Printavo PrintHustlers Podcast

Danny Gruninger from Denver Print House has built one of screen printing's most respected brands: a highly technical and precise print shop that others look up to. So how does Danny think you can build the ultimate print shop? "I really recommend to spend some time on R&D (research & development). You really cannot get complacent," Danny urges. "The one thing that really secured our biggest clients was quality." If you want to print high-end retail quality prints, you've got to spend the time and energy to develop your skills, technique, equipment, and attitude toward printing. "This industry blends the artistic and scientific. But there's no rules! Don't be afraid to get out of your comfort zone," Danny says. You've probably seen Danny at trade shows – but if you haven't, he's a die-hard printer that has a world-class eye for detail. His insights and ideas are "straight from the horse's mouth," so to speak – this is a screen printer that's struggled through every challenge and come out on top. Danny has 5 simple rules for success in building a better print shop: 1. Surround yourself with the right people. 2. Create a product you're always proud of. 3. Create a working environment that promotes a higher quality of life. 4. Continually create and improve your processes. 5. Don't be afraid to break the rules. Try Printavo: https://www.printavo.com Join us at PrintHustlers Conf: https://www.printhustlers.com Check out Printavo Merch: https://www.printavo.com/merch Follow us on Instagram for all of the latest updates: https://www.instagram.com/printavo

Get a grip on your print shop! Entrepreneurial operating system expert Tom Bouwer joins us to share his knowledge about EOS and "Traction," a legendary book that teaches you to take control of your business. Learn simple tactics and tools you can use to master your business strategy – these are things you can implement TOMORROW to start seeing results IMMEDIATELY! Try Printavo: https://www.printavo.com What exactly does Tom suggest to do in your business? Well, he covers a TON of ground in this action-packed presentation – so you'll want to take it all in a few times – but he develops a comprehensive way to have the right people, vision, data, issues, traction, and process in your business. Can you define your core values? Your core focus? Your 10-year target? And how about the final linking piece – the marketing strategy? Tom shows you how businesses can capitalize on understanding their mission and specifying it to drive business forward. But it's not about taking the time once to draft a bunch of documents and then forget them! You have to revisit these ideas in a scheduled, regimented way to stay consistent. Tom's book, "What The Heck is EOS?" (https://www.eosworldwide.com/what-the-heck-is-eos) is a delightful companion to "Traction". Read more: https://www.printavo.com/blog/printhustlers-conf-2020-tom-bouwer Check out Printavo Merch: https://www.printavo.com/merch Follow us on Instagram for all of the latest updates: https://www.instagram.com/printavo #screenprinting #printlife #printhustlers #printavo #screenprintlife #dtg #embroidery #merch #ecommerce #printshop #screenprint Subscribe to the Printavo channel for more amazing interviews, shop tours, and tips for your screen printing business.

Employee feedback is so important! It's how to align ACTIONS with VALUES inside your company. But what does that mean – and how do you give good feedback? Bruce from Printavo weighs in with four tips to help you give employees great feedback in your print shop. Try Printavo: https://www.printavo.com WHY DO WE NEED GOOD FEEDBACK? Your expectations don't always align with your employees' expectations. Usually, we give one-off, incremental feedback: please coat screens this way, please fold shirts this way, please answer emails like this instead of like that. We need good feedback because good feedback helps employees make better decisions about their work...independently! You are actually aligning actions with expectations and values. Read on for more tips about giving great employee feedback: TIP 1: Training is crucial! Give every employee lots of time UP FRONT. We don’t value our time well enough as owners – so we put off training. But spending two days or a week focused specifically on a new employee shows them that you're dedicated to their success – and stops a lot of headaches and questions in the future. TIP 2: Assign a buddy! Give every new hire a buddy that helps them get into a good routine. We want them to act as a deflection point for small questions. This is a huge and easy way to make a new employee comfortable. TIP 3: Use the word "because" – and be TIMELY with your feedback! Why do you want things done a certain way? BECAUSE of our values and goals: because we want great prints, because we want customers to get their shirts exactly the right way, because we want to increase our sales through better service. Crucially: don't delay your feedback! As soon as you have the opportunity to offer feedback, do it! Don’t wait until a problem frustrates you: when a problem is mentioned and resolved on the spot, you engage with the problem while it’s “fresh.” This makes it much easier to offer correct, detailed, and accurate feedback. TIP 4: Review feedback in 1-on-1 meetings. You do hold 1-on-1 meetings with your team, right? We suggest meeting with each team member at least once every two weeks. This gives you a chance to reinforce feedback, develop mutual ways to meet goals, and ask for suggestions for how to meet goals. Interested in more business lessons, shop tours, and other amazing content for screen printers? Check out Printavo's blog: https://www.printavo.com/blog Join us at PrintHustlers Conf: https://www.printhustlers.com Check out Printavo Merch: https://www.printavo.com/merch Follow us on Instagram for all of the latest updates: https://www.instagram.com/printavo #screenprinting #printlife #printhustlers #printavo #screenprintlife #dtg #embroidery #merch #ecommerce #printshop #screenprint Subscribe to the Printavo channel for more amazing interviews, shop tours, and tips for your screen printing business.

