posted
Was wondering who is the youngest business owner here? and who is the oldest?
I figured I was the youngest but was not so sure about that.
I'm 24.
How old you am?
[ September 20, 2003, 09:12 PM: Message edited by: Dave Cox - That Sign Guy ]
-------------------- -------------------- Dave Cox C2 Media Services (Formerly That Sign Guy) dave@c2mediaservices.com -------------------- Full Color Printing Posts: 295 | From: Sacramento CA | Registered: Jan 2003
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posted
Using my fogey math, Mike would be 18 and a half (18 plus a half of 18), which would probably make him the winner until Dave jumps in and claims to be 16 and a half.
-------------------- David Harding A Sign of Excellence Carrollton, TX Posts: 5107 | From: Carrollton, TX, USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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I am out of the running for the bragging rights for the youngest business owner. I am just too damn old.
I don't care about being the youngest, I just want to be the best I can be. I am still working on that.
Twenty-four is going to be tough to beat...
-------------------- Bruce Bowers
DrCAS Custom Lettering and Design Saint Cloud, Minnesota
"Things work out best for the people who make the best of the way things work out." - Art Linkletter Posts: 6465 | From: Saint Cloud, Minnesota | Registered: Jun 1999
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posted
Well, I know that Bob Burns and Si are older than me, so I guess that makes me on the edge of "geezerdom". No comment on who's the youngest, I got left out of that one.
-------------------- Frisby Signs, Inc. El Dorado, Arkansas Posts: 902 | From: El Dorado, Arkansas, USA | Registered: Apr 1999
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posted
As you can see from the following photo, my interest in lettering began about the same time as I learned to walk. Business was good. Lots of bottles to personalize and wow! Wearing diapers was a blast.
As time passed, I grew a bit and things got harder. Nobody in this town would pay for my skills and my body began to break down under the stress.
The eyes were the first to go.
Then my hair started to fall out.
In my depression, I started to engage in strange, often twisted fantasies. At one point, I believed I was The King himself.
I found myself in a downward spin. My weight ballooned to 500 lbs. It became next to impossible to drag my fat ass up ladders. Everyone knew disaster was just waiting around the corner.
That fateful day is forever etched in my memory. it took over 3 hours just to climb the 20 ladder rungs to my scaffold. I was just breaking out my trusty fitch when I heard a horrific crack and felt the World fall away beneath me. A local photographer caught it all on film.
-------------------- Steve Shortreed 144 Hill St., E. Fergus, Ontario Canada N1M 1G9 519-787-2673
Looks like you had a blowout when you hit---or at least a slow leak. Glad to see somebody gotcha re-inflated. Did it take a radial or a bias-ply plug to fix it?
-------------------- Bill Preston Fly Creek, N.Y. USA Posts: 943 | From: Fly Creek, N.Y. USA | Registered: Jan 2000
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posted
Thanks Steve!!!! That was awesome. I have to keep stopping to laugh.
I really feel that age has nothing to do with it in the broad scheme of things. It all depends on how you feel, act, and live. I've known some young folks that acted and looked like they were on their last leg, and some old folks that were more energetic that most young folks.
When all is said and done we have to be ready to go today, because we are not promise another minute regardless of our age.(John 3:16)
posted
I know what its like to see this business through the eyes of a young and innocent kid and the tired worn out weary eyes of an old guy.
I started my business when I was 19 years old and have earned my keep for nearly 30 years now soon to be 49.
I remember the first sign I hand lettered and the first gold leaf window and the first vehicle I ever pinstriped. I remember my first Gerber Signmaker III and the night it arrived and the first truck the next morning I lettered with it.
I remember my first international letterhead meet I attended and all the ones in between.
I dont have all of the tools that carried me this far along the journey but I have all of the memories. Those will travel with me to the grave.
I dont honestly know how long I will spend in this business. I love what I do but I dont want to do it forever.
Life for me has been about collecting experiences and memories and there are so many more I want to collect.
All I can say to anyone young is that if you have the desire and passion you can spend at least 30 years in this profession and still learn many new things every day.
It helps if you are in this as a labor of love.
-------------------- Bob Stephens Skywatch Signs Zephyrhills, FL
posted
I guess i'm one of the "whippersnapperfogeys" I'l be 59 next March and have been at this since 1965.
That was a good time to get into the trade because a lot of the true Fogeys" were still kickin enough for me to learn some of the traditional techniques everyone is trying to reproduce today.
I'm always glad to see someone coming into the trade with an open mind that is interested enough to learn the old ways ...I know this will start some controversy but hey ...those that do it, will find the old ways are truly an asset to the current mediums.I was dragged into the computer era kicking and screaming, but would never turn back from an economic standpoint...still if I had my druthers I'd be setting at a bench somewhere quietly hand lettering my life away...from that standpoint I am truly a "fogey" and proud t say so!
