Billie and Joe Jackson converted to FASTSIGNS thanks to a discounted franchise fee for first responders.
比莉和乔，利用首批加盟商的折扣，由独立公司转型为FASTSIGNS的加盟商。
Billie Jackson had already been running her small sign and graphics shop Daddy Rabbit Graphics in Beckley, West Virginia for eleven years when, two years ago, she made a big decision that would change not only the direction of her business but also open up a better way to manage the challenges that were coming her way.
比莉·杰克森在西弗吉尼亚州贝克利地区经营着一家小型标牌和图形商店：Daddy Rabbit Graphics，已有11年之久。她是一个有着远见卓识的女性。两年前，她预见到未来身处标识行业内将会面临的挑战，于是勇敢地作出重大决定：一方面改变公司的业务方向，另一方面还要开辟一个更好的应对即将来临的挑战的方法。
Daddy Rabbit Graphics had been quite a family affair—Billie owned and operated the mom-and-pop business with her husband Joe and her son working part-time. (Note: Joe has also served as a full-time West Virginia state trooper for the past twenty-three years.)
Daddy Rabbit Graphics创建伊始，是按照家族企业来规划的，比莉与她的丈夫乔和共同拥有公司，同时他们的儿子在店中兼职。（乔在过去的23年中，曾担任过西弗吉尼亚州的专职士兵。）
Attending a tradeshow a couple of years ago, Billie and her husband took advantage of the FASTSIGNS discounted franchise fee for first responders and decided to convert their existing Daddy Rabbit Graphics business into a franchise location in order to provide additional products and services to clients in their area.
几年前，比莉和她的丈夫曾参加了一次贸易展会。该展会上，FASTSIGNS公司正在招收第一批连锁加盟商，加盟费用也有很大折扣。因此比莉决定将自己的公司转变为FASTSIGNS旗下的连锁店，为当地的客户提供更多样化的产品和服务。
Dirt track racecars play a huge role in the Jackson family.
越野赛车在杰克逊家族进入标识行业中扮演着重要角色。
But let’s rewind for a moment here: Billie initially moved into the sign and graphics industry thanks to her family being into dirt track racecars. Her son was one such racer. “On these racecars, you have to have sponsors on them,” she says, “and we needed to find a way to add these sponsors and other graphics to his vehicle.”
故事的要素以上已经介绍完毕，但请让我们在这里稍作回顾：比莉是如何进入标识行业的呢？
这一切要从越野赛车说起，西弗吉尼亚州地区一直是越野赛事的大本营。比莉的儿子就是一位赛车手，她回忆说：“在参与赛事的这些赛车上，必须贴有赞助商的广告，当时我们需要找到一种方法，将这些赞助商广告和其他图形贴在我儿子的车辆上。”
The big challenge that crept up here was that Billie and her son didn’t have easy access to anyone doing vehicle wraps in their area of southern West Virginia. So she did some research and, after learning how to print wraps, made the decision to buy the machines to help her create and print these graphics.
这件简单的事却蕴含着巨大的挑战：比莉一家的位置在西弗吉尼亚的南部地区，这里完全没有人从事汽车包装。因此，比莉只能自己动手。她首先进行了一些研究，学习如何打印汽车贴纸。在确定自己能够胜任该工作后，立刻决定购买机器，开始创建和打印这些图形。
The sponsor was impressed, and a few weeks later, they asked Billie if she could make a vinyl sign for them based off the logo she had designed and printed for her son’s racecar. That led to follow-up requests for screen-printed t-shirts for the sponsor’s workers and then embroidered-style shirts for the executives—all projects that Billie was excited to take on.
成品上车后，立刻给了赞助商一个深刻的印象。比赛结束后几周，赞助商联系上比莉，为她是否可以根据赛车上她自己设计和印刷的LOGO再次制作一份贴纸标识——这只是初步的业务，后续还有赞助商公司员工需要的带LOGO的丝网印刷T恤、高管穿着的绣花式衬衫——这毫无疑问是一笔大生意，比莉激动地承包下所有的项目。
Suddenly Billie was off and running with her Daddy Rabbit Graphics business.
但是，比莉觉得这并非长久之计，于是创立Daddy Rabbit Graphics，以便用公司的名义继续承接业务。
However stress eventually settled in as Billie’s clients were increasing, while her time to finish projects seemed to be decreasing. Her family was part-time help. Joe would come into the business at eight in the morning, leave at three to go to work at the state police until eleven and repeat the process again the next day. Meanwhile her son was only able to help out after school and before and after races. And space at the small-sized shop limited bringing on additional help.
