Back to Work Charge

There’s nothing quite like going back to work after a three-day weekend. It’s just enough time to get you to finish all those chores at the house and spend a day relaxing or having fun, and then realizing you really just don’t want to have to set your alarm the night before. Once that mood sets in then you begin to contemplate just how much you don’t want to go to work, and that’s no way to start the week when you know you’ll have a lot to do on your first day back. I know that we got a lot of work here at Next Day Signs for the first day back. (Poor Aaron, he comes in tomorrow after being out for a week, he certainly has a challenge ahead of him.)

However, if you want to keep your spirits up so you don’t feel drained at work, I have two suggestions. Positivity and movement. The first one is easy enough to state, but not so easy to implement. You’ve got to chase away those whining thoughts in your head of your dreading return, and find something that can help give you a little spark in the day. For me, it’s being able to listen to Pandora while I work, but something small can also do the trick. For example, changing your desktop image on your computer, I like to change mine with the landscape scenery images that are provided in my ‘Sample Pictures’ folder. Having a new image on my desktop draws my attention once in a while to appreciate it.

The second tip is movement, being stagnate is one of the fastest ways to lose your energy in the day. If you work at a desk sometimes you have to be a little creative about it, but it is possible. You can start with cleaning your desk and tidying it up if it isn’t already. If that’s already done then you could put something under your desk to occupy your feet with, such as a tennis ball or baseball you can roll back and forth. There are even places where you can buy little rowing pedals to have under your desk.

Hopefully these suggestions can help you get back into the swing of work! If you have your own tips, leave them behind in a comment.

What the weather brings

I would first like to start by saying congratulations to my colleague Aaron and his family, for the new addition to their family, a baby boy. Aaron will most likely be out for the week to help take care of the new little one. I’ll be sorting through his e-mail while he’s gone and will answer any questions sent in.

Secondly, Next Day Signs would like to advise any sign owners to keep an eye out for when the tail end storms of Hurricane Isaac sweep over Central Ohio. It’s possible that all we may get is some rain and a small bit of wind, however there have been many times when signs have been damaged by the strong winds brought in after a hurricane passing. Feather flags are the most susceptible to the gusts of wind and may want to be kept inside all day. Yard signs and banners may only need to be taken down for the worse hours and then put up again later in the day.

While our signs are weather proof, in the sense that they are not damaged by rain, cold or snow, we unfortunately cannot guarantee their safety during natural disasters. So please refrain from taking your signs into a volcano.

Many Hats Indeed

Author: Amanda

There are two things that I really love about working at Next Day Signs LLC. The first is that each day is different, rarely do we come across two days in the week that we’re working on the same sign orders (unless it is a rather large project.) The second is that the owner, Cheryl, is not the kind of person to just sit behind her desk and leave production work to everyone else.

Today was an adventure, Aaron had to take half the day off and our part time help wasn’t scheduled for the day, leaving just Cheryl and I in the store. Normally on a Monday this isn’t much of an issue, but we’ve been keeping busy and still had many jobs in production to do. One of the jobs consisted of 15 routed red 3mm PVC signs. Usually we leave these jobs to Aaron who has carpentry skills, but since he would be out Cheryl caught him in time to teach her in five minutes or less how to use the hand-held router.

Occasionally I would peek over from my work to see how my boss was managing. She was covered in red flecks of PVC, as was the counter and the floor, it was an image akin to an explosion of Valentine’s day confetti. However, she was not hindered by the sign debris, and swiftly completed the 15 signs needed. “Chief, Cook and Bottle Washer,” she proclaimed as she finished dusting off the specks, being an owner of not only a store but many ‘hats’.

Signs Point to Growing Economy

Author: Amanda

Today I have joined the exclusive designer club, as my computer was updated with the design software used by both Cheryl and Aaron (our designers). Now, I am not design artist, so I won’t be able to help with all the designs needed, but this will help speed up production as I will be able to design many of the signs we work with daily; magnets, yard signs, banners. And in the future, should we hire another employee with design experience, they shall be able to use the computer as well.

I’m happy to see the progress Next Day Signs LLC has been making. As many of us know, 2009 was a very hard year for all of us economically, and being in a sign business makes it easier for us to notice the swings in economy. Both by watching the amount of personal signs purchased and the types of business signs people buy: be it ‘liquidation sale’, ‘closing sale’, ‘coming soon’, ‘now hiring,’ and ‘now open’ signs.

It’s nice to see that three years later, not only are we catching up to where we use to be, but exceeding years prior. More new customers, more personal orders, and for the first time in a long time, ‘now hiring’ signs. Here’s to hoping we see more of these good signs.

The Trip Abroad

Author: Amanda

Dear Readers, Grandmother, I have returned from my trip abroad in which I traveled much of Germany and spent a few days in Austria. The trip was certainly an eye opener to the way our cultures differ, giving me a new perspective on my own. One of the things I loved in Germany was how common it was to take your dog with you wherever you went. Dogs could follow their owner into the train station, the mall, even restaurants, and the well behaved and trained dogs, as many of them were, didn’t require a leash. It made me miss our dog Casey very much who gets to come to work with us.

Another interesting aspect was how they handled their signage. In many of the villages trying to maintain their rustic appeal, banners were made out of a hemp material with their lettering dyed in. In other areas where they had old buildings, (200 or 500 years old) they used a sort of wallpaper material they would paste on the wall.  Regular banners or large scale advertisements were reserved for the train stations or more modern built sides of town.

