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Bill Gleason - Gleason Printing
68 Plays9 months ago
Bill Gleason, third-generation owner of Gleason Printing, joins us to talk about running a modern print shop in a digital world. From offset presses to personalized mailers, Bill breaks down what it takes to stay relevant, competitive, and profitable in a traditionally gritty industry. He shares lessons in leadership, smart risk-taking, why “staying in your lane” is a survival strategy, and how printing can still spark pride and impact—especially when it helps a nonprofit raise their next million. If you’ve ever wondered what it takes to lead a 14-person manufacturing team with heart, humor, and hustle, this one’s for you.
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Transcript
Introduction to the Podcast
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome to Gritty Leadership, the podcast where we celebrate the leaders who make and move America. We're diving into the untold stories of resilience, innovation, and perseverance of the leaders in the gritty industries that keep America running.
00:00:13
Speaker
I'm Brian Smith, and together with my co-host Angie Jones, we're on a mission to honor the leadership that's often overlooked but makes all the difference.
Bill Gleason's Role in Family Business
00:00:21
Speaker
So let's get into it, because real leadership gets its hands dirty.
00:00:25
Speaker
Welcome to Gritty Leadership. Angie, Sam, great to see you guys. You too, Brian. to be here. Awesome. We have great guests today. Bill Gleason is with us. bill I've known Bill since we were kids.
00:00:36
Speaker
We're early in this podcast, so we're still working through my friends and family process here with some of our Gritty Leaders. ah But Bill is... um
00:00:45
Speaker
family friend and ah awesome, awesome person and is the ah presidency and owner of Gleason Printing here in the Twin Cities, a third generation um leader of ah of a local
Technological Evolution in Printing
00:01:02
Speaker
print shop. And they print for um lot of businesses, nonprofits. They do a lot for the university here and just talks about what it's like to run a yeah i'm pretty a very successful small production house and, and talks about how do you evolve with technology and acquiring the right equipment at the right time to enable the right new capabilities as your customers are needing them.
00:01:31
Speaker
And figuring out sort of the economics of those new capital investments, even at a smaller scale, like a print shop like this. And I think what he has to say is applicable to a lot of different gritty businesses.
Networking Influence in Minneapolis
00:01:45
Speaker
just It's just ah difference of scale. So I think you really enjoy Bill is also one of these guys who just knows everybody.
00:01:53
Speaker
You go to the west side of Minneapolis here and you go to any sort of business gathering, you're like, you know, Bill Gleason? Oh yeah, know Bill. Like he's that guy.
Bill's Career Path in Gleason Printing
00:02:02
Speaker
So I think you'll really enjoy time with Bill and let's get over to our conversation.
00:02:08
Speaker
Welcome to the Gritty Leadership Podcast. We are very excited to be joined here by Bill Gleason of Gleason Printing. Bill, thank you so much for joining us and welcome. Thank you for inviting me.
00:02:20
Speaker
So Bill, we'll just kind of jump right in. Tell us a little bit about your story. Tell us a little bit about who you are, how'd you get here, and what do you do? So um my grandfather founded Gleason Printing in 1940.
00:02:33
Speaker
So I've not been here since the creation of it, um nor have I really been here until I started working here 27 years ago um Gleason Printing has been around, third generation owner.
00:02:47
Speaker
ah Me personally um grew up delivering newspapers, caddying at the country club, teaching skiing. um Never really worked here until I was done not being the caddy master and asked my dad, like, what job should I take? And he's like, well, i got a job offer for you.
00:03:05
Speaker
So 27 years ago, I did that. I've had several different roles in the company from shipping, um from sales, um leading
Types and Uses of Printing Techniques
00:03:17
Speaker
production. Today, I lead production and the finance of the company. I'm kind of out of the sales role, ah but as an owner, you account kind of always are in the sales role.
00:03:28
Speaker
So... We have 14 employees here. We have offset, digital, and large format printing. Awesome. So for for those not in the printing world, what are what are those kinds of printing, what is what does that mean?
00:03:45
Speaker
So offset printing is your traditional um printing press. like we We have a six-color Heidelberg with a coder. It runs at about 13,000, 14,000 sheets an hour.
00:03:59
Speaker
It's for large run printing jobs. So if you're going to run 7,000 books, ah we can also print two sides, two color over four color.
00:04:10
Speaker
So it's it's that big piece of metal made in Germany. um They don't give them away. You've got to find an operator.
