[ February 05, 2002: Message edited by: cheryl nordby ]

During highschool:
salesperson in a record/t-shirt store
worked at two greenhouses (did signs for one)
pumped gas at a full serve

After highschool:
Sales person at major dept. store 13 years. Was totally into display, setting up the whole floor of clothing to work by color and coordinates, worked in mens wear, ladies wear, and boys wear. Became the sign girl of the whole store during warehouse sales. (my best days, wore jeans!)

Quit the dept store after a car accident, (too hard to carry heavy things) and walked totally blind into my first sign shop. They hired me immediately after viewing my portfolio and resumes.

Landed my next job at an autographics place, did more on vehicles, learned vinyl striping.

Then returned back to school full time for abit to learn typography and computers, two things I lacked in.

And today I'm here.

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over expecting different results!

Mcdonalds meat guy

pizza guy

[ February 05, 2002: Message edited by: Amy Brown ]

My sign career started at 14 with window splashes.

For a few years (late teens/early twenties) I pumped gas, fried chicken, sold shoes, and stocked grocery store shelves.

All this convinced me I was to have more fun on my own. Since going back to the 'business' I have done many, many things all in the name of signs... designed and built buildings, civic structures (town square etc.), painted murals, done sculpture, designed and built theme parks, managed a huge crew, built our own park, and a thousand other things.

Except for the brief time I worked for others, I consider it all 'signs' or at least display work but it involves every skill you can imagine.

Service Manager for Taylor Toyota

In grade 8 I worked p/t at a gas station and the owner operated a mobile sign rental business. I bounced back and forth, pumping gas one day, renting, selling and servicing the mobile signs for the next. It was about this time that I became interested in neon.

I remember getting some old neon tubes and a transformer. Well after many shocks received in the parents basement, I finally got those tubes to light up and I was hooked. Met a local tubebender and was amazed at his talents. Eventually bought a set of used neon burners and started practicing.

I went to work p/t in a neon shop and decided that self-employment was for me... bought a complete neon plant setup and a used telephone co. bucket van.

Sold the bucket truck after a bit, tired of the servicing signs in winter Took some of the money and bought a Gerber Sprint and opened a small vinyl shop here in town. Vinyl made more money than neon for me and I sold much of my equipment to various sign companies in Quebec and Ont. The opportunity came about last April to sell my shop to a local entrepreneur.

I still sell the occasional sign, but am content working part time in a local neon shop and still sell business forms and printing services from home. But I'm noticing a demand for wholesale neon from sign shops in the region, so I might just set up a small neon shop again!

But my best non-sign related job I had was driving school and charter buses from '91-'99.

Thats my history from age 14 to 31. Yikes the years fly by!

These days, I am sort of semi-retired, and pretty much only take what I want. Trucks and boats mostly. I still don't think of it as a "hobby" shop, 'cause there aren't too many days off.

[ February 05, 2002: Message edited by: Bill Preston ]

[ February 05, 2002: Message edited by: J & N Signs ]

Like Donna, I did alotta babysitting when I was very young.

I worked as a bus-girl at a few restaurants, also in younger years. Was industrious early in life!

Between the age of 16 & 18 I was a fitness instructor at a health spa. During that time I still maintained a restaurant job on weekend nights for extra money.

During college I did alot of waitressing while taking mostly art, advertising and photography classes.

After college I worked shortly for a bindary factory doing all sorts of mundane jobs like shrink wrapping stuff, coallating and boxing stuff, before landing a job as a copy setter for a company that did the ads for the Bell Systems yellow pages. It wasn't long before I was transferred, at my request, to the Camera Dept. for that same company. There I " manned" a large stat camera to shoot pmts as well as other jobs relating to ad production.

When that company relocated, I then worked in the sign dept for a dept. store, and I was a layout artist for a printing company.

When I relocated, I worked in the paste up dept for a newpaper, all the while continuing to waitress or bartend on weekends.

I then seized the opportunity to work at a very special sign shop. Special, you see, because it was Joe Rees' sign shop. This is where the real fun began for me. It's all Joe's fault that I'm doing what I'm doing today!

Thanks Joe, for helping me figure out what I wanted to do when I grow up!

Now, I'm still trying to avoid growing up!

The IRS Investigative Office, used her name and ID to check up on some of you!!

You WILL be hearing from them in the very near future.....Have "ALL" of your papers ready, and IN ORDER!! Your complete co=operation will be necessary also!!

............Agent B. Feeder IRS

It wasn't always the easiest career path, but I never ever stopped being a signmaker.

[ February 05, 2002: Message edited by: Marty Happy ]

The condensed version:

Pizza Hut cook
McD's cook & manager
AutoCAD Instructor
AutoCAD Technician
Structural Engineer
Stickerpimp
Contract Building Facade Design Engineer

The Long-winded version:

Before I was of legal working age I did the usual lawn mowing, snow shoveling, labor type stuff.

Age 16: Worked about 3 weeks at a Pizza Hut - poorly managed place and seriously busy with a Six Flags theme park a mile down the road, worked 12 hour shifts (4pm-4am).. ended up just running out the back door one night when I was stuck washing dishes.. left right in the middle of a rush.. hahaaha.

Still age 16: started at McD's.. crappy job but I have more friends from my time there than I've made my whole life altogether. Became a manager there at 18. I tried getting into the corporate offices at McD's - I thought it would be kool to become part of their equipment design team (yep, they design and develop their own equipment) but that never panned out, so I ended up leaving McD's and going out on my own..

I started up my own AutoCAD Training biz, as well as doing freelance CAD work and 3D Animation/Presentations. I was 19 at the time.

One of the clients I did some CAD work for decided they needed another full time body around so they asked me - I took them up on their offer.
This company had alot of work in Hong Kong, designing the facades (glass and aluminum skins) for skyscrapers, and is the very same company I left in order for my move to Arizona.
While at this job, the Electrical Engineering cirriculum I was enrolled in became a structural engineering cirriculum, so I could excel in my new field (before I ever knew anything about moving to the desert)

I got the degree in Structural Engineering and continued on with the engineering aspect of the building facade biz.

Now, flashback to age 16, when I worked at McD's I worked my tail off and was able to afford some nice toys.. trucks and jetskis, mostly. Never knew many (or any) 16 year olds with jetskis that they bought for themselves.

Anyways.. when I was in highschool I had a serious sticker fetish. My truck had so many stickers on it, there wasnt a square inch of visible paint anywhere.. mostly just stickers from my fave music groups. I wish I had pictures of it cause it was definitely a sight to behold.

It was back then, 10 years ago, that I had earned the nickname "stickerpimp".

It was 3 years ago, growing bored with the engineering gig and needing something new, that I turned my nickname into my livelihood.
I was still at the engineering gig when I bought my first Roland plotter, the STIKA Plus.
I started off makin decals and paint masks for my personal projects and my buddies' projects, customizing our trucks and painting my jetskis.

Soon after I bought that cutter, I started up stickerpimp.com and 6 months later I needed to upgrade to a larger and faster machine so I purchased a ColorCAMM.

The website proved to provide a stable income and I became fed up with boredom at the engineering firm so I packed everything up into my little green turd-colored truck and moved to Arizona. (Actually my truck is a very beautiful pearlescent forest green with a deep blue flip-flop)