Would you do it again?

[Tigertron]

As for me I'm just starting so yeah. Really it's my son and his friend I'm just the old guy hanging out. Still I think there is potential if you are not just focused on cloroplast and banners.

Now at the risk of hi-jacking the thread...
@Old Paint I'm not as old as you but I do remember the '70s too. Sad thing nowadays is if I do a killer airbrushed paint job first thing I'm asked is, is it vinyl? Bah why bother. But I can do things with an airbrush that can't be done with vinyl. Still even if it has candies and ground metal its "Wow! Is that vinyl wrap?"

 

[Pat Whatley]

you right. every "computer capable" 20 year old today thinks he is a GRAPHIC DESIGNER!!!!

Heck OP...to hear you tell it back in the 70s everybody was making a killing illegally reproducing Frazetta's and Roth's artwork and calling themselves "artists".

 

[SignManiac]

Pat you are an astute observer of life.

And no, I'm smart enough to do a lot more in life than making signs.

 

[OldPaint]

well patti, IT WAS.....and you had to be an artist to recreate ART))))))) was it illegal? i dont know of anyone who got busted for doing it. AND THERE WAS A LOT OF VANS with frazettas on em. also a lot of freestyle art work as added to these. the point i was making was YES WE MADE MORE MONEY THEN....because there was not many people who could do this work!!!!! when i had my shop i would get these kids come in looking for work. i would hand them a yellow legal pad and a #2 pencil and say DRAW SOMETHING. they just told me they was A GRAPHIC ARTIST.............then with pad and pencil in hand...........THEY CANT DRAW A STICK FIGURE!!!! so they cant do what i do. and next i would ask if they can run a skill saw, drill or READ A RULER........most couldnt do any of that. and they wanted to get paid for playing on the computer ONLY!!!!

 

[GAC05]

............then with pad and pencil in hand...........THEY CANT DRAW A STICK FIGURE!!!! so they cant do what i do.

OP scan your hand drawn stick figures into the pc and upload them so we can see.....


wayne k
guam usa

 

[Rick]

So.. Would you start a sign business again, today?

I don't like having my own business, I prefer working for someone. But, if faced with the same situation as I was 7 years ago, yes, I would do it again.

If so, what would you do different? If not, why not?

Nothing, I have been very lucky to work with some of the best graphic designers and sign guys in the business. One bit of advice about working for the best, you have to ask them for a job... then pay attention as you would starting your own business.

Do any of you have tips for growing a sign business?

Learn how to compromise, and stand your ground. There are times where there is some bad design work I will not do, it's to mentally draining, there are times where I will deal with it.

You can not get good, well paying sign and design work my making poorly designed, cheap signs.


Or, getting contracts with the state, or advertisers, etc..

with the state


What kind of work are you wanting to do?
Getting contracts with city, county and state can be as simple as google searches for upcoming bids. There are sites specific to that... one place is Dodge Reports. There are other bid sites for government work. Then there are organizations like city downtown associations where you can meet them directly.

or advertisers, etc..

Again, what type of work? This is as easy as starting with design firms in charge of specifying the graphics, to bidding on RFP's.

 

[signage]

In the 70's not many knew what a computer was let a lone design on one. OP I think you were doing to much inhaling of lacquerer or something else!)))))))))))))))))))))))))

And yes I would do it again, tell me where else you get to work with all these different equipment and materials.

 

[Sticky Signs]

So.. Would you start a sign business again, today? If so, what would you do different? If not, whynot?

Well, I like flying by the seat of my pants so Yup, I'm pretty sure I'd do it all over again.
Would I do anything different? Knowing what I know/don't know now, yes. I would try to learn how to NOT fly by the seat of my pants. Probably wouldn't be as much fun though...


Do any of you have tips for growing a sign business? Or, getting contracts with the state, or advertisers, etc..

Do a good job. Each and every job. And do it with a smile. You never know who's watching or who is talking to who (or is it whom is speaking with whom? LOL)

 

[OldPaint]

In the 70's not many knew what a computer was let a lone design on one. OP I think you were doing to much inhaling of lacquerer or something else!)))))))))))))))))))))))))