Challenges in the Printing Industry
00:04:20
Speaker
The digital side is toner printing. So, you know, 100, 120 page a minute copier with a lot of different bells and whistles on it First, you can finish and do some things in line.
00:04:34
Speaker
so both color and black and white and then large format is um inkjet so inkjet we have water base and we have inkjet with uv curing so you can print on plastics and metals and all sorts of different things and that it's dry two minutes after the ink's laid down so and and and large like i mean i'm for my stupid question i been but yeah okay so big um big awesome and And printing, like I think a lot a lot of people might say, like that's got to be a ah tough business these days. like
00:05:09
Speaker
ah People still print stuff. And how do you sort of see that market today in in in this world of screens and whatnot?
Adapting to Technological Changes
00:05:20
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, marketing printing is definitely, i think, here to stay, whether it's offset or digital, whether it has embellishments, whether it has customization to it.
00:05:32
Speaker
um You know, mail is big. ah We do things like pocket folders. um We also go down the road of you know high quality, small run real estate brochures.
00:05:47
Speaker
So somebody might want 50,000 of a 11 by 22 inch sheet folded half. So there's there's more unique things going on. Yes, there is commoditization of printing, ah but that's it's always happened. It happens in every business.
00:06:06
Speaker
For sure. um You talk a little bit about, you know, having to have operators and and things like that. How do you sort of see the ah skill set of kind of high skill Technical folks going forward. How are you?
00:06:23
Speaker
How do you find people?
Focus and Business Capabilities
00:06:25
Speaker
So we are trying to do something very unique as a small company. We're trying to hire people, train them.
00:06:34
Speaker
So in our finishing area, we've been very successful at that. um Hiring people, giving them a role, giving them goals, things to reach, things to learn.
00:06:45
Speaker
um So that's been very successful. The next place we need to do that is on our offset press. Although with technology changing, changing, ah you don't need a skilled operator to run a something made in the two thousand twenty s versus something made in 2000.
00:07:05
Speaker
two thousand So manufacturers are dealing with that. ah There's more automation automation that happens every day and then just the way that things work are better and better.
00:07:19
Speaker
The challenges facing our industry right now is labor. How do you get good labor? How do you... um not give the farm away when you're pricing things, when you're, you know that's a, that's an issue.
00:07:33
Speaker
ah as, uh, if the economy does downturn in our industry, you know, people have big payments to make and they have people to employ and they have rent to pay or mortgages to pay. And so that always is a concern staying in your lane, um knowing what fits you.
00:07:50
Speaker
That's a, that's a, another thing that people don't realize. Um, And then there's the things that, you know, just every business that makes its people, good people, taking care of your people.
00:08:05
Speaker
Those are the most, those are the challenges everybody faces. but Let's dive into staying in your
Target Markets and Service Differentiators
00:08:11
Speaker
lane. What does that what does that kind of mean for you? what are How do you sort of define that for you and and what's the consequences of not doing that?
00:08:20
Speaker
So staying in your lane is doing what you're good at, knowing what you're good at um not going There's always this, I want to be bigger, i want to be bigger. um So not taking projects on that maybe doesn't fit your equipment correctly.
00:08:36
Speaker
um So the example is we we have a half size printing press. So it's 20 inches by 26 inches. There's people that have 28 by 40. Well, certain things I just can't compete with those other printers. And I have to know that.
00:08:51
Speaker
Awesome. Are there certain, like, because of those technical capabilities, are there certain markets that are better for you or certain, like, from a sales perspective? Are there certain, like, areas you focus on because of that? Yeah.
00:09:06
Speaker
There are some areas we focus on we We work really well with nonprofits um in mail and in the large format sign.
00:09:20
Speaker
So the example is you have a nonprofit, they run some events a year. um We can help them with their invitations. We can help them with their signage for their event.
00:09:30
Speaker
We can help them with handouts for their event. We also can help them mail newsletters. We can help them. So kind of a full gamut of different things we do for them is a really one-stop shop for all those things.
00:09:44
Speaker
know, there's a lot of big print houses in town and around the country. i know, you know, being a marketing guy, I used to buy print from time to time. Like, how do you sort of set yourself apart?
00:09:55
Speaker
We offer everybody hard proofs on any project they're doing. And if you're going to an online person, that's very cumbersome. You don't know what you're gonna get sometimes.
