By signcraft
Posted on Monday, July 29th, 2024
For over four decades, Mike Maslink has been providing signs, graphic design and promotional products to businesses in and around St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada. Though his roots are in sign painting, his all-around commercial sign shop, Signlink Graphics, uses digital printing and cut vinyl to produce most of the work. His shop is 2500 sq. ft. and he has a staff of two.
Gary Egamino, Janice Pritty and Mike
Mike is now 64, and we’ll let him tell you about his work and his business in his own words:
His market: “St. Catharines has a population of about 140,000 and is about 112 kilometers [70 miles] south of Toronto. But we draw from all around—Niagara Falls, Guelph and even Toronto.
“I’ve done work for some of my customers for decades. After a while, they don’t even need to see a drawing—I just go ahead and make the sign. It helps to build those sorts of relationships.”
Equipment: “I have been a Signlab user since starting with computers. We have a Graphtec plotter, Mimaki JV150 printer and a GBC Laminator. We also have a Royal Sovereign electric trimmer. The right equipment saves you a lot of time, so it’s important to have the equipment that helps the work go through the shop more smoothly.”
The mix of work: “We have a vehicle wrap underway, and we just took down a big Cadillac banner that I have to redo. This afternoon I’m doing some stripes on a Mustang. Yesterday we put up some big Alupanel Cadillac and Corvette signs. We do a lot of vehicle graphics along with flat signs and 3D signs. We do a little of everything, and it all adds up to keeping us pretty busy.
“I like that variety, too. I wouldn’t enjoy just specializing in one type of sign work. I’d get bored before long. Here we never really quite know what’s going to come in the door next, and that keeps things interesting for me.”
Favorite work: “Of course I like the design work, and we do a fair amount of that. Sometimes customers will bring me a design but most of the time I handle the design. That way I can design it for the particular use and how it will be seen.
“When the customer provides a file, you don’t know what you’ll get. I just had a job where I imported their file into three different design programs, and the colors still didn’t look like the PDF they provided. I ended up recreating the design so that I could get the colors right. You can spend a lot of time on things like that. I’d rather do the design myself because I can check the colors and know what we’ll get.”
A few good secrets: “I’ve been doing this for 40 years now. The secret I’ve found is service. If people can depend on you, they’ll keep coming back. If you let them down—sometimes even on a small thing—that may not be the case.
“I give a realistic estimate of when their sign will be done and stick to it. If something comes up that will delay that, I contact them immediately to update them. If I have an appointment to see them, I make sure to show up on time. If I’m going to be 15 minutes late, I call and let them know. It’s just common sense. Most customers really value that sort of communication.
“You also need to know when to say no to a job. A job that’s too big for your shop can cause you problems. It may look good on the books, but you’ll get behind on the work for your other customers. It can create a lot of stress. I just turned down a very big vehicle wrap project for that reason. It would have made it just about impossible to take care of my other customers’ projects.
“I try to do the things we do best in-house. I find that usually when something goes wrong, it’s something that I’m not in control of. We outsource a lot of screen printing, embroidery and promotional products, but most other work we prefer to do in-house.
“I don’t want to do everything, though, because you can’t do everything and do it all well. I have reliable people that we can outsource work to that doesn’t fit with what we do in the shop. That’s really important.”
Roots: “My father was in the TV and appliance business for 46 years, and he got tired of paying the sign painter for the window signs and truck lettering. I took a night school class and started doing signs. I did a few trucks, and it grew from there. In college I got a degree in architecture, but I didn’t want to spend my days at a drafting table so I stayed with signs.”
Family life: “Having a balanced work/home life with a supportive and understanding wife makes work so much easier. Both our sons, Mike and Ryan, have worked in the shop with me in their younger days, and these are the best memories for me. Occasionally I call them out of sign retirement to give me a hand.”
