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Hi everyone. I don't post on here very often but I do read alot of your posts. This is the ONLY forum anywhere that does not blast you for asking a simple question. You are all great people and I appreciate your posts because you have answered numerous questions, all politely, which goes a long way with alot of people. So, I thought I would contribute my top 20 things that I have learned as I make the decision to put in another 10 years or switch to something else. Please feel free to add your own lessons. The money is decent but it comes at a cost. 20. Copyright laws are in place for a reason. 19. Bartering is bad. The sign guy loses every time. 18. Churches expect you to donate everything. They rake in thousands of dollars every Wednesday and Sunday but refuse to spend it and expect you to foot their bill. This is not meant to cause a religion debate….I’m just stating a fact. 17. Charge something upfront for your any job. Making stickers is time and supply consuming. They come in, want this intricate design done in a huge hurry for the festival this coming weekend. Then you never hear from them again. Charge something upfront so you don’t feel too bad tossing out 600 “rush job” stickers that have been on your shelf for a year. 16. No artwork should be free. The artwork is time consuming and you always have to redo it 3 times before they approve it. Then they want you to email it to a printing shop for their letterhead and business cards to be printed. You just wasted a lot of time and money and in this business, time is money. 15. Static is very costly. Whoever invented static guard is a friggin genius. 14. Humidity is a pain. A dehumidifier is worth its weight in gold. 13. The wind always blows at the worst possible time, you know, that nice spring day and you have the doors and windows open as you prepare to apply lettering to that 8 foot long banner. All of a sudden...... 12. Sometimes 2 rolls of the same brand of vinyl, the same color, the same size are actually different. 11. Wraps are a pain in the ass. 10. Being self employed, every single one of your friends or family members want a job but nobody wants to work. 9. Being the cheapest bidder on a job has tons of consequences and it never pays off in your favor. Uncle Bob down the street can do it for "xxx" according to the customer. I have started recommending them just going to Uncle Bob but somehow the customers end up coming back to my shop. I dunno. Stand your ground with your bid. 8. It never ever ever pays to be in a hurry. 7. Avoid cheap vinyl on multi-layer jobs. 6. Application tape quality matters, alot. 5. It is hard to make any money lettering racecars. They want a $600.00 job done for $100.00 and want it done in 2 hours. I love racers, my husband is one, but... 4. It is impossible to please customers who buy off of your website because they can't read the application instructions, then they screw up the sticker, then blame you for it being "low quality". I guess that is the stickers fault?! I learned to read as a child. I think 99.6% of internet buyers didn't. 3. People are very rarely rude, unreasonable and abusive to your face, but are borderline criminal in an email. That AMAZES me how someone can be so rude in writing. 2. I love my dog, she never argues, lies, steals, and she could care less about different shades of beige. 1. The number one thing I have learned and please remember this....The less money you make on someone, the biggest pain in the ass they are. If you give an inch to a customer, they take 10 miles. Refrain from the "buddy deal". With that being said, I guess I know what to expect in the next 10 years. I wish someone would have told me about all of the pros and cons, but in all reality, would I have listened? Probably not.

I would give John's advice serious respect . He is the most knowledged/experienced non-USC personel & calls things as they are ... plus I have read the newer MH series is not as good as the older stuff .

I believe it's all relative to what you want to do and your expectations of what a cutter will do. If you are frugal you could go with a p cut that will do the kind things that you want to do there are people on here that use the value cutters for a full-time business . The Roland and Graphtec are pretty much the caddy of cutters with better performance and resale but it again is realitive to what you want to do . I would research and take my time about a decision good luck . Dan

To me it looks like Crille bold with an outline