WELCOME Page No place like home


I had an email from Simon Whittle recently; he had a sign business in Leeds but emigrated to Australia three years ago. Looking outside at the ice and snow, I thought to myself: Leeds to Australia, that’s got to be a good move. Well, apparently I was wrong, because he misses England very much. So the drawing below is for him to dwell over every time the feeling of homesickness comes over him. I believe there’s been a slight increase in the number of new sign makers starting up and


many seem to be struggling to get their businesses off the ground. I wish them all the best; starting up any business is tough, as I know from first hand experience. Once or twice I have been called a bit of an old woman, so I wasn’t too sure whether or


not I should admit to what I’m going to tell you. I have one particular reader that has invested quite a lot into his sign business. He didn’t want to go down the line of supply and fixing vinyl lettering so he invested quite heavily in an engraving machine and in equipment for producing digitally printed signs. This way he covered a larger market and frequently phoned me to ask where to get this or that, what’s the best material to use, and so on. In fact, his calls became a bit of a pain in the rear. He doesn’t ring much now, since I told him this. Anyway, one of his last calls was to tell me that he’s packing the sign work in as it isn’t going as well as he envisaged. I told him I went though this myself soon after starting this magazine, Sign Update.


It was July 1990 and I had just completed the second issue. The first issue cost a lot to get off the ground and the second issue was no better. I started to think that I should cut my losses rather than risk a third issue, and this is where me being called an old woman comes in. I was listening to Woman’s Hour on the radio and one of the speakers said that in business there are two roads to go down, the road to failure or the road to success. If you look down the road to failure, which is a very easy road to look and go down, then you are guaranteed to fail. Or you can look down the road to success, stay positive and you will finally succeed. Well, I took that advice, and lost the shirt off my back. No, I’m joking, I succeeded. But I will admit it was touch and go for a while and I got though OK, thanks to that woman’s advice. I still listen to Woman’s hour and I'm still called “a bit of an old woman”. It’s not affected me too much, except I have taken to looking at handbags occasionally.


"Oh, and happy new year."


ISSUE 126 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011 Sign Update 5


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