00:10:07
Speaker
And then we get things, so the quality is great. um And then turnaround times. um you know If you need something in a week,
00:10:18
Speaker
we can probably figure it out. If it's a small, small job, like for agents, we turn a lot of stuff in 24 hours.
Attention to Detail in Printing
00:10:27
Speaker
um So the that's the big difference is you have one point of contact, you can pick things up, you can have them, we can deliver things, we can ship things, but you know for sure when you're going to have it.
00:10:41
Speaker
i was buying ah I was working on a big printing contract years ago and we were getting presentations from different printers and Um, this was, it's a good example of Bill. It was one that I think I invited you in on You decided not to bid on it cause you were like, it wasn't a good fit for us.
00:10:57
Speaker
And, uh, great, great example. But, uh, one of the folk, one of the companies that did decide to bid on it was a large chain of office supply places, um, that you've probably heard of.
00:11:13
Speaker
And, uh, they sent three sales reps into the room and, It was six-figure contract. It was pretty good-sized contract. They sat down, and they all gave me their business cards.
00:11:26
Speaker
And the business cards had three different color reds on them. I was like, we're done. like You can't even print your own business cards in the same three the same color. like it's i just was like it's that It was just so hilarious to me that like you know you can't even show up with your own stuff printed well.
Color Consistency Challenges
00:11:47
Speaker
um You know, it's it's ah it's always amazing to me that like little details like that are so important. And some of these organizations like can't see that.
00:12:01
Speaker
Well, think it's funny. So a great example of that is um some of these big ah digital press manufacturers, you know, Xerox, Conoco and Alta, whoever it is, they show up and it's like, oh, did you print your brochure on that machine? No. Well, why aren't you?
00:12:19
Speaker
printing your brochure on the machine that you're trying to sell. And they look at you like, well, we'd never do that. Yeah. That's like a piece of truck. Yeah. Yeah.
00:12:32
Speaker
Yeah. Totally. fine And so those, color those color space issues are really difficult in the digital world. And that's where probably 90% of business cards are printed a day.
00:12:45
Speaker
So one thing that we developed was, 12 years ago, we keep a Bible of people's approved color so that we can go back and try to get as close as we can on that digital toner piece of equipment because they're not as precise as a large offset press.
00:13:06
Speaker
So there are some consistency issues in that world.
Customer Service and Relationship Management
00:13:11
Speaker
As we've driven driven the price down, you had to give something up. For sure. But it sounds like, I mean,
00:13:18
Speaker
I feel like in so many of these kinds of businesses, it's those little things that you do from a service perspective and a customer care perspective that can make the difference. um To take the time to make the color Bible or um to just give a shit enough to like go that extra mile to take care of your customer.
00:13:39
Speaker
What are some other things you do to do that? So one of the biggest things we do is we like to deliver certain things fairly fast. So a great example is today.
00:13:50
Speaker
i had to run to the bank um just to sign something. so I brought a business card order over and she was like, I ordered that on Friday. How is it already here? And I'm like, well,
00:14:02
Speaker
You know, people get title changes, people get new cell phones, things happen. It's like people want business cards quick, even in today's world where you don't use business cards like you did 10 years ago.
00:14:15
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. And then the other thing that we do is um so we have a proofing system for mainly for the offset press that has what's called a spectrotometer on it.
00:14:28
Speaker
And so that spectrotometer can read incadensities and ink and how the ink's laid down on the sheet. So we can say that proof is achievable on the press.
00:14:41
Speaker
And then on the press, we can scan for Grackle as well. Grackle G7, it's a color space certification that you can get. We are not certified in it, but we use it ah just to be consistent.
00:14:56
Speaker
ah And it's been just... great that we can take a press sheet we can scan it and say yes the colors to density and you can even see if people know curves of color like in photoshop we can see if a 50 dot is a 50 dot because that's one thing that when you print stuff it's not an exact science there's variables that happen in the process so you know i know you've you are uh always selling
00:15:27
Speaker
and as an owner you're always selling you talk a little bit about how you approach finding clients and keeping them and selling the business i think i think we've gotten we're not super sophisticated here but we've definitely gotten better at knowing what we need to do and where we need to go um I'm a natural networker, so I'm involved in all sorts of different things.
00:15:56
Speaker
I go to events, you know make sure you say hi to people, run into them. Because you I just have always had this attitude that just because someone's doing something today, it doesn't mean they're doing that five years from now.
