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....filled out a job application. I have not heard from the last three quotes I submitted and found out, yesterday, that one went to another shop. We have gone from having 10 to 15 jobs in the shop at one time to maybe one piddly job a week. I don't see how we can do it anymore as we are getting behind on the bills and it doesn't look like it's going to get better anytime soon. I have considered moving to another area but it seems we would have to sell the house and farm first; maybe we could lease out the shop buildings. I love what I do, and really don't want to go back to punching a clock again but, the stark reality is that the bills have to be paid.
There is an opening for a "Counter/Inside Sales Person" at a custom hardwoods company. If I land the job, maybe my Wife can run the store until it picks up again.
-------------------- Wayne Webb Webb Signworks Chipley, FL 850.638.9329 wayne@webbsignworks.com Posts: 7404 | From: Chipley,Florida,United States | Registered: Oct 1999
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we are all looking at ways to make a buck. You are not alone in this.
-------------------- Leaper of Tall buildings.. If you find my posts divisive or otherwise snarky please ignore them. If you do not know how then PM me about it and I will demonstrate. Posts: 5274 | From: Im a nowhere man | Registered: Jul 2001
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aint no better over in escambia/pensacola. has not been a viable business for me since 2009. then add on all the medical problems i have had, and the clients i lost while not being able to work, iam slowly getting some work back. if it wasnt for my SS check, i would be on welfare. just be glad an thank the good lord you still have your health. i gota go make some pottery.
-------------------- joe pribish-A SIGN MINT 2811 longleaf Dr. pensacola, fl 32526 850-637-1519 BEWARE THE TRUTH.....YOU MAY NOT LIKE WHAT YOU FIND Posts: 11582 | From: pensacola, fl. usa | Registered: Nov 1998
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I wonder if its a regional issue. I'm slammed at the moment and am looking to hire some additional part-time help. I've actually locked the shop gate and turned off the phones today so we can get caught up on some work.
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I see the calm waters and lack of wind at times, but remember that in 22 years, things sometimes just slow way down. The phone rings and suddenly I am busy again. It helps to look at the 'Year to Date' numbers and compare to last year or the year before. I tell myself I am up and doing fine. I see I have plenty of reserve cash in the account, all bills paid and that I have many proposals out there working. I just look back at old sales files and recall that those clients are my best shot at some new work, so get busy!
I get offered a major job several times a year from some car dog who ran off his GM or Used Car Manager. Let me think...a buck and a half a year income, plus bonuses and all I do is wear a ball and chain again? Don't think so!
Now, I have ten grand of bills coming due in another month. How do I get some work to offset that? Go make some money, have no stress and remember to have as much fun doing it as possible! Take the job and feel the true pain of boredom? no way! Call on some clients, stir up some new work?...Priceless!
-------------------- Preston McCall 112 Rim Road Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501 text: 5056607370 Posts: 1552 | From: Santa Fe, New Mexico | Registered: Nov 1998
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I'm glad things are picking up for you Joe and Glenn.
Ok so I'm filling out my resume on the EmployFlorida site and when I entered last year's income into the "salary" box, a popup keeps coming up saying "Salary is below the federal minimum wage."
Should I lie? Could I get in trouble for paying myself so little?
Seriously though, if it were not for my house, shop, truck, and car being paid for, I would be in a pickle for sure.
-------------------- Wayne Webb Webb Signworks Chipley, FL 850.638.9329 wayne@webbsignworks.com Posts: 7404 | From: Chipley,Florida,United States | Registered: Oct 1999
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I don't know what right words to say if any, your so much more talented then I, But go for it surely customers will build up again soon as you take the new job, just the way it works sometimes. Bills have to get paid that's the truth, it truly is a shame that our community loses out on real stimulant of the economy ..advertising craftsmanship .
quote:Originally posted by Glenn Taylor: I wonder if its a regional issue. I'm slammed at the moment and am looking to hire some additional part-time help. I've actually locked the shop gate and turned off the phones today so we can get caught up on some work.
I'll be driving real close to there this weekend on our way to Top Sail on our honeymoon...
