26 email: editor@signlink.co.uk Issue 262 - December 2025 | January 2026 INDUSTRY TIPS | THE ONLINE PRINT COACH January Offers no Rewards for Resting in December I’ve been in this industry long enough to watch the same ritual play out year after year. Once Mariah Carey and Noddy Holder make an appearance, a collective sigh seems to sweep through the print and signage sectors. It’s the sigh of surrender. A collective belief that ‘this time of year is always quiet’, so it’s time to put your feet up and coast through to the new year. The prevailing wisdom is that December is the seasonal equivalent of a free pass. It’s a month to slow down, catch up on admin, and enjoy the holiday period while everyone is distracted until the real work starts again next year. I don’t want to come across as The Grinch who Stole Christmas, but this is exactly why most printers and sign-makers start off in January on the back foot. If you’re treating December as downtime, you are actively sentencing yourself to a slow, stressful, and frustrating January. Worse still, you might be handing your more ambitious competitors a head start. January doesn’t reward those who “rest” in December. It rewards those who prepare. The Great December Delusion Where did this delusion come from that nothing happens in December? It’s a myth, and it’s costing your business in lost momentum. You should absolutely rest and spend time with family and friends over the actual Christmas period, but there is absolutely no reason to go AWOL just because the Christmas movies are playing on loop. Yes, production capacity might ease up after the final wave of Christmas collateral is shipped. Yes, many clients, particularly in the B2B world, are busy with end-ofyear reviews, budget signoffs, and their own staff rotas. But that freed-up time is not a signal to stop working – it’s a signal to work smartly. So, put your feet up and start January scrambling to find new work, or read on and see how you could hit the ground running as soon as the last party popper has been cleared up with a pre-loaded pipeline of qualified leads ready to convert. Colin Sinclair McDermott, AKA The Online Print Coach, makes the case that many print and signage businesses start the new year off on the back foot as they have underestimated the potential of business in December Planning Next Year’s Marketing Strategy If your marketing plan for the new year is ‘I’ll figure it out in January’, you're already behind. You know that feeling when you come back in January, full of good intentions, only to spend the first two weeks making plans, having interminable meetings, and Having been in the print industry since the mid-late 90s, Colin Sinclair McDermott entered the world of self-employment in 2004 and over the years that followed, experienced a number of highs and lows running his own print company, learning what does and doesn’t work. In 2022, he trained with The Business Coaching Academy to become a fully certified corporate coach with the Worldwide Association of Business Coaches. Through The Online Print Coach, industry members can access an online training platform, Print Mastermind and private 1-to-1 coaching with Sinclair McDermott. www.theonlineprintcoach.com
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