Finding work beyond your neighborhood
The Internet makes the whole world your market
By Dan Antonelli
Posted on Sunday, December 31st, 2017

The biggest challenge most sign companies have today is trying to be competitive in a tough competitive landscape, which is enabling more and more people to outsource work outside of their local community. For my business, 15 years ago, nearly 85% of my work was located within 30 miles of my business. Today, it’s the total opposite, with only 15% of our revenue being derived from clients within New Jersey, and the rest mainly throughout the country and across the globe.
Fifteen years ago, if you had said the majority of our business would be based on designing brands, truck wraps and marketing solutions to people we’d never met, I might have thought you were a little crazy. Even today, the idea of designing a logo and truck wrap for a client in Australia from our office here in New Jersey seems a little crazy.
But that’s what’s happening in a global economy—even if you’re primarily selling your goods in a local one. But why couldn’t you sell your work elsewhere? What would it take and how would you go about it?
Dan Antonelli owns KickCharge Creative (formerly Graphic D-Signs, Inc.) in Washington, New Jersey. His latest book, Building a Big Small Business Brand, joins his Logo Design for Small Business I and II. He can be reached at dan@kickcharge. com. Dan also offers consulting and business coaching services to sign companies. For more information, visit danantonelli.com. On Instagram: @danantonelli_kickcharge.