Wow! That was fun! I just finished making and setting up a new sign on the street in front of my school. My school is on the 2nd floor above a crepe shop called L’air de Temps and a coffee house named Cafe Deco in Okamoto. It is a popular spot as it is about 100 meters from the bus terminal of Konan Women’s University.
I had a sign before which was made of a garden lattice with colored corrugated plastic sheets attached. It lasted for two years. Not bad! I priced making a more standard sign and was quoted over 60,000 Yen excluding delivery, lights and ballast to keep it from blowing away, as my other sign had done, on a windy day.
This time I went to a local DIY store called Coop Living in Kobe and bought everything I needed to build the sign. They delivered the materials etc. to my school the next morning for a delivery charge of 200 Yen. That sure beats the taxi fare of 640 Yen I was expecting to pay if I had decided to drag the stuff back to the school on the same day. After flyering (new word?..seems OK to me) on Tuesday this week I rushed back to my school just in time to meet the delivery truck. I started assembly at 9:15 a.m. and had finished all the assembly by 11:15 a.m. I put another 3 hours into applying two coats of water-based paint and attaching the signs to each side and some rubber pads to the bottom and it was done. I spent about 14,000 Yen for the materials and delivery. So if I allow my labor rate to be 5,000 Yen per hour, I have about 39,000 in this project. By the way, Smith’s already has secured a new vendor to make signs, so you can now easily order the signs on the Smith’s School of English Franchise site. So let Smith’s do the work enjoy life and enjoy teaching your students!
Al, Smith’s School of English- Okamoto
Al,
It looks great! Well done!
Derek
SSE Tsukaguchi
Hey Al,
that’s a fine sign! My school could do well to have a sign like that. I also bought one a few years back and then found out it needs to have a base like yours, otherwise the winds flip it over and away! Of course, I didn’t have to work to make it, and it is good on days I have trial lesons, so it does what I need it to.
Good on you!
Thanks Derek.
Nice work Al!
The sign looks very good; that blue is sharp! I’ve made a couple of signs for my school also over the years and it always feels so good when you are finished and have that trophy out there working for you on the street! Making it yourself just feels a little better than buying a premade one, doesn’t it?
By the way, I know a couple of “tricks” on how to make that sign even more effective. Email me for details…
Alex