sign shop from home

[toucan_graphics]

I have always been home-based since about 2004. I took a break for the past 4 years and I'm just getting back into it. SO far it works great except for the lack of space. I go to my customers to do installs which they love and it adds a more personal touch. I use a storage unit to apply the vinyl to large sign blanks (and the occasional car when the weather isn't so nice). The storage unit people have no problem with this arrangement so long as I'm not doing "mechanical work" such as changing oil or such things that would get grease or oil on the floor of the unit. I just have to take care by putting drip pans and/or tarps down if I pull a car inside. The only down side of this arrangement is if I have to re-cut something or if I forget something I have to drive back to the house to get it. (Not that big of a deal though.)

 

[gnemmas]

Two things to consider:

1. Is it a Business or just a Job for you? Build a business, you create equity, there will be a nice lump sum waiting for you when you retire. Work from home, it is just "Work", not thing to show when you retire unless you can stash away IRA diligently.

2. Calculate the "Cost of Time" spent to meet customers versus the "Cost of Rent": if you spend one hour a day to meet the customer and deliver the goods, at the shop rate of $65 an hour, 22 work days a month, that is $1,300 a month.

 

[toucan_graphics]

Two things to consider:

1. Is it a Business or just a Job for you? Build a business, you create equity, there will be a nice lump sum waiting for you when you retire. Work from home, it is just "Work", not thing to show when you retire unless you can stash away IRA diligently.

2. Calculate the "Cost of Time" spent to meet customers versus the "Cost of Rent": if you spend one hour a day to meet the customer and deliver the goods, at the shop rate of $65 an hour, 22 work days a month, that is $1,300 a month.

I disagree on both points.

1. Just because I don't have a store front certainly doesn't mean that my products and services are less valuable or that it is just a "job". The only loss in the long term is real estate equity if I purchased a location. Considering that the vast majority of shop owners LEASE a storefront, they too are losing out on the real estate equity AND incurring a recurring cost for that storefront. A store front is nothing more than a "customer interaction center" and production center. In my business model, the customer interaction occurs where it is most convenient for the customer. I have worked in a store front sign shop and averaged perhaps 3 "walk-ins" per week with only one of those actually making a purchase. 99% of our business was from referrals and from old fashioned scouting. Most of our transactions were completed at the job site anyhow, so I think a home based shop is a good option for many owners.

2. All my shop time is billable... design time, production time and install time. That hour I spend driving to and from a job site is factored into the final price and I still maintain a substantial competitive advantage to the shops trapped in a $2,500 per month lease. Even if I give away this time and it adds up to $1,300 per month it is still almost half the monthly cost of a leased store front.

With that being said, I will also say this:
Being home based is NOT for everyone and all factors must be considered. For me, home based is the only way to go at this time but I re-evaluate this choice periodically and will change my strategy if it is financially beneficial.

 

[James Burke]

Two things to consider:

1. Is it a Business or just a Job for you? Build a business, you create equity, there will be a nice lump sum waiting for you when you retire. Work from home, it is just "Work", not thing to show when you retire unless you can stash away IRA diligently.

I'm home-based, operating out of a two-car attached garage and I'd like to disagree.

When done correctly, a business is comprised of a value proposition, operating "systems" and a customer base. Those three elements can still be managed from the kitchen table...and sold as a viable operating business worth many times its annual revenues.


JB

 

[john1]

What all do you want to "show" when you retire? As long as your doing something you enjoy and are paying the bills, What else is there that separates a retail store front shop vs a home based shop? All the "real shops" around here are douches, Too good to meet customers because they are 8-5 only and this and that. I am not saying i am meeting customers at 8pm at night but being home based allows me to have a flexible schedule to pay my bills. I love it. If someone works and cannot stop by for example until 6:30 or so, I can make things happen where the "real shops" cannot because they are stuck in their 8-5 hours.

 

[gnemmas]

Quote: "What all do you want to "show" when you retire?"

1. An 8,000sf commercial building that is paid for with 10% down SBA loan 25 years ago, and paid $3,000 /mo mortgage (rent) from the sign business income. It houses two other business and the sign co., total rent income is $7,500/mo.

2. A house that is paid for from the sign business income.

3. A sign business that is well known in local area, planning to give a good chunk of ownership to current employees. The business should outlast me. This is what I want to "show" that my lifetime effort will carry on when I am not here.

I did not intend to talk down one mode of operation or the other. Just couple of points for OP's question. Please don't get personal.