And yes I would do it again, tell me where else you get to work with all these different equipment and materials.

you ever paint with automotive lacquer????? one of the best buzzzes you can get)))))heck of a head ache later though!
some of the hard core drugies back in the 70's would take a rag soak it in lacquer thinner, drop it in a paper bag and "huff" the fumes.............only problem with that........not much oxygen get in there.. and YOU DIE!!!!
GA05.............MY STICK FIGURES ARE COPYRIGHT PROTECTED))))

 

[Dave Drane]

In the 70's not many knew what a computer was let a lone design on one. OP I think you were doing to much inhaling of lacquerer or something else!)))))))))))))))))))))))))

And yes I would do it again, tell me where else you get to work with all these different equipment and materials.

And I take it you were still sucking a dummy (or as you would understand, a pacifier) ?? Please show some respect to the elder craftsmen of this industry.

 

[signage]

Dave I do not think so! I wasn't as old as OP but I was in my teens. I do respect what you old timers did, I just don't like when someone states something not true. Like I said in the seventies not many heard or even thought of a home based computer!

 

[Jillbeans]

Most definitely not.
After 27 years, my industry is dead. I started out as a painter and I did expand into computer-aided sign making.
But none of that matters.
If you can afford used machines on eBay or Craigslist, you too can become a sign maker, regardless of your skills or the lack thereof.
I used to make good money in my area, now my market is flooded with opportunists who are here today and gone tomorrow.
I am gearing towards being a design-only company, and trying to build a niche market of something most people cannot do...hand painted signs.
So I'm pretty much back to where I started.
Technology, while making things easier, has also cheapened and devalued a once-proud industry.
Yes, I was able to raise three kids on my own without the benefit of daycare.
Yes, I own my own home.
But if I could have done things differently, I would have stayed in art school and got a job downtown, working for someone else and collecting a regular pay check.
Then again, everything I learned in art school is archaic and obsolete.
Maybe I really should have been what I wanted to be when I was 4 years old...a ballerina!
Love....Jill

 

[Billct2]

Two of the people who's talent I admire the most on this board (Jill & Deaton)both said they wouldn't do it again...which I think says volumes about they way this business has changed. Two of the leading figures in the sign industry, aren't even really a sign makers anymore (Dan Antonelli & Dan Sawatsky).
Would I do it again, yes. The business has been pretty good to me.
Would I start over now, no.

 

[David Wright]

I wonder if you asked this question to people in other trades and businesses what their response would be. The contractors I talk to are very unhappy with the state of their trades also.
The new economy isn't so pleasant.

 

[OldPaint]

signage..........see you mighta been a teen in the 70's but betcha didnt know i was working with computers IN 1972!!!!!! IBM 1050-2...........U.S.AIR FORCE.
As most of "talented sign painters" meaning we can create signs WITHOUT A COMPUTER OR PRINTER, will say no way would we be interested in the "business" as it is today. like jill said some fool with a little of daddy's money can buy used printer and without ever cracking an ART BOOK or any books from what i see of most of the crap they crank out, NOW THEY IS IN DA SIGN BUS'NESS)))
iam fortunate to have people who want "hand painted signage." and i restore things like old coke coolers, little red wagons, toy peddle tractors and cars. these had NO VINYL on em, so to keep them to what is called "period piece" it has to have paint like it did originally. here is a couple of old cans i did. i also painted the word international in the grill and the tail gate. also restored the "dog dish" hubcaps on this truck and repainted the name on the hubcap. the hubcaps in the pic are on the left an NOS(new, old stock)right one that was on the truck BEFORE i took out the dents, sandblasted, primed & repainted with color to match the the one on the left. ALL PAINT. 1967 there was no vinyl.

 

[Gino]

Do it again........ probably. It's about all I know how to do.

Went to many art schools and college for commercial and fine arts. Trained with some really good people and then found sign painting through a back door. The guy said, we don't need anyone that can paint boats at sea or grapes and fruit on a piece of canvas......... Ohh, that's the wrong thing to tell a teenager in his 2nd year of college. I was determined to prove to this guy I could do both.

Now, 40 years later... I eat, breath and sleep signs. It's my whole world. Over the years managed to combine fine arts and lettering. Learned every facet of the business, except blowing neon. Been 90' in the air, working on signs..... out in a barn painting machinery in 10° weather, to lettering cranes and semi's for various clients. I still have all my digits, so I can still twirl a brush or a dagger.