Of course there are special occasions that would be exceptions to this. During my travels I happened to stumble across an open air concert held in Konigsplatz, Munich. Which is an open ground area between three roman looking buildings that date back to early 1800’s. The concert was brimming with people, but the grass was never disturbed as black tarp mats were set across the grounds first. Scaffold stages were erected on the steps of each building to help put on an amazing light show without blocking the view of the architecture of the building, and banners were hung along it’s sides. It was an amazing display of modern and ancient brought together, and by the end of the next day everything was restored to how it had looked before the show.

Framing outside the photo

Author: Amanda

We all get a little lazy with our homes and make lists for things we’ll set aside to do later. On either the holidays or a rainy weekend, some excuse to keep us from doing it at the present moment. As for myself, I have gone living in my apartment for nine months without hanging anything on my walls. My excuse was that I wasn’t sure if I would move out at the end of the year or not, but regardless, I started to put a few things up this weekend.

The white blank walls of my Spartan living conditions had never bothered me before, but it was nice to give it a bit of color. Of course I lacked the foresight to see my coming mistake. My few pictures look incredibly small on my large white wall, now I need more.

I think I’ll use the digital photos on my computer and make a nice collage to print out at work. Thanks to our 5′ wide Mimaki printer, I could make the final design any reasonable living room size I desire. I can have my print be with either the glossy photo finish, or a matte finish to help keep off light glares. Now this service isn’t just reserved to employees, you can get this too if you wanted.

Of course, it’ll have to wait for some holiday or rainy weekend till I get around to it. I’m taking a trip to Europe this week, so there will be no blog updates from me for the next two Mondays. We’ll see if someone else from the store will give this a try. If they do you have my apology in advance 😉

QR Scan Codes Taking the Scene

Author: Amanda

Has everyone heard of the new recent fad of QR Scan codes? It looks like a pixilated box of white and black blocks, and acts a little similar to a UPC code that you can find on any store bought item. The difference is at a store when the register scans a UPC code it tells the computer what the item is and how much it costs. While, when the QR Scan code is ‘scanned’, by either a scanner or photographed by a smart phone, the QR Scan can either give you a list of information, photograph, or link you directly to a website.

QR Scan code was invented in 1994, in Japan by the Toyoto subsidiary company Denso Wave. The reason for its original invention, was to help the industrial company track manufactured cars. However, with more people using smart phones, the ability to scan a QR Scan code increased to the general population as rarely anyone goes anywhere with their phone. Thus the QR Scan code is increasingly seen being used in advertisement. On banners, real estate signs, magnets, magazines, posters and even highway billboards. (Although I don’t suggest trying to use your phone to take a picture while driving, leave that up to the navigator riding shot gun)

The perks of this is that it’s convenient for the person scanning, they can be linked directly to the information they seek and have it stored on their phone. As for the company using the QR Scan code, they can have a record of how many people scanned their codes, and using the phones GPS be able to track where they were when they scanned the code. Giving back precise measurements on which methods and areas targeted the most consumers. It is certainly a device that should be taken into consideration when ordering your next business sign.

Storm Saving Tips for Signs

Author: Amanda

I hope everyone is faring well after that rough storm that rolled by on Friday. Aaron spent his morning at work traveling to locations to fix and repair signs that were damaged by the high winds. We do have power here at the shop for all who are wondering and will be maintaining our regular work hours for the week except for being closed on Wednesday for the 4th of July.

It looks like we may be having a few more summer storms this week, here are a few tips to help keep your signs safe: If you have a banner, you can cut upside down crescent moon shapes into the fabric to help allow wind to flow through. Or, place your sign against a building wall out of the direction of the wind. If you have a yard sign that is coroplast, corrugated plastic, it’s very possible that the wire stake holding the sign might get bent. You’re always welcome to try bending it back into shape later, but if not, the wire stakes are very inexpensive and we are able to sell them separately here at the shop.

Enjoy the holiday and remember to stay safe. Happy Birthday America!

Casey

Author: Amanda

One of the perks of running a family owned business is the ability to bring your pets to work. For those that have stopped by our lobby, chances are you’ve seen our ‘shop dog’, a golden lab named Casey. My mother, and owner of Next Day Signs, almost every day loads Casey up into the car and brings her to work. She started coming to the shop a year and a half ago when our older dog passed away, With Casey being such a social individual, it didn’t seem right to leave her at home alone.

Since then she has made friends with many of our vendor delivery people, our postal workers, UPS deliverer, and even our business neighbors who come out to see her on her quick afternoon walk. She knows the work rules about where she can be during the day and when she can go “visit” with customers.  I have seen many a patron light up upon seeing her. And she’s helped us here at work, there are few quicker bad day relievers than a game of tug with a dog.

So many work environments are filled with stress.  We enjoy having our stress-reliever here with us and hope she brings a bright spot to many others each day as well.

The Importance of Being Enthralling, The Sequel

Author: Amanda

In continuation of the last blog of The Importance of Being Enthralling, I wanted to also bring to attention the importance of a good, inviting, user friendly website. Our website was created with the combined efforts of Site Motif, Evidia and the staff of Next Day Signs.

Site Motif was the company that helped create our new logo in 2007, and when we decided to upgrade our website they were one of the first people we thought to contact. They created a layout design to give our website a nice professional feel while keeping in mind other factors such as; which design would be best for our customers to navigate through, which layout would be the easiest for us to work with for updating our gallery or text and give us an edge over our competitors.

Evidia helped with the expansion of the website, creating for us a unique online ordering system. Our customers now could not only place orders for graduation banners, general banners and real estate riders, but they could also design it themselves.  An expansion that proved successful in increasing our sales and saving time. Evidia also helped us to create this wonderful blog, which I know you and my grandmother wait ever so patiently for me to update every Monday. She’s awesome like that, hi grandma.

If you are interested in the creation of a website for your business or the expansion of an existing one, I strongly recommend these two fine companies:

SiteMotif.com

Evidia.com