00:16:10
Speaker
Or they change companies differently. They have a bad experience. They've had a great experience with us. They come back to us a lot. um We've, you know, one of the greatest things about taking care of customers is If they leave the company, you keep the current company, you get the new company, and sometimes they leave to the next company, if you've got three or four versions of companies they've worked for that you're help happily helping everybody along the way.
00:16:41
Speaker
um People aren't stealing people's ideas that often, or they're changing jobs where it's, You it's just just ah there might be a manufacturing company that makes siding.
00:16:52
Speaker
And now they're at a company that makes magnets. Right.
Genuine Interactions in Sales
00:16:55
Speaker
You just never. sure know Bill and I have known each other for four years. And I can attest that, you know, everybody. I mean, it's ah you are you are an amazing networker.
00:17:06
Speaker
And there I think there's more to it than you just go into a lot of events like you you connect with people in a way. um Tell me a little bit about like how,
00:17:19
Speaker
ah what is your, what is your approach to it? I mean, it's not, it doesn't just happen, right? It's, it has to be intentional. Well, there's, there's a little bit of intention to it. I think um there's a gentleman I know that says there's nothing worse than someone with commission breath.
00:17:35
Speaker
Right. So like, Oh God, yeah. That person that has to make that sale today. Cause like their job, their job, to you know, they lose their job. They don't make the sale, which then they lose their house. Like the guy from the Simpsons, the the sales guy from the Simpson. It's like,
00:17:51
Speaker
ah But the sort of Willie Loman dude from The Simpsons. Yeah. and so And like, you know, the the highs are high and the lows are low. And just because you didn't get the job this time doesn't mean you're not going to get the job next time.
00:18:08
Speaker
One of the things that we've dabbled in in the last couple of years was promotional products. And that is a deal where nobody looks at specs. They don't care about specs. They care about price.
00:18:21
Speaker
um We did a bag, a custom bag for a company. And we're like, we really got them a good deal. And they came back and like, oh, we found it for a dollar cheaper. like Okay. Check the specs. Yeah. Yeah.
00:18:34
Speaker
Went to their event and the bag was like half the size and you're like, oops, you know, and so you can't burn. but You can't burn bridges. You got to let people learn on their own. you can try to help them.
00:18:47
Speaker
oh We see that every every once in a while. Someone goes to an online printer. They're like, it's going to take 21
00:18:55
Speaker
Well, that's how they keep their prices down because they keep people busy for weeks. And they're like, yeah, but last time it showed up in 10 days. Well, that's not going to happen every time. That
Team Building and Company Culture
00:19:06
Speaker
happens here sometimes too or something gets done fast because you're just trying to keep the the work coming in the door and out the door.
00:19:14
Speaker
And we shouldn't create, you know, we shouldn't make barriers for ourselves. Yeah, it's the old you can you can have a good, fast or cheap pick two. picked yeah You talked a little bit about building a team. you got 14 people there.
00:19:30
Speaker
how do you you How do you build a team like that? How do you sort of keep that culture together with a smaller team like that? You know, there's a there's a lot of things that when you're a small company, you know, there's a lot of things that are back in my head.
00:19:48
Speaker
and as you grow, you're trying to keep people in the right seats. um A lot of times, you know, when you're hiring good people. They figure things out um that you'd maybe you would hire someone that says they can do it and you find out they can't do it.
00:20:05
Speaker
um And so you just try to keep moving the chairs on the deck, moving those chairs across the deck of the boat, just trying to make sure people are in the right place, doing the right things.
00:20:18
Speaker
I think it's really important ah to keep educating yourself. um You know, whether that's reading books, listening to audio books, ah being in a peer group.
00:20:31
Speaker
I've been in a couple different peer groups over the years. Those are great. um Going to some industry conferences because you don't know what you don't know. And so there's always people trying to sell you stuff.
00:20:45
Speaker
But is that the right thing? Are there competitors out there? And when you type in the Google, you know, printing, do you get an HP a desktop printer or do you get a, you know, commercial grade Heidelberg or um and then there's software out out there. So yeah you got to keep your eyes open to change things.
00:21:06
Speaker
You know, nobody wants to be Kmart, which you know doesn't exist today, or Sears probably almost doesn't exist today because they just kept doing things the same way. I think one of the biggest impacts for for someone that's deciding if they're going to run a business is the E-Myth.
