[ February 09, 2002: Message edited by: Judy Pate ]

Actually, the regular accounts that pay most of our bills are of the more simple 1-color decal production type job. But, we're able to mix in more creative jobs for new business,etc.

If you have kid's and can get the balance right, it's worth the extra effort to be able to see them grow up.

[ February 09, 2002: Message edited by: AlanD ]

"Your place or mine - after 9"

[ February 09, 2002: Message edited by: J & N Signs ]

Went storefront.

Homebased again.

I just started running the business out of the basement last October. We’re renovating the house this spring and building a workshop/garage in the back………..really looking forward to it all.

Home based has always been my ambition. It’s working very well for me. There are many great advantages to working out of the home; some I especially like:

1. Get to be home with baby
2. Greater flexibility with time schedules
3. low over head
4. good taxation relieves
5. I’m the boss…… or at least I think I am.

All my sales come off the internet, 100%.. so I'm not even tied to a local market.

[ February 10, 2002: Message edited by: RonniesTintSigns ]

I didn't read the above post yet, so here is my thoughts, and how it worked for me.

I was home based for 21 years.
I recently moved to a new shop in a commercial business park, and its not really a store front as I do not sell pre-made signs over the counter.
I don't have a cash register, in other words.

When I was home based, I didn't have the expenses and didn't try to hard to sell signs either. I let the "cow come to me to be milked." I was running the business more like a hobby.

Now, I got big bills to pay, and I go to the cow to get the milk. I joined business networking groups, the Chamber of Commerce, and doing trade shows. I have drive by traffic now, and the contractors in the other parts of the commercial building complex are letting me do their sign work and networking me to thier clients and customers.

I think it is really working BETTER than home based. I can LEAVE work and the customer can't find me so easy on the weekend or evenings.

Hetz

[ February 11, 2002: Message edited by: Jim & Chris hetzler ]

quote:

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we have to identify what kind of client that we are wanting. do we want to spend all that time weeding out the tire kickers, and shoppers("i can get that down the street cheeper...").time on the phone does not pay the bills, doing bids that never pan out...we have determined that the kind of clients that we want to attract is Business to Business relationships(plumber, contractors,electrictions, realestate, artitects that sells signs in there drawings...ect).

we have taken that money, time and used it in being involved in the local building Associations, Chamber of Commerce,ect.... there are so many ways to network in these inviroments and in the procces are given list of participateing members that are sent flyers and mailings, cold calls...ect.the local building associations dues are $400 a yr. and that fee has been payed for over and over..and the customers have been repeat..everyone!

the key i've dicovered is realationships!...if you build strong relationship will these kind of business owners they share you with there other buinesses...and they tell 2 freinds ect...ect...In my opion it has been because of the relationships that we have began to build in these communities of business owners.also i have found that other industries face the same struggles that we sign companys face and haved recieved alot of good advice in the mean time.

identify the kind of work that provides the best profit and fills your need for fulfilment in design and production!

---

in in my opinion it doesn't matter were your "based" but how you do business..so again im home based and window shop the store front shops but still see the large overhead (shoped rental space) and overpriced yellow page adds and am glad to be were i am at.

chris

[ February 11, 2002: Message edited by: Chris Lovelady ]

For painting, sawing, fabrication, etc, I had rented the back of a friend's building. Heat & electric included in the rent, which was offset for several months by doing all his signwork!

No phone or sign at my shop. I had voice mail on my home phone for that. Word of mouth in a little town (440 people)... everyone pretty much knew where I was. Otherwise, I gave people directions and had my car sitting out front of my door with my logo on it.

Never did any advertising either... kept busy enough purely through word of mouth and my lil dinosaur-guy stuck in the corners of all my cool signs I did!

Sure do miss it.

Bruce and Tracy have a REALLY awesome shop. They both GO HOME after work, which is nice...

... except now that Bruce has his sign programs on his computer here at home... between those, the BB and working 7-5 every weekday...

In more recent years, the tax breaks for home based have been liberalized some, with less arguing on the part of the IRS. Used to be that a home based biz was an automatic red flag, practically guaranteeing an IRS audit.

I am not storefront either, I have quite a large industrial unit on a business park, and have work and more than I ´can cope with all the time. I never cold call, never take up any of this marketing stuff that folks try to sell all the time, via phone or thru junk mail.

Some of our homes were in the commercial area of town with our house over top of the business.

Our dream shop which is coming soon will fall into this category. Our little theme park will have a mountain in the middle. Hidden in the 'mountain' will be our 2000 sq. ft shop. Over this will be our house and studio. After all the years of making do I will finally have the shop I need.!!

This is the front of the shop and display area. Many walk ins and a nice place to visit with customers.

This is our "design area" Also behind me taking the pic is our vinyl table and plotter.

I am home based,
building a shop on my land off HWY 53 near the Northern Oregon coast.