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Some advice needed
Hi everyone
I have two questions that might sound silly but I would like your opinions since most of you have been in the sign business.
1. My full time job is Monday to Friday and wanted to start doing signs over the weekend and then hopefully leave my full time job once things pick up. My question is has or does anyone else do this and is there a market for doing signs just over the weekend.
2. I am working on a portfolio but my portfolio doesn’t have any vehicle signage and window graphics because I haven’t done any as I am just starting out. Does any one have ay ideas to help me out? How did everyone do there first portfolio?
Your help will be greatly appreciated.Thanks in advance.
Roland -
6 Replies
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Hi,
A portfolio is an advantage but not neccessary. As you start to complete jobs for your new customers just keep a photograph. The more you complete the bigger your portfolio will get.
If you do a good job at a good price word will soon get about. Word of mouth is one of the best forms of advertising!
I work full time albeit shifts and run my business on my days off, have been doing this for 6 years now. Hoped to go full time this year but missed the redundancy by two places this year!! Bugger !!
still all the time you have another income you can plough all your profits back into your business to get it built up ready for when you want to go full time. Get a good accountant right from the start he will save you money in the long run.Best rgds
Dave
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thank you very much for the advice Dave
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Now there’s a name………… ‘Roland’ 😀
Quite a few guys have started out this way
Some good advice from DaveIf you find that the sign game is becoming your passion and you are good at it, it won’t be long before it will begin to take precedent over your ‘old’ job.
You’ll know when to make the break even if for a short while you’ll just be paying the bills
All the very best
John
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before you tak the plunge try to have about three months worth of cash set aside to cover the business costs and personal things like mortgage etc.
It just takes the pressure off while your cash flows start to work.
Also doing it your way allows you to obtain credit with suppliers as they will wan to see some trading on proforma basis before they open you an account even with a small credit limit. Remember though if you are paying in advance / proforma screw them for more discount, don’t pay standard price. Then once you have the credit account make sure you keep your discount. Every little helps.
As to a potfolio make a few things up and be creative with your digital camera.
Other one is hire a van for a day and or weekend and stick some vinyl on the side and back.
Cheers
John
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I worried a bit about the lack of a photographic portfolio. I thought it would affect the confidence prospective customers would have in me. I therefore make a greater than normal effort to present quotations and colour visuals in an outstanding way, just to let them know that I know what I’m doing. If it appears that you’ve put a bit of effort into producing drawings etc. This is usually sufficient. Of course, it doesn’t take long to build up a stock of work photos to show people.
As far as working weekends only is concerned, all I can say is I worked like a dog for 3 or 4 months trying to market myself, full time. It then went mental and I’m now reaping the rewards of all that hard work. I suppose at some point you have to be brave and take the plunge full time, but it’s true what ‘they’ say, you get out what you put in. It may be a bit limiting working weekends only, purely because a lot of businesses are closed then. I’d be interested to hear how you get on.
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Big G hope you dont mind me asking and dont want to hijack this post but, what sort of things did you do to market yourself? I am currently trying this however not with the success i hoped for. Mainly leaflet drops and handouts. Any ideas that you found worked well i would be grateful to hear about. Cheers
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