Marlene, I never called Vermonters hillbillies. I'm just trying to carefully paint as accurate a picture of the local market as I can since many here are obviously from larger urban areas with a very different type of market. The reality is, if you're not in Burlington, there are not many people in Vermont and as a result the average business in my area is much smaller and has a much tighter marketing budget than average. Vermont's population density is seriously lower than most of the country.
have you checked into how many
sign shops there are in the area? at one time there were 26 shops in the Burlington area alone. that did not include all the shops state wide. we have 660,000 people in the state so if every man, woman and child bought a
sign, there still wouldn't be enough for all of us. the way you make it here is to be excellent, put out an excellent product and provide excellent service. we have our share of hacks and there's no real room for more. you need to know how to make a
sign to make it here and it sounds like you don't. get some training, good long training, no a couple of weeks but some real hands on to see if you can actually do this or not. you asked if you were crazy to consider buying this shop and I think you might be if you have no experience. I can run a power drill so wouldn't I make a good dentist, after all, they drill too. that sounds like really stupid thing to say doesn't it? that's what most of us think when we hear someone is good at crafts so why not at making
signs. it can be the next logical step or not as it all comes down to can you make a
sign. skills as a designer are something that you can go out and learn thru classes but that too needs to have is base in talent. then there are wind loads, zoning, materials and a whole pile of other things that are part of being a
sign shop and what you need to know. there isn't a chance that in a couple of weeks a training are all you need.
OK Mosh, or should I refer to as Your Holiness?
