In this engaging podcast Series, Peter shares his 10 Sign Shop Commandments—a comprehensive set of principles designed to drive your sign shop's financial success.

These commandments aren’t just generic advice; they are presented in a unique percentage-based format, offering clear and actionable insights to help you stabilize, optimize, and elevate your business operations.

Bryant and Peter dive deep into each commandment, unpacking the strategies and steps necessary for implementation. They discuss how these rules can fix sign shop owners' challenges and difficulties.

Whether you're just starting out or looking to take your business to the next level, these ten commandments serve as your roadmap to success.

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In this episode...

00:00 Intro
00:32 Catching Up
06:20 Year-end and sign-shop
09:05 10 Sign Shop commandments
11:40 1st Commandment: Gross Profit Margins
15:09 2nd Commandment: Direct labor percentage
18:13 3rd Commandment: Material cost
26:10 4th Commandment: Operating expenses
32:35 5th Commandment: Advertising budget
42:20 Jason’s Question on Marketing Vendor
46:23 Ride the wave (ridethewave.info)
48:18 For Introverts
53:33 Social Sponge (socialsponge.biz)
57:03 Recap
58:32 Outro

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Are you a sign or print shop owner?
Join the Better Sign Shop Community - our exclusive Facebook group for shop owners and managers. Connect and learn from peers at https://www.facebook.com/groups/bettersignshopmastermind.

Sign Up For Shop Software Spotlight
https://lu.ma/shop-software-spotlight

In this quick announcement episode, Bryant catches up with listeners after a brief hiatus and shares three exciting updates from the Better Sign Shop team.

Key Announcements:

• - Podcast Update: The team is back after taking time to focus on work and family, with new episodes and guests lined up
• - Shop Software Spotlight Series: A comprehensive demo program featuring seven major sign shop management software vendors including Ordant, SignTracker, Onyx Align, SquareCoil, InkSoft, InkWorks, and CoreBridge
• - New Website Product: Preview of an upcoming website and marketing platform specifically built for sign shops

The Shop Software Spotlight series runs from November 14th through December 10th, featuring guided demonstrations and Q&A sessions with each vendor. Free registration available at lu.ma/shop-software-spotlight.

In this episode...
00:00 Intro & Welcome Back
01:15 Team Update
03:15 Shop Software Spotlight Announcement
13:30 Demo Series Schedule
18:15 New Website Product Preview
20:45 Closing

Are you a sign shop owner interested in being featured on the podcast or joining the website platform beta? Email hey@bettersignshop.com.

For software vendors interested in participating in the spotlight series, reach out to hey@bettersignshop.com.

Join the Better Sign Shop Community - our exclusive Facebook group for shop owners and managers at https://www.facebook.com/groups/bettersignshopmastermind.

Jim Dawson owns Synergy Sign & Graphics in Strasburg, OH. From humble beginnings in his basement 20 years ago, he has built a business that thrives on challenges and innovation. In this podcast, he shares his experiences with creative architectural signage.

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This episode is sponsored by:

GCI Digital Imaging
Your partner for large/grand format trade printing. Known for exceptional customer service, GCI Digital Imaging is the go-to for banners, coroplast signs, vehicle wraps, and other digitally printed graphics.
Discover more in Episode #9 or visit https://gci-digital.com.

Jaco Wholesale Sign Products
Looking to enhance your clients' impact and boost your profits with flat-cut acrylic letters and logos? Jaco Wholesale Sign Products delivers laser-cut acrylic letters and signage with quick turnaround times and excellent communication. They offer a wide range of mounting options, Pantone matching, several acrylic thicknesses, and nationwide shipping.
Visit https://sign.supply/bss/ for a quote and $50 off your first order.

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Links:
Dan Sawatzky Episode: https://youtu.be/QHOBWzf-5QY

Synergy Signs Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/synergy_signs/

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Key Points Discussed:

- Business and Personal life: Jim shares his business and personal life and how he and his wife manage it all together.

- Jim's Journey: Jim shares his journey and how he ended up with signage from an animator and cabinet shop.

-Architecture Projects: Jim shares with us his amazing architecture Projects and shows us the workflow of working with architecture Projects.

-Client Expectation: We dive deep into this conversation, discussing the importance of knowing and fulfilling clients' expectations and how to let clients know what we expect from them.

- Pricing Methods: Jim discusses his pricing method and how he decides or adjusts his pricing and profit margins.

- Changes in the industry: We discuss the positive and negative aspects of the industry's changes and how they will affect the market and the future of signage.

-Jim's Workshop: Jim talks about his workshop, which they conduct a few times per year. Y http://www.synergysign.com/sign-alchemy-workshops/

-Sign Shop School: Jim and Peter discuss their future plan to open a sign shop school and give back to the industry.

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In this episode...

00:00 Intro

00:38 Sponsor

01:27 Catching Up

04:40 Winning a Lottery

09:12 About Jim

10:25 Working with Wife

13:55 From Animator to cabinet shop to signage

19:12 The Progression.

22:12 Storefront walk-in traffic

28:07 Inflection Point

31:12 Jim’s architecture projects

33:12 Fulfilling Client Expectations

36:25 90-day Terms

38:18 Equipments

43:20 Fire Prevention

46:02 Workflow with architecture Projects.

52:30 Pricing Method

57:05 Changes in the Industry

01:02:42 Jim’s Workshop

01:12:12 Sign Shop School

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Are you a sign or print shop owner?
Join the Better Sign Shop Community - our exclusive Facebook group for shop owners and managers. Connect and learn from peers at https://www.facebook.com/groups/bettersignshopmastermind.

Interested in being a guest on the show or have questions for our team? Reach out to us at hey@bettersignshop.com.