Billboard Business: What I’ve Learned Over the Years
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By Frank Rolfe
Many people ask me how I started my own outdoor billboard business. Truth be told, it all started as a resume builder for graduate school applications. Fourteen years later I sold my billboard empire to a public company. Along the way, I learned many things about what works and what doesn’t work in successful billboard deals.
When I got into this business, I thought it would all be about building cookie-cutter signs on the freeways, and then leasing the space. I had no idea how competitive it was. There were sixty billboard companies in my market! The competition was so crazy that you had to have a gimmick in order to survive.
I can’t tell you how many times I hear people ask me if there are still opportunities left. Absolutely! On average, I was able to pull of a deal each month for fifteen straight years in a competitive market. My secret was thinking “outside the box” and coming up with creative game plans.
This is also why I wrote my book, “Big Bucks from Big Signs”. In the book, I will show you the wide range of deals I completed as well as the lessons learned from each deal.
I’m a big history buff; I read mostly biographies and books on warfare. What makes it fun to read these things is to gather the lessons learned by many famous and successful people. By doing so, one can overly what worked for them and apply it to your own life plan.
After you’ve read a lot of these books, you start to see certain patterns emerge that seem to show signs that an idea or action is going to be successful. SImilarly, you’ll see what actions do not appear to be good ideas if you want to win.
I wrote my book to give real-life examples of what seems to be the pattern for success in building a billboard company. All of the case studies are true stories; all of the lessons learned happened to me. I know I’m not the only guy who has made money in this business. However, I know I’m the only one who seems to want to write about it and share this knowledge openly!
My formula will give you a much greater chance for success than any other avenue. I believe that if you study the deals in my book carefully, you may identify a deal in your market that meets the same criteria.
About Frank Rolfe
Frank Rolfe became the one of the largest private billboard operators in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. He eventually sold his billboard empire to a public company 14 years later. Rolfe is sharing his expertise to anyone interested in getting involved with outdoor billboards. He is the author of the book, “Big Bucks from Big Signs”, which contains everything you need to know in order to get started.
Copyright secured by Digiprove How to Make a $100,000 per Year with Outdoor Billboards
Home > Outdoor Billboard Articles > Outdoor Billboards
By Frank Rolfe
With unemployment at its highest level in decades, many people are worried about their jobs and are tired of living from paycheck to paycheck or with the uncertainty of being handed the pink slip with little or no warning. But how can an individual replace their earnings of $40,000 to $100,000 per year? One option may be to consider outdoor billboards.
What is the billboard business?
A billboard owner effectively rents land, builds a billboard structure, and then rents the advertising space. The difference between the advertising revenue and the costs of operation, which are essentially the rent for the land and the cost to install and light the ad, represent the profit. The industry is very old and, in the U.S., has been in continual operation since the 1850s.
Who else is doing it?
The billboard business is very lucrative. There are many individuals in the U.S. that own billboards, ranging from one unit to thousands of units. Ted Turner built his empire from a beginning stake in a billboard company in Atlanta. John Kluge is another billionaire billboard veteran, and there are several others in the Forbes 400.
How does it work?
The billboard industry is effectively regulated by the government, which designates where billboards can be built along the nation’s highways. City streets fall under a different set of local ordinances. Once you have learned the rules, your job is to find legal locations for billboards to be built. The other part of your job is to negotiate an acceptable ground lease with the landowner on these legal locations. Then you determine the size and height to build the sign and, after construction, you rent the advertising space on the sign – normally on a one year lease. Alternatively, you can flip the ground lease by selling the rights to a large billboard company without even building the sign.
So how can you make $100,000 a year doing that?
The billboard business has several niches. One of the best right now is to focus on wooden signs in emerging markets. These structures cost about $6,000 to build, but generate around $3,000+ per year in net income. To make $100,000 per year, you’d need to build 30 of these in your spare time. There are individuals who have amassed a hundred or more of these type of billboards in their spare time. All it takes is the effort to learn how to do it and then to find the sites.
