Saline MI
10-14-2015 12:39am

Jedele's Growing Business Not Just About Steve and Signs Anymore

"15 years ago, Steve's Custom Signs was all about Steve and all about signs," said Steve Jedele. "I never thought the business would be where it is today."

On Oct. 22, the Saline Area Chamber of Commerce will honor Steve's Custom Signs with the Business Enterprise Award. Every year, the chamber awards Saline's most successful businesses. This year, the honorees are Steve's Custom Signs and Dan's Downtown Tavern. (Buy your tickets here.)

Jedele's business, located at 4676 Freedom Drive (off Platt Road) in Pittsfield Township, recently expanded again. The business needed more space for an automated screen printing machine that produces 500 t-shirts per hour. Today, Steve's Custom Signs operates from a 6,000-square-foot facility. The business employees 14 people. One of those employees is his wife Crystal, mother to their two children..

Jedele credits the success of the business to his staff and their mission.

“We’ve got 14 dedicated, talented people who make this work,” he said. "We help businesses get noticed. If it's printed, we do it.”

As Jedele said, it's not just about signs anymore.

"We offer a huge variety of services," Jedele said. Customers can buy high quality apparel. He offers dozens of swag options, from golf balls to pens to magnets. The printing services include graphic design, business cards, flyers, logo design and more. And, of course, there are all varieties of signs.

Jedele traces the business's roots back to his days at Saline High School. He studied marketing in the class taught by David Raft, now Principal of Saline Middle School. 

Raft said Jedele was one of his most memorable students. Nearly 20 years later, they remain good friends.

"The first time I met him was the first day of school. It was my first day teaching back in Saline," Raft said. 

Raft was taking attendance was he called Jedele's name.

"He corrected me on the pronunciation of his last name," Raft said.

Raft is from Saline, so he was familiar with the Jedele name. But Jedele insisted on a bogus pronunciation. This went on for a week until Raft finally got Jedele to cave.

"Some teachers might not like that he had the confidence to mess with them. But I liked it," Raft said, adding that he paid him back later.

Jedele said Raft influenced his decision to go into business.

"He helped get me started. I remember we had a sign making machine for marketing class and we couldn't get it to work. We worked on getting that going and that's when I started thinking of doing my own business," Jedele said. "He offered a lot of encouragement."

After high school, Jedele went to Western Michigan University to study business management. He launched his business as a "summer gig." 

One of his first jobs was for Town N Country Bikes, which was decorating bikes for the Saline Area Fire Department.

"He was doing bikes for us to ride in the parade. He did a good job on that and we had him do more stuff, including t-shirts," Fire Chief Craig Hoeft said. "It's great to see someone from Saline grow the business the way he did. A lot of people started out making t-shirts. But a lot of people quit. He just kept developing new skills and getting better and crowing the business."

Jedele ran the business from his parents' basement. Tired of the commute, he transferred to Eastern Michigan University to be closer to his business. He moved the business to his home on Henry Street. 

Around 10 years ago, he moved into his location in Pittsfield Township. He shared space with his brother's company, Wilderness Construction. At the time, he had two employees. The business focused on stickers and signs.

"People started asking us to do more because they liked what we were doing," Jedele said.

He went to Pennsylvania for a screenprinting class. He learned embroidery on a used machine. He brought trinkets and pens and other swag in-house. 

He said the key to the success is the loyalty of his customers. Why are customers loyal?

"We work hard to get the job done right. And if we make a mistake, we don't make our customer wait. We get right on it," Jedele said.

The most recent expansion gives the business more room for the growing screenprinting operation. A new automated screenprinting machine increases his capacity and lessons the strain on workers.

"It's not easy screen-print 2,000 t-shirts in a day," Jedele said.

The new machine prints 500 shirts an hour.

"It increases our capacity and our quality," he said.

He also has another bay for 'vehicle wraps." In the old days, businesses took commercial vehicles to the painter for logo work. Now, it's done by people like Jedele. It costs about $3,000 to wrap a full-sized van with logos and images and phone numbers.

"It's the cheapest advertising you can buy. We offer an eight-year warranty. It costs someone about $30 a month and 10,000 to 20,000 people a day see it," Jedele said.

Jedele's business is known for its generosity with local nonprofit organizations and the schools.

He’s well known in Saline Area Schools for his assistance with events.

"Steve's Custom Signs has been a key partner in our efforts to better brand Saline Area Schools.  He is innovative in his approach to creating appealing displays that send the message we want about our district.  Steve has excellent advice, not only with product ideas - but also related to general strategy," said Scot Graden, Saline Area Schools Superintendent. "Their willingness to contribute back to the district both through sponsorships and through volunteering on committees and at events has been greatly appreciated."

Jedele said giving back to the community is natural.

"Saline is where I went to school. It’s where I live. It's where my children will go to school," he said. "I know that if we do our part to give back to the schools, some day my kids will benefit from that."

Raft said it’s no surprise to see Jedele’s business doing so well.

“The fact that he has his own very successful business is no surprise at all.  He has vision, work ethic and knowledge,” Raft said. “Steve is a worker and he is never done thinking about the next endeavor that he will take on.”

 

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