After catching up with Matt at Signs Express (Central Lancashire) as we follow his journey into business ownership over the past few months, it’s fantastic to hear after five months that things continue to be ‘better than good’ and month on month there are more and more exciting projects and developments in the pipeline.
Here’s what Matt had to say about how April shaped up:
“It’s been quite a month, with A LOT of work going out the door, so I’d definitely say it’s been better than good!
We’ve got a lot of our standard jobs (which of course we rely on) coming through the workshop and also some exceptional projects mixed in there too, which always gives us a chance to be as creative as we dare and push the boundaries of what we can achieve.
As always, we’ve had plenty of our eco construction packs going out which are now a staple of the business, plus we’ve had lots of one-off vehicle wraps as expected. Alongside this, we’ve completed a number of large part wraps for Pristine PVC, plus a small fleet for local company J&J Fire Engineering meaning the vehicle bay has been in demand.
April also saw us complete and install a large job for St Peters health centre which was the second phase in a wayfinding project we secured back in December. The job was predominantly acrylic wayfinding signage and lots of it! A second big job for local firm Robertson was completed, which saw us create an eco-friendly project in the form of plywood letters and manifestations creating a striking result.
Something a little different and a great fun project to be involved in was a cyber security escape room! Custom made partitions made from clear multi-wall polycarbonate were made and installed along with melted illuminated numbers.
Lastly, we also created a mammoth job which was the biggest single tray project we’ve ever completed for returning customer Aira. Whilst it had its challenges, it was a great achievement and far beyond the scale of what we’ve done previously!
Projects aside, we had a great time attending a recent football and rugby trade exhibition at Preston North End Stadium where we had the pleasure of meeting owner of Preston North End, Peter Risdale. Along with being an avid fan of my local club, it was also fantastic to walk away having secured sponsorship again for next year, plus some additional work on the training ground.
April also saw some celebrations in the office, with one of our team members, Tom Smith being promoted to Production Manager, a very well-deserved step up. Plus, our Sales Manager Tom Van-Boyd also marked his 10-year anniversary with the business. Topping off the month, we were delighted to attend Ladies Day at the Races courtesy of supplier Amari Plastics.
In terms of the numbers, April was our best ever month since I moved into ownership, breaking another one of our own records, with not just turnover driving forwards, but most importantly our bottom line where we need it to be too. Just to make sure I don’t run before I can walk; I’ve got the finance team over at the Franchise Support Centre reviewing the numbers with me as a health check is always good practice!
Last up, we’ve ventured into an exciting new PR project which will see us creating lots of live content and real-life footage which we can use across our social channels, so unfortunately, you’ll be seeing both mine and the teams faces popping up more and more!”