Of course, you control how much effort you put in. If you are not trying to replace your day job income, you could build just a few to pay for your kid’s college or leave them a nice legacy.
How fast can I start doing this?
As fast as you can learn how to do it. Step one is to learn the ordinances in your state. You may also have to get a state license – which is not as hard as it sounds. Normally there is no test or school required, just the payment of a small fee.
Conclusion
If you want to replace an income of up to $100,000, or just build a profitable hobby business, learn how to rent a billboard. It’s been a winner for thousands of Americans for over a century.
About Frank Rolfe
Frank Rolfe became the one of the largest private billboard operators in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. He eventually sold his billboard empire to a public company 14 years later. Rolfe is sharing his expertise to anyone interested in getting involved with outdoor billboards. He is the author of the book, “Big Bucks from Big Signs”, which contains everything you need to know in order to get started.
The Outdoor Billboard Business – How to Make a Fortune Working in Your Spare Time
Home > Outdoor Billboard Articles > Outdoor Billboard Business
By Frank Rolfe
Even though you pass by outdoor billboards every day, if you’re like most people, you probably never think much about them. However, did you know that those same billboards could change your life? If you own just a few billboards, you might be collecting checks in the mail every month rather than worrying about how to pay the bills next month. And starting an outdoor billboard business is not as hard to do as you think.
The billboard business is a very easy business model. The primary goal is secure the rights to build and operate the sign from the land owner. You pay the land owner rent to use his space. Then, you build the sign and rent the billboard to an advertiser. After paying a few bills, you keep the difference. The “difference” is where your fortune lies. It can range from a few thousand dollars per year to over $100,000 per sign.
Although most of the prime locations in the major metropolitan cities have been gobbled up, there is still significant opportunity in the outdoor advertising industry. Every time a property is rezoned, or a highway built, there may be a new opportunity to introduce a billboard. I also look for opportunity outside the city or underperforming signs in the big cities.
Here’s another secret industry insiders don’t want you to know. One of the best opportunities right now is small wooden billboards in smaller to mid-size cities. You can generally build these billboards for $4,000 to $8,000. They should cash flow about $3,000 per year each. If you owned just four of these signs, you’d have an extra $1,000 per month in your pocket. Ten would give you $30,000 in additional cash flow. There are some individuals out there that have 100 signs or more, yielding over $300,000 in cash flow per year!
Is it hard to break into this industry? Not really! The billboard business is a game of strategy, not of who has the biggest checking account. It’s also a business in which the big, public companies have no advantage over the individual. There are no scale issues or barrier to entry. In fact, often the small guy has a distinct advantage over the big company, as the small guy can move faster in negotiations and may bond with the land owner better.
The billboard business is something that can easily be done in the evenings or even just on the weekends. This isn’t meant to be a full-time job as it is not really time intensive. When you build a sign, you do it once. When you rent the advertising space on a sign, you only do that one time per year. It’s a business that revolves around thought and strategy, and not a whole lot of time in the field. Many people manage their billboard empire by putting in only a couple hours a week.
The billboard business is very enjoyable and rewarding. It is a true win/win business because you help advertisers sell their goods and services, and at the same time, help land owners maximize their income from their property. If you don’t enjoy sitting at a desk for hours on end, this is the perfect business for you. It requires that you get out of the office and into the field.
Your spare time, properly focused, can yield great financial and satisfaction rewards through outdoor billboards. Just a hand full of these things can dramatically change your life for the better. So don’t ignore those billboards you see along the highways every day. Instead, think about how this business can change your life. You’ll be glad you did.
About Frank Rolfe
Frank Rolfe became the one of the largest private billboard operators in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. He eventually sold his billboard empire to a public company 14 years later. Rolfe is sharing his expertise to anyone interested in getting involved with outdoor billboards. He is the author of the book, “Big Bucks from Big Signs”, which contains everything you need to know in order to get started.
