Yep, “Other Peoples’ Money”.

First Coast Signs is happy to offer no money down financing for your sign through ProntoLease.

Approval for financing for your Vehicle Wrap, LED, Electronic Sign or Monument Sign can be less than 24 hours away. Get approved even if you’re a startup.

The advantages are you save on-hand cash for other business needs, can purchase more merchandise, acquire your signage without tying up capital, keep your existing lines of credit intact and potentially realize tax advangates.

In most cases, for under $20,000, financials are not required. Approval is usually 24 hours or less unless there are severe credit issues. Funding is typically within 24-48 hours of approval.

Get the vehicle wrap or sign you want NOW and drive more business through your door.

Call Rebecca at First Coast Signs for ProntoLease’s very brief application to start the process and get your sign designed and ordered ASAP.  904-398-3993.

Filed under: Financing for Signs, General, Monument Signs by Rebecca Walden
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Carlton and I will never forget July 21, 2010!  It was an exciting day for us because it was the day we watched the installation of our beautiful 18 ft. monument sign.  And it also impressed the message we’ve consistently heard since we started First Coast Signs:  Owners “don’t make signs”.  They develop business and manage projects.

The genesis of our 1,100 pound beauty was my first email “blast” sent via Constant Contact shortly after the beginning of the year.  Phil Griffin, Broker, GRI and owner of Amelia Coastal Realty (“ACR”), was on my list by virtue of my former job as an SBA Lender.  Phil and I had spoken several times about commercial real estate financing when I was a lender.  So that first email “blast” was a great way to let my contact list know where I was and what I was doing now.

I was delighted when Phil responded and said he did have a sign project pending that he would allow us to quote.

Well, I wasn’t about to tell Phil that banners and car magnets and coroplast signs were the extent of our repertoire since we’d just opened January 1!

But thanks to the excellent preferred providers assembled by Signworld and our extensive support network, our graphic artist worked closely with Phil and Mechele Hutto from his office to present an attractive design that would tower 18 ft. 

Once the design was finalized, we waited a few months for the office condo association’s approval to move forward and the project went into production.  While that was underway, Phil contracted with Fernandina Beach based The John Stokes Company to make sure the project was properly engineered and permitted.  Bob Kratzer, Superintendent for The John Stokes Company, launched into gear to make sure everything was lined up and ready to “rock and roll” once the sign was delivered.

Bob Kratzer had it all under control!

So, early morning July 21, the Duval Station Office Park sign was delivered in crates to 13453 Main Street on the Northside.  The sign was produced for us by Peachtree City Foamcraft and we’re still thankful to Hawk Cochran with Peachtree for all his patience and hard work.  These beautiful signs are synthetic stucco.  However, if you didn’t go up and touch it, you would be convinced it was an actual masonry and “real” stucco monument.  Peachtree City Foamcraft signs will typically be 30% less in price than a traditional monument sign that actually uses brick, mortar and stucco.

James Kratzer shows all skill and no fear!

Crane engaged it was up up and away as Bob’s crew used ropes affixed to every corner to lift the sections and lower them down on the structural pipes that had already been cemented into the base.

Poles waiting to be threaded with sign sections.

Up up and away!

Nail biter.

Crew anchored all four corners of each section with ropes.

James Kratzer showing all skill and no fear!

James Kratzer guides the cap piece snugly in place. Whew!

All's well that ends well!

End result:  A beautiful sign that will now be populated with individual tenant signs on both sides, happy property manager, happy contractors and very happy First Coast Signs owners!

Tired, hot, relieved and very very happy.

Filed under: General, Monument Signs by Rebecca Walden
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Secrets to running a successful family business

Posted on 10 June 2010

By Linda Segall    

You know the saying: “Stuff happens.” And “stuff” does happen, especially when you own and operate a family-run business. That “stuff” can range from the death of a family partner to an irreconcilable relationship problem between managing owners. When these things happen—whose cause is generally a lack of planning and poor communications— too often the fatal consequence is the business itself.

Despite the possibility of “stuff” happening, family businesses comprise the backbone of American businesses, with an estimated 80% to 90% of all small businesses falling into that classification. And many of them are highly successful.

