Today we’d like to introduce you to Alan Cook.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Alan. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I used to work at a sign shop in my twenties. It was a run of the mill type shop, lots of real estate signs, banners, etc. There was no large format printing for small shops at that time, it was just die cut vinyl. But I would always ask to use scrap material and make designs with vinyl and spray paint just for fun. It taught me the basics for what I do now.
I’ve always been into simple, bold graphics. Even when I was a kid, when I played competitive soccer, I would cut out logos from various product boxes and hang them on my wall. My walls were literally covered with cool brand images like Umbro, Patrick, and lots of other soccer related graphics. Plus car posters and then ultimately music and skateboard images.
So long story short, I bartended as well in the sign shop days and then got a great job with a real estate developer. I traveled a lot and got promoted very quickly. The future was looking pretty good. Then the housing market crashed and the company I worked for was bought out and dismantled leaving me walking in circles. So I went back to bartending because it was decent money and I knew people in the industry so it was easy to step into again.
Then one day a friend said he knew someone that was selling a vinyl plotter (which die cuts vinyl for signs) and thought I might be interested which I was. I figured it would be a great toy and could make fun little art pieces. But then I started getting jobs here and there through word of mouth. Then I was getting jobs that required large format printing so I thought, let’s do it! I bought a 54″ printer and got to it.
I worked out of my living room for about 8 months and slowly cut down my bar shifts until one day I got a shop space and quit the bar industry to do printing full time.
It was a big leap of faith and it felt like I was doing a “trust fall” with the world, like “here goes nothing!”
Has it been a smooth road?
There’s been some smooth parts in the road and then there’s been no road at all. Like driving through dense woods surrounded by fog and then the car overheats and you just want to do yourself in. Haha!
But all in all it really has been good. Because I worked at a very cool bar, I knew a lot of very cool, productive people that knew what I was doing. My very first “large” job came about two weeks after I got the shop. It was for an event at the Gaylord hotel and the main speaker was Bill Clinton. To state the obvious, I was freaking out on the inside. Basically no sleep at all! But the hiring client was someone that I knew from the local scene and she was very, very cool to work with and had such an easy going personality, and that helped calm my nerves. Not to mention an old friend of mine who is amazing at production and installation helped me full time on that job. I still work with both of those people today which I am proud of. I feel that they have been there from the beginning.
The challenges are how to grow the business in a way where I can delegate some responsibility. Right now I do everything from sales, bids, purchasing, printing, production, installation, and invoicing. I’ll tell ya…it blows. This year I have been letting my buddy do almost all the installs by himself. He’s so good and fast and he prefers to work alone. I said to him one day, “I feel sometimes that I just get in your way.” He just looked at me with a slight grin that said it all. Then I called him an asshole and walked away. Haha!
So meeting deadlines is a challenge that I will tackle this year by hiring more help and organizing the invoicing now that I have an accountant. I have trouble saying no to a job for fear of losing a potential long term client. So then I end up working too much which, if I’m being honest, is not healthy to do all the time. You will burn yourself out and one day find yourself not enjoying your work. That’s no good. I love my work.
So we are also going to update the website where you can upload a design or create an actual design from scratch on the site and purchase it right then and there. I feel that clients that have a small job don’t have time to email or talk to me over and over for something that could be handled in one swift step. So this will be helpful and save time for the client and ourselves. It will also give us more time for the larger jobs that require a hands on, face to face communication which is what we are known for more or less.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Signworks of Dallas, Collected Studios story. Tell us more about the business.
This is a print shop that specializes in large format printing. It started out with the “signshop model” hence the name but we rarely make signs that regular sign shops do. We have really have a knack for large installations and one-off custom pieces for commercial and residential use. Your everyday real estate signs and banners is an extremely small fraction of our work. We would like to expand this area and basically have two departments/two companies under the same umbrella. Where Signworks of Dallas will steer more into high volume smaller jobs and Collected Studios will focus on our large projects. (Side note: we do dome fine art printing as well which we will be expanding on too)
I think what sets us apart it that we are artists, musicians, and all around creatives that have a certain mindset that other print shops just don’t have. Just the other day a client was at the shop and said how nice it was to see artwork that we made on the walls instead of boring print samples of…whatever. And he’s right. Who wants to see a large print sample of a billboard style add in your shop? Not me for sure. I still use scrap material to make my own stuff. It’s fun. It’s a reward to use the tools you have for personal use once in a while.
Another thing is that we will try anything. There’s been countless times when I speak to a supplier or a product manufacturer and they will say “you can’t do this or that with this material.” Well, if it has a certain aspect I’m going for I’m giving it a whirl even though they say it won’t work. So far, 80% of the time it does work. You may have to tweak a few things out here and there but usually there is a way. When you use materials in ways they weren’t meant to be used is really fun to me. It sparks other ideas whether it be a technical or creative one. Then I go back to the manufacturer and say “SEE!” …J/K…but I’d like too.
Oh yeah, I’m most proud of the fact that this business was built from nothing. Basically saving money from bartending to buy equipment, materials, and finally a shop space. Having zero clients to having many that have been with me from the beginning. Plus the fact that a lot of my clients are like minded because we work with some art galleries, museums, and various artist in the city. I’m also really proud of the people I work with. This includes other small businesses and people that are doing their own thing that we can collaborate with. We send them work and vice versa. East Dallas/Deep Ellum has a tight net of people that do amazing things. From furniture builders to set builders, to screen printers, and they are small independent shops that work together as a community. We all know each other well and it sometimes feels like its one giant company working together.
With that, there is a great wealth of knowledge and experience in this area.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
I see the technology improving at a very fast rate that will give us more capabilities to create visual objects in ways we haven’t even thought of yet. That’s what is exciting to me and I welcome it!
A lot of industry folks say that digital signage is the future which is correct to a certain degree. But that is way down the line as far as being the norm. Plus, if you think billboards are annoying now, what till they are all digital and of various sizes.
Have you ever seen those trucks that just drive around with this big screen on the back that shows countless ads? It’s a disgrace! Horrible eye pollution. That’s something I will never be a part of.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.signworksofdallas.com
- Phone: 469-328-3917
- Email: alanco2@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/signworks_of_dallas/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DallasVinylWorks/
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