by Mary-Kate Roan
Staff Writer
Signs at Jacksonville Municipal Stadium, Memorial Hospital and nearly 200 other places have more in common than just a direction, greeting or helpful information.
They were all made by Spectrum Signs and Graphics, a local small business with national business attraction.
The company’s three staff members handle all the work, around 200 different clients, with Spectrum president and owner Diana Otwell leading the way.
With business booming, they have reason to celebrate.
“Right now we’re working on defense commissary signs for window displays at military grocery stores,” said Otwell.
With the process beginning last February, the contract took seven months to acquire, which Otwell began by responding to a job posting on a government job board. The original posting was for a job of static clings. However, Spectrum Signs proposed something new and more efficient.
“We offered them an alternative using tradeshow material with interchangeable pricing that would allow easy change out of prices and graphics and would last longer than static cling,” said Otwell.
“The government likes to use small businesses for this kind of work,” she said, “and on top of running the business I had to submit a 40–50 page proposal.”
But the effort was well worth it.
“We actually found out we got the government job about two weeks ago,” said Mike Otwell, Diana’s husband and the behind-the-scenes man in the business. Mike works at a local health insurance provider but spends as much time as he can helping his wife with the business.
In a time when job security is crucial, Diana said the government contract will keep the business steady until the end of the year – especially with Spectrum Signs being the only company on the contract.
“It has the potential to expand,” said Mike . “This is not for all the stores in the western region.”
Another intriguing part of the company’s story is that Diana isn’t originally from Jacksonville – or the United States for that matter.
“I was born in Seoul, South Korea,” said Diana. “And I came over with my parents when I was five months old.”
She added that her mother had entered the lottery for an American Visa at the encouragement of a family friend. When it was all said and done, Diana’s family came to the U.S., with the family friend staying in South Korea.
Diana’s family came to Jacksonville before leaving for the Chicago area, but she returned to Jacksonville for school. She graduated from Stetson University, where she also met Mike.
In November, Spectrum Signs will be celebrating its second year of business.
For Diana, an active member of the Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce, her success is written in the networking and customer service.
“We’ve had a lot of clients tell us that not a lot of printing companies sit down with them and explain the process or give them options,” said Diana. “We have lots of repeat customers and believe in the utmost customer service.”
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