to do one or the other.... but just have not made the jump....
Some will tell you to turn down work when you get that busy but its hard to do when you over price a job so they go somewhere else- but they approve it anyway.... just food for thought

I hear ya. I currently do jobs on the side...no advertising, just word of mouth...and it has been plenty of side work.
I am just trying to figure out the transition part (or if I should even attempt) from a full-time, good job to a "riskier" situation with no income starting out.
Decisions, decisions!

 

[HDvinyl]

Hire a minimum wage minion.

 

[T_K]

I hear ya. I currently do jobs on the side...no advertising, just word of mouth...and it has been plenty of side work.
I am just trying to figure out the transition part (or if I should even attempt) from a full-time, good job to a "riskier" situation with no income starting out.
Decisions, decisions!

You've contradicted yourself here, unless I'm misunderstanding what "plenty" is. If you have regular side work, you have an income. Just maybe not a steady paycheck.

I understand if you're concerned about not having enough income to make the jump from a steady job to an irregular one. But you're already making money. You just have to decide how you can make up the income you're losing from giving up one job by spending more time in the other. But you're not dumping your steady job for a pipe dream, because it's already working. The only question is how well would it work if you devoted all your time to it.

 

[Dennis422]

Been doing it since 2009.
Most of the time is crazy busy.
Started with embroidery, now doing screen printing and smaller signage too (decals, banners, some acrylic and a bit of wraps).
First few years did not take any money out of business, everything went back in to buy new and better equipment.

Now, I can say I make decent money on the side. (But life quality sucks)
No advertising at all (Except websites and stuff like Manta, eLocal and stuff like that, all free listings)
Mostly word of mouth. Right now, postponing wrapping of my car for the last 3 months due to the workload.

Going full time, maybe. The people at my full time job are starting to drive me crazy with their stupidity and laziness, so it might be time to leave after 16 years.

Good luck

 

[jchristians]

You've contradicted yourself here, unless I'm misunderstanding what "plenty" is. If you have regular side work, you have an income. Just maybe not a steady paycheck.

I understand if you're concerned about not having enough income to make the jump from a steady job to an irregular one. But you're already making money. You just have to decide how you can make up the income you're losing from giving up one job by spending more time in the other. But you're not dumping your steady job for a pipe dream, because it's already working. The only question is how well would it work if you devoted all your time to it.

You are right...
It is that uncertainty of getting enough work/money that is ScArY.
The PLENTY is that I have enough side work for the energy & time (Definitely not enough $ to live on) I have left over after my full time job and also be the best husband and father I can be.
I need to make a decision soon on going into the unknown or sticking with my steady design job and just continue having signs etc be a side gig.

 

[TopFliteGraphics]

It all depends on the level of support from your spouse. If she is willing to tighten the belt along with you, it may be the best thing you ever did.


How long have you been doing the side business? Do you have a history of sales/net profit to which you can refer as a baseline for your budget? .

I took a similar leap back in 2000 when I left a good paying, steady job that I had been at for about 12 years or so to pursue what had been my sideline. I had been doing it (brokering printing) on the side for about 3 years and had a pretty good income stream going. I took the leap and then by 2003 or so, I made more money than I ever thought I would. Printing started to get lean about that time, so I transitioned into owning a sign shop and continued brokering printing.

I sold that business and took another "real job" in 2006. It was a decent paying job, but being the whole idea of my own boss kept calling. I left that job and its $75K salary (with the 100% support of my wife) and moved back to Florida to start over again with a buddy of mine in a different industry. After a few months, I could see his motivation was not the same as mine (his wife made really good money and did not have any kids), so I started another sign company. Nowadays, I hardly do any print brokering and 95% of my business is from signs. Being hungry is a great motivator. So is having a wife and 3 kids to feed. Thankfully, my wife and I are still together, although it was not easy when I left my job, moved back to Florida and had to hustle and work 6-7 days a week doing signs plus restoring cars just to make ends meet.

I'd say, if your wife supports you and you have a passion for the work, Go For It! I never have a single day where I "just don't feel like going to work" like I did when I worked a "regular job."

 

[WildWestDesigns]

It all depends on the level of support from your spouse. If she is willing to tighten the belt along with you, it may be the best thing you ever did.

I'd say, if your wife supports you and you have a passion for the work, Go For It! I never have a single day where I "just don't feel like going to work" like I did when I worked a "regular job."

I have found that to be a very important item out there. It helped my dad when he started out doing something that was financially risky at the time and it has helped me when I've gone off to do my own thing as well.

Don't underestimate a very good support system. Choosing well in that regard can make a lot of scary life decisions doable and just a little less scary.

 

[CanuckSigns]

I would find some good wholesale shops and partner with them to start, places like stouse, 4over, signs365 etc. Use your experience in design to your benefit and sub out the production.

For example, I can order double sided coroplast yard signs from 4over, flat bed printed with free delivery for less than my material cost to make them, so you can still mark the up to standard retail rate in your area and make some money. Other items might not have as high of a margin, but if you are getting paid for the design work, why not make a few extra bucks by offering to get the banner printed for them as well.

 

[James Burke]

How does it figure into your life plan?

So...you've got a dream, and you even have the stars in your eyes to prove it. How does it fit into your life plan?

http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifestyle/why-you-need-to-make-a-life-plan.html

http://www.wikihow.com/Write-a-Life-Plan

http://www.artofmanliness.com/2011/02/08/create-a-life-plan/


JB

 

[mark galoob]

i started a side business from the regular place here about 3 years ago with the idea being it would help keep cash flow more constant and maybe provide me an exit strategy w/ my sign/print shop should i want it at some point in the future.

i was working 70 hr weeks just to keep up...just had to hire just to help w/ the load. we started with a shoestring budget and have exponentially doubled in size about every 6 months since we started.

it can be done, but make sure you have an exit strategy if it doesnt work, or it gets too big for you

 

[player]

Watch out for debt. Once you are saddled with payments, leases, advertising, insurance etc. your expenses and debt own you.

 

[SellersSign&Design]

I'm a full time firefighter, and I run my sign business on the side. It's a little bit different situation though, I work ten 24 hour shifts a month at the fire department and I'm off the other days. All of that combined with buying a house and remodeling it over the past 3 months has almost drove me to the point of selling my sign business, it's almost too much. The bad thing is I don't advertise at all, and I have cut back to doing mostly just fire department graphics work and I still can't keep up. I guess the biggest thing I can tell you is be careful and don't put yourself in a position where you get "burned out" due to being too busy.