-------------------- Ed The Signwerks 1951 SR 254 Orangeville, Pa. Posts: 199 | From: Orangeville, Pa. USA | Registered: Dec 2000
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What the heck is going on when a talented signmaker like yourself can't find work? I hate to admit it, but I'm in the same boat. The Atlanta boomtown market of the last 20 years imploded with the economy two years ago and hasn't bounced back yet. We're scrambling for every gig and having to kiss some not-very-pretty backsides to get the work. At 60 years old, my options are limited so I keep slogging on, hoping it will get better but I'd be homeless without Peggy's income as backup. I'm trying to focus on some other revenue streams - channel letters, LED message boards and lighted sign brokering - as well as pushing the handlettering skills, but the phone just doesn't ring like it used to......
-------------------- www.signcreations.net Sonny Franks Lilburn, GA 770-923-9933 Posts: 4115 | From: Lilburn, GA USA | Registered: Feb 1999
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wayne i didnt say business was getting beter, iam just now getting some work after going belly up in 2009!!!! it aint been good since then. with the open heart surgery dec 2010, and then the heart attack 3 months later, recouping has been my prime business!!! i like you fall below the poverty level. but iam 66 and dont want to bust my butt. the work i have is "fun" stuff. mostly painting, a little vinyl. but not enough to sustain "as a business." sonny my phone rings all day long, i dont pick em up mostly its bill collectors. i will be filling for bankruptcy on those now that iam getting some of my physicality back.
[ September 13, 2011, 05:05 PM: Message edited by: old paint ]
-------------------- joe pribish-A SIGN MINT 2811 longleaf Dr. pensacola, fl 32526 850-637-1519 BEWARE THE TRUTH.....YOU MAY NOT LIKE WHAT YOU FIND Posts: 11582 | From: pensacola, fl. usa | Registered: Nov 1998
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quote:Originally posted by Glenn Taylor: I wonder if its a regional issue. I'm slammed at the moment and am looking to hire some additional part-time help. I've actually locked the shop gate and turned off the phones today so we can get caught up on some work.
I'll be driving real close to there this weekend on our way to Top Sail on our honeymoon...
Let me know when you're this way. I'll treat you to some Eastern Carolina BBQ.
posted
Pretty slow here too, guys. I'm very sorry for us all...and from the looks of things, the outlook's not too good for awhile.....probably not til after the next election.
The only good (and I use the term loosely) thing about it, is that since my stroke last winter, this lull has given me more "me" time, to hopefully get myself back together. It's been a slow process, but it's coming.
I'm very thankful to God for keeping me from getting head-over-heels in debt, and having very little overhead; so it takes little to keep my head above water.
I'm also thankful that I have a few good, steady customers, who keep coming back. The work they give me, is enough to keep me out of the poor house. That, along with a partial SSI, and a little income I get from being an alderman with our city, helps us get by.
We will all be in my prayers, and hopefully, I in yours. Best of everything to us all.
posted
In this economy, I think the real answer for not just surviving but thriving is diversification.
If it weren't for all the different things we do, we would be in trouble. Over the last few years, I've been working to change the perception of our shop from a "sign & screen print shop" to a "marketing & advertising company with its own in-house manufacturing facility". Its weird but it works. Its helped open doors that would have otherwise been closed to us.
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Good luck Wayne, I hope you land the job and can ride out the storm.
-------------------- “Did you ever stop to think, and forget to start again?” -Winnie the Pooh & A.A. Milne
Kelly Thorson Kel-T-Grafix 801 Main St. Holdfast, SK S0G 2H0 ktg@sasktel.net Posts: 5496 | From: Penzance, Saskatchewan | Registered: May 2002
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But they say that the economy has turned around! Good luck Wayne!
-------------------- Len Mort Signmaker1.com 11 Juniper Drive Millbury, MA 508-865-2382 "A Good Business Sign, is A Sign of Good Business"(1957) Posts: 811 | From: Millbury, Ma | Registered: Dec 2006
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Hey Wayne, there is no shame in being a "hapless loser"... Loser from some people's stand point anyways. I think you are just doing the stand up thing and providing for your family. Sometimes you just gotta do what needs to be done.