Advantage: The Resource for Small Business talked with the owners of three successful family businesses operating in Jacksonville:

• Selby Kaiser and Linda McMorrow, owners of The Legends of Real Estate (www.sellinglegends.com), 8777 San Jose Blvd., Suite 903.

• Rebecca and Carlton Walden, First Coast Signs (www.firstcoastsigns.com), 3728 Philips Highway, Suite 37. First

Rebecca and Carlton Walden 

 Coast Signs designs, manufactures, installs, and supports custom signs including large format digital prints, interior and exterior signs, vehicle  graphics (wraps and lettering) , and LED signs.

• Tracey and Mark Hebert, AlphaGraphics (www.us549.alphagraphics.com), 7999 Philips Highway, Suite 309. AlphaGraphics provides design and printing services to businesses and individuals.

Tracey and Mark Hebert 

We explored with these owners their secrets to running a family-owned business.

How did you decide to go into business together?

Selby: Because we are identical twins, Linda and I have always been close, and we have always shared common interests. As children in a military family, we moved around the country frequently, and although we both swore we wouldn’t marry a military man, each of us ended up marrying a West Point graduate and later settling in Jacksonville.

Our careers were also somewhat parallel. I was into branch office management, while Linda had developed a brand of her own as an sales agent for a large real estate company in Jacksonville. When our parents’ health demanded more of our time, Linda invited me to join her in sales, which I did for eight years, and in 2006 we decided to open our own real estate office, The Legends of Real Estate.

Our vision initially was to operate a small company, with only us and an administrative assistant. I didn’t go out and recruit associates, but our friends and colleagues wnted to join our way of doing business, and today we have two offices and 35 agents working for us.

Rebecca: We looked for an opportunity to go into business for ourselves. In my past life, I was president and CEO of two community banks in Michigan. I relocated to Jacksonville to be an SBA lender with CIT Small Business Lending. Unfortunately, the economy fell apart, and I had to make decisions about what to do with my life.

Carlton was working in the golf industry and is a PGA  professional. He and I had been together for a couple of years. We decided to get married and to make a lifestyle adjustment that would also allow a flexible schedule to accommodate family situations. We investigated the opportunity of opening our sign company  and got married at the same time.

Tracey: Mark and I were married in June 2006. His job at the time kept him on the road virtually full time, something that we did not want. Working with an entrepreneur coach, we started to do due diligence on several different franchise opportunities, including AlphaGraphics. Mark was familiar with the AlphaGraphics name, since he lived in Utah, where the company is headquartered. We decided to go out to Utah for the company’s “Discovery Day,” which is actually a mutual screening process: We met the AlphaGraphics people, and they met us. Six potential owners participated in Discovery Day class with us.” To our knowledge we are the only ones that completed the process to become owners. We took over our store in December 2008.

How do you divide up your responsibilities?

Rebecca: We intuitively do things we are strong in. Carlton is in charge of inventory—ordering it, making sure it comes in, making sure we get credit for it. He also does purchasing, which is good, because I hate to shop! He does all the banking and facilities. We both are responsible for business development. I do a lot of marketing and take care of the administrative work and working with customers.

Linda: We do essentially what Rebecca and Carlton do—cater to our strengths. Selby was in management for 10 years; she is very skilled at doing the brokerage side of the business. I can do it when she’s not available, but my strength is in sales and working with our clients and customers. Selby is one minute older than me, and I think it shows in her personality! She’s always been the stronger personality. She’s very good with public speaking. She can talk in front of 5,000 people without blinking an eye, whereas I would be quaking in my boots and reading off note cards.

Selby: And if something needs more attention than the other person who usually does it can give, we just jump in and do it together.

Mark: After we decided to purchase the AlphaGraphics franchise, we went through three weeks of training in Utah. One of the things they put us through was to look at our strengths and to divide our duties accordingly. They helped us identify who should do what. We’ve had to trade some of those around, but it has worked out well for us.  

Tracey: My role is to bring sales in and develop relationships with outside customers. Because we are a business-to-business company, our goal is to become a business partner. I also have an accounting background, so I do the bookkeeping, payroll, and marketing.

Mark: My role is in production management. Tracey may get the initial business, but I do the actual quotes. At first she did ordering; it seemed to fall into the realm of accounting. But then we realized that ordering supplies was part of production, so I took on that role.

