Mastering the Wrap Game

Shop Profile CNJ Signs and Wraps

By Chad Huhman

It's a long story but in 1996 I was helping another guy doing vinyl lettering on race cars in the evenings after he got off work from his full-time job. He was using a mutual friend’s sandblasting shop, to do it in. I was there a lot helping my buddy with his race car. One day he loaded everything up and stopped doing it. I liked it enough that I went to my dad and discussed it. We looked into and the next thing I knew we were buying the equipment and I was in business. I started out with a 24" Roland plotter that I still have to this day. At the same time, I started refereeing high school soccer and basketball. I eventually got to where I was reffing college as well, in both sports and even did a little bit of pro soccer. I did that for 20 years while also trying to run a business. Eventually, my business got much busier and my kids got older and started playing competitive sports. So, I gave up the reffing and focused on my business. I had to find some way to pay for those competitive sports fees, lol. I started out doing cut vinyl on race cars. Eventually, I started getting into doing some storefront window graphics, business hours, metal signs and banners. It just grew from there. I can't tell you that there was any one point when I decided this was going to be my career.

I just knew I liked it and things were going well and the business continued to grow. The crazy thing about now vs back then is how much this industry has grown. I was self-taught back then. There weren't any videos to watch. Another sign shop wasn't going to help their competitor with any advice. I literally learned from my mistakes and I made plenty of them. I originally started in my hometown of Sedalia, MO. In 2000 my wife, Jennifer, and I got married and moved to Lee's Summit, MO, just outside of Kansas City, MO. I drove back and forth for 3 years (1 hour each way) until I built up enough business in Lee's Summit to finally move my business permanently.

I was very fortunate when I moved to Lee's Summit and started taking things more seriously and full-time. In 2008 I went to Fellers in Tulsa, OK and took their week-long training class. That was when I first started doing wraps. It wasn't until 2010 that I finally did my first actual wrap through my company and it grew from there. I loved the idea of wraps and I wanted to get better.

I kept seeing this one name that kept popping up in social media, magazines, and everywhere I looked. I finally started to look and see where he was from. When I started seeing articles with his address, it said Raymore, MO. I thought it was a typo. I found another article and it said the same thing. I still thought it was a typo. I finally found his website and it said Raymore, MO. I thought, how in the hell is there someone this popular in our industry and only 15 minutes away from me and I've never heard of him? I had to meet him. A couple of weeks later I had a meeting in Raymore and I went by his office after my meeting. I walked in and he said, how can I help you? I said, Mr. Ivers, my name is Chad Huhman and I've seen your name everywhere and when I saw that you were from Raymore, MO. I had to come to introduce myself and meet you. I walked out of there 3 hours later and we've been friends ever since. A week or two later he called me up and asked me if I would be interested in helping him with a project. I'm pretty sure before he finished the question I said "Fuck Yeah". This was a huge break for me! I used to busy ....sometimes too busy. He paused for a minute and said "Too busy huh?". I said, yeah, at times. He said I'm going to tell you something that someone told me a long time ago, "If you're too busy, you're not charging enough.". That has stuck with me ever since. It would be years later before I really listened to that advice but it always stuck with me. I finally figured it out later. For the new people getting into this industry, know your worth. Don't come in trying to undercut everyone's prices. There is PLENTY of work! Don't leave money on the table. Once you commit to a price it's very hard to raise your prices later. Remember, there's going to be another you that will come in and cut your prices as well.

I feel that my little bit of success has come from treating my customers as friends. I try to create a friendship with every one of my customers. I treat them with respect and most importantly I try to show them that I care about their project and them. I once had a new customer come to me and he had his work truck that he wanted wrapped and a couple of race cars. Every time we talked, he would talk to me about his race cars first but then I would ask him about his work truck. He finally told me later, after I got his business that the reason he went with me as opposed to others he had been talking with as well, is that I cared more about his work truck and the thing that made him money to be able to race. The others just wanted to talk about doing his race cars and weren't even concerned about doing his work truck. Eventually, we became pretty good friends and he's sent quite a bit of business my way since. Treat them like people, not as just another customer.