Signshop Owner Advises When to Clean House

Plus, a request for feedback on Dale’s column and YouTube series.

Reward your good employees with lunch parties out every so often.

MY PARTNER RICK REAM and I have had the honor of having many employees stay with us on our crazy ride for years. My lead painter has been with me for 25 years. Same as my lead wrapper, lead fabricator, office admin, lead designer, lead vinyl guy, ops manager… All of them have stood shoulder to shoulder with us through the Great Recession, the Pandemic, the stressful moves to larger facilities, the great times, all that and more.

But occasionally, you lose some of those loyal employees. They outgrow you, you outgrow them for whatever reason, and one day, they’re just not around anymore. On top of all the other daily stresses of running a business, you realize your people who have helped you build your legacy over time — people you literally love because you spend more time with them than you do your own family — need to move on to something else.

Or you need to move them on to something else. Which sucks. But it’s an eventuality. Not everyone, not even most, will remain with you for decades. We are blessed that losing good employees has been rare for us. But this is business. Your responsibility is to ensure your sign company is profitable. This ain’t play time. This is your shot to have all you dream of… and for all your other employees and their families as well.

When an employee is not providing for you anymore (while you are still providing for them) and they refuse to get in line with the forward progress of the company — they have to go. And the remaining employees, the ones who want the company to make money, loads of money, will collectively exhale knowing that a subversive energy has left the building.

Even after years of collaboration with that person, if they all know an employee isn’t contributing to the overall good of the company, they will gleefully escort that emotional anchor to the parking lot, so that they can get back to making the company they have chosen to spend their career with profitable, so they in turn reap the benefits of success. Do not hesitate to clean house. Your remaining crew just may celebrate the breath of fresh air.

Feedback Wanted

Now, y’all know I write this column every single month and have been doing it for close to three decades. And you know what? ST loves me. My clients love me. My employees and vendors love me. (They all probably love Rick more…) But the point is, I hope that all of you who read my ramblings actually listen to what this 40-year sign industry veteran is saying.

I mean, there are people who reach out every few months and let me know they enjoyed this or that column, but is doing this worth the time I spend on it? I hope so, and every single month it’s what keeps me pounding on this iPad. But I’d sure like for any, for all of you, to send me an email at dale@media1signs.com or subscribe to our Media 1 Wrap This YouTube show, and let me know my efforts aren’t for naught.

All of the ST column writers’ efforts have merit and benefit to you. I encourage you to reach out to Maggie Harlow, Eric Larsen, Heidi Tillmanns… even Mark Kissling, who’s apparently taking this month off… slacker! Let us know you are taking note and learning from us!