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I have been in business for 12 years now and for the first 5 years things went well.I did a lot of painting of signs and graphics then I bought my Roland 1000.People decided they wanted vinyl insted of paint,only because it was faster.Cutters started showing up all over the place and the owners all started under cutting prices.I held my price the same as always because I felt my product was superior.I guess it didn't matter because I lost a lot of work to the cheaper price.Tried new things and also tried a different nitch with no luck.Business kept droping and supplies kept going up.I went to quote a job at a school for a 8'x15'wall graphic.The quote was $500.00 and the Principal told me they had someone else quote $200.00.So I sat down with my wife and we talked.After our 3 hour chat we both decided to close shop and take some well deserved time off.Time to reflect and practice my brush skills and drawing.I will still be doing my Panel Swap panel and some time down the road,who knows I may even learn how to post pictures and show some of my stuff.I will be still looking in on the board and asking questions.Thanks for all your help.Randy Campbell RJ.Signs.
[ October 21, 2002, 01:27 PM: Message edited by: Randy Campbell ]
-------------------- Randall Campbell Randy's Graphics, 420 Fairfield N. Hamilton Ontario Canada Posts: 2857 | From: Hamilton Ontario Canada | Registered: Jan 2002
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It's getting like this all over. If I've said it once, I've said it a hundred times.....IT'S A WALMART WORLD! What's happened over the last 10-15 years, is that the "good" stuff we used to buy has become "junk", so why buy the good stuff, just get the cheap crap, then when it falls apart, we're not TOO disappointed! This mentality, which has a lot of "fact" built into it, has now become the norm......HENCE.....WALMART, HOME DEPOT....etc.,etc. True quality is in short supply, but where there IS quality.....few are willing to pay.......! This all has become "business as usual" in most areas. We , as sign people, can huff and puff all we want about quality and better pricing and how wonderful our work is, but the "real world" has it's roots at WALMART! There'll always be a market (shrinking as it is) for quality work and great service, but it is no longer the prime reason for consumer purchasing. The CORPORATE world is where the money is, if you didn't mind spending it from a jail cell!
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Hi Randy, I don't think quality work is all gone, but it is harder to find, I think networking with shops that do not paint can be a good way to go, especially at high end custom shops. When I started in this I learned real quick that customers want cheap, thay have always wanted it that way, and back in the day it was way easier, all you needed was paint, brushes and a business card, at least here in California, and you would get undercut all the time. I grew out of just painting/vinyl signs and got into designing architectural signs and environments, but I still design hand painted signs, I think the lesson I learned is you have to change along with it to do things you like, and there is always someone willing to pay. Good Luck with your decision. Rick
Posts: 1540 | From: Hemet,CA U.S.A. | Registered: Jun 2001
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Randy... I just read your post, and I feel your pain. No joke. For some of the same reasons, I'm in a similar boat. Sold my shop/business/name of 18 years in Dec. 2000. Let's talk, I'll email you. To put a face to a name, check out Mark Fair's SHEP TV post, I'm the clown in the red t-shirt and Kona shorts.
Like Arlo Guthrie sang...."and if there's 3 of ya's why, then they might think it a MOVEMENT!!!!!....Alice's Restaurant.
John Lennig / Signrider / Big Top Graphics
-------------------- John Lennig / Big Top Sign Arts 5668 Ewart Street, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada bigtopya@hotmail.com 604.451.0006 Posts: 2184 | From: Burnaby, British Columbia,Canada | Registered: Nov 2001
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Seems that customers today are like worms, you have to dig deeper and deeper to find the good ones! but out there I know there's still people willing to pay for quality works, the only problem is the signpainters has to wear a tie to sell these kind of works. You have to disguise yourself in a good salesman in order to sell the quality work. 12 years ago the same customers was begging to have you doing their signs. That is the reason I specialised my shop, but this was only moving the problem. I agree with Bob about the Wal-Mart kind of customers! Good luck in your thought!
-------------------- Pierre Tardif P. Tardif Inc. 1006 boul. PIE-XI sud Val-Belair QC. Canada G3K 1L2 418-847-4089 pierre@ptardif.com Posts: 800 | From: Quebec city | Registered: Aug 2002
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