With one eye on how to craft the best possible relationship with his clients and another on how technology will shape the sign industry’s future, BJ Barlow is pushing 18 Oaks Sign Co. past the confines of a normal signshop. Barlow’s business philosophy borrows from the traditional (he started working in a print shop his freshman year of high school) and the nontraditional (he earned an undergraduate degree in pre-medicine and applied to medical school during a hiatus from the sign industry), and his perspective goes beyond the typical design, fabrication and installation of a sign.
Inspired by an article in Harvard Business Review, Barlow boosted publicity for 18 Oaks by taking up video promotion…