Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Greg Lytle. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Greg thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your business sooner or later

I sometimes wonder what it would be like if I had started my business back in the late 2000’s. I was working at a vehicle graphics company at the time and getting my hands into some paint pinstriping cars and truck lettering when the jobs came in. I didn’t think you could make money painting signs. I was told it was a dead craft.

Come 2020, and I was ready to make the move to owning my own sign company. Sign painting was starting to have a resurgence and I had been taking on side jobs and making some cash to supplement my income. My wife and I were expecting a child and I wanted to be ready to earn more and own the process. This move would also give me much needed time to spend with my son as I would be giving up a large commute to my day job.

I ended up having more time on my hands than I would have wanted with the Covid outbreak setting off about 2 weeks into my full-time business venture. Nobody wanted any signs painted for at least 6 months and I got by with a little bit of government help and my new son to keep me occupied. I wanted to work, and eventually things broke enough for businesses to start coming out of their shells again. It wasn’t an ideal time to begin a full-time business, but I’m happy with how things have worked out and know that I can handle a big challenge since I got hit right away and survived.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

“A good sign will make more money for you than it ever will for me.” This rings true for any business that opts for a quality sign. This saying has been passed down from previous generations of professional sign makers who know the value of their work. The money spent will inevitably come back with compound interest. A sign is the first impression for passers-by of your shop and how you value your products and service.

Traditional sign painting and gilding are my specialty; a craft that has been having a resurgence in recent years. The work I do is hand-made and custom designed. I take pride in the tradition that I am able to bring forward and the quality of work that I produce for a society that, unfortunately, has a lot of poor quality signs. There is another classic adage that never grows old, “Good signs aint cheap and cheap signs aint good,” and aint that the truth.

I love to design for businesses individually based on what they are selling and how they want to be perceived. Classic styles and modern aesthetics can all work together. My process involves taking the customer’s vision and giving them back a sign that works both aesthetically and functionally. I’ll paint it up nice for you.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

Word of mouth is my greatest asset. I leave happy clients who tend to spread the word. I can’t think of a better way to grow.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

I don’t have employees, but I do work with other sign painters on a regular basis. We have each other’s back and work together to get things done. My best advice would be to treat those working for you the way you would want to be treated. This sounds obvious, but it’s rare to find.

Contact Info:

• Website: handoverfistsigns.com
• Instagram: @handoverfistsigns
• Facebook: @Hand Over Fist Signs