00:21:24
Speaker
um Just that it's just really simple. It really shows you, you know, just because you're a really good technician doesn't mean you can run an operation, right? Whether it's five people, 14 people, 25 people, there's complexity as as you grow.
00:21:47
Speaker
ah There's just different things you need and different things you need
Calculated Risks and Business Learning
00:21:51
Speaker
to do. And i think those that's a really good book. um You know, Good to Great is another good one.
00:22:00
Speaker
there's a lot of them out there and you gotta just take bits and pieces from everyone. i mean, there's just, there's a lot of information out there. there any tidbits or things that kind of stuck with you? there are things you think about often or been sort of big aha moments for you?
00:22:16
Speaker
One of the things that you have to be careful of is you can't hold on your business too tight. You got to make some risks. That doesn't mean make dumb risks. It means make good calculated risks.
00:22:30
Speaker
Right. Don't get too out over your skis. um That's part of staying in your lane. ah You're going to try things. Sometimes it's like, hey, we lost money on that. Let's not do that again.
00:22:44
Speaker
Or, wow, we can do that. Let's let's go let's go do that. So what's ah what's a risk you took that paid off? A risk I it took, the risk that I took that paid off is in 2020, I bought an inexpensive large format inkjet, right? Like we're talking June of 2020.
00:23:10
Speaker
No one really knew what was going on. um Called the bank, got a small loan. ah And it's been it's been a really good thing for us. um It's just another line of business.
00:23:23
Speaker
We were outsourcing at the time. ah and COVID, people were buying yard signs like mad. We couldn't get signage because... All the people you use for outsource were so busy.
00:23:36
Speaker
ah we we We took some lumps on it. We learned some things we should do, learned some things we shouldn't do. But now we're looking at what's the next machine we want in that? What's going to replace that?
00:23:47
Speaker
So that's been good revenue, too.
Impact of Produced Work in Community
00:23:50
Speaker
so So what's the risk you took that didn't work out so hot and what'd you learn from it? Um, some of the risks I've learned. So when I, now when I buy a piece of equipment, I kind of look at a dollar value.
00:24:05
Speaker
We'll just make it up today. Like if something costs five grand, I'll just buy it. If I don't, if it doesn't get used a lot, it gets used every once a while. big deal it's five grand but if you're going to go spend eighty five hundred thousand dollars it needs to be used four hours a day like we need some ah roi on this it needs to produce save people time it it needs to do something more than just be there um and so i really haven't made too big of an air on that i maybe bought a piece of equipment for
00:24:41
Speaker
at say $15,000, I was like, we're gonna use this eight hours a week. And we probably use it three hours a week. And the hope was that we're gonna use it Half a week.
00:24:52
Speaker
And it's just getting the right work, getting people to understand it. um But the risk wasn't that big. And it's it's been really good to us. It's um UV coating. We can put a liquid, like an oil down. The light hits it, turns it into like a liquid laminate.
00:25:10
Speaker
So it's that really shiny um on paper. I really don't care for it, but it protects someone's stuff. And people that like flashy love supergloss.
Employee Growth and Workplace Culture
00:25:21
Speaker
um But a lot of our designers like matte or satin. So...
00:25:27
Speaker
There's nothing cooler than going to an event and seeing stuff you produced. So like we'll go to the state fair and you go to the care 11 booth. We produced some of the large format in there.
00:25:40
Speaker
um You go over to the education building and there might be some ah Paul Bunyan coloring books that we printed. um and there's all sorts of other things. But you know when you see something in the wild,
00:25:53
Speaker
You're like, hey, that's pretty cool. We made that. um And the other thing is um nonprofits, when you help them fundraise, that's a good feeling, right? So whether that's a mailer, um one of my one of our employees, great one of the greatest lines that came out of them was, make sure that donation envelope gets in everyone. You don't know who the million-dollar donor is.
00:26:18
Speaker
So it's like, you know, that's the that's some of those fun things that we talk about that came out of work. Right. And like, was like oh, yeah, that's really important. And whether they're getting a five dollar donation or a million dollar donation to them, it doesn't matter. It's they want every dollar they can get for their cause.
00:26:34
Speaker
um So, yeah, those are the things that really excite me. The other one is watching employees grow, because I think that's what's forgotten. um yes Every business needs to be profitable, sustainable.
00:26:51
Speaker
But if you grow people, you get another ah great bonus out of it. Talk a little bit about like, you have some stories about sort of people who've come through Gleason Printing and how have they grown and what have they gone on to do?