What kind of business agreement do you have?

Tracey: We have a mutual respect and trust for each other. That said, Mark came up with the idea to make me 51% owner, in order to have a woman-owned business. He owns the other 49% in the company.

Rebecca: Carlton and I got married at the same time we opened our business. We went into this 100%. We do have a pre-nuptial agreement, but we would have had that even if we hadn’t gone into business.

Selby: We have written agreements with all of our agents, but Linda and I have never seen a need to formalize our business arrangement with an agreement. If we were to dissolve the business, we would figure it out. If someone wanted to buy us out, we would split it down the middle. That’s the way we’ve always done it, including buying our building.

How do you handle conflicts?

Carlton: My mother always said, ‘”Think before you speak.” If I have a conflict with Rebecca, I try to sit on it for a while, because I know she is busy and I don’t want to interrupt her strong thought processes. I let her stay in the moment.

Rebecca: I tell Carlton, “Tell me before I go onto the next thing.”

Selby: Because we’ve been together so long, we really don’t have a lot of conflicts.

Linda: A few years ago, though, we were approached by a developer and asked to handle a high-rise condo downtown. Selby knew the players better than I did, and she was excited about it. I had some reservations. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but it didn’t feel right. It took me a few weeks to work through my feelings, and during that time, I didn’t share them with Selby. Then it finally hit me: This was not the time to do this project because we would be abandoning relationships we had built over many years.. That evening, we got our husbands together and we talked it over. We finally agreed it was not the time.

It was a good decision. Within a month or two, we finalized opening our own business. And interestingly, that other project has been put on the shelf. So, the short-answer is this: When we have a difference of opinion, we just talk about it. We trust each other and love each other enough that we want to hear what each has to say, even if it is different.

Mark: We’ve had a couple of conflicts and differences of opinion. Generally, what we end up doing is going back to what we want to accomplish in 10 years. We ask, “What resolution will get us closer to that goal in the long run?” That approach has worked very well for us. It’s not always easy, because sometimes conflicts are emotional. But we try to separate the emotion from the conflict, focus on where we want to be and which solution will get us there. It seem to work pretty well.

What are the secrets to your family-business success?

Tracey: I think mutual respect and appreciation of our employees’ strengths  is our secret.

Mark: Knowing your limitations and trusting the strengths of your spouse. That’s important.

Selby: I don’t think running a successful family business is different from running any other business. We treat associates and employees like family. We buy locally to support other small businesses. And we show that we value our customers. We don’t even use voice mail; we answer all calls ourselves, no matter what time it is.

Rebecca: I think the real secret is this: Remember everything you hated about big business and don’t do it.

Linda Segall is editor of Advantage: The Resource for Small Business. She can be reached at Linda@advantagebizmag.com.

Filed under: Articles about Us by Rebecca Walden
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Your corporate identity/brand/logo is as “personal” to your business as your name is to you.  It needs to accurately convey your business’ style and spirit.

If you’ve been in business a while, you may have evolved toward something different than when you started. Your “look” may not now represent your business accurately. Perhaps it’s time for a logo and branding redesign along with completely new signage.

If you’re a brand new business, the slate is clean.   Also as a new business owner, we fully understand you probably don’t have excess cash to invest in the branding of your corporate identity and subsequent signage.

Here at First Coast Signs, we LOVE working with new business owners to achieve a “look” that totally communicates what they desire within their budget.  A fairly recent example of a really “fun” project for us was working with Sandy Myers, Owner of My Best Friend’s Closet, an upscale ladies consignment shop in San Marco that caters to size 14 and above.

Sandy stopped in and chatted with our designer, Wesley Rose, and me about her new store scheduled to open April 1 and what she envisioned. She had a photo of the inside of a closet for us to springboard from. Once we settled down on a design concept, Sandy said she would award us the privilege of producing all of her external signage and window graphics.

Anyone who knows Sandy knows she’s the quintessential “perky” embodiment of exuberance. So we thought we’d keep it “whimsical” and fun but still needed to convey a consignment shop catering to “voluptuous” women in a tasteful way.

Take a look at the final results:

Excellent signage opportunities both on San Marco and on side street.

