Meet Ellen Cutting, Successful Signshop Operator — and Hearing-Impaired

I was born deaf. I was nine years old before I was exposed to sign language or another deaf person. In 4th grade, I developed bleeding stomach ulcers due to the stress of not understanding or being able to keep up in class (public school). Fortunately, my teacher discovered a deaf school in Falmouth, ME, which I attended the rest of the year. I ended up completing grades 4-10 in 2½ years, and then I went back to public school and graduated.
As a young girl, I worked as a chambermaid and front-desk clerk at my grandparents’ motel in a small town in Maine. To overcome my disability, I learned to excel in everything I did and to strive for customer satisfaction.
As an adult, I held various jobs as a payroll, accounts receivables/payable clerk, commercial-bank teller, and order-entry supervisor. I typed 120 wpm with no errors to make up for not being able to communicate over the phone.
I had a VCO (Voice Carry Over) phone that I sometimes used to call out-of-state manufacturing companies’ reps.When I was a commercial bank teller, I serviced one commercial customer at a time, and they were very good about looking at me and speaking as clearly as possible so that I could read their lips.
Customer service was always my utmost priority, and that continues today. In 1985, I had my first exposure to the sign industry, when my stepdad, Kip, met my mother. Kip, a long-time signpainter, owned Kip Signs (Windham, ME). He showed me sign layouts and proper color combinations for effective signage and vehicle graphics. Watching Kip letter was fascinating!
In 2002, while visiting my mother and Kip, I met Geet, a long-time friend of Kip and my mom. Geet and I connected immediately. He knew sign language, and we shared numerous common interests.
Geet’s business, Fleet Marc of Maine, specialized in fleet graphics, but also made signs. He showed me how to make beautiful, carved, goldleaf signs. Together, we traveled the country attending Letterhead meets. One of our favorites was Fred and Marilyn Self’s Sasekalahewata Letterhead Meet in Oklahoma. There, we were exposed to glue-chipped glass, elaborate gilding techniques and dimensional, sandblasted glass, and we connected with worldwide master signmakers.
We attended several Rat Fink Reunions at Ilene Roth’s residence and museum (Manti, UT). I learned
much about the pinstriping art and (pre-computer) techniques for making cool vehicle graphics from masters like Bobbo Dunn.
While living in Arizona from 2004-2006, we met a man, who lost some of his hearing in a construction accident and was retrained as a nuclear-medicine technologist. He inspired me to enroll in a Medical Radiography program at Mesa Community College. I completed my prerequisites with high honors. I was continuing that course of study when we moved to Colorado in December 2006. In spring 2007, the American Board of Radiology said I couldn’t get certified because of my deafness. I redirected my energies back to the sign business and spent more time working with Geet.
When we’d toured the U.S. working car shows, Ilene Roth offered us Rat Fink merchandise, so I ran our Rat Fink store while Geet lettered and pinstriped hot rods and motorcycles. After two years, we went to Florida to take care of some family business.
In 2012, I decided to create an independent sign company, LN Signs (LN sounds like my name,
Ellen, and I sign as well as make signs). I wanted to use my knowledge, and expand on products that Geet didn’t offer. Geet was doing lettering, goldleaf and design work as a subcontractor. I wanted to sell vinyl graphics, digital prints, etc. on my own, and to buy the equipment to do so.
After having returned to Colorado, which Geet and I both enjoy very much, I wanted to expand my business with digital graphics, cut vinyl, signmaking and vehicle graphics, while Geet continued to pinstripe and handletter.
In 2013, I opened a storefront in Colorado Springs. I have FlexiSign design software, a 48-in. Gerber plotter and a Summa DC3 printer/cutter, as well as various hand tools.
How do I communicate? ZVRS provided a videophone and, because of my speaking ability, I can talk directly to someone on the phone, then an interpreter signs back to me by video and creates an almost seamless conversation.
Ordering supplies from several distributors and making phone calls to various institutions has taught me that some companies have very low standards of customer service and repeated mistakes. This reinforces my beliefs of always doing my very best, as well as making it right the first time. When some customers walk through the door mumbling and not looking at me, I always inform them that I am deaf and read lips. Most of the time, that puts them at ease, and almost all of them try to communicate with me. Communication is not as much of a barrier as I had originally thought. I email customers artwork proofs and follow up with pricing, scheduling, product pick-up, etc. by videophone or email. I calculate my prices through time, materials, mark-up and profit.
Currently, LN Signs produces an even mix of computer-generated (vinyl/digital graphics) and manually produced (hand-lettered, carved, gilded) signs, and painted wall graphics and murals. The vinyl and digital graphics comprise vehicle graphics, metal signs, Coroplast signs, banners, and window and door lettering.
I am researching doing business as a woman-owned business and registering my business with several procurement agencies. The business is expanding by word of mouth, referrals, an online website presence, social-media networking, and small-business networking. We attend Letterhead events; shows and educational, small-business events, and we receive instructional sign publications to keep up with modern technology and using traditional methods.
I’m also working with the Colorado School of the Deaf and Blind in Colorado Springs for internships with some of the deaf students. Hopefully, that evolves into building a long-term partnership with the school, and some students who learn lifelong skills. As my business grows, my goal is
to hire deaf people who share the same principles. I believe we provide a higher standard of work ethic, product quality, and customer service than most companies.
Being deaf has its challenges. We have come a long way since the ’80s. Now, interpreters are available for school, doctor’s office visits, hospital visits, church services, phone conversations, court appointments, job interviews, and just about every place where communication takes place. There is much more awareness today as well.
Never hearing words in music, TV, radio, etc., most people have difficulty realizing how much we really miss. I can’t imagine being blind because I depend on my sight to get by. I had a very interesting conversation with a blind man some years back, and we talked about our “disabilities”. He couldn’t imagine being deaf, because he depended on his hearing to get by. I was truly amazed he could “see” his way around through sound.