公司建立后，随着业务的增多，压力变成常态，但比莉完成项目的效率却越来越高。这其中离不开家人的帮助：她的丈夫乔每天早上8点在公司工作，直到下午3点，然后还得去州警局继续另一份工作直到夜里11点，日复一日；而她的儿子则会在放学后、比赛前后提供帮助。另外，小型商店独立紧凑的空间也非常有利于这样的工作方式。
Working on vinyl decals in the shop’s production area.
在公司的生产区域内处理乙烯基贴图。
Realizing that she would need to expand their scope in order to grow their business as technology was changing so much, Billie started her process by looking for information.
公司业务不断发展，比莉的眼界也跟着拓宽，她逐渐意识到随着技术的变化日新月异，她必须扩大自己的业务范围来继续发展，于是她开始有意地实行一个寻找信息的过程。
“A customer would come in and say they had saw something on the Internet and asked if we create it for them,” she says. “We would search frantically on the Internet trying to figure out how to get the materials, how to build it, and importantly, how to price it.
比莉针对这个“过程”解释说：“比如一个客户找到我的公司，说他在互联网上注意到一些有趣的东西，问我们能否为他制作相同的产品。这时我们就会在互联网上进行搜索，试图弄清楚该产品的原材料如何获得、如何加工——更重要的是如何定价。”
“By the time we would find the information and get an estimate out, the customer had moved on to someone else.”
“但是，由于这个过程太过漫长，往往等我们找到信息并进行估算时，客户就已经找到能够立刻为其制作的公司，并开始合作了。”
It was during this Internet research that Billie noticed ads for FASTSIGNS, so she made it a point to visit them at a local tradeshow her family attended. “That’s when they told us about the First Responder discount,” says Billie, “and we learned about their vendor support. It made so much sense for us to make this transition.”
不过，在互联网上搜集信息的过程并非一无所获，正是在此期间，比莉注意到FASTSIGNS招商的广告，于是和家人决定在参加多年的当地展会上与其进行接触。比莉说：“在展会上，FASTSIGNS告诉我们有关‘首批加盟商’的折扣，并帮助我们了解该品牌对加盟商的支持。我很快意识到，如果能够加入他们进行公司转型的过渡，是非常有价值的。”
Billie and Joe eventually received lots of literature about FASTSIGNS in the mail and a designated representative frequently called them and answered any questions they had—even going out to lunch with them. “He also set us up to go visiting other FASTSIGNS locations within an hour or two from us,” says Joe, “so we scheduled a few days away from the shop to go out and tour them and talk with those owners. And they all appeared calm and happy.”
比莉和乔在考虑期间，通过邮件收到了许多有关FASTSIGNS的资料，对方也指派专门的销售代表定期与他们通话，解答他们的所有疑问，甚至像朋友一样共进午餐。乔回忆说：“那段时间里，这位销售还为我们安排去1-2小时车程内的其他FASTSIGNS连锁店进行实地参观、体验。我们也非常乐意离开公司几天，出去逛逛，并与同行进行交流。在谈话的过程中，我们发现这些加盟商都显得平静且快乐，让我们深受感染。”
Joe English (left) and their production specialist apply vinyl to a client’s work trailer.
乔（左）和公司的生产专家将乙烯基贴膜贴在客户的工作拖车上。
The first thing they did after converting to a FASTSIGNS was incorporate the franchisor’s showroom package into their shop layout. It had a very positive impact. “It was the best thing we could’ve done. Our customers responded differently,” says Billie. “We didn’t realize how much of an impact it would have to be able to show our products. We couldn’t display our products as a mom-and-pop because we didn’t realize the benefits of having our showroom right.”
接下来的事不必多说，比莉顺利地加盟FASTSIGNS。转换完成后，他们要做的第一件事就是将总公司的陈列室设计包装纳入他们商店的布局中。这个工作虽然繁琐，但效果也非常好，迅速在客户中产生了非常积极的影响。比莉说道：“加盟后的第一个改变效果就如此惊艳是我们没有想到的，我们的客户也给予很多的反馈。在我们之前的夫妻店时期，根本没有想过将我们的产品进行展示将产生多大的影响，即使当时有这方面的意识，也没有正确设置展示厅的方法。”
Billie says that they had a marketing consultant work directly with them to make the transition smoothly. “We did have a few people that were concerned they weren’t going to get the same thing. And it turns out they didn’t get the same thing—they got something better!” she says. “They learned that we were the same locally owned and operated people that they were used to dealing with but better equipped to serve them at this point with better options.”