In the mid 80's we pulled the note on computerizing our shop and never looked back. Before the computers we had a shop full of talented painters, a screen printer, electrician and some part-timers, while now we just push a button and everything is basically done for us. We used to be months and months back-logged. With all the computers, printers and such..... we can do in a day, what a shop of 11 did in a week.

The computers are great, when put in the hands of qualified people, otherwise, that's my only complaint of the industry today..... too many who think they can, just because they think so.

 

[Fatboy]

Most definitely not.
After 27 years, my industry is dead. I started out as a painter and I did expand into computer-aided sign making.
But none of that matters.
If you can afford used machines on eBay or Craigslist, you too can become a sign maker, regardless of your skills or the lack thereof.
I used to make good money in my area, now my market is flooded with opportunists who are here today and gone tomorrow.
I am gearing towards being a design-only company, and trying to build a niche market of something most people cannot do...hand painted signs.
So I'm pretty much back to where I started.
Technology, while making things easier, has also cheapened and devalued a once-proud industry.
Yes, I was able to raise three kids on my own without the benefit of daycare.
Yes, I own my own home.
But if I could have done things differently, I would have stayed in art school and got a job downtown, working for someone else and collecting a regular pay check.
Then again, everything I learned in art school is archaic and obsolete.
Maybe I really should have been what I wanted to be when I was 4 years old...a ballerina!
Love....Jill

Shame that is very sad Gill!

 

[UFB Fabrication]

I do know 1 thing, that in the 1970's a 3 color "for lease" sign went for 250 bucks. Now it likely sells for the same or less. The difference is that sign shops now do the same work with 20+ thousand dollar printers and materials are 3 to 4 time what they were back in the day.

Would I do it again, maybe but I would be doing 2 grand harley paint jobs or pin stripping at a car show while people watched. If I had a time machine I would go back and be doing custom hot rod or bike work. Something I actually like. Funny thing is I go to lake of the Ozarks and see some million dollar homes and boats none are owned by sign guys or even retired sign guys. A friend of a friend owns a asphalt company and he seems to be a** deep in money. BTW those 500thou boats with a stupid name done in brush script vinyl look like sh**. Give me a nice mahogany transom with real gold leaf. I to am at the 30 year plus milestone in the business. I am also slowly moving away and doing more steel and big fab work to not have to compete with the folks that have screwed this industry up and make it hard for real sign shops to make any money.

So the answer is would I do it again sadly no.

 

[WCSign]

Do it again........ probably. It's about all I know how to do.

Went to many art schools and college for commercial and fine arts. Trained with some really good people and then found sign painting through a back door. The guy said, we don't need anyone that can paint boats at sea or grapes and fruit on a piece of canvas......... Ohh, that's the wrong thing to tell a teenager in his 2nd year of college. I was determined to prove to this guy I could do both.

Now, 40 years later... I eat, breath and sleep signs. It's my whole world. Over the years managed to combine fine arts and lettering. Learned every facet of the business, except blowing neon. Been 90' in the air, working on signs..... out in a barn painting machinery in 10° weather, to lettering cranes and semi's for various clients. I still have all my digits, so I can still twirl a brush or a dagger.

In the mid 80's we pulled the note on computerizing our shop and never looked back. Before the computers we had a shop full of talented painters, a screen printer, electrician and some part-timers, while now we just push a button and everything is basically done for us. We used to be months and months back-logged. With all the computers, printers and such..... we can do in a day, what a shop of 11 did in a week.

The computers are great, when put in the hands of qualified people, otherwise, that's my only complaint of the industry today..... too many who think they can, just because they think so.

I knew by posts that I had read on here over the past month that you knew your ****!! Cheers.

OldPaint, Awesome Awesome story/post.. I love it.. real talent is hard to come by, I wish I had an artistic talent, be it paint, music or whatever.. kudos man..

and to anyone saying some slick replies to him.. man, wow..

 

[John L]

As I see it... Vinyl and paint are both all but about done. Design isn't appreciated with any real dollars any more. Neon is being hedged for christmas lights. Even electric and hi-rise are being squeezed, and cheapened to the point of not being worth the risk or investment in most of the major cities of the US.

So NO, not even.