Robert L. Holton is happiest in the paint-spattered studio behind his One Day Signs shop in Anaheim, making the paint-dribbled pop art that is his true passion.
If he could, Holton says, he'd devote all his time to Drizzle Studios, his fledgling side venture. But Holton feels a duty to stick with the sign business until his son, Trevor, decides whether he wants to take over the family operation. Trevor, 27, runs the office and owns a 5% share.
"I'm torn between the two," says Robert Holton, 50, who started the business in a garage with his own dad, Pete, in 1983.
Last year sales were flat at about $400,000. The company sells custom indoor and outdoor signs, banners, vehicle wraps and design services for Walt Disney Co., Ford Motor Co., wholesale printers and trade show firms.
The elder Holton has had to use up his bank line of credit and borrow from friends to fund the four-person shop. It's frustrating for the small-business owner, who has kept the doors open for 26 years. One Day Signs has a reputation for fast and accurate turnaround on difficult jobs, Holton says, but he has had trouble turning that skill into higher sales.
The company still hasn't recovered from a major hit about six years ago when its largest client set up an in-house print shop, taking two of Holton's workers and most of his sales.
Holton had to lay off nearly all of his 18 employees and watch his annual revenue, which had hit $1.5 million, sink to about $250,000. The reversal was especially difficult because it followed the deaths of his parents a few years before.
Then, in April 2003, his wife, Alicia, lost her battle with breast cancer. It was almost too much.
"I really just put my head in the sand and I neglected things at work," Holton says.
The British native turned to art, a long-denied passion, for solace. He prints photographic images on stretched canvas, then embellishes them with brushed and drizzled paint.
People began to respond to his work. A woman bought his painting of the Santa Monica Pier because she wanted to live in the city one day. A Seattle lawyer commissioned an image of the old Starbucks logo to remind him not to overlook opportunity. He'd passed on an early offer to join the operation in its start-up stage.
These days, Holton sets up at art shows as well as at business trade shows to persuade companies of the benefits of having their products or logos given the energizing look of the drizzle art treatment. Heineken USA is already a client, Holton says.
Holton acknowledges that he spends about 80% of his time on his side business, which had sales of about $60,000 last year.
Meanwhile, Trevor Holton, one of his five children, handles invoicing, purchasing, work flow and other office matters at the shop. The younger Holton likes to work with clients but abhors sales.
Holton and his son butt heads over strategy and the time the elder Holton spends in the studio. Robert Holton would like to devote himself full time to his art, but he doesn't want to burden his son with the business if his interests lie elsewhere.
"This was my dream, but is it his?" Holton asks.
Trevor Holton's passion is coaching high school sports, but he doesn't want to teach full time.
To break through their impasse, the men have to take action, says veteran family business consultant Ernie Doud. The key is to increase sales. He sees two options: They can do more selling themselves or hire a commissioned salesperson.
Business as usual "is an eventual death sentence for the business" and their dreams, says the consultant, who is a co-founder of Doud Hausner & Associates in Glendale and a frequent writer and lecturer on family business topics.
After meeting with the Holtons at their shop, Doud came up with recommendations to help the pair build the business to the point that it could support the dreams of both.
They need to actively pursue new sales so they can increase revenue by one-third, figure out what makes their business attractive to prospective clients, learn how to get that message across and meet regularly to discuss progress.
It's too early to decide whether Trevor should own and run the firm, Doud says. For now, father and son need to focus on leveraging their strengths -- the long history of the business and its reputation for quality and responsive service -- into higher sales.
"I hope they can get passionate about making their dreams come true," he says.
His key recommendations:
* Develop a revenue target and timeline. Prodded by Doud, Holton and his son decided they needed about $600,000 in annual revenue so each could afford to devote time to his nonwork interests. Doud suggests they give themselves two years to reach that goal but set 90-day interim sales goals.
"If people are going to start down what could be a rather long path, they need some way to track progress," Doud says. "That gives you a chance to make mid-course corrections when you need to."
