Neglecting profitability, and undercharging for work, hurts us, hurts the industry, and hurts our futures. Being in business for ourselves gives us the opportunity to retire early, and were throwing it away when we undercharge. Every time we undersell our work, we are incrementally giving away our retirement, our health care, our vacations, and our futures.
If I didn’t give myself downtime, I wouldn’t have anything truly valuable to offer, and I’d just be spinning my wheels. Kind of like when I make a conscious decision to go to bed and tackle a problem in the morning, because I know if I do it late at night it will take an hour, and if I do it in the morning it will take 10 minutes.
In a recession, you need to make smart money decisions. Dropping prices is one of the worst choices you can make. It’s so, so tempting in this economy to price low in order to get what little work is going around. It’s also the fast track to bankruptcy. First of all, let me say that [...]
Estimate is the pricing software package written specifically for the sign industry that plays an essential role in the every day operation of thousands of sign companies all over the world. I talk to dozens of sign companies every week as editor of the Signs Never Sleep Blog (www.signsneversleep.com) and it always amazes me that almost all of them use Estimate and love it. Having Estimate software in your sign shop is like having oxygen in your sign shop. You can't live without it, it always works the way it is supposed to, it helps you breath easier, and you would sure miss it if it was gone!
-- J.D. Iles, SignsNeverSleep.com / Lincoln Sign Co.Connect with us!