I took a job in Minneapolis when the deal for the shop I was trying to buy was going south and then never came back.
I did the self-employed gig again. Was not a real good thing. Not enough work and placed considerable strain on my personal life.
I am back to regular employment and working for a shop that truly appreciates what i can do for them.
keep the faith, brother... You will land on your feet. Just keep believing in Him and He will do righteous by you.
-------------------- Bruce Bowers
DrCAS Custom Lettering and Design Saint Cloud, Minnesota
"Things work out best for the people who make the best of the way things work out." - Art Linkletter Posts: 6451 | From: Saint Cloud, Minnesota | Registered: Jun 1999
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I seldom admit this online, but I have never been able to make it solely with my shop. I am very diversified.
I Own this shop, own a farm (catfish and cattle), and own and operate a catfish seining crew.
(For those that are not from the deep south, Catfish production is a big business down here, Google it, also here are the websites of several of the processors that I raise and harvest fish for: www.heartlandcatfish.comwww.superiorcatfish.com)
Back to the topic at hand, if it wasn't for all this I wouldn't be here, but then I come from a farming background and diversification is a doctrine that is as old as time in that occupation. It is just a fact that if you farm 1 type of crop there will be years that there will be crop failures, but if you farm 3 types of crops, it is very seldom that you will have failures in all three crops on the same year.
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Wayne work is slow here too...and so few jobs to be had...that I'm seriously considering coming down to Chipley and putting my application in for that job as well...if I do can I put you down as a reference.......Seriously......I hope things work out for you and the family...you do outstanding work and I got to think that this is only temporary and soon you'll be back busy doing what you love...however me wishing and hoping the best does not pay the bills...keep us up on how things go.
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EUREKA !!! Why didn't I think of it before? There's a creek out back - I'll dig a pond and start a Catfish Farm - maybe get a few pigs and make sausage too.
Anybody want to help design my new logo?
"Catz & Bratz"
-------------------- www.signcreations.net Sonny Franks Lilburn, GA 770-923-9933 Posts: 4115 | From: Lilburn, GA USA | Registered: Feb 1999
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Blake, I have toyed witht he idea of organic farming, hydroponic greenhouses and even checked into alligator farming but the startup costs are high for that, even though we own a good deal of creek bottom/swampland. We sold the last of our cattle, re-fenced the place in woven field fence (folks down here call it "hawg wire") and got into raising Boer meat goats. We eventually learned that the goats didn't fare so well on the Pensacola bahia grass and, despite our attempts to plant forage crops, keep them fed and de-wormed, the parasites overwelmed them very quickly so we are gradually selling them off. We found that Barbado sheep thrive on the grass. are resistant to parasites, and taste delicious so we are building up a herd of those instead. I will check into the catfish because we happen to have a couple of ponds which Dad once had stocked with Channel Cats.
Thanks
-------------------- Wayne Webb Webb Signworks Chipley, FL 850.638.9329 wayne@webbsignworks.com Posts: 7404 | From: Chipley,Florida,United States | Registered: Oct 1999
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if you acreage organic gardening is also an option. got a guy over in pcola who does it year round, makes decent money but its a lot of work too.
-------------------- joe pribish-A SIGN MINT 2811 longleaf Dr. pensacola, fl 32526 850-637-1519 BEWARE THE TRUTH.....YOU MAY NOT LIKE WHAT YOU FIND Posts: 11582 | From: pensacola, fl. usa | Registered: Nov 1998
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Hang in there Wayne. I am praying for you. If you ever come over this way please do stop by. I would love to have lunch or coffee with you. I know it must be tough in a small town like Chipley. Do you have any competition there?
I have done a couple of jobs there in my 31 years. The Trawick Construction building sign and A small Blasted ground sign for PBS&J. Those have been at least 15 years back.
