Whoo hoo we are finally over the cold winter and into the gorgeous spring season. I am well and truly back on the band wagon of exercising after having my little baby- Toby (9 weeks old), so this spring season is most welcome for my 5.30am boot camp sessions.

HOW EXCITING I have finally managed to half complete our NEW website, check it out
www.signsbanners.com.au and let me know what you think - I would love your feedback, keeping in mind I still have a few pages to finish. I have added our “newsletter” to the website, I have also added a “referral program”. If you know of anyone whom we can assist and would be delighted with our services please let them know about us (check out what our referral program is all about- you can win some goodies ), another new feature I have added on our website is “In The Media”. I have had so many editors contact me wanting to do a story on “how I have overcome great odds to become a successful business owner” that I thought it would be a great idea to start this section and inspire many of you to discover your passion and follow it-life can be so fun and EXCITING, however only YOU can make it happen!! On the home page check out my “FREE” ebooks. I want to help empower and inspire everyone to follow their dreams and passions, I will keep adding more ebooks that will assist you in your desired adventure.

Hope you enjoy my newsletter as much as I enjoy writing it. Until next month - cheers.

As a part of our commitment to our partners, suppliers and customers we will use this section of our newsletter to highlight Project Of The Month and thus give something back to those that support us.

This project involved upgrading and installing some new signage at the Southern Cross station where Skybus departs to our airports. Our partner in this project is graphic design studio “Toothpicks Creative”. Toothpicks is a modern graphic design studio that provides graphic design and visual solutions to a large variety of their customer’s.

Toothpicks Creative are based in Cheltenham (http://www.toothpick.com.au)

Toothpicks as the project manager have designed all graphic layouts, new signs including 3D views and Signs’n’Banners assisted with manufacture and installation. We would like to thank Wayne for his trust in our business and we look forward to working on future project

It's Your Turn for Success
It has been said:
“People often handle life like they handle bad weather”.
It's true-they wile away the time, waiting for it to get better. Many of us are guilty of doing this and we miss the tide of opportunity that's all around us. You see, opportunity knocks all the time, but you've got to be ready for it. So when your chance comes, you must be equipped to take advantage of it. We often see successful people as “lucky”, but take a second look at what appears to be someone's good luck.

Most often it's not luck, its preparation and planning for the right opportunity plus a passionate belief in their own success. When you're prepared for opportunity, your chance for success is sure to come. So don't wait until opportunity knocks, start getting prepared right now.

Remember: “The season of failure is the best time for sowing the seeds of success.”
Shelley Taylor-Smith

There are many factors that influence the growth and success of a business. One of the most important is determination. Without the will to succeed, many business owners find it hard to deal with the many obstacles that litter the road to success. For the team at Signs'n'Banners in Victoria, that 'True Grit' spirit has seen a hobby grown into a vibrant business that's firing with all guns blazing.

Partners Stacey and David are the duo behind Signs'n'Banners. For David, creating signage was really a backyard business/ weekend hobby. Already friends, I approached David with the idea of turning Signs'n'Banners into a fully functioning, successful signage shop. We both agreed. “As this was just a newly established business I was excited about the challenge”. I started being involved in the business in February 2007, by September 2007, Signs'n'Banners was a 'Business Achiever' 2007 finalist in our local paper.”

David's background is in mechanical engineering. However, he later went on to study marketing, real estate and quality control. Before Signs'n'Banners, David's work experience included a diverse range of fields such as quality control, sales of capital equipment and printed goods, and working in the field of real estate.

For myself, the road that led to Signs'n'Banners' has been an incredibly hard but inspiring one. I have lived life without my mum, was abused at age nine, fell pregnant at age fifteen, had a second child at age nineteen, and at one point when my son was three and my daughter was four months old, I was homeless and sleeping on a friends floor. For me, the hard years continued as I suffered a life of domestic violence. “Now you may be thinking this is a sad and sorry story, however these are my lessons I have learnt in life that are now my gifts to give and share with others”. “I discovered my higher purpose in life and that is to help other young mums gain back their self-esteem, discover their passions in life and to take action to achieve them.” I now have four delightful children Josh 13, Tahlia 10, Jack 8 and my little bub Toby 9 weeks. My life is finally where I have visualised it to be for many years.

From the backyard to the factory floor, Signs'n'Banners now produces digitally printed marketing solutions for a variety of business groups including government, advertising agencies, retail and trade customers and exhibition events. The company's range of products includes pull-up banners, x-banners, bowhead flags, teardrop flags, posters, portable fabric walls and a range of other digitally printed products.