Join Ali Banholzer from Wear Your Spirit Wearhouse at PrintHustlers Conf 2020 and learn how to overcome whatever life throws at you. Her story will stun you: her husband, Air Force Colonel and Air Force One Commander Dave Banholzer, faced a grave diagnosis. Their family's life went from flying around the world in service of the President to a complete focus on the health and wellbeing of their beloved father and husband. Ali entered custom apparel as a hobby, but grew her business in the midst of tremendous upheaval in her life. We've seen everyone in our industry face unparalleled changes: from new products like masks to pivoting toward e-commerce, businesses around the US and the world have faced their challenges with grit, integrity, and perseverance. Ali Banholzer is a model for our industry to aspire to. But – and this is crucial – Ali's message isn't one that tells you just to be tougher. It's about courage and kindness. Think about how you criticize yourself: "If you wouldn't say it to your child or best friend, why would you say it to yourself?" Ali asks. If you're the critic standing in your own way, now is the time to take action. After a long struggle with glioblastoma, an invasive and deadly type of brain cancer, Dave Banholzer passed away in November 2016 – after 28 months and 3 major brain surgeries. Ali's persistence, dedication, drive, and grit are something that will inspire you to keep pushing – no matter what challenges you face. Try Printavo: https://www.printavo.com Join us at PrintHustlers Conf: https://www.printhustlers.com Check out Printavo Merch: https://www.printavo.com/merch Follow us on Instagram for all of the latest updates: https://www.instagram.com/printavo #screenprinting #printlife #printhustlers #printavo #screenprintlife #dtg #embroidery #merch #ecommerce #printshop #screenprint Subscribe to the Printavo channel for more amazing interviews, shop tours, and tips for your screen printing business.

Acting like a big company, even if you're a small one, is a smart idea. Why? Because this increases sales, motivates your team, and moves the business forward. Even the people and businesses we all look up to are figuring it out as they go! Big companies that have outlasted their competition understand the game: longevity is more important than "beating" your competition. But how can a small or medium sized business get big business results? By acting like a bigger business. Here are some tips and strategies. 1. Find the right team! When you find people you can trust, you can fully delegate responsibilities and begin taking charge of your business. DELEGATE! 2. Do the things you love – and hire people to do the things you don't. Someone else can do it just as well (if not better) than you. Learn to LET GO. 3. Don't trip over a dollar to save a dime. You need to be strategic, even in the small things, to make your business really click. Know how to PRIORITIZE. 4. Spend on things that save time and effort. You'll spend $60,000 on a new screen printing press, but won't invest in software or a new computer to help your people work faster? That's not good! Big businesses INVEST. 5. Really dive deep with your team in 1-on-1 meetings. This will help clarify their mission and let you know if they're really aligned. Be OPEN. Try Printavo: https://www.printavo.com Join us at PrintHustlers Conf: https://www.printhustlers.com Check out Printavo Merch: https://www.printavo.com/merch Follow us on Instagram for all of the latest updates: https://www.instagram.com/printavo #screenprinting #printlife #printhustlers #printavo #screenprintlife #dtg #embroidery #merch #ecommerce #printshop #screenprint Subscribe to the Printavo channel for more amazing interviews, shop tours, and tips for your screen printing business.