-------------------- Bob Sauls Sauls Signs & Designs Tallahassee, Fl
"Today I'll meet nice people and draw for them!" Posts: 765 | From: Tallahassee, Fl | Registered: Jun 2009
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Same here. I am dying. The company my husband worked for closed in Summer 2010. He found another crap job making a third of what he made before but there are no decent paying jobs to be found. I can't seem to sell anything and I am very diversified. I have gone out and tried to do cold sales, web advertising, networking, etc. with no luck.
That said, I am still trying to figure out how to make something happen with the tools I have in place now. I have applied for over 50 minimum wage jobs and I keep getting thanks but no thanks replies. I swallowed my pride and applied at places I would never want to work and applied for any shift and still nothing.
Not sure what is going to happen around here but something has got to give pretty soon.
Good luck to you!
[ September 16, 2011, 09:18 PM: Message edited by: Amy Brown ]
-------------------- Amy Brown Life Skills 101 Private Address Posts: 3502 | From: Lake Helen, FL, USA | Registered: Feb 2001
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i just dont get it. i got 3-4 PRINTERS in this town just lowballin the crap outa each other. the people who are talented at this AINT THEM!!! this business has turned into something other then "the sign business," i was in and loved. the personal interaction with clients aint here. clients are ...CAN YOU DO IT CHEAPER THEN THAT? and i can get so n so down the street to do it for less. gone are the days of people working with people..BECAUSE they liked each other or appreciated the work you could do. iam glad iam on the way past where i have to chase work or lower my prices to compete. some good things about being 66))))))
-------------------- joe pribish-A SIGN MINT 2811 longleaf Dr. pensacola, fl 32526 850-637-1519 BEWARE THE TRUTH.....YOU MAY NOT LIKE WHAT YOU FIND Posts: 11582 | From: pensacola, fl. usa | Registered: Nov 1998
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I feel ya Wayne. I've been struggling with deadbeat customers, others who don't keep appointments promptly, even a few who have put stop payments on checks just to get out of the bill. Doing the Wally World thing is starting to look good.
I wish I could blame this on the competition, but I can't. It's the overall economy. Money is tight and businesses are trying to cut overhead no different than I am. The "GRAVY" jobs are few and far between making the whole idea of putting out a quality job almost futile.
I'm not happy about it but I refuse to give in. I've been through tough times before and am committed to still being around when the smoke clears. Never been one to go down without a fight anyway...
Best as always, Rapid
-------------------- Ray Rheaume Rapidfire Design 543 Brushwood Road North Haverhill, NH 03774 rapidfiredesign@hotmail.com 603-787-6803
I like my paint shaken, not stirred. Posts: 5648 | From: North Haverhill, New Hampshire | Registered: Apr 2003
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You're not alone Wayne. I've seen a lot of very talented people in this business struggle. It really makes me sad that so many hard working skilled craftsmen are having to look elsewhere for work. Good luck.
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Same thing here. No new businesses at all and those with established places, well a new sign is the last thing on their want list. Everyone is just trying to survive. My son has been teaching English in Korea because there are no jobs in his field here in the US. He doesn't want to be a teacher but it pays the student loans for now.
-------------------- Dave Sherby "Sandman" SherWood Sign & Graphic Design Crystal Falls, MI 49920 906-875-6201 sherwoodsign@sbcglobal.net Posts: 5397 | From: Crystal Falls, MI USA | Registered: Apr 1999
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I'm just finishing my 11th year as a sole proprieter- some of those years were great, but a lot of them have been very lean- 4 years ago, I took a part time job as a web guy at a very large megachurch- it was great, I was making steady full time wages for part time work- plus I kept my screenprint shop going- I was making great money, actually able to pay some of my bills- then it seemed like the bottom fell out of the economy, I lost the great pt job because everyone was feeling the strain- my screenprint business has stayed going, but has been in steady decline every year- The past 3 years I have earned less than I did in my first full time job in 1991- plus we now have 2 other mouths to feed since our adoption. We are approaching our slowest time of the year, so I have been looking for other steady work, as well. It is difficult if you have a resume that shows you worked for yourself for over half of your career. It seems people steer clear of hiring "people like us"- so far I've been turned down for 5 different jobs...