Sandy approved our “concept” of showing various clothing items on hangers.  Sandy made the suggestion of adding the size tags, to emphasize that her shop caters to size 14 and above.  The product we used for this outdoor sign is Max Metal with our digital print on vinyl laminated and applied.   We LOVE Max Metal because it’s a) inexpensive, b) will not warp or rust and c) did we mention it’s inexpensive? 

Digitally printed and contour cut vinyl decorate Sandy's door.

We "wrapped" Sandy's excellent corner location's windows with a "ribbon" of vinyl spelling out what folks will find inside.

Happy new business owner Sandy Myers!

Sandy has rewarded us with several referrals from other San Marco store owners so she must be happy with the end result.  Oh!  And we also outfitted her car with a pair of vehicle magnets which gets her plenty of attention as she’s driving around Jacksonville.

Bottom-line?  At First Coast Signs we really listen to our clients and want them to be totally happy with the end result.  Whether you’re just starting out with the creation of a logo/brand or wanting to update your corporate identity, we’ll work with you hand in hand.  Whatever your budget, we have products and solutions that will keep you within it. 

Please call me at 904-654-5946 ANYTIME to talk about your signage needs!

Filed under: Corporate Identity by Rebecca Walden
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Former Michigan Banker, Now a Florida

Small Business Owner

“Another key target is banks because they regularly update lobby posters and continued industry consolidation is still a fact of life, so a new name means a new sign.”  Rebecca (David) Walden, former President of Franklin Bank in Southfield, Michgan and CEO of University Bank, Ann Arbor, Michigan.

By BILL PERRY

JACKSONVILLE, FL – With the ongoing challenges in the banking industry impacting everywhere, Rebecca David Walden, a former Michigan banker felt the impact first hand when her position as an SBA Lender with CIT Small Business Lending was terminated last March. Walden, who had relocated to Florida, cited the uncertainty in the financial services industry as the reason she decided to pursue a different route and become a business owner. Walden is now president of First Coast Signs, Inc., a custom sign manufacturing company that recently opened its doors in Jacksonville’s Enterprise/HUB Zone.

“I moved from Michigan to Jacksonville to take a position as regional account manager for CIT Small Business Lending. That was in April 2006,” she said. “I was an SBA loan originator covering northeast Florida. We worked directly with small businesses seeking either a 7(a) or 504 SBA loan and also worked with business brokers, CPAs and other community banks putting together these transactions and packaging the project for underwriting.”

Then the bottom fell out for Walden with the nationwide credit crisis. It was during an outplacement session that she explored the idea of becoming an entrepreneur; and for the first time in her life she started her own business. “We moved into our leased space last November and now we’re making and selling signs,” she added.

A Banker Becomes a Sign Maker

Walden started in banking over 30 years ago as a part time teller and rose through the ranks to become the first female director and President of one community bank and CEO of another in her native Michigan. First Coast Signs is a business opportunity offered by SignWorld. When the sign business concept was first presented to her she thought: “How can I own a sign company when I can’t even draw my own eyebrows on straight?” But one of the mantras in SignWorld is ODNMS—which stands for Owners Do Not Make Signs. Her job is business development and project management.

“It’s exactly what I did and enjoyed so much during my banking career.” She said that background gave her the foundation for this type of venture. “This business model is predicated on hiring an experienced veteran sign producer or designer. Owners contribute their project management and business development skills,” she explained. “We’re different than a franchise in that we do not pay on-going royalties and there really are no rigid rules. There are approximately 245 owners nationwide but we all have our own independent names.”

She noted that the president of SignWorld, Ken Kindt, is a native Detroiter who started the concept 24 years ago. “There is a tremendous amount of marketing and technology support and also the ability to call or email the whole ‘family’ for best practices and assistance when needed. The concept just really resonated with my husband and me so we decided to move forward and go into business for ourselves.”

With independent owners nationwide it enjoys the benefit of a significant support network for sales training, marketing, peer mentoring groups and technical support.

“Due to our access to an extensive network of wholesalers and suppliers, we can produce virtually any sign imaginable in addition to what we can produce ‘in house’ with our equipment,” she added.

