BYOB is focused on providing insights and expertise from entrepreneurs who have chosen to Be Their Own Boss. These events will highlight the entrepreneurs and innovators who decided to start their own business ventures. These events will provide an interesting discussion about the journey to success and how to overcome the trials and tribulations of being an entrepreneur.
John Hall, Jr., first purchased the Chesapeake-based sign company on September 11, 2006 when he was only 19 years old. At the time, the company was known by Action Graphics & Signs, Inc. With high expectations and an iron will, John took the business from over $30,000 of debt and pulled it completely out of the hole to return to profitability—all in only the first year of his ownership.
In Hampton Roads in 2008, no other businesses had taken over the niche of vehicle wraps, so it was clear he needed to make changes to grow this brand. John quickly established the company as the vehicle wrap shop of the area and began a marketing campaign targeted at businesses that needed to wrap their fleet vehicles. John decided on the easy-to-remember name of AGWraps, using the initials from the company’s actual name Action Graphics. The main purpose of this new name was to show his new focus on vehicle wraps.
Several networking successes led John to begin doing business with commerce giants of Southeastern Virginia, including Atlantic Heating & Cooling, TFC Recycling, the Dragas Companies, Hampton Roads Transit, and The PETA Foundation. These clients turned into opportunities for John, and they continued purchasing more and more products from AGWraps, and not just wraps and signs.
Once AGWraps was established as the #1 vehicle wrap and graphics shop in Hampton Roads, John turned his attention on the next goal for the company—growing to a larger reach of the local area. In early 2017, AGWraps opened its second location in Virginia Beach Town Center. Not only was John conquering vehicle wraps and signage in Hampton Roads, but he was reaching across the entire country with clients in multiple states, many of them even shipping vehicles out of Chesapeake once AGWraps had wrapped them. John’s hard work could be seen as far away as California, covering coast-to-coast of the country and more than a quarter of the states in between.
As AGWraps continued to grow more and more, John turned his sights elsewhere to maximize the building momentum. In 2018, he purchased Archbell Signs, Inc. in Norfolk. This expansion allowed both AGWraps and Archbell to function together as sister companies, sharing clients and information while operating as experts in their fields. AGWraps took on all wraps and similar graphics while Archbell focused solely on signage, allowing both to handle more work and produce better quality. The cooperation between the two companies has strengthened and widened John’s footprint in Hampton Roads.