-------------------- Michael Clanton Clanton Graphics/ Blackberry 19 Studio 1933 Blackberry Conway AR 72034 501-505-6794 clantongraphics@yahoo.com Posts: 1736 | From: Conway Arkansas | Registered: Oct 2001
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mike, the reason for that is they(who are doing the hiring)belives you will come in and do stuff right, and cause them to get FIRED))))))))) i came to the realization one day, with all the "jobs" ive had, seemed to me the person i was working FOR...........was DUMBER THEN ME at ever one of those "jobs"!!!!!!! and i finally said i was fed up with working for people like that. picked up my brushes in 1986 and havent had a "job" since!!! now iam too old to be hired, and WALLY WORLD is phasing out the "greeter" job!!!!
[ September 18, 2011, 12:55 AM: Message edited by: old paint ]
-------------------- joe pribish-A SIGN MINT 2811 longleaf Dr. pensacola, fl 32526 850-637-1519 BEWARE THE TRUTH.....YOU MAY NOT LIKE WHAT YOU FIND Posts: 11582 | From: pensacola, fl. usa | Registered: Nov 1998
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Money problems and/or health problems are definitely some of the most stressful situations. They eat at your self esteem and make you feel like a failure and you feel helpless. We farmed for fourteen years, were diversified-owned 288 acres, rented thousands of acres, raised cattle, hogs, corn, beans, and hay. We worked all the time. We had four natural disasters beyond our control-a fire that burned our barn, hog barn with hogs in it, and the silo and three crop failures in a row. Our neighbor made the comment that there wasn't enough corn in the field to winter three old hens! All of this happened after being named young farmers of the year in our region. We lost everything. We watched as our dream was auctioned off and we left with a $300 car and our household belongings in a borrowed stock trailer. We were still the same people but the circumstances changed around us. Guess what. We still had our health, our family and our love for each other-very powerful qualities. Yes, we changed where we lived, our occupations, and how we looked at the world. Do we still miss parts of it? Yes. Do we want to go back? No. Would I have this strong network of Letterville friends watching my back? Probably not. It's okay to make changes and being creative by nature, let yourself go and think of all of the possibilities! I love Sonny's sense of humor and his new business. Can we all work for you Sonny? Wayne, maybe you'll be a chicken plucker but I bet you'll be the best amd most creative chicken plucker ever! We're with you on the journey my friend.
-------------------- Nancy B. Bennett Walldog Public Art 317 N. 13th St. Centerville, Iowa 52544 Posts: 95 | From: Centerville, IA, USA | Registered: Mar 2000
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I do believe attitude is everything, and with that I am extremely grateful for the amount of work I have. I also don't fault anybody for looking outside the box for work at all.
These sure are different times.
-------------------- Bob Rochon Creative Signworks Millbury, MA 508-865-7330
"Life is Like an Echo, what you put out, comes back to you." Posts: 5149 | From: Millbury, Mass. U.S. | Registered: Nov 1998
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DrCAS Custom Lettering and Design Saint Cloud, Minnesota
"Things work out best for the people who make the best of the way things work out." - Art Linkletter Posts: 6451 | From: Saint Cloud, Minnesota | Registered: Jun 1999
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It has to turn around for you guys, it he just has to, Don't know what the answer is, can't figure it out, but here where we live there is no recession at all, so keep the faith, things will improve, they always do.
-------------------- "Keep Positive"
SIGNS1st. Neil Butler Paradise, NF Posts: 6277 | From: St. John's NF Canada | Registered: Mar 1999
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You all should move to Newfoundland and become Neil's competition . Sometimes being the bottom rungs of the national ladder pays off as both Saskatchewan and Newfoundland found out. Although tommorrow is another day, you still have to deal with today first. Do what you have to do and like the wise man with the funny accent says, keep the faith.
-------------------- “Did you ever stop to think, and forget to start again?” -Winnie the Pooh & A.A. Milne
Kelly Thorson Kel-T-Grafix 801 Main St. Holdfast, SK S0G 2H0 ktg@sasktel.net Posts: 5496 | From: Penzance, Saskatchewan | Registered: May 2002
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