Who Are You?

[Fred Weiss]

So who are you in the sign business?

[Rick]

An Environmental and Traditional Graphic Designer that happens to make signs.

[Jen Goodwin]

I went for the second one, but to be exact I am a full-time graphic artist employed by a graphic screen printing shop, duties include setting up artwork for screen printing and making signs.
My husband and I also own our own t-shirt screen print/sign/glass business with a shop at our home. Duties include everything. :biggrin: He is full time there and I work there (which is equal to more than full-time) after work and on weekends. But ahhh, someday...

[Marlene]

I'm a full time graphic designer who also sells, quotes and makes signs. I can do just about anything needed to be done from setting up a corporate package with logo design and all that is needed to reproduce it in any form to installing stud mounted letters to a wall. I like that the shop I work for is small enough that I'm able to do more than one type of job. I'ts fun to design a logo and then make it yourself by hand. As the designer, I think it comes out better that way as I'm the one who really knows what it should look like.

[geb]

I chose the one listing signmaker for a gov't agency. I work in a New York State signshop. I started by painting boards, sweeping floors, progressed to screen printing, now I design and letter all the signs that come out of our shop.

We do mainly all the signs, not DOT, from Canadian border to Long Island. Our signage consists of ID signs for various campgrounds, Fishing Access Sites, Boat Launches, State Forests, etc. We also take care of the total signage for a ski center in the Catskill Mountains.

I just got done lettering 64 new state vehicles with reflective markings, something we usually do every year.

I started a part-time business in '99 nights and weekends, allowing me to experience different aspects of the sign business, and hopefully learn and grow with this field. This site and members have been a big help for me in my home business.

George

[Shovelhead]

Owner small sign business...
Vinyl and install sub contractor for my full-time employer....
best of both worlds
:Coffee:

[dccas]

Funny how I got started, retired from the Sheriff's Dept, moved up north, needed a wood stove, when purchasing that, noticed signs being painted, told the owner if he ever needed help, let me know, a month later, he called, I painted, and learned the sign trade (thought I knew it until reading the comments from this forum :biggrin: );

Anyway, owners sold the stove business, moved sign business downtown, they started up another business....and I learned, and learned, and learned, mostly sandblasing and carving HDU, got a plotter, and stated doing vehicles, coroplast, and etc...

and here I am...incidently , I started painting for them in 1992...they've been in sign business since 1978...

[Ocean Designs]

An under contract IBM sales rep who got into the sign business as a side job. What was I thinking must of had too much time on my hands? :Big Laugh

It's great :Cool 2: and the last year has been very rewarding. I can't wait to finish my contract and move forward full speed ahead. Too many late night hours right now :)

[SignRover]

Five years ago I convinced my boss that our little 4 man store fixture distributing business could be building the signs we had been outsourcing if we simply bought a shopbot router.

And a plotter...and a laser engraver, and another plotter, and 4 wide format printers, and a laminator, a herd of computers, and enough software to choke a rhino.

This year my little 12 man department has grossed over $1 million. I've sent installation teams to at least 30 states. And we've already tied down enough work for next year to give us a 50% boost in revenue.

If any of you guys want to move to the left coast, CALL ME, because I had no intention of running a sign business. I could use an experienced hand. I'm just a cabinet-maker who came up with the right idea at the right time.

So the moral of my story: If you can't open your shop next door to Office Depot, open it next to a store fixture supplier... just not mine.

[GraphixCALC]

Very inspiring to be sure! I'm a bit north of you in WA state doing my thing out of my home - detached 20x36 shop though - as a part-timer at the moment. My primary day-job is as a Mechanical Design Engineer working in Aerospace (not Boeing, though). I like my job and all the benefits, but still yearn to own my own thriving business. I'm not the best employee as such cuz I don't follow the corporate mindset and am not very PC. Don't get me wrong, I show up everyday and am dependable, I just don't want to do it for someone else's bottom line where I have no real vested interest.

Five years ago I convinced my boss that our little 4 man store fixture distributing business could be building the signs we had been outsourcing if we simply bought a shopbot router.

And a plotter...and a laser engraver, and another plotter, and 4 wide format printers, and a laminator, a herd of computers, and enough software to choke a rhino.

This year my little 12 man department has grossed over $1 million. I've sent installation teams to at least 30 states. And we've already tied down enough work for next year to give us a 50% boost in revenue.

If any of you guys want to move to the left coast, CALL ME, because I had no intention of running a sign business. I could use an experienced hand. I'm just a cabinet-maker who came up with the right idea at the right time.

