Membership
Report
(Click here
to go to the Membership page)
It's official! Amy Ahrensdorf has
joined our group. When asked how we could get her more
business she told us she already has more than she can handle
right now.
Roman Okonowski will talk to the owner
of Chandler Screen and Awning about joining the group.
Chris Curran knows a veterinarian that
is interested in joining the group but he is from the west side of
town.
Greg Stewart through out a few more
categories to consider:
-
Doctors/Physicians
-
Psychologist
-
Restaurants
Social Report
(Click here to go to the Social Event page)
In two weeks several members are heading down to
Winkleman for a weekend getaway.
Mike Tanner is working on a Diamonbacks game
outing. It will be on Tuesday, August 3rd. We need 30
people signed up to get the group discount of $15 per ticket.
Mark your calendars! The holiday party is
scheduled for December 3rd. We will have a social hour
followed by two hours with a big band and vocalist.
Speaker Coordinator Report
(Click here to go to the Speaker Schedule)
- 06/11/04 Dave Crissman
(Tentative)
- 06/18/04 Panel Discussion
Continued "Positive Solutions for Changing Times"
- 06/25/04 Randy
Clark
- 07/02/04 No Meeting
- 07/09/04
- 07/16/04 Panel Discussion
"Franchises"
We have open speaker slots.
Please contact Wayne Unruh to get on the
schedule.
Treasurer Report
3rd quarter dues have been mailed out. Look
for yours in the mail and get 'em paid or Lisa Schnaidt will be
nagging you for the next 3 months!
46-28, 46-24, 16-13, 08-38, 23-34, 29-15, 12-02,
12-48, 28-17, 24-16, 45-26, 45-42, 15-13, 15-26, 21-32, 21-45,
21-13, 21-34, 33-45, 06-34, 34-22, 38-17, 03-21, 03-41, 03-23,
04-21, 27-34, 31-41, 14-25, 43-15, 43-31, 43-45, 43-40, 40-06,
02-04, 02-31, 02-13, 02-45, 02-24, 02-26, 25-15, 09-37.
Fred Vandervort
Fastsigns
Fred is 64 years old. He has been happily married to
Carolyn since 1963. He has 2 kids and a 16-year-old grandson.
Fred and his wife traveled a lot early in their marriage. Fred
has worked in various businesses which lead to job transfers.
His last career, before moving to Arizona, was in the brewing
business where he worked for 15 years.
When they moved to Arizona, they bought a fairly new franchise
called Fastsigns. They were only the 38th store in the chain
to open and the 1st in Arizona. Now there are 10 stores
throughout the Valley and a new one is about to open in Phoenix.
When Fred got into the business, the industry was changing from
hand painting to vinyl and computer generated graphics. The
process was very basic in the beginning. They only had 25
fonts to work with. Now they have over 300 type fonts to
choose from. If you wanted an image you needed a plotting
board and digitizer to recreate it but no shading was available.
Now they can print graphics right onto the vinyl in all different
colors.
Fastsigns recently made an alliance with an imaging company out
of Dallas. This company provides them with computer generated
photos, scenes, graphics, pictures and so on. With this
alliance, they have 65,000 high resolution images at their disposal
at no extra charge to use. This is proving to be a real boom
for them. There are no limits to what they can do.
Digital cameras have also helped the industry. Clients can
take their own pictures and have them incorporated into the signage.
Fastsigns personnel can, for example, take a picture of a company
vehicle and then show them on the computer exactly how the signage
will look on it.
Owning a signage store has provided Fred with many years of
unique experiences. In 1991-92 they had a gentleman come in
that needed a backdrop for a speaker coming to ASU. This man
spent all day at their store working with the computer operator.
It turned out to be a sign for Bill Clinton's election speech.
During Desert Storm they decided to make a banner that people
could write messages on to be sent overseas to loved ones serving
there. The idea spread like wild fire. First, all the
other Fastsigns franchises in the Valley picked up on the idea and
made banners. Then it made its way across America. It
ended up being a great promotion for the franchise.
In 1993 Fred opened a second location in Tempe. Things went
well until the year 2003. They were down 10% at year-end and
decided to consolidate operations. There Mesa location became
the production office and the Tempe location became the center for
Sales and Marketing.
In 2004, things turned around. Sales and profits were up
for the 1st quarter. Fred decided that this would be a good
time to try a "temporary" retirement. He moved out of the
daily operations and now handles administrative duties from home.
Signs cover a broad area. They are used for many purposes:
informational, directional, etc. They can do anything at
Fastsigns...
- Menu boards that you see at restaurants
- Charts for companies
- Award presentation boards
- Advertisement on company vehicles
- Window advertisement
- Trade show signage
If they are not equipped to handle a particular job, they
subcontract it out.
They can help with design, make the sign and even install (extra
fee) if you need them to. If you need help removing signage,
they can advise you on that as well.
Yes, mistakes are made. But they are kept to a minimum due
to their strict adherence to quality control. They try to run
a day in advance so that, if there is a mistake, they can correct it
before the customer even sees it.
So how fast is fast? There motto is, "In by 4pm, out by 4pm
the next day." Obviously, more complicated jobs require more
time. But those customers realize this when they come in.