About The Sign Expert

If you have read the “Why the Sign Expert” page of this site then you know that I like to have some fun and live my life. After 20 years I feel that I know the sign business pretty well. One thing I DO know for sure that I love the sign business and I love that I am able to use it as my primary means of earning a living.

On the down side, I am also intimately aware of how a sign shop can suck the days right out from under you. Before you know it you are working 80 hours a week, never see your family, never go out with friends, can rarely consider taking a vacation and are concerned every week with making sure the bills are paid.

I don't do that anymore because I have learned that, properly harnessed, my sign shop can provide me with a world of opportunities to do some really fun stuff.

My name is Tim Evans and my story starts simply enough... (queue snappy pop music)... I was born the first son of a sign man. I first set "foot" in a sign company at the tender age of 2 weeks. No, I was not an early bloomer; rather, I was there to visit my dad who was busy hand lettering (yes, I said hand lettering) some various type of site sign or truck door. Now for those of you from a later time, this process actually required a paint brush, paint and A LOT of talent to do right. My father (and others of his time) was an artist and skilled craftsman with the brush. He was right in there knocking out a 4'x8' two color painted panel in two hours (some even faster) and be on to the next project.

After a few critical years learning how to walk, talk and generally function on my own I was immediately put to work in the sign company my father started. Of course being the son of the owner, I was immediately given the best and most critical jobs... scrubbing toilets, sweeping the floor and collecting sawdust and dirty rags. Oh yes, those were the glamorous days.

Eventually, I was able to work myself up to applying Spraylat to faces, painting out sign blanks and being general helper for the different guys who came thru the company. Of course, as all things progress, I got my opportunity to do the ”good stuff”. I learned to hand letter signs, hand cut faces, run screen printing jobs, fabricate channel letters and electrical cabinets and, my personal favorite, install & service work in the dead of winter. As side note, service work is always a fun job when you live in the Midwest with sub-zero temperatures and the work won’t allow minimal hand protection (it's hard to work with screws and wire nuts wearing gloves).

One day; however, this all changed and we got our first sign specific computer. That little gem was a Gerber 4b and everything was different from then on. From my start on the 4b at the tender age of 14, I quickly progressed to loving everything involving computers. We eventually got a personal pc (a Tandy 1000 to be exact) and over the years moved up to scanners, sign design software and plotting equipment. No matter what else was going on, I loved tinkering around with the computers and I got pretty good at fixing them. (This was back when the term “Technical Support” was an oxymoron if I ever heard one... oh... wait, it still is)

Over the years I worked on and off for my dad (before he eventually had enough of his 80 hour weeks and closed up shop), did some traveling and worked for other sign companies in different states. I spent a few years working in one of the largest sign franchises in the country. I started my own wholesale shop and then shut it down to take a "better opportunity" with another company. For that company, I spent a couple of years developing a fast sign vinyl shop system that was designed to literally blow the competition out of the water. From there I went on to work with the corporate offices developing systems to manufacture high-end custom signage.

After all of these years, I now have the benefit of knowing, first hand, how a sign shop works. From high volume vinyl operations to custom one-of-a-kind high end signage I have seen (and built) the systems needed to make these companies a highly profitable side of a sign business. In addition, I have also worked out the processes necessary to profitably sell and make one of a kind signs.

No matter what, one truth has followed me everywhere I go... I LOVE SIGNS! I love selling them, designing them, making them and, most of all, I like seeing them out in the public. There is nothing like the feeling that comes with pointing out a cool car wrap or creative electric sign and telling my children... "daddy made that".

More than that, I want to help other owners in the sign industry to really grab a-hold of their businesses and take advantage of the opportunities the world offers. I did it and you can too!

Be encouraged, take back your sign shop and your life!

Good luck!

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