So the moral of my story: If you can't open your shop next door to Office Depot, open it next to a store fixture supplier... just not mine.

[nodrenim]

After 44 years of this crazy thing called the sign business, I currently own and operate a small wholesale neon shop in North Carolina. I enjoy the weather here much better than in the cold northern Adirondacks. I occasionaly do some hand lettering just to keep in practice.

[Fred Weiss]

My first taste of this business was in the summer of 1971, when, as a lark, I purchased a vacuum forming machine and made magnetic signs. That's before anybody ever thought of vinyl letters or magnetic sheet. To my pleasant surprise, I found I had a knack for it and made more in three months than my fulltime business was making me in a year. Circumstances prevented me from a career change at that point.

Twelve years later I made the change and was no sooner setup when Gerber released the Signmaker III. I got one and never looked back. The business started getting requests from other shops to cut letters for them and by 1986, wholesale was all we did. At its peak we employed six people, had more than 1000 shops around the country buying from us and were producing an average of 5000 letters a day.

Along the way, we developed the Scrappy Friction Feed Adapter for Gerber 15" plotters; wrote the first program for identifying unknown type styles; became a type dealer and developed logo and clipart for the sign trade. Ultimately we sold the vinyl cutting part of our business to a key employee and did some other things for a while.

We purchased a Gerber Edge in 1998 and built a retail sign business around it that does fairly well. We continue to develop clipart for the sign trade and will shortly be releasing a full color print and cut collection.

Thirteen months ago, Eli Browning, for whatever his reasons, walked away from this forum he had started .... handing the keys to me. And for whatever reasons I accepted the keys and have watched, with no particular effort on my part, the membership and activity here grow from 450 members to 1401 at this writing.

[Fred Weiss]

Interesting responses so far. No a single sign supplier or manufacturer???? C'mon .... I know you're out there. And what did I miss that we have 7 votes for "Other" at this writing. If you're not a signmaker, a manufacturer, a supplier or at least thinkin' about getting in the business .... what is your interest in being a member here?

[jimdes]

Oddly enough, I'd still rather be guessing people's weights and ages at the carnival but this is pretty solid year-round income as opposed to a weather dependant, economy reliant grind of a lifestyle that won't support two kids and a wife . . . can I really like being a guesser that much?

[bullseye000]

My family has owned a screen printing operation since 1975. I worked there until the mid 80's typesetting and doing illustrations. It's hard to work with family so I decided to go to work for one of the cities largest pre-press companies. When the Mac killed the pre-press companies in Chicago I had enough and went back to school and earned a technical degree. I worked in telecommunications as a software engineer for the last ten years until that industry tanked. So I've come full circle, back to the family business. I brought a few new things to the old shop like cutting vinyl and rubylith for some of our newer customers. We are also developing some of the typefaces that we used to hand draw 20 years ago into electronic fonts for the PC. Seeing how the market for these is pretty tough we're not sure if we are going to sell them or not. My dad is getting close to retirement and this may be too much for me to get my arms around by myself, so I don't know how long were going to be around. Might be time for another career change.

[Fred Weiss]

We are also developing some of the typefaces that we used to hand draw 20 years ago into electronic fonts for the PC. Seeing how the market for these is pretty tough we're not sure if we are going to sell them or not.
You should, IMHO, look at this as a terrific time to publish fonts. You can market them very reasonably yourself via the internet; market through dealers and organized marketers like Agfa's Creative Alliance or Bitstream's MyFonts.com or a host of independent developers and marketers of type; or you can license to a publisher and collect a royalty.

He who dies with the most fonts wins.

[bullseye000]

Thanks Fred that's something to think about. I'm fast approaching another fork in the road and am trying to weigh my options. When I worked in engineering I always worked for someone else. Since I went back into graphics I only have myself to out fumble. I kind of like it this way, so I'm trying to figure out what I can do by myself if I find myself alone next year.

[Greg]

I'm actually a full-time employee with the Federal gov't. A G-Man ) or is that an "F-Man"? DON'T SAY IT! I've heard them all....

I work for the National Park Service, Dept. of the Interior. Surely you've heard of places like Yosemite, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, etc.? Well I don't work at any of them. I'm at an "urban National Park" in Massachusetts replete with all the joys of a medium sized city. Why do you think I live in New Hampshire?

Anywho, my full-time work has mainly been in the graphics, desktop publishing, networks, database management (MS SQLServer) and web master(ish) department. I've been at it for almost 20 years.

