Graphic design, logo for a business. Anybody ever had one done?

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MasterMech

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I'm looking to "brand" my business. Going to need a logo and something I can use for letterhead, invoices, etc... It's a start-up, so I have nothing other than an off the shelf design from Vistaprint that about 15 other businesses in the area have. :confused: My wife has used a local shop but she provided the artwork and they pretty much just added a couple items and printed everything. She suggested we look into an online "design contest" site like LogoBench.com but after a bit of research, the reviews are not so good and it kinda feels like a scam.

Has anybody had success with a "crowd sourcing" site like that or better yet, any design artists wanna drop me a PM? ;)
 
It's been several years, but I used to do some logo design. PM me with the details and I'll let you know if I have any ideas.
 
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I've got a lot of years in printing and graphic design too, I'd be glad to help you out as well. the advice I always give....know that color, especially when it touches (called trapping) costs a lot more money than line art, especially if you ever want to silk screen or embroider anything (I do that as a side business too)

VistaPrint is good start for most folks but you have to get out of their standard templates and re-arrange stuff to be different.

I'm sure begreen is awesome too but if ya' need me, let me know :)
 
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When I started my business, funds were tight, I bought a business card kit from Staples or Office Depot maybe. It came with card paper, and a disc full of free art and a program for creating all kinds of documents. There were better programs with more to offer but it was all I could do at the time.

My better half/accountant/bookkeeper/boss is planning on Quick books soon. It will turn an estimate into an invoice and keep track of everything. I really like the online feature because I am always asked to put together an estimate in short order and I can do it from almost anywhere with my phone or laptop. (broken link removed to http://quickbooks.intuit.com/cms/invoicing/)
 
Bret Hart said:
When I started my business, funds were tight, I bought a business card kit from Staples or Office Depot maybe. It came with card paper, and a disc full of free art and a program for creating all kinds of documents. There were better programs with more to offer but it was all I could do at the time.

My better half/accountant/bookkeeper/boss is planning on Quick books soon. It will turn an estimate into an invoice and keep track of everything. I really like the online feature because I am always asked to put together an estimate in short order and I can do it from almost anywhere with my phone or laptop. (broken link removed to http://quickbooks.intuit.com/cms/invoicing/)
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Bret I have a ton of business cards left over from my initial VistaPrint order. I'm looking to do something unique to my business.

About Quickbooks - it's an improvement for sure over manual invoicing but don't expect it to cure all your ills. It's LOUSY for parts inventory, you have to pay extra to get useful features like bin locations. It will not allow you to set customer price levels as a percentage over cost as opposed to a discount from list price. So if I pay retail for a part, as I sometimes have to do, it's real easy for QB to sell it for me at a loss (I do not mark up parts that I pay retail for) if I had set the customer up with a discounted price level. (Which I do not currently.)

It also does not cater to a repair shop very well. It does the accounting just fine but has no provisions for keeping track of machine serial numbers, hours in/out, or any other little bits of data repair shops keep tabs on.

FYI, I am still using QB Pro 2011, as I cannot justify upgrading for hundreds of $$ unless there is something that is going to save me LOADS of time. Anybody who has used newer versions and wants to enlighten me is quite welcome to post.

And how the heck do you get your better half to do your books? ;lol, Mine already runs another business so I guess it isn't fair to ask her to help with mine. :p
 
I, too, am looking for someone to take my drawing and put it into a format for silkscreen and/or embroidering. Zap (thewoodlands is his new username) is going to do the embroidering at his shop......I have a great logo in mind, just need to have it formatted for the machine. Can anyone help me out? I'm not going to profit from this in any way, this is for our Firewood Hoarders Club shirts, hats and stickers! !
 
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And how the heck do you get your better half to do your books? ;lol, Mine already runs another business so I guess it isn't fair to ask her to help with mine. :p


That's the easy part. She wants to know how much extra money she gets.

My business model has always been to provide a parts list for the customer and let them buy the parts. Most of the jobs I end up with are either rebuilding reels, sometimes as many as 25 or 30 from one course, and grinding them or major hydraulic failures and the parts expenses can be very high. Since I don't spend my money on parts, I pass the savings on to the customers which always have a parts account with the dealers (golf courses), and they know that I'm not marking up the prices. I did this at first because I just didn't have the money, first job was almost $6K in parts, and none of my customers have ever complained.
 
Scotty Overkill said:
I, too, am looking for someone to take my drawing and put it into a format for silkscreen and/or embroidering. Zap (thewoodlands is his new username) is going to do the embroidering at his shop......I have a great logo in mind, just need to have it formatted for the machine. Can anyone help me out? I'm not going to profit from this in any way, this is for our Firewood Hoarders Club shirts, hats and stickers! !
Click to expand...

If you have a logo already, there is a great program out there I use to use called Sewart that has a free 30 trial and is super easy to use. Not sure what type of machine Zap has but it will let you digitize the artwork into a lot of different embroidery files and even calculate stitches.

Silk screening is different, that just needs to color separated so each screen is a different color unless it's being done as sublimation where it it's printed as a full color graphic, not layers of screened colors.

Depending on what type of label or sticker you are using, that may need a completely different set of graphics.

Let me know if I can help ;)
 
If you can start providing the smaller stuff, do it. Dedicate a credit card for parts purchases. Open a R&R or Stens account etc. I also have a good relationship with a couple dealers, and I can provide parts that always meet or beat the dealership price and I still make a bit.

Your not really saving your customers money (they just have to buy the parts elsewhere) and you are denying yourself easy income. Why should you give away the profit from the parts? Many of my customers offer to advance me money for parts but I understand our clientele is a bit different. (business vs. homeowner)


Bret Hart said:
and none of my customers have ever complained.​
Click to expand...

I wouldn't complain if I was your customer either, but that doesn't mean it's fair to you. ;)
 
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