The 2nd point is time management. True, a shop is a place to meet customers. Rather than go to customers place or coffee shop to meet, they come to us, where we have vast advantage: nice show room, material samples, and concrete impressions. Where at theirs place, driving time aside, phone interruptions, their customer and employee interruptions, you are at their mercy. We can meet 10 to 20 customers a day in our place. How many can we visit at their places? Mind you, these are just meetings, not all meetings results in order. This is where my calculation that one to tow hours travel time saving a day will pay for the rent, on top of that, the impression of having a business like operation could be an advantage over competitions.

What is the percentage you get a deposit from the first meeting?

Then you have to deliver the goods to their place. Our average per order amount is $200. Each employee should generate $100/hour of signs. We will not be profitable if we don't operate efficiently.

 

[4R Graphics]

Home based is great if you have the drive to do it right.

You have to show up to work on time.

You need to treat it as if it was a storefront based business.

You need to charge prices that are fair in your market dont undercut really low just because you have a lower overhead (especially if you ever want to move into a location)

We did it for many years and it worked out great.

 

[john1]

Quote: "What all do you want to "show" when you retire?"

1. An 8,000sf commercial building that is paid for with 10% down SBA loan 25 years ago, and paid $3,000 /mo mortgage (rent) from the sign business income. It houses two other business and the sign co., total rent income is $7,500/mo.

2. A house that is paid for from the sign business income.

3. A sign business that is well known in local area, planning to give a good chunk of ownership to current employees. The business should outlast me. This is what I want to "show" that my lifetime effort will carry on when I am not here.

Confusing what you want with others isn't good but alright lol

I want a million trillion dollhairs when i go! You'll be dead when your gone so who cares. A hole in the ground is no different than anyone else's "Oh my grave looks cooler than yours!"

 

[toucan_graphics]

Home based is great if you have the drive to do it right.

You have to show up to work on time.

You need to treat it as if it was a storefront based business.

You need to charge prices that are fair in your market dont undercut really low just because you have a lower overhead (especially if you ever want to move into a location)

We did it for many years and it worked out great.

Good points... I'm home-based and I like it that way. I'm with you... I refuse to "give" my work away for pennies on the dollar like some home-based shops do without a good reason. This (IMO) is what differentiates between a "sticker maker" and a legitimate business venture.

Having the personal discipline to treat yourself as your own employee and show up on time, maintain professionalism and sticking to a preset plan or model is paramount to being successful, but this extends to traditional shops with a dedicated store front as well.

As for undercutting prices, I do sometimes offer "creative financing" options to customers on a case by case basis. I accept periodic payments on balances if they paid an adequate deposit, I have done work on trade for other goods and services, and (rarely) have given away work to charitable organizations. These creative financing options are all about recognizing the difference between value and price which often times gets overlooked.

My business model is tailored to establishing a relationship with my customers that extends beyond the business transaction. A personal touch that provides a face and a personality to customers rather than a just a logo and some signs. I also do a fair amount of referrals as part of this model - There are many areas where I am the obvious best choice and other times when Joe Schmoe down the road might be better suited for a specific need. If someone else can better serve my customers' needs in a certain area, I try to refer them, make the introduction and help any way I can. This, in turn generates quite a few referrals my way in return. It is quite a spirit of cooperation in my market area and consider myself extremely fortunate to have established professional partnerships with "competitors" that allows us each to offer the best of what we do without sniping each other and being cut-throat.

 

[divers2deep]

To all of you with home based business, Do you have a minimum amount that the job must meet for you to take the time to get with clients ?

 

[Gino]

To those of you home-based, so to speak...... nothing wrong with it and more power to ya, but why is it.... you're always trying to hide the fact you are working out of your home/garage/bedroom by meeting people at their place or Starbucks and acting as if you have some facility as to where this stuff is being manufactured ??

Why the disguise ??

 

[Guerilla Signs]

Gino,

Not all of us hide the fact that we are working out of our home. I am seven miles from the nearest community and twenty miles from most of my customers. I let them know I work from my home and they are fine with that.

I am of the opinion that honesty is the best policy. Have not lost a job due to working from my home yet.

 

[Gino]

Gino,

Not all of us hide the fact that we are working out of our home. I am seven miles from the nearest community and twenty miles from most of my customers. I let them know I work from my home and they are fine with that.

I am of the opinion that honesty is the best policy. Have not lost a job due to working from my home yet.

Correct, there are some who don't do this. Perhaps I generalized a teeny bit too much, but I think you still catch my drift.

It's one thing to meet someone at a cafe or coffee shop, but all the time ?? You want them coming to your home to drop off a tractor trailer or go to their dirty yard in the middle of winter to letter four tractors ??