At home I've always been a computer "nerd". When I was looking for something else to use my graphic art skills on and perhaps make some money at the same time I happened upon a brother-in-law that had purchased a Roland cutter...the rest is history. I bought a Summa D60 2 years ago and a Versacamm this year.

I'm making a go of it but I'm not anywhere near ready to vacate the job with benefits. It seems to be either feast or famine. I'm not complaining. If I actually advertised I'd probably get overrun. This way I can ease my way into it, pay some bills and see which way I'd like to go in the future.

[Imakesigns]

I am a full time at home sign maker. Sacramento. It's going as of now, but over the past 9 or 10 months it was hard to keep work coming in. I got over it and now I get quite a bit of referral business. I really want to get a cnc router. Just a Lynx 24" for now, though.

[seaviewsigns]

I'm a graphic designer at CBS 4 in Boston. TV is fun, but it's stressful. I've been a designer for 7 years, starting in Providence, RI while still in High School working nights and weekends. College, and school in general wasn't my thing, but for some reason, learning the Mac came as natural as holding a paint brush, and for me, graphic design was going to be my way. I've always talked about owning my own business, and I'm obsessed with cars, trucks, motorcycles and boats, and have been airbrushing motorcycle helmets and bikes since i was 12, so when I put it all together, I figured out the sign thing. Sea View Sign & Design has been in business for 10 months. I love it and can't wait to do it full time. Hopefully soon!!!

Cory
Sea View Sign & Design

[TC49010]

I have an established Embroidery & T-shirt Printing Business I currently run out of my home. I set up at 1-3 day events as well as run it from the internet . My girlfriend does vinyl and said it is sooo easy I should add it!! So here I am ready to learn!! I voted as a part-timer. I am at the point I need to move out of my home into a bigger area, be it take over the garage, build my own small pole barn or set up a store. I am still tossed on which one to do!!:Coffee:
Trixie

[scott pagan]

i'm a senior production artist and manage our digital printing department at my shop. i have loved creating artworks since i was a child. i started printing (offset) in high school as part of the graphic arts program. followed that up with college for Graphics Arts Management. i then found a good apprenticeship where i'm currently at (it's been 13 yrs now). i was very fortunate to come through my training in school and work, learning much of the traditional "old-school" ways before the computer was so prevelant in printing. using hand art, fixed cameras, darkrooms, setting filmwork/stripping for plates/screens, lens filters for 4color separations, hand pulling screenprint, and even doing some work on old roll press printers. up to today's PhotoShop direct RIP to digital grand format. it's been real fun seeing the technology make it faster and easier to produce great graphics. as well as meeting nice folks like many of the ones here to share experiences and knowledge with.

[jenrood]

We are new to the sign buisness we bought a plotter to do our own advertising for pressure washing and quickly learned we could make money making signs.:cool1: :cool1:

[GregT]

I worked in a 2 man sign shop 20 years ago. Moved to another state and joined another sign shop. Left sign shop to work for my father in law, (6 year) in completly different line of work. Left that for something I enjoyed...making signs. Worked out of the house until my wife informed me we needed a change. Now have a shop and 2 sub-contractors working for me. (one is my father in law)

[visualedgegraphics]

I am a part-time signmaker working out of my home and have a full-time job with benefits. I started in January and love the challenge of learning something new. No where near ready to leave my full-time job, but can't wait until I can. The forum is great...keep up the good work.

[Raniece]

Family Business, my parents started a small business 28 years ago. Wood working/crafts. From there, many things have changed and we do many, many things at our store/shop. I hope this isn't too long.
We do and have done.
Woodworking, small to medium, cutting little things to building cabinets etc.
Yard signs from wood, cut designs, hand painted, (this is the evenings and weekend part of my job now)
Because I was in band and there was a demand for marching supplies, my mother supplied the necessities because there was not really a place to buy without driving 100 miles to get them. (We still sell band shoes, twirling supplies etc.) Which led to uniforms, etc. (We now have a dancewear dept.)
My parents have bought out 3 other small businesses that couldn't seem to make go of it, and from there, one we started custom framing, (pictures etc.)So we do custom framing also, which is a great business all in itself. second was a dancewear shop that had no one to pass on their legacy to, and we already sold many brands, but we bought this one stores supplies and now have a great contract with a large dancewear distributor, that has very strict ideas as to how many stores can sell their product within 150 miles of each other. third was another craft shop, mainly supplies.