比莉表示，在转型过程中，FASTSIGNS的市场顾问也全程参与，使得过渡顺利稳当。“刚开始成为加盟商的一段时间里，很多老客户担心无法再获得和以前相同的标识产品了···事实证明，他们的确无法再得到相同的产品——因为他们有了更好的选择！客户很快意识到，我们还保留着与过去一样的经营权和工作人员，但是却换上了更好的装备为他们提供更好的服务。”
After converting, the Jacksons still kept their FASTSIGNS at the metal industrial building location of Daddy Rabbit Graphics for awhile, but they outgrew the space within eight months and have recently relocated to a larger 3,500-square-foot space at a strip mall storefront location complete with a wrapping station and garage.
转型后，杰克逊夫妇仍然在原先Daddy Rabbit Graphics的金属工业风建筑中经营了FASTSIGNS一段时间。仅8个月后，整个公司的体量就有了巨大提升，只能租下更大的营业点。最近，他们又搬迁到了位于商业中心的一个1000多㎡的独立建筑中，并扩张出贴膜车间和车库等空间，让业务更为全面。
Since transitioning to a FASTSIGNS, Billie has been able to explore so many new types of sign offerings that she admits they couldn’t have done before. “Before becoming a FASTSIGNS, we didn’t have the knowledge, the vendors, or the support that we needed to do this,” she says.
如此多新的探索、新的尝试以及新的标识产品产出，是比莉加盟FASTSIGNS以前所无法做到的，她说：“加盟之前，我们缺少做到这些所必须具备的知识、供应商以及其他支持。”
They’ve also moved into custom signage, such as this piece for the Boy Scouts of America。
他们现在能够自定义标牌尺寸。图中标识是为美国童子军制作。
They’ve increased their wrapping capabilities to now expand into fleet graphics programs for vehicles. They’ve also moved into custom dimensional signage, even incorporating LED lighting for clients such as the Boy Scouts of America. “We’ve also started doing a lot of digital sign installations now,” she says.
新增的贴膜服务，扩展到能为一个车队的车辆进行处理。在标识标牌的业务方面，他们现在能采用自定义尺寸设计的标牌，为美国童子军等客户采用了LED照明的方案。比莉表示：“我们现在也开始尝试进行更多数字标牌的安装。”
Today Joe is a full-time member of the company (having recently retired from his career as a state trooper), and they have since brought onboard a graphic designer, a production specialist, and an installer and have put out recent feelers for additional staff.
现在，乔已经从州警局退役了，成为公司的全职员工。公司也聘请了专业的平面设计师、生产专家以及安装人员，并且还积极地寻找拥有其他能力的工作人员。
“We can bring anyone in and incorporate them if they fit the culture, if they have bright ideas, and if they want to be helpful to our customers,” says Billie. “We like it if they have experience, but we can train anybody how to make a sign. And FASTSIGNS offers continuing education for our employees.”
比莉这样介绍自己的招聘条件：“能够适应我们公司的文化，擅于出一些新点子，并且愿意向我们的客户提供帮助···我们欢迎任何符合这些特质的人加入我们。如果还有相关经验，那更是再好不过了。不过经验不是最主要的，我们可以培训所有求职者如何制作标识。而FASTSIGNS也能为我们的员工提供更加高级的学习机会。”
Billie and her crew recently finished up the biggest sales month ever in their twelve-month history, and they celebrated by bringing onboard a new Epson S60600 printer, as well as a new cutter, to help with their production.
比莉和她的工作人员最近在业绩上再创高峰，超过了今年的每个销售月。为了庆祝此事，公司购入一台全新爱普生S60600打印机和一台新的裁切机，为后续的生产力添砖加瓦。
“People still need signage, and we were deemed an ‘essential business’ through the whole COVID-19 shutdown. So we were there to help our customers either maintain their businesses, reopen their businesses, or get used to a whole new way of operating,” says Billie, noting they also recently fulfilled a work order of producing social distancing A-frame signage and banner stands for local schools.
“在疫情期间，各项产业都遭遇了封锁，但人们仍然需要标牌，因此标识行业被定性为‘基本业务’。我们必须承担起帮助客户保持业务活力、重新开放方案以及适应全新运营方式的责任。”比莉说。她的公司最近还为当地学校制作了很多保持社交距离的公益性标牌。