Walden also hopes to lever contacts in the business organizations she’s been a member of for the past three years as a lender. “If you can think of it, we can do it. We own a wide format digital printer that prints banners, posters, vinyl for vehicle wraps, contour cut graphics, door lettering and a plotter. So anything that’s printed or cut out of vinyl and applied to a surface. Beyond that, through our SignWorld connections, we have preferential pricing with vendors that make LED signs, formed letters, light boxes, monument signs, pylon signs, sandblasted signs—the whole gamut. That’s where my project management skills come into play.”

Walden said her goal is to build up to at least 30 clients that need signs printed on a regular basis. She is working with advertising agencies, commercial printers that do not have the wide format capabilities, property managers and contractors. “Another key target is banks because they regularly update lobby posters and continued industry consolidation is still a fact of life, so a new name means a new sign.”

She is very excited about this new career path and sees a great deal of opportunity in Jacksonville. “There wasn’t another investment I could have made with the potential to create profitable, enjoyable jobs for my husband, Carlton, and myself give us more control over our lives, and grow into something we can sell when we decide to retire.” she said.

Walden remains active in the Jacksonville business community serving as a board member and director of public relations for CREW (Commercial Real Estate Women), the Women’s Council of Associated Builders and Contractors, River City Chapter of BNI, Women Business Owners, and the Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce.

Rebecca (David) Walden and her husband Carlton display a recent sign made for satisfied client.

Filed under: Articles about Us, General by Rebecca Walden
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Ever watch or hear a commercial or ad and ask yourself afterwards “Now what was that all about?”

On the flip side, experience a GREAT commercial or see a really cool ad, and chances are you’re going to tell everyone you know, right?

The E-trade baby ads are some of my personal favorites. Did you notice they just rolled out a whole new series to allow him and his friends to “mature”? It’s clever, it’s “hip”, it gets the point across and I never forget that it’s E-Trade’s ad.

Ok, there are some REALLY excellent signs out there. And, there are some pretty awful ones. Following are some things to keep in mind relative to making sure your sign gets you noticed and elicits the desired response from the people who see it:

DO use a color combination that’s legible. Black lettering on yellow and black on white are the two best choices for legibility.

DO allow at least one inch of lettering height for every 10 feet of distance your sign will be viewed from. If your sign is going to be observed from 100 feet, you’re going to need at least 10” letters.

DON’T ruin your sign with “too much information” and “too many messages”. Make your point with as few words as possible. A sign has less than 2 seconds to capture a consumer’s attention.

DON’T ignore what time and weather are doing to your sign. If your sign is faded or peeling, replace it. Some newer materials are guaranteed for LIFE against fading or cracking.

Bottom line, if you’re already convinced signs work, make sure yours works as hard as it can on your behalf. Work with a communications specialist familiar with layout and the most appropriate materials to meet your needs. Grab your customers’ attention with a clear, succinct message and get them in your door.

Filed under: General by Rebecca Walden
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It may be location location location in real estate but in business, it’s service service service.

In a previous life I was a banker. Thank goodness, at least for most of that career, I was with an institution that cultivated and prided itself on providing exceptional customer service. I thrived in that environment. I could embrace it and be an evangelizer for it.

And we did some pretty cool things to keep driving home the point.

I’ll share one example with you for now. Has to do with the way we answered our phones.

Don’t you just hate it when you call a business and the phone rings and rings and rings? Or you get the voice mail recording that’s an infinite loop you can’t get out of? Run into those businesses that have deliberately made it next to impossible to reach a person? Or the person who does answer is surly and sounds like they have a mouth full of marbles? Doesn’t give a name?

At Franklin, we were instructed to endeavor to answer our phone by the third ring. If the phone did forward to voice mail, we made sure how to leave a message or get to a human was clear and brief. And, we standardized our telephone greeting.

The President at the time, my great friend and mentor to this day, Read Dunn, decided that EVERYONE was going to answer their outside phone lines with: “Good morning, Franklin Bank, Rebecca (or Tom or Linda) speaking, how may I help you?” Never “how can I help you”, always “may”. And we needed to say it like we meant it!

As you might expect, in an organization of 220 folks, I can’t say that everyone willing performed. But Mr. Dunn, a former collegiate wrestler, did not “back up”. To ensure that his standard was being followed, we audited every employee by calling from an outside line. It was noted if we didn’t use the standardized greeting and would be a factor graded in our annual review.

