Jonabooks.com Niche News

Sign marketing is a lifelong investment.

Anytime a holiday rolls around, I always think of my family.  It doesn’t matter if it’s July 4th, Christmas or the approaching Memorial Day, I habitually give thought to the people I love during these fun seasons of the year.  My family is very spread out across the entire country.  I have family members situated in every region of the USA.  From aunts and uncles in Alabama, Utah, Connecticut and South Carolina to cousins in California, Minnesota, Florida and Texas, I always have a place to stay anytime I go traveling.  In fact, since I have so many relatives living in different locations, I more or less never get to see each relative in the same room at the same time.  My grandparents, however, are really good about scheduling events every two years or so and pressuring each family member into making the trek down to their home in North Carolina.  I always try to make this trip, as I love to talk with everyone and find out all the new gossip.

I never knew my father was a comedian.

Family reunions at my grandparents’ house are always really exciting.  Usually my grandmother prepares a fantastic meal, my Uncle Bill brings a great bottleful of wine for everyone to enjoy and my grandfather, once he’s done eating, tells stories about my father and my aunts and uncles.  This storytelling sitting usually lasts for hours, as each family member likes to chime in with his or her own history of the story.  I love this part of the visit because I always get to hear about something funny that my dad did with his brothers when they were young.  The best story that my Uncle Tayman tells is about the time my dad was supposed to wear a dinner suit to pick up his Aunt Sally from the church on the day of her wedding.   The way my uncle recalls the story is that Aunt Sally and her new husband John were exiting the church to get in the car having been married for all of ten minutes, and instead of their driver (my dad) wearing the nice white tuxedo that Aunt Sally had picked out, he was instead wearing a full body reptile costume complete with teeth and a scaley tail.  Aunt Sally did not think this stunt was funny.  However, according to my uncle, the rest of the people at the wedding, though somewhat bewildered, could scarce contain their laughter.  My dad is now a doctor and all of his years practicing medicine have humbled him, so I find it hilarious that the guy who I have always known to be a pretty serious person is capable of such shenanigans.

My grandmother likes telling the same story over and over again.

My grandmother is the nicest woman alive.  She is an amazing cook and loves it when she gets to take care of everyone.  She also always brings up a story about the day that I was born.  I have heard this story so many times it’s embarassing.  She always begins by describing every detail about the weather that day.  It was a steamer of a Tuesday and the sky looked like it was going to open up at any second throughout the day, though it never rained.  My grandmother always tells the story because I share a birthday with my cousin Martha, who is older than me.  My mother and father were at Martha’s sixteenth birthday party when my mom said it was time to go to the hospital.  Martha was really excited to get a new cousin for her birthday that year.  In fact, Martha still lights up every time she hears my grandmother tell the story about our birthday.

Utilizing a metal business sign helps me share my passion for reading.

I’ve been operating my own business for over ten years now.  I own a bookstore in New York and I love hanging out with and talking to my customers about books.  When I first opened my store, I had no idea how I should spread the word in order to build a customer base with whom I could share my passion, as this was my first time owning a business.  I talked to my friend John and he recommended that I create my own metal sign.  He told me that when he was in business for himself he always advertised with custom metal signs because they afforded him the freedom to say what he wanted.  I took his advice and designed a sandwich board style personalized metal sign to display on the sidewalk in front of my shop.  This metal sign was my first attempt at advertising my store, and I still use the metal sign now, ten years later.  

Family reunions make me think of my custom metal sign.

I would imagine the reason I told you about my family reunions is because I compare my grandmother’s ability to recount the day I was born with my ability to recount the day I first started using metal signage to promote my bookshop.  It was the first beautiful day in an April that had been unusually rainy and cold.  I had a Thai dish for dinner that night because there was a Thai restaurant located next door to where I bought my sign.  I could keep going with my description of the day, but I’ll spare you the details that probably only I find interesting.  My custom metal sign has been with me through all of the trials and tribulations of owning my own business, and I’m happy to say that the sign is still with me today.