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Skills and creative opportunities sustain Bethune Signs.
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By Steve Aust
Most teenagers start their working life by running a paper route or flipping burgers. Mike Bethune, sole proprietor of Thonotosassa, FL-based Bethune Signs, began earning paychecks quite differently; he apprenticed in his father’s monument-fabrication shop, which stoked his creative fires. After a brief stint working in another monument shop, he returned to the Tampa area and opened his own signshop 25 years ago.
Rather than attempting to be a jack-of-all-trades, Bethune has remained true to his passion of sandblasted-sign fabrication. He’s mastered digital-art creation, but his shop focuses on time-honored fabrication methods. By perfecting a specialty, he retains a wide demographic swath of customers – residential developments, retail and military bases, for instance. And, Bethune’s reputation has enabled him to maintain wholesale relationships with other signshops across Florida’s Gulf Coast.
Taken for granite
At age 15, Bethune’s father taught him the fundamentals of designing and fabricating tombstones. His job primarily entailed cutting and applying rubber masking to the stone before the blasting process.
“I really learned to appreciate cutting plotters once I had one installed in my shop,” he said. “During my monument-blasting days, and in my early days in the signshop, cutting mask with an X-acto® knife was always one of the hardest parts of the job.”
Amidst the grueling work, Bethune learned solid design and fabrication fundamentals. He briefly worked for a Chattanooga, TN, monument manufacturer, but decided signmaking provided a better fit.
“There are only so many types of designs you can put on a tombstone,” Bethune said. “I thought making signs would offer a much better creative outlet, because it provided the opportunity to design, paint, carve and sculpt. And, the thought of being my own boss appealed to me.”
In 1984, he parlayed his design and fabrication experience into opening his own shop in suburban Tampa. As so often happens, he operated his first shop within a one-car garage. He said, “You learn a lot about efficiency when it feels like you’re working in a phone booth all day.”
Growing the business
Eventually, Bethune’s business thrived, and he purchased a home with a three-car garage and more than ample workshop space.
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