As-Ken You Shall Reap

What’s in a name? More than meets the eye.

For example, Ken’s Signs — direct, simple and straightforward. In contrast, the journey that led to the company name, and the Springdale, AR-based business it represents, is far from simple or straightforward.

Owner Ken Jones personifies the entrepreneurial spirit. If he sensed an opportunity, he turned it into a business. For example, he serviced and maintained signs for an existing sign company as a side business to two convenience stores, a backhoe, tire and tow-truck services, a video arcade and more.

Over the next 18 years (the time it takes to raise a young adult), this signage sideline grew into a successful, family operated sign business. For the first few years, the family house sufficed as the center of operations for sign installation and maintenance. When Jones began fabricating signs, he set up shop in a larger building, where he still operates today. Eventually, the sideline edged out other business ventures from his entrepreneurial plate.

It sounds deceptively straightforward, but as any business owner knows, nothing is as easy as it sounds. Sometimes it’s a good thing not to see all the curves that lay ahead of a new endeavor. At least, when looking back, the good times sweeten the difficult.

Today, the family can playfully recall the less-than-perfect, early working conditions, dubbed the "Mole Hole," its name for the dark shell of offices dimly lit by a single, overhead spotlight. And, when recounting the fire that destroyed a building that stored equipment, the family is comforted by the near-future expansion of its 9,000 sq. ft. of current office space

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Technology expands the business

The family’s storyteller, Carin Reynolds, is Ken’s Signs’ sales and operations manager, as well as the daughter of Ken and June Jones, president and secretary/treasurer, respectively.

Reynolds has been instrumental in the technological growth of the business by learning about new technologies and equipment, including digital printing. Between daughter and father, the plan was, "I’ll learn it, and I’ll teach you," she recalls. Reynolds chuckles when she expresses doubts that the second half of the bargain will ever come to fruition.

Leaving technological matters to his daughter, Jones focuses on customer service, in addition to overseeing maintenance and fabrication.

Two buildings, a block apart, house the family business. One is designated for sign fabrication, the other for appointments with customers, in addition to accommodating the final stages of paint and finish work. Recently, the shop purchased a paint booth with a down draft system, similar to those used for painting autos.

The new offices have attracted an estimated three-fold increase in customers in just the past two or three years. Plus, construction of a 4,000-sq.-ft. expansion project is underway, and a new nationwide account will soon be swelling production demands. It’s an exciting time, but one coupled with growing pains.

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"It’s a fun business. There’ve been some hard times, but we’re really coming out on top right now, and we keep growing, even though it’s sometimes hard to pull the reins," Reynolds says.

Growing pains

The search for good help is an ongoing challenge, particularly attracting computer-literate individuals who can learn digital-production techniques.

"The candidates you know could help you are also the candidates you probably can’t afford. Plus, many of those individuals are going to design firms because they pay more. Also, what’s taught in college art classes is different than what’s needed in a signshop environment," Reynolds relates.

Growth has been built upon Gerber technology, beginning with the shop’s first acquisition of a Gerber Signmaker®IVB. That was in the early days when the family basement served as center of operations. Business was brisk, and, in only a month, it had paid for itself. Today, the signshop operates two computers and plotters, and it recently purchased a Gerber 600 router.

Groaning, Reynolds recalls starting out with only three vinyl colors: red, blue and black. For three months, Jones put a moratorium on purchasing additional vinyl colors, selling customers on the merits of current stock. A venture into green vinyl signaled the green light to increase the shop’s color inventory, and more complex sign designs were produced by layering vinyl. Some logos or sign designs, however, had Reynolds wishing for better techniques.

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"There were times when I wished for an easier way to complete a project, other than layering vinyl, to make my life easier," she recalls.

Witnessing a demonstration of the |1137| EDGE® at a small sign show in Oklahoma City sold her on the new technology. It took a year of mother/daughter coaxing, but eventually, it was a unanimous decision to invest in digital-printing technology. Gerber Scientific Products

Ironically, a month before the purchase, a client wanted a sign featuring a new logo. Depicting grapes and leaves with subtle shadings, the sign featured lettering, graphics and a background fading from brown to peach. It was a wonderful opportunity, but also, a challenge — a customer who owned a large chain of grocery stores, an intricate design and only eight hours of hands-on training. In the end, it earned the customer’s satisfaction and an industry award.

About this project, Reynolds also recalls the challenge of converting the client’s artwork from a Macintosh file to suit the shop’s PC. Because she was the only person trained to operate the Edge, she worked several hours to correct slight flaws in the final print.

She estimates it took nearly six to eight months before she was comfortable operating the equipment. Even today, nearly six years later, she enthusiastically encourages users to pay the extra annual fee that entitles a Gerber equipment owner to a quick response for tech support.

"When you need technical support, you typically need it right away, not the next day. A speedy response time is a definite advantage," she says.

Although the family’s decision to incorporate digital-sign production into its business was not overtly customer driven, Reynolds realizes it was a timely move — one which likely kept the shop’s customers from seeking other sources.

"We initially made the decision on our own, but since then, we found there really was a need for it, and we just didn’t know it. We did additional sign work for that first [digital] customer, and I think they would have gone elsewhere if we couldn’t have done it ourselves," she relates.

Characteristic of Reynolds’ friendly manner, she offers a handy tip to signmakers working with an Edge printer: If you run translucent vinyl through the machine once, the red will appear pink when lit. To solve this problem, run the vinyl through twice to darken the color. By doing so, the illuminated sign will match the intended color.

Meeting challenges

Because few other area sign companies specialize in digital printing for indoor applications, Ken’s Signs focuses on outdoor applications. The shop always laminates signs, and, on another signshop’s recommendation, it began coating prints with Frog Juice. Reynolds also reports the family’s satisfaction with |1270|’s (South Plainfield, NJ) Conform Series application tape, which is less likely to curl or stick to itself.R Tape Corp.

The greatest challenge for the Jones’ signshop is Arkansas’ weather. With a temperature range that spans 10°F-100°F, installation requires flexibility and ingenuity. Reynolds recalls one occasion when the temperature dipped suddenly during a wet application, and water started freezing behind the vinyl. Because humidity and heat are equal foes, most graphics aren’t masked until just before application, to prevent curling.

More than just a business

The experimental and inventive nature of the sign business is what pleases Ken Jones. He narrowed his entrepreneurial playing field to one enterprise, but according to Reynolds, the creativity of the work continues to inspire him.

"He has told me several times that the reason he likes the sign business so much is because it always offers something different. There’s always something new, and it’s always a challenge."

The business has also served as a cohesive dynamic for the family.

"Today," Reynolds says, "most of our family is involved in the business, so as we have had to grow and change with the times, it has been an experience for us as a business and family, and we’ve grown closer together."

For Ken’s Signs, it’s all about succeeding as both a business and family.