00:27:08
Speaker
Well, it's it's even just like personal stuff, right? Like, yeah you know, we've... the Some of the younger generation today, like they don't use ah they don't use their phone as a phone.
00:27:22
Speaker
They don't talk to people on the phone. So like even i had an employee, she's a great, smart person, and it's like, can you call the carrier company and make a change?
00:27:33
Speaker
but You want me make a phone call? like Really? Yeah. you know We grew up like your phone was ringing, go answer the phone. joe You didn't care who it was. You were told to go do it and you did it.
00:27:44
Speaker
um So some of those things like and then you know now it's like year and a half later that that employees making phone calls to people and doing things and just being Those are small hurdles, but it's, you know, someone might come ask for advice like, hey, I'm thinking about buying a house. Why shouldn't I buy a house?
00:28:03
Speaker
You know, there's there's personal things that you help people coach people through. And then there's um business things where somebody comes in, they need a job, they need to do something.
00:28:14
Speaker
They don't know what they're going to do and they go off and they they're trying to do, you know, video animation stuff. And you're like, Hey, good luck to you. i you know, but if you need to come back, you're more, you know, if you're a good person, you're more welcome to come back and you got to encourage people. You can't, you can't hold on to them forever.
00:28:35
Speaker
Absolutely. Um, it feels like you've built a really great culture there. How do you think about kind of the culture of the environment and sort of, uh, Gleason Printing as a place to work?
Leadership and Technological Advancements
00:28:47
Speaker
You know, I think it's a manufacturing place. So like everyone, everyone starts at 7 a.m. m Most people are out the door at 3.30. It's not a glamorous to life. Like, you know, you're not probably taking Instagram shots and doing stuff, but, you know, we try to have fun every morning.
00:29:08
Speaker
We have a meeting at 7.05, kind of go through the production schedule, um, one of the things we do to work on process is we have four or five jobs and like one of the jobs is clean the bathrooms and every 14 weeks bill gleason gets to clean the bathrooms that was two weeks ago um and so it's like no one's no one's set at a low level everyone's equal um we do lunch probably six or seven times a year we try to do a few happy hours a year um you know the reality is
00:29:43
Speaker
You might not have your best friend at work, but at least you have someone to talk to in the break room. If you have break, mean, that's one of the things, um you know, an engaged workforce.
00:29:55
Speaker
Do you have a friend at work? And if people have a friend at work, it's a good thing. Yeah. So how long has it been since since your dad retired? So I bought the company in October of 2019. So five five years, not quite five and a half.
00:30:14
Speaker
So right before COVID. so Yeah, great timing. um Good timing, yeah. good time yeah how How have things changed since then? um We have grown since then.
00:30:28
Speaker
um We've grown in employee count. We've grown grown in volume. We've... um we probably have a better culture here today just because turnover. We had some people that worked for my dad for 30 years.
00:30:45
Speaker
They retired in the last five years. ah We've embraced technology a lot better the last five years. um We've made, and that i wouldn't even say risk. We've just, we've set up like, so we have a cloud software.
00:31:02
Speaker
We bought that in 2017 when my dad was still here. And if we wouldn't have bought that then, we wouldn't be where we are today. Because, you know, I can be at home on a phone call.
00:31:17
Speaker
I can look at the software. I can see what's going on. i can do invoicing from anywhere. Those are those things that, you know, SaaS software makes a big impact on life.
Financial Management and Vendor Relations
00:31:29
Speaker
You pay for it, but you got to pay somebody. Yeah. That's not to throw Jack under the bus or anything. but No, but he but he bought software in 2000. But, know, you used the same thing for 15 years.
00:31:45
Speaker
We outgrew it. We had to move on. Sure. um The other thing that I think... is a hard thing for business owners to do. i have so i have a fractional CFO and a fractional controller um that I get a great high level of service for a very small dollar amount every month that I couldn't afford to have a CFO or a controller.
00:32:09
Speaker
That's great. How did you kind of get to the idea of having a fractional leader on staff? You know, I'd met a gentleman, Daryl McClendon. he He kind of talked to me about it. And then as I became more sophisticated in financials, I'm like, so I'm not right here.
00:32:25
Speaker
Like, there's just some things that don't make sense. But I couldn't put my finger on it because I'm not a finance guy. I'm a manufacturing guy. And so kind of brought him in and kind of looked at the books and he goes, well, there's some stuff in the wrong places.
