Jason Dahl, co-owner along with his wife of Underground Graphics in Geneseo, Illinois, applies the vinyl graphics he designed to an equipment trailer that will be used by the Geneseo High School building trades program. In addition to the Dahls’ business, sponsors of the project are Durian Builders, Today’s Builders, Mississippi Truck & Trailer Repair Inc. and Hazelwood Homes. CREDIT CRAIG BROWN
GENESEO, Ill. – It might be said that Jason Dahl’s path to running a three-pronged business in his hometown was built from the Underground up. Mr. Dahl’s once-separate trio of Geneseo businesses, now combined under the label of Underground Graphics for easier marketing and advertising, literally began in the basement of his mother Jan’s business, […]
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GENESEO, Ill. – It might be said that Jason Dahl’s path to running a three-pronged business in his hometown was built from the Underground up.Mr. Dahl’s once-separate trio of Geneseo businesses, now combined under the label of Underground Graphics for easier marketing and advertising, literally began in the basement of his mother Jan’s business, a quarter-century-old Geneseo mainstay called All In Stitches.Now, thanks in part to a $58,075 loan from the Henry County Revolving Loan Fund, or RLF, the three businesses co-owned by Mr. Dahl and his wife, Cassie, will be combined in one location at 750 E. Culver Court. The location originally housed an electrical contractor’s operations.The Dahls’ three businesses were founded as:
• Underground Graphics – focused on designing creative logos, signs, banners, business cards and vinyl graphics.•Coating Kings – vinyl graphics installations, auto detailing, window tinting, paint corrections and ceramic coatings. •ProClassArrows – directional arrows made of durable cardstock with a gloss finish that are used mainly to mark courses for motorcycle and four-wheel races that go through wooded areas, although they certainly can be utilized for other types of races and venues. The three businesses were based at three different locations. Besides Underground Graphics being in the basement at All In Stitches, 100 E. Main St., Mr. Dahl has used his home office when it comes to computer work such as designs, email and the like for ProClassArrows, and he rents a three-bay building for the automobile work. Being able to do everything in one place will “definitely be a matter of convenience,” he said. “I work out of my Little Blue Shop, as I call it, for the auto work, but it gets wet, so I can’t have a computer out in the open and I have to run home for that and go to All In Stitches to use the vinyl cutter there. I probably spend three to five hours a week depending on the week just running around town. And it doesn’t make it very easy for my clients to find me.” Additionally, the new location just off Chicago Street, which is a largely commercial area on the east edge of Geneseo, will provide Underground Graphics with a showroom, reception area, shipping center and “great wall space to showcase all the things we do, plus a place to talk with clients about all the great things and services we provide,” Mr. Dahl said. “We’re all very excited.”Underground Graphics began in 2008 as part of his mother’s business, which mostly provides T-shirts, club team apparel, sportswear, uniforms and embroidery. It also rents tuxedos because, he said, she decided, “Man, I don’t want to go all the way to the Quad-Cities to rent them” when her sons became old enough to need tuxes for prom and homecoming.The Underground Graphics name came from his friend and talented former longtime employee Paul Lopez, of Geneseo, who Jason Dahl met at Black Hawk College and came on board at All In Stitches in 2000 to fill the need for a graphics designer. Looking to broaden the variety of services he could offer, Mr. Dahl began doing automobile detailing and even went to San Diego for classes on how to use ceramic coatings. That led to establishment in 2021 of his second business. The third leg of the business came about 12 years ago. “It’s kind of a silly, fun little thing that somebody needs, so we’re providing it for them,” Mr. Dahl said of the directional arrows. At first, the customers were just local clubs, but it went national via the website and has now gone international. "We just sold a packet to Sweden the other day," he said. "Actually, my wife helped me build the website a little better five to six months ago, and since she took over it’s been expanding pretty steadily. Now we average the sale of a packet per day on eBay, Amazon and our website. Just last night we got a call at 9:30. My wife has her phone set up to ding when someone calls, and she said, 'Whoop, we just made another sale.'"
