Are you starting a sign business, or considering starting one? If so, this new book will introduce you to many of the important facets involved in running a sign shop. Getting Started in the Sign Business ...
Diverse sign-industry professionals discuss profitable business management.
By Steve Aust
In any economy, running your own business can prove daunting. According to a 2005 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report, approximately one-third of business startups won’t survive the first two years; more than half (56%) won’t endure four. The report indicated relatively consistent numbers across 10 industrial segments.
Flash-forward to 2009, when almost everyone’s (bankruptcy attorneys and repo men may be notable exceptions) balance sheet has atrophied. According to statistics tabulated by the Federal Judiciary’s administrative office, more than business 20,000 bankruptcies had been filed through the year’s first six months. The American Bankruptcy Institute indicated slightly more than 43,000 bankruptcies were processed in 2008; by contrast, 2006 witnessed only 19,600 filings.
And, although hand-wringing from cable-news talking heads and financial gurus, regarding the fates of publicly traded companies, abounds, these corporate titans represent a miniscule sliver of the quantity of enterprises. According to Spardata, an appraiser of privately owned companies, the IRS received more than 6.6 million, corporate, income-tax returns. Of those, publicly traded companies total 10,000 – a mere 0.15% of the companies providing tax information!
Moreover, the U.S. Department of Labor reported 75% of all companies employ fewer than 10 people. Also, the Small Business Administration reports privately owned companies generate 58% of all private-sector jobs, 43% of domestic sales and approximately half of the U.S. non-government, gross domestic product. Therefore, small business continues as the backbone of the U.S. economic engine, and most sign companies fall squarely into this prototypical, small-business profile.
Whether it’s embracing new technology and materials, maintaining productive relationships with complementary partners and vendors, or keeping abreast of trends in a local or regional market, many issues confront signshop owners. Several industry experts address factors that impact their businesses and how they’re responding to emerging trends.
Mastering relationships
For many large-scale or high-profile projects, a developer or architect working on behalf of the end user, will hire an environmental-graphic-design (EGD) firm to design signage and architectural graphics, and a fabrication company to build the project. According to Jan Lorenc, co-principal of Roswell, GA-based Lorenc+Yoo, maintaining a hands-on relationship quells many potential landmines.
“A designer’s relationship to fabricators is one of artist with artisan,” Lorenc said. “We’re very interested in the craft of fabrication. By gaining an understanding of material, construction, installation and lighting possibilities, we can appreciate a fabricator’s capabilities and know whether they’re being honest when they say something can’t be done.”