First Coast Signs is still very new. But I want to build a reputation as an excellent service provider.

So call us! 904-398-3993. If the person who answers the phone sounds anything but inviting and cordial, I need to know about it! *s*

You’re apt to read more on this subject in subsequent blogs. I’m kind of on a roll . . .

Thanks for reading.

Filed under: General by Rebecca Walden
24 Comments »

 Contact:  Rebecca Walden, 904-654-5946

 FORMER BANKER BEGINS YEAR AS SMALL BUSINESS OWNER

January 16, 2010, Jacksonville, FL – When her position as an SBA Lender with CIT Small Business Lending was terminated last March, Rebecca (David) Walden, a banker since 1979 left her comfort zone to become a small business owner.

Walden is President of First Coast Signs, Inc., a custom sign manufacturing company that recently opened its doors at 3728 Philips Highway, Suite 37, in Jacksonville’s Enterprise/HUB  Zone.

Waldencited the continued uncertainty in the financial services industry as the reason she decided to pursue a different route and become a business owner.   First Coast Signs is part of the SignWorld business opportunity network.  Over 240 independent owners nationwide enjoy the benefit of a significant support network for sales training, marketing, peer mentoring groups and technical support. 

“Due to our access to an extensive network of wholesalers and suppliers, we can produce virtually any sign imaginable in addition to what we can produce “in house” with our equipment,” explained Walden.  

Walden started in banking as a part time teller and rose through the ranks to become the first female director and President of one community bank and CEO of another in her native Michigan.  She made US Banker’s first list of “The 25 Most Powerful Women in Banking” in October 2003. 

So what does a lifelong banker know about making signs?

“This business model is predicated on hiring an experienced veteran sign producer/designer.  Owners contribute their project management and business development skills,” explained Walden. 

Walden also hopes to lever contacts in the business organizations she’s been a member of for the past 3 years as a lender.  Ms. Walden is a member of Commercial Real Estate Women (“CREW”), Women Business Owners (“WBO”), the Regional Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce, the Associated Builders and Contractors Women’s Council and the River City Chapter of BNI.   

“I’m very excited about this new career path and see a great deal of opportunity here in Jacksonville”, Walden said.  “There wasn’t another investment I could have made with the potential to create profitable, enjoyable jobs for my husband and myself, give us more control over our lives, and grow into something we can sell when we decide to retire,” she said.

Filed under: General, Signs by Rebecca Walden
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If you, like me, can finish the above chorus, or better yet, know the whole song by heart because you were “alive and doin’ fine” in 1970 and still remember it, then you know that signs have been with us for a loooooong time. For a split second, when we opened First Coast Signs, I had the fleeting thought of using the song as background music for an on hold message. But then I remembered that the overall impression of “signs” delivered by the Five Man Electrical Band 39 (yikes) years ago wasn’t a positive one. In fact, it was downright negative.

Well, I’m sure that I and my fellow sign company owners are glad that the “long haired freaky people” didn’t win that one. Signs are still one of the most effective and least expensive forms of advertising for small businesses. And since we all want our City to be attractive and avoid abuse, there is a permitting process. Vehicular safety is everyone’s concern so valid care needs to be exercised to avoid dangerous distractions.

That said, according to the SBA, “many merchants increase their business measurably just by adding a good sign. Conversely, many have gone out of business because they simply were not identified well, so not enough potential customers knew of their existence.” A few other reasons listed to encourage small businesses to invest in signage include:

• Signs are always “on the job” for you, advertising 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
• People often judge a business by how it looks on the sign.

Since 18% of households relocate each year, no matter how well you take care of your customers, you will always need to replace the ones that move away.

When you consider all the posters in bank lobbies, images hanging from the ceilings in every major retail store, window graphics in every fast food restaurant and banners advertising holiday specials, it’s not difficult to appreciate that 98% of all true “signs” are actually indoors anyway.

Signs are here to stay. Let’s keep them attractive. Let’s make them effective. Let them communicate our messages as clearly as possible. Let’s use them to help us all leave the last few dreadful years behind and reach new levels of prosperity.

Filed under: Signs by Rebecca Walden
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