the first year to about $400,000 in 2007.
The Rileys are hoping to reach $500,000 in
revenue this year.
Business this January
was three times the amount the company had
in January 2007, said Michael Riley, 26. Why
the increases?
"We have no idea," he said.
Elizabeth Riley, 25, who handles the
company's marketing, said she has focused on
pursuing business through networking. The
personal contacts seem to have worked, she
said. Insignia has only recently begun a
more formal advertising campaign.
The couple, originally from Miamisburg,
started the company under the name A Good
Sign, in Dayton. Michael Riley said it's
possible they could outgrow their leased
West Carrollton location at 420 E. Dixie
Drive this year.
His father operated a sign business that
Michael helped run, inspiring him to start
his own company with his wife.
The company has hired a third full-time
employee to handle bookkeeping, and has a
fourth part-time worker to help with the
sign production and installation that
Michael oversees. Insignia typically adds a
few part-time workers as needed when
business heats up.
Their customers include advertising and
marketing companies working for corporate
clients; small businesses going through name
or address changes or simply looking for
updated signs, and former employees of large
corporations who are starting their own
businesses.
Riley said he is concerned about managing
the growth of Insignia, which has 20 to 30
regional competitors and he wants to be able
to keep customers happy.
That is a valid concern, said Robert
Chelle, a professor of entrepreneurship in
the University of Dayton's School of
Business Administration. Companies that lose
control of their growth can alienate
potential customers and run out of cash for
needed investments, he said.
Contact this reporter at
(937) 225-2242