[ September 23, 2003, 09:18 AM: Message edited by: Monte Jumper ]
-------------------- "Werks fer me...it'll werk fer you"
posted
I'm new to you guys, but I gotta say I had a good laugh with Steve's story. On a day when most things just aren't working, it was a breath of air Thanks
-------------------- Imagine That Laurie Walling 734 1st Ave N. Saskatoon, SK, Canada S7K1Y1 Posts: 16 | From: Saskatoon, SK, Canada | Registered: Aug 2003
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i dont see si postin here.......wonder why? i think hes older then dirt......put him in the runnin for the oldest here.....and bob burns...or is he just "crochity?" hehehehehehehe
-------------------- joe pribish-A SIGN MINT 2811 longleaf Dr. pensacola, fl 32526 850-637-1519 BEWARE THE TRUTH.....YOU MAY NOT LIKE WHAT YOU FIND Posts: 11582 | From: pensacola, fl. usa | Registered: Nov 1998
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quote:Originally posted by Si Allen: Bob? Remembering your 1sts? How about when we had to tie a piece of fur on a stick in order to paint pictograms on cave walls?
....using brontosaurus bones as a mahlstick
-------------------- -------------------- Dave Cox C2 Media Services (Formerly That Sign Guy) dave@c2mediaservices.com -------------------- Full Color Printing Posts: 295 | From: Sacramento CA | Registered: Jan 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Dave Cox - That Sign Guy:
quote:Originally posted by Si Allen: Bob? Remembering your 1sts? How about when we had to tie a piece of fur on a stick in order to paint pictograms on cave walls?
....using brontosaurus bones as a mahlstick
Yeah then some guy came up with self adhesive yak hide with a papyrus backer and a knife and ruined the whole thing!!!
-------------------- Rick Chavez Hemet, CA Posts: 1540 | From: Hemet,CA U.S.A. | Registered: Jun 2001
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posted
I painted my first sign when I was 14 having never seen a signpainter in action. In fact I never even had the benefit of art classes in high school and still I was a self-employed signpainter right after graduating. Never learned about 1-Shot or MDO until many years later. Hardware store 'artist' brushes, enamels and lumber store plywood served me well for years and some of those interior signs are still working in my hometown.
I'm still very self conscious about my self-taught techniques (if you can call them that) especially when I see real sign painters in action.
posted
Same age as Monte ... definitely not as old as Si.
Self taught from a very early age. Can remember the delight in discovering they actually made brushes with square ends. Made lettering a whole lot easier
Still learning!
Hey Si .. I learnt to "airbrush" with a mouth full of ochre and a hand on the cave wall for a mask
What's a mahl Stick anyway
[ April 19, 2004, 04:42 AM: Message edited by: Jon Butterworth ]
posted
I am 22. I tarted taking over this business when I was 19. As of the first of the year it ia all mine. Well when the bills are due. My grandfather retired and now it is mine. Even though I had been here for over 3 years full time it seems like there is still a lot of stuff I had no idea about. But I love it.
JAKE
-------------------- Jake Lyman Lyman Signs 45 State Road Phillipston, MA 01331 Posts: 635 | From: Phillipston, MA | Registered: Sep 2002
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posted
GREAT POST. Si, Bushie has you beat! He invented the airbrush! Steve, as usual, I love both you AND your sense of humor. Stephen...WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN? Welcome Back!
I am 41 and this is my 19th year as a signpainter. I am 100% self-taught and would have still happily been painting even crappier signs than I do now if I hadn't subscribed to a trade mag, discovered the Letterheads, and started going to meets in 1994. And now that I have Letterville at home, the possibilities are endless!
I ain't a whippersnapper. A day on a ladder about kills me anymore. But I sure as heck ain't a fogie either! I suppose I classify as a "happy medium". Love...Jill
-------------------- That is like a Mr. Potato Head with all the pieces in the wrong place. -Russ McMullin Posts: 8834 | From: Butler, PA, USA | Registered: Jan 2001
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-------------------- Jimmy Chatham Chatham Signs 468 stark st Commerce, Ga 30529 Posts: 1766 | From: Commerce, GA, USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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posted
lol MAN!! Sum'ma ya'll are as old as DIRT!!.
I think that guy who invented the internet may have ya'll beat (lol), but that is indirectly on/off topic . . . yet without this internet, we could not discover the interesting age span of so many Letterheads all at once . . .and speaking of archaic, where did this post get ressurected from?? lol.
ANYWAY, Donald, I was thinkin' the same thing tho' "What's age got to do with it? Somethings you learn at 90 make you as if you are only 5 again . . .and some things that you learn at 5 make you as wise as a 90 year old. And there are plenty of "adults" out there who never learn anything.
-------------------- Signs Sweet Home Alabama
oneshot on chat
"Look like a girl, act like a lady, think like a man, work like a dog" Posts: 5758 | From: "Sweet Home" Alabama | Registered: Mar 2003
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posted
im 36 years old i have start made sign an paint at school wow i juste think 20 years are pass now annyway no one can purchase time or experiance only add a years at the birthday time juste think THE EART STILL BE YOUNG its my think c-ya maybe the more older here is the most younger in life ha,ha bye good post i never think i made sign betwin 20 years befor!!!
-------------------- rene st pierre quebec city canada
red & white 81 forever 666 Posts: 290 | From: quebec city | Registered: Aug 2003
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