Signage started when hand lettering all of the yard signs started taking up toooooooo much time. The lettering led to decals, and the decals led to fundraisers for the schools that we have been doing business with for years, which led to decorating megaphones with vinyl,plasticore signs from 12x18inch to 4ftx8ft, car magnet, shirts for groups, along with many other clothing items that are decorated with heat applied vinyl. So yes, I think we are a full time sign/everything else under the sun shop.
I knew we did a lot, and looking back over this I can say I have left out a lot. Oh, and working on a webpage, I'll post that when I feel a little more comfortable with the way it looks.
So that is who we are.
Raniece

[Craig Sjoquist]

heres my 2 cents worth lol ..31 years still hand lettering hope I'll still will be 31 years latter.. home based......THANK YOU & ENJOY LIFE

[Geary]

Glad this was reserected. It's interesting to see the different populations in the sign business. I'm wondering however, if the "parttime signmaker - work from home" would make those of us who are merely semi-retired look as though it's just a hobby. Not that there's anything wrong with signage for the hobbyist.....it's just that I've put in over 30 hard core years in the trade and would hate to be labelled a "hobbyist". Therefore, I would like to propose an addendum to the list for us 'old-timer-working-mentoring types' ?? :wink:

[Fred Weiss]

Glad this was reserected. It's interesting to see the different populations in the sign business. I'm wondering however, if the "parttime signmaker - work from home" would make those of us who are merely semi-retired look as though it's just a hobby. Not that there's anything wrong with signage for the hobbyist.....it's just that I've put in over 30 hard core years in the trade and would hate to be labelled a "hobbyist". Therefore, I would like to propose an addendum to the list for us 'old-timer-working-mentoring types' ?? :wink:

Ask and you shall receive.

[THATgirl]

I didn't ever answer because I am or have been all of the mentioned except gov. employee or distributor. I have had storefronts...went homebased when my kids were born so I could be a stay at home mommy....then took my kids with me on jobs...then got another shop when they started school full time. Now my kids are all grown up ages 21 and 19.....and I am working at home again. I was sad to leave my shop years ago, but have gotten to like working from home.

[Geary]

Ask and you shall receive.


Oh, haha, cool. :cool1: Since I already voted in the other one ("parttime") could you remove that and put my vote in the "Old-Timers" ballot? Pretty please? :thankyou:


:U Rock: Fred!


~OG (OldGear) :tongue:

[Fred Weiss]

Oh, haha, cool. :cool1: Since I already voted in the other one ("parttime") could you remove that and put my vote in the "Old-Timers" ballot? Pretty please? :thankyou:


:U Rock: Fred!


~OG (OldGear) :tongue:

Congratulations!!!

You now represent .52% of the poll respondents.

[Great Scott]

Employed as a signmaker by a non-sign business or government agency.
Specifically a sign maker at Washington State University. I'm also looking into starting my own shop.

[Gino]

Full-time and then some… LOL Look, it’s Sunday.


Okay, time for a :beer

[toonsign]

Hello,

After 10 years in the Marines, I 'retired in '78. Went back to MA and worked in all sorts of manufacturing jobs. In 8/87, I got into sublimation ink heat transfer printing. Still worked 40 hours but did shirts part time.

In 2002 got into pigmented heat transfers and printed shirts and such. In 2004, I purchased my Roland PC-12 and have been working with it, although not full time.

I'm not much in the sales department so I basically wholesale printing via the internet and teach people how to print t-shirts.

I always have worked full time so I guess I'm a part timer who works from home.

Fred

[gerald]

Full, Full, Full time with a shop. We sell, fabricate and install all kinds of signage. We do a lot of national account work, installs and fabrication and maint. for other sign companies. 11 employees incl. me at this time.

[Pro Image]

Work 2 full time jobs..........The garage and the graphics. My wife work the graphics full time now..........

[Bigdawg]

Half signs, half screenprinting and half print & web design. Which explains why I am working on Sunday... too many halves!!

[Sign One]

I work with my SO/Partner - He has been doing signs since he was a teenager 25+ years, I have been working with him for 10 years, we have a shop on a busy road and a lot of walk-in traffic. We do mostly vinyl work, billboards, signs, vehicle lettering, business cards, house/camp signs hand routed, of course banners jobsites and magnetic signs. We are mom and pop, with a friend who weeds for us- we sub out install to some contractors. The best job I have ever had, we are looking to buy a framhouse with a huge barn and I hope in 10 years to have an awesome shop in the barn and do more wood, sandblasted etc.