00:32:40
Speaker
There's some some things like you're not really keeping inventory updated on your balance sheet every month. So just the investment has been I really know where my numbers are and I can trust them.
00:32:54
Speaker
Talk a little bit about sort of how do you how do you manage supply chain? mean so we write So during COVID, we had supply chain issues. There was a paper shortage. There was all sorts of things. and we We had paper everywhere. we first We were storing paper like up against garage doors and stacked to the ceiling.
00:33:16
Speaker
um Now our vendors do a really good job of really managing our supply chain for us. um We inventory levels. We've got levels. We know when to reorder, ah but we haven't had the shortages that we did during COVID.
00:33:34
Speaker
And I don't know current ah you know, current climate politically, we'll see what happens.
Post-COVID Supply Chain and Sales Strategies
00:33:40
Speaker
We have made an effort to really buy mostly US paper, which is probably going to help us, but it might also Mess with the supply chain a little bit.
00:33:50
Speaker
So, so if you had a chance to talk to Bill 27 years ago, what would be, uh, what would be a couple of pieces of advice you give that guy? Um, I think the biggest things are, um on the sales front is you just got to keep the pipeline going.
00:34:08
Speaker
Um, I think on the, um, on the equipment side, sometimes we fret to buy something, then you buy it, know, like we should have done this 10 years ago.
00:34:22
Speaker
Why did we wait so long? ah That's easy to say in hindsight when it works out. oh yeah um And the things that don't work out, they they generally work out.
00:34:33
Speaker
ah But like the example is, you know, pushing vendors that promised you something, are they gonna deliver actually?
00:34:44
Speaker
Getting, i think, technology, getting in the technology at the right time versus getting in too far ahead or trying to follow a fad.
00:34:55
Speaker
Never win following a fad business. Yeah. Talk about keeping the pipeline filled. Like what's the how how do you do that? That's that's tough. It's tough. um Part of it is you kind of learn your customer schedules.
00:35:09
Speaker
Like when does when do they put out this newsletter? You kind of know that it's going to come the ah middle of March. The different one's going to come in the middle of April. ah Fulfillment helps that. So we do store things for people, ship things for people.
00:35:25
Speaker
So that creates inventory that needs to be replenished. ah that's ah That's a good one for us. And then just being on top of your customers.
00:35:36
Speaker
but We have customers that we do mailings for. They store envelopes here. They store letterheads here, keeping those inventories watched a so you don't make sure you don't run out in the middle of a job.
00:35:48
Speaker
So as you know, that someone's going to send out 15,000 newsletters, the 15,000 envelopes to go into it. So you got to make sure those supplies are there and that helps you. And then, you know, talking to your customers, find out what they're needing.
00:36:02
Speaker
That's part of it. So how much ah how How much are you finding brand new customers versus sort of managing the needs of return customers?
Vision Development and Employee Support
00:36:12
Speaker
So we're we're definitely gaining new customers.
00:36:15
Speaker
ah We are managing the needs of our existing customers. And we're in a good spot for growth because of that, because we're still finding holes to to put work in.
00:36:29
Speaker
you know, do we need to So like the example, my offset press, one person runs We're having the conversation. Do you need a helper? Because what if you could get, let's say you're doing 80% efficiency right now.
00:36:43
Speaker
What if we can get you to 120? you know What if you could do more by just having somewhere to someone go get your plates, get your paper for you, help you when you need help?
00:36:55
Speaker
So those are those things that try to manage workflow by being smarter with how we produce things. My vision comes from listening and learning.
00:37:07
Speaker
You know, sometimes from people in the industry and sometimes some people from other industries, just hearing what they go through. ah one of one of the either good things or bad things about me is I can see what's going on from 5000 feet. A lot of times I can see people struggling.
00:37:27
Speaker
When do we need to get them help? You know, there's a learning curve, right? It's like, OK, someone can struggle a little bit, but don't get to the point where they're going to break down. You know, let them know when to ask for help.
00:37:40
Speaker
Don't be afraid to ask for help. You've got other employees around you. um Because that's that's one of the things when you're when you're at eight employees, a lot of times you don't have a backup.
00:37:53
Speaker
You don't have anyone that you can even talk to. um You know, right now we're at a place where most of our employees have someone they can talk to and ask questions like, what do you think if I do this? What do you think if I do that?