We have some customers who order things a few times a week. You're gonna go to this restaurant to trade merchandise and receive a check ?? What if you have four customers picking up jobs all at the same time and they want to do it over the lunch hour. You gonna rent a table at Starbucks ?? How do you swipe their cards ?? What if someone gets caught in traffic and is an hour late ?? You're telling me, you're gonna waste three hours at a coffee shop and not feel stoopid ?? Then customer #4 calls and says, he turned back, he'll be by around 4:30.

So, you get all four transactions finished somehow, but you spent almost a whole day playing waiter and busboy and got no real work accomplished. Maybe this hasn't happened to you, but don;t you wanna grow to that point ??

Again, you don't put the cart in front of the horse, but you can certainly have a small place to conduct business, run your machinery in the back and still go out to do trucks or whatever.

Keeping yourself small, means you will most likely remain small because you're afraid to leave the nest cause of taking naps or naming your own hours. Again, I am generalizing. Some people can juggle this around quite well and like it, but it's not my cup-a-tea and most of our customers probably wouldn't want it another way.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

It's one thing to meet someone at a cafe or coffee shop, but all the time ?? You want them coming to your home to drop off a tractor trailer or go to their dirty yard in the middle of winter to letter four tractors ??

I'm sure it's not the same everywhere, but here to legally get a home occupation permit, you can't have any clients come to your home. No signage on the outside, no vehicle lettering. Enforcement is pretty stiff on this as well due to the fact that most sub-division CCRs have the same rules as well. So not only do you get hit with a fine from the city/county, but also your sub-division as well.

About the only way to make home occupation to legally work here is to either always meet your clients or to have a good size parcel of land so that people really won't squawk.

You're gonna go to this restaurant to trade merchandise and receive a check ??

Even I do that, but the restaurant is typically my client. Sorry, couldn't resist that one.

How do you swipe their cards ??

Shoot, card readers can go on cell phones nowadays.

 

[Guerilla Signs]

Gino: "You want them coming to your home to drop off a tractor trailer or go to their dirty yard in the middle of winter to letter four tractors ??"

They can bring then to me or I go to them either one. I have plenty of room but most want me to come to them and I charge accordingly.

Again, you don't put the cart in front of the horse, but you can certainly have a small place to conduct business, run your machinery in the back and still go out to do trucks or whatever.

I agree I need more room under roof to do things like I want to be doing them. I will eventually have a bigger space and a more "professional look" for my business. But this will come in due time since my strategy is to do this as I can invest and not have to take out a loan to make it happen.

Until then I will continue to make due and plug away toward the goal.

 

[redbarn]

home based doesn't have to be in your home

I've found what I think is the best of both worlds. We built our shop on our family farm. 100 acres, on a dirt road, only 5 mins from town. The shop is built behind my parents house, i live next door, sis across the street, grandparents next door. I'm incredibly lucky my great grandfather bought this farm in the 50's. I and my parents live in houses he built (literally). It's beautiful and customers come just to look at the place. My Dad love antiques and has tons of neat things on display. I think some customers come for that reason only. Ive found that a staggering amount of my business is from word of mouth so I focus my time on networking. Its working well, going on our 5th year and steadily growing. I love working from home but not in my home. The "drive" to show up on time and get things accomplished isn't a problem and if it is I highly suggest heading back to corporate america.

 

[visual800]

To those of you home-based, so to speak...... nothing wrong with it and more power to ya, but why is it.... you're always trying to hide the fact you are working out of your home/garage/bedroom by meeting people at their place or Starbucks and acting as if you have some facility as to where this stuff is being manufactured ??

Why the disguise ??

why not? Its none of peoples business where I work, where my shop is, how I operate. Im not ashamed of it, however back when I started people would show up at 8pm and just were invasive. I did that a few years and had to put the brakes on it. I finally started cutting my phone off at 5 no more calls. If the doorbell rang i didnt answer it. It took awahile but it all stopped eventually.

Now when people ask me I tell them my office is home based and I have a shop elsewhere. Some wanna come see the shop and I tell them to call me cause Im not always there.....they never call and come. people are odd

 

[Sign Up Graphics]

Sign Up Graphics

 

[rjssigns]

I have dozens of shops all over the state and out of state. How? They are the huge shops my clients have built that I use when lettering their equipment.
They appreciate the fact they no longer have to schlepp their trucks, trailers, etc... back and forth.

Everyone's situation is different. I'm a little different.LOL I leverage what is already in place.

 

[KevSign]

8 yr in 3 cars garage working from 8-2pm and working for offset print shop from 3-11pm. Just pull out to warehouse in June 2012 and quit the job, we are grow in 6 months and make us more professional with 8ft L28500, Roland Pro2 1045EX. Hope it right we will add HP Flatbed FB500 the end of 2013.

100% support home base business if starter or down size.

Best of Luck and Great Health to All 2013!!!!