Using a combination of self-finance, a 50% stake from his uncle as a silent partner and a small loan from the government-backed Business Enterprise Fund, long-time wide-format and vehicle wrap specialist Danny Whittingham left his former company of 23 years before Christmas and took the plunge to set up on his own.
Opening for business on 4 January as Reactive Signs, Whittingham predominantly offers a commercial vehicle signage and wrapping service but intends to diversify as the business grows.
“Obviously borrowing the money comes at a cost, but actually that cost has probably been made up just from the advice that I've been given by the loan scheme,” he told Printweek.
“They offer lots of advice and webinars on all sorts of things business related and they've been really helpful.”
Whittingham operates from a 90sqm rented space in Outwood and runs a refurbished Mimaki JV300 bought from Atlantic Tech, an ex-demo Easymount laminator, and a Graphtec cutting plotter, all 1.6m-wide.
But, with work already mounting from customers old and new, Whittingham intends to move into a larger, 140sqm facility in the same area at the end of February to better accommodate the size of vehicles he works with as well as future growth plans.
“Getting a small business unit to let is like winning the lottery at the moment. They’re hard to come by and, being a new business, some letting agencies weren’t interested in talking to me,” Whittingham explained.
“But this one came up so I jumped at it even though I knew the roller shutter door might be a bit restrictive, but I wanted to get going. The landlord has been great and with work taking off and me having to outsource some of the vehicles, I’ve been offered a bigger unit with better access from next month.”
Whittingham said his intention was to stick with vehicles initially and expand into store and shop front signage, display and POS further down the line, however enquiries for all sorts of signage had been flowing in since day one meaning he was already dealing with new types of work.
“I've just had to outsource quite a lot of it because I don't have the equipment for things like printing direct onto panels or that kind of thing. So obviously my first aim is to make sure the business is profitable as quickly as possible. At this stage there's a lot of money going out and not quite as much coming in, but my next target really is to get to a position where I can employ somebody to do the installations.
“It means I can concentrate on not only the production side of things but running the business, which is obviously quite important. In twelve months. I'd like to think that I'll probably have two employees, one for installations and one on the production side.”
He said that the key to expanding into other areas would be to buy more printing equipment to enable him to bring in-house the type of work he’s been outsourcing, such as direct-to-panel printing.
“We have the software and design side, so if it's then a case of investing in some new equipment to open up different revenue streams, then that's what we'll look to do,” Wittingham said.
With work coming in steadily at this early stage, he was optimistic for the road ahead.
“Having contacts and relationships in the industry has really helped get me off the ground, previous customers and suppliers have been amazingly supportive, which has given me the time to work on finishing the website and dropping flyers to local businesses,” he explained.
“This stuff was all in development long before I launched and there was no great urgency, but then all of a sudden I kind of made up my mind to take the leap about five weeks before I actually opened. It means there are a few bits and pieces that still need finishing off but at the moment the business is definitely looking good.”