00:38:04
Speaker
Versus... Like my offset pressman, he only has other friends in the industry to ask. He could ask me and I i can give some advice, but know how run the thing.
00:38:15
Speaker
I just know i can remember the problems we've had and how we solve them. So that's just being there to help is really important.
Future of Printing Industry
00:38:23
Speaker
Kind of looking around the corner in the printing industry, what do you think your biggest opportunities are and what do you think your biggest risks are or biggest threats are?
00:38:31
Speaker
I think the biggest... One of the biggest things we have going for us is we have offset printing. I think um be able to run large quantities.
00:38:43
Speaker
I remember sitting down with my dad 12 years ago thinking, do we buy this used offset press or do we just go all digital? And we would have we would not be where we are today if we didn't have that offset press.
00:38:59
Speaker
That being said, There's a lot of technology out there that's changing. um There's inkjet presses, there's toner presses.
00:39:10
Speaker
ah The inkjet press 10 years ago was going to revolutionize the world. It really hasn't yet. um But so we're going to wait and see ah big companies like Mitsubishi and Heidelberg and k There's another German company, KBM.
00:39:32
Speaker
You know, they're still making presses. They're dabbling in the inkjet. So it's that it's that next, what's that next 15 years going to look like? That's where we're trying to look and being a little cautious not to try to get over our skis and see what the economy does the next couple of years.
00:39:51
Speaker
What do you think your threat is? look like the The threats are um we know there's more books going to go online. We know there's more ah things are going to change. We just have to be, we have to be willing to adapt.
00:40:06
Speaker
ah But I think the threats are the, the, the what's What's going to happen next? What are people's feelings going to be?
00:40:19
Speaker
I think it's it's just a market threat, really. it's not ah There's not a real threat I see but besides the market changing.
Relevance of Print Marketing
00:40:27
Speaker
in In what sense? So like people just not doing print marketing.
00:40:32
Speaker
um That's what people thought 15 years ago. Well, there's more mail in your mailbox today that's junk mail that we produce or other printers produce. Yeah, thanks for that. works.
00:40:45
Speaker
yeah You know, email email marketing, it kind of works. You know, pay-per-click works, but it can be expensive. Sure. And mean, like a lot of things, it works it works if you're putting out like decent content that people care about, but it's you know if you're just spamming them, it's not so hot.
00:41:05
Speaker
and And even and and I will say that even in print, when you have good content, it makes a huge difference. um You know, we do some help with I have a ah business that they want to do a magazine every quarter.
00:41:21
Speaker
I said, better get 10 samples printed. i won't charge you for the 10 samples because you're going to run a thousand later. And She's like, oh, we missed some serious things by just going and handing out to friends. Oh, the typography isn't very good. the You know, what are the, how these pictures look? So it's also being willing to help people, I think is really important.
00:41:45
Speaker
Yeah. And are they stories people even care about? Right. Like that's, ah that's the, to me, it's kind of the biggest part of it and kind of what we're trying to do with this podcast too, is just like tell stories that people care about and, um you know, that are, that are interesting and hopefully, you know, can, people can learn from.
Advice for Aspiring Manufacturers
00:42:09
Speaker
So um on that front, if there's someone out there that's looking at starting a small manufacturer of any kind, what kind of advice would you give them?
00:42:21
Speaker
I would go learn as much as you can somewhere because you're going to, I mean, you're when you're going I can't even imagine starting out from scratch today.
00:42:33
Speaker
Um, you know, there's, um, I know there's a book out there. It's, it's a buy versus build. I think, you know, those are some of those advices. Like, do I go build something or go buy something?
00:42:48
Speaker
Do I, ah Because salespeople are great. They'll tell you it's going to do something. and Does it do it? 75% of what they told you for sure, maybe.
00:43:00
Speaker
Find people that are going to help you, ah whether that's peers in another state or or a non-competitor. There's a lot of that going on in the world right now.
00:43:11
Speaker
And then be leery of people that are coaches that have never really done anything. Yeah. There's a lot of people around there as coaches.
Conclusion and Appreciation
00:43:22
Speaker
Yeah, it's true.
00:43:23
Speaker
It's true. Especially when you go to those marketing or those networking events. it's ah It's a lot of coaches. Yep. Yeah. Awesome. Well, anything else you want to share with our listeners before we sign off?
00:43:40
Speaker
Not today. i'm good. Well, thanks again for doing this, Doves. This was lot fun. Appreciate Thank you.