Our Story

We make great signs, and we give a damn about business.

We know, firsthand, how hard it is to coordinate the thousands of pieces that go into running a business. We’re well aware that you can be the most passionate and dedicated business, an anchor in your community and industry, and still find that your first impression - your brand appearance - is just a transaction to another business.

Not only is it frustrating to deal with no design support and aesthetically lacking (ugly) signs, it’s insulting that your work and passion would be turned into profit for big, opportunistic companies.

Forget that nonsense. We give a damn about business, and we count ourselves lucky to get to work with other hardworking crazies every day. We’re never bored around here, and we really wouldn’t want it any other way.

Our journey from then to now

Josh made a sign

You know when people say "you could sell that"? We heard that over and over when people saw Josh's first wooden sidewalk sign. So, he created an Etsy seller account.

This a-frame was made for our children's godmother, Beth.

We got booted.

As he started getting more orders, we started eating dinners and building signs in my indie bookstore after closing.

The landlords did not like that usage. So, we moved my bookshop down the road and his signmaking into our 700 square foot apartment.

(family photo by Beth of the O.G. A-Frame)

We make name-drop-worthy signs.

Marketing folks are always looking for something real. A story told with a big box product isn't as credible as one told with something crafted.

Josh was sought out by Warner Media, Avocado Mattress, Doordash Kitchens, Goop, Porsche, Evo, and other brands who were a dream to work with.

We move to the industrial district.

The 2,000 square foot workshop that we rented was a world different than the kitchen of our 700 square foot apartment.

We sold the bookshop, expanded our sign lineup, and started taking local, custom work, too.

(we still own our regional sign shop: Ark Valley Sign Co.)

We hit 2,000 online sales!

This moment came and passed without us realizing. Same thing when our lifetime revenue surpassed $1 million.

But! Looking back, we're really proud to work with over 2,000 small businesses around the country (and world). All of those business owners (save a few) got free design support, and we maintained a five star rating on our Etsy shop.

(we did have a scare, once, in which a client gave us a 1 star review because the wooden sign had .... woodgrain)

We add a wholesale line.

We'd invested in so much fabrication equipment. We do all of our production in-house. When we talked with other sign makers, they loved the idea of ordering brackets and blanks from us at wholesale prices.

Other sign shop owners are very nice, but this idea totally flopped. We spent over $10,000 on marketing and showcasing this brand. We never made up the revenue, and we let the domain expire.

(it's not all wins for us either, folks)

We brand-ch out. (eh? eh?)

We created the Sidewalk Monkey brand and have been operating on our own platform ever since.

One time, we sat down and calculated the total lifetime fees we've paid to Etsy. 0/10, do not recommend. But, it did inspire us to move to our own platform.

Here, we can build relationships with our customers (so cheesy, I know, but FR), and avoid the costs that come with a third party platform.

(our new workshop is 3,000 square feet and houses our operations, which now include four employees and two kids)

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We’ve got a real soft spot for entrepreneurs, and we don’t take their businesses lightly. Sidewalk Monkey is where we get to share, for a moment, the responsibility of helping a brand show up well. Our favorite projects are the ones with stories, not just the "print it and box it" orders.

Our production experience, the machinery we've invested in, and the processes we have built, combined with our love of communication done well is what sets us apart.

We know that signs can be the difference between a business that looks like it’s making fly-by-night, uncoordinated decisions and one that points to the dedication and care put into it.

Our workshop makes these signs from start to finish. Every one starts from a single sheet in our metal shop and goes through plasma cutting, prepping, powder coating, design and graphics. That process carries your sign across our four employees and 3,000 square feet before we ship it out from Colorado.