South of the Border: "Signs of for the Times"

Vicki Kultgen is the Postmaster in Whitlash. She's also a ranch wife, a mom and a volunteer with a variety of community groups. And, she owns and operates Broken Mountains Signs, an online business that makes and sells "western and rustic styled home décor." Three years ago this busy lady started her sign business and has sold 1000+ of her personally designed signs that include scripture, quotes and sayings.

The start of the business might be described as the 'perfect storm.' Vicki and her husband, Dan, were cleaning up some property to develop a campground on the old townsite of Whitlash. She explained, "There were several old buildings that we tore down and we ended up with a lot of small pieces of scrap barnwood." She wondered how she might repurpose the old barnwood.

On her business's website Vicki notes she loves taking things that would normally be discarded and giving them new life. She had experience doing woodwork and for a time managed a farmers' market in Condon. The scrap barnwood boards, her existing skill set plus market experience and her passion for crafting gave her the business idea: create and sell signs online for home décor. She's since created 230+ sign designs that she offers for sale on Etsy.

Vicki Kultgen's sign business is her "creative outlet and connection to the bigger world"

Vicki describes the process she uses to make the signs as "self-taught." First, a design, style of lettering and size of a sign is selected. Using a computer driven cutting machine, a vinyl stencil is produced to paint the lettering on the board. The stencil is aligned on a prepared sign board and paint is applied to create the finished sign. Vicki also cuts all the frames she uses. Asked how she learned the process, she said, "lots of reading, watching videos on YouTube and trial and error."

She was already an Etsy customer so deciding to use the e-commerce website to market her own products seemed to follow. Vicki said, "I like Etsy because it sells items handmade by individuals, not mass produced products." Etsy mimics craft fairs where makers of products showcase and sell their wares to browsing customers. The e-commerce site boasts 60 million items for sale, 2.1 million sellers (also known as 'makers) and 33+ million buyers.

Vicki, in her 'storefront' on Etsy, has images of the 230+ signs she makes and sells. The signs are about equally divided among Biblical scripture, quotes and sayings. She created the sign designs and messages, adding a few new ones each year. "It took some time," she explained, "to understand all the services that Etsy offers and which ones could best help my business." She pays a small fee to Etsy for posting the images of the signs she sells plus a set percentage on each sale. Among other services she buys some "promoted listings" and pays Etsy to process her customers' payments.

I was curious if certain signs are more popular than others. Vicki said, "Over time certain signs remain popular-like "I'm your huckleberry" (a quote by Doc Holliday from the 1993 film "Tombstone") and many quotes from "Lonesome Dove." She explained this year's favorites are a scripture from 2 Corinthians 5:7 (walking by faith) and a quote by John Wayne about "hanging on to the Man Upstairs and Hope when the road looks rough."

Vicki enjoys the business but admits there are challenges-like her supply of barnwood is being used up. She said, "There's lots of old barnwood around the Sweet Grass Hills but it takes some coordinating to find and secure it." And not all barnwood works. "Sometimes it's just too old and dried out to take the paint," she added.

Another challenge is how best to promote her signs. She explained, "If you look online there are many sources for home décor signs. Etsy constantly offers new services to help distinguish one's products so I have to spend time staying current with what best promotes sales of my signs." An unanticipated challenge last year at Christmas time was too many orders to fill in a timely manner. She explained, "I under estimated my expected sales and had to stop taking orders for a time." Now she feels she has just about the right amount of business to make the signs and meet her promise to mail a product within five days of receiving an order.

Along with the challenges there's also an upside to her online business. She explained that the business allows her to set her own hours to do the work. She and her husband recently purchased the old Whitlash School. She converted one of the school buildings to house her workshop. With everything in one place and ready to use she can make signs more efficiently. And with a home based business she gets her 10-year old daughter, Hannah, involved in helping fill orders. "And finally," Vicki said, "the business gives me a creative outlet (she describes herself as a "diehard crafter") through Etsy "I have a valuable connection to a much larger world."

See Page B4: South of the Boarder

In the future Vicki says she will continue adding a few new designs each year to offer customers more choices. Because she likes incorporating all sorts of things she finds on the ranch and around the area, she's planning to do more signs that "incorporate barbed wire, denim and other materials common to ranches in the Hills." And, she'll continue to educate herself about new and more effective ways to market and promote her signs. She's confident that signs will continue to be sought to decorate homes, offices and other public/private spaces.

You can learn more about Broken Mountains Signs and the artist at these two websites: http://www.etsy.com/shop/brokenmountainssigns or http://www.brokenmountainssigns.com.