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The annual question...how was business this year?
- Thread starter Stacey K
- Start date
TopFliteGraphics
New Member
Myself + One Full Time helper & One Part Time Helper after about March. Sales up over 26% versus last year with 4 weeks to go so should end up over 30%. Paid off a bunch of debt accumulated on CC's during the down 2021/2022 post covid years which was killing me. My fault 100% for keeping 2 guys on full time in 2021 & 2022 when sales were down. Implemented the Profit First strategy as well and it has made a HUGE difference. I feel like I am actually making money for the first time in 13+ years in business instead of just passing money through my hands. Looking forward to 2025!
Record year at our shop for the 4th straight year. Probably up low-teen % vs '23. Invoice totals are way up, really stuck to our guns on the order minimum and it cost us some customers but really helped keep the big jobs flowing. Picked up some bigger accounts (contracted and some national) that have at times been a PITA to work with but really keep the printer rolling. Looking forward to continuing the momentum with refreshed advertising, sales plan, and equipment.
Newy Laser
New Member
Me, and 3 plus subbies. Well Everyone, I am in OZ and I get what all of you are saying. For us, we have seen a lot of signies and their shop struggling, yet some are claiming they are frantic. It is up and down with our Sydney workshop but when it goes it REALLY goes.
Now me - I retired just as COVID hit so that idea went down the drain cause the manager who took over was struggling, so I jumped back in to help and refloat the company. Paid off - this last 6 months have been great. Lets see what the next 6 gives us.
Now me - I retired just as COVID hit so that idea went down the drain cause the manager who took over was struggling, so I jumped back in to help and refloat the company. Paid off - this last 6 months have been great. Lets see what the next 6 gives us.
CanuckSigns
Active Member
We just finished pur financial year end, we had a 6% increase in profits, but I felt busier than previous years, time to raise prices I guess..
a friend always told me nothing big ever got approved between thanksgiving & new years, he said there was no one in the office to sign off on the big stuff.
i always found just the opposite money to be used up before year end.
10sacer
New Member
Been steadily growing for past five years and have increased to 35 employees in two locations here in Charlotte and Washington, DC area. We actually just had this discussion and we are up 27% this year over last year with 5 straight months over $700k in sales. Our biggest differentiator is that we stopped doing small one off jobs that just bog you down and pretty much focus on large events and corporate interiors as well as our major sports clients. Introduced a revenue sharing program for our install teams so they can share in the financial position of the company - which is fairly unheard of in the industry.
Stacey K
I like making signs
Ditto. I always have a lot of small businesses who, at the least, want to pay me for services they won't get until the new year. Have a few already this December!
Texas_Signmaker
Very Active Signmaker
Wow...that sounds nice. My big client likes to pay me once a year. Net365
JBurton
Signtologist
Sitting on the opposite problem for a school. They won't cut the check until the work is completed, haven't approved 4 murals, the art they provided was roughly square, the wall was 43"x43', so I rearranged it to maintain most elements and they had a cow, asked why I couldn't use the spec'd art, went back to the agency who created the art, and now we are all sitting on our hands with 9 days of class left, won't be cutting the check after the last day of class, and I'm starting to think they imagine we'll install 4 multi part murals in one day...
Not that it helps, but given what you said I bet the designer thought they said it was 43"x43" area.
Or the bovine typed 43"x43", and had some how forgotten those formative classes of shapes and colours.
We had a big location shift in April, though production was only down 10% Q1, Q2. Q3 was great, but we've somehow seen a drop off the last few weeks (which historically are rather busy). Hoping it is just the weather here (wet and misrick).
JBurton
Signtologist
Definitely not hard to imagine, but my understanding is the person that made the art for the entire campaign has parted ways with this company, and the person at the school dealing with them has also quit. Blind leading the blind it would seem.
Notarealsignguy
Arial - it's almost helvetica
We saw similar, this year was on par with 2023 until sept/oct. We have a smaller backlog than usual but that is somewhat of a relief after the past few years of craziness.
JBurton
Signtologist
Welcome back. Boudica has your missing assignments. You missed the ai test though.
Warmoth
New Member
It's been a pretty great year for us. Lots of changes around the shop. Additional plotter and printer. Lost two employees, gained two more. Knocked a wall down. Relocated lots of equipment and a few offices. Rebuilt our website and all around reinforced our branding through all the little things (uniforms, cards, signatures, etc.).
We're still accepting walk-in customers, but many new policies are going into affect in January to hopefully control the headaches.
Very close to a big sales goal, but doesn't look like it will happen this year. Still, I'm very happy with the shop's performance. It feels like we're kicking butt everyday. Here's some numberless comparisons to last year.
Overall Sales
Overall Order Count
We're still accepting walk-in customers, but many new policies are going into affect in January to hopefully control the headaches.
Very close to a big sales goal, but doesn't look like it will happen this year. Still, I'm very happy with the shop's performance. It feels like we're kicking butt everyday. Here's some numberless comparisons to last year.
Overall Sales
Overall Order Count
johnnysigns
New Member
2024's been the best year we've ever had. Need to make a lot of changes for 2025 to grow and up production/capability for current demand. We do the bulk of our annual dollars from June-November. This year we're still busy in December and January is filling up. Traditionally we're slow from January to Late February, but doesn't seem to be the case with the current trend for next year.
MGB_LE
New Member
I'm not the owner, but I bought the books "Profit First" and "Fix this Next" and still need to read them.
Stacey K
I like making signs
That's the one thing most difficult for me after 7 years. Profit First. I really applied it in 2024, mostly for my sanity. Small town so I know everyone who walks in the door. Saying no to certain time sucking jobs gets some people offended since they consider me "a friend" or an "acquaintance". Many "arguments" this year trying to explain why I can't just make one little decal for $2. It's the most frustrating part of the job. If you don't do it though, the profitable customers have to wait. Hence...profit first. You hit the bullseye on this lol