Pop Quiz!
profitable vinyl signs
What takes minimal start up costs, can occupy a small office space or a single room, can be operated easily by a man and wife or just by one person and has a great return? If you said a vinyl sign business you would be right.
I was noticing more and more these days that this kind of signage is all around us. Just on the way to work or on a walk in the neighborhood it is not hard to locate several of these kinds of signs. If you have property for sale near you, you will already be familiar with the vinyl signs used by real estate sales companies to promote property listed for sale.
These vinyl signs are often not mass produced so small, independent sign makers receive the business because to them a small run of a dozen or more signs is big business. Large sign factories would not be able to accommodate such a low production run making a demand for small scale sign producers.
Your typical vinyl sign business would involve a computer, a flat bed printer, a generous supply of corrugated plastic backing board and rolls of different colored vinyl sign material. Add to that sign design computer software and graphics program and you could start making signs tomorrow.
Because small run signage has a demand, business would come from not just realtors but restaurants, other small businesses, tourism outlets and even home owners.
If you consider that the material costs for a single sign would run about $3 and that you could sell that sign for anywhere between $40 and $50, it’s not hard to see that there is a profitable business opportunity here. You biggest expense would be the full-color flat bed printer and it would also reduce labor by allowing you to print on plastic or metal. It also speeds up production allowing you to churn out signs on the same day for some orders.
The biggest plus is that it also allows you to keep your business small and manageable rather than having huge printing apparatus. Keeping costs down will also allow you better profits by producing revenue that isn’t all being spent on covering loans or other business debts.
Advertising your vinyl sign business would be rather easy considering you have all the tools already. You could start by making sure your business logo/name and contact information appeared on the back of each sign you produced. You could even just produce a larger size of your business card on vinyl and post them in high traffic areas.
Also remind your existing clients to ‘talk you up’ whenever they get asked about where they got their signs made. The great thing about this kind of business is that you can work as much or as little at it as you wish making money whenever you need to.
There are some great resources online about the vinyl sign business that can prove to be helpful if you are seeking more information. Visit http://signbusiness.info/ and http://www.beacongraphics.com/pdf/signmaking-guide.pdf for details on how a vinyl sign business can be set up and how to get started.
It’s a great small scale business with big returns that is ideal for someone entering retirement or well into retirement but looking for something interesting to stay active. It’s also something that will bring you additional income as well.