Five years ago in a series of presentations and magazine articles I issued a challenge to every sign maker I had a chance to reach. Back then times were tough for many and we too had experienced a slowdown of business. Rather than simply sit and wait for the good times to return we instead used our slow times to build a new and brighter future. My challenge to my fellow sign makers was simple. I challenged everyone to create a sample sign for their showrooms in that year. This sample was to be the kind of sign they wanted to do in the future - a no holds barred work of art. The sample didn't have to be large but it had to be fancy. It had to raise the bar as high as they possible could. For me the challenge was much bigger. My goal was do do one sample each month. These samples were to be an investment in my future. It worked beyond my wildest imagination and brought us paying jobs of the same caliber and is still paying off to this day. Many who heard my presentations and read the articles I wrote have contacted me since saying it worked for them as well. It seems that challenge is still out there and is still hopefully inspiring others to do the same. I follow the stats on our web page regularly. Lately, we have been getting a steady stream of hits from a particular site in Russia. I followed the links back and came across an article which featured that same challenge. The article was written in 2011 but is still active and hopefully challenging the readers to create samples of their own.