The juicy details behind SanMar's rise are in here. The biggest purchaser of t-shirts and apparel will leave you stunned: from humble beginnings in Seattle to a powerhouse multinational manufacturer and distributor in a competitive industry. Screen printing is in good hands with people like SanMar President Jeremy Lott, and you'll know why as soon as you listen to this exclusive interview. Get the scoop here: https://www.printavo.com/blog/sanmar-with-jeremy-lott Apparel wholesale giant SanMar has a fascinating story. Join President Jeremy Lott on this episode of the PrintHustlers podcast. Jeremy manages more than 4,000 employees at his family’s company – but he wasn’t born with a silver spoon in his mouth. “I really had to prove to everyone that I deserved it. So I worked my ass off to get here,” Jeremy says. SanMar became a distribution company after Jeremy’s dad sent every screen print shop in Seattle a letter with his customer list. “I’m not going to be your competitor anymore. Here’s my customer list. But I’d love to be your supplier,” Jeremy recounted. By staying small and developing a niche ability to source and manufacture garments like polo shirts, SanMar rose to prominence. Overcoming one of the apparel industry’s major challenges during the 1990s, SanMar strategically moved toward making their own apparel. Jeremy explained: “The power imbalance between the mills and the wholesalers was huge. We started making our own product. From private label, to sourcing – we became a real apparel company.” In the 2000s, SanMar expanded its footprint and developed deeper relationships with world-class brands. More info and truly wild stories from SanMar: https://www.printavo.com/blog/sanmar-with-jeremy-lott On pace to grow at more than 8% through 2020, SanMar – like many others in the custom apparel industry – has been hit hard by the economic downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic. “But the most important time I spend is with my leadership team. That’s really what I prioritize in my day,” Jeremy says. Despite not seeing his team for more than 4 months, SanMar’s talented staff has stepped up to the challenge – without a single layoff. SanMar continues to invest in technology to lead the way toward sustainable practices. Jeremy dives into SanMar’s focused mission on sustainability, detailing how the company uses king grass to generate clean electricity for its South American manufacturing facilities. From managing 4,000 employees to re-inventing how apparel companies generate energy, SanMar and President Jeremy Lott have led the industry toward a brighter future. Printavo's blog has tons of interviews, insights, and ridiculously good articles about screen printers: https://www.printavo.com/blog/sanmar-with-jeremy-lott Try Printavo: https://www.printavo.com Join us at PrintHustlers Conf: https://www.printhustlers.com Check out Printavo Merch: https://www.printavo.com/merch Follow us on Instagram for all of the latest updates: https://www.instagram.com/printavo

From screen printing in a garage in 2012 to a 4,000 square foot print shop in 2020, Flash Flood Print Studios in Tulsa, OK was on-track to mature, develop, and grow. We interview May Yang and chat about everything from hiring, why they purchased their first M&R automatic press in 2018, promoting a new production manager, and writing their shop's complete instruction manual – all during a global pandemic. See pictures of Flash Flood Print's shop and read more here: https://www.printavo.com/blog/flash-flood-print-interview The story is familiar: a print shop that’s run by people that resemble multitasking superheroes more than regular business owners. “You wear all the hats when you start out, so we never had time to develop outside sales,” May said. Instead of jumping through hoops and trying to survive day-to-day, May planned to use 2020 to develop solid methods to handle training, hiring print shop employees, and even using Printavo. Despite a steady stream of sales since 2018 that's fed their new automatic press, time for experimentation and development has been scarce. “We’re trying different CRMs and apps, it’s all new. Right before this hit, we were really focused on a solid sales strategy,” May told us. See inside Flash Flood Print Studios (and see their amazing shop dog, Squeegee): https://www.printavo.com/blog/flash-flood-print-interview “Hiring is a lot of trial and error,” May said. “We have a strong culture [...] we ask off-the-wall, weirdo questions that wouldn’t normally get asked in a job interview.” So what kind of questions do they ask? “Well, one is ‘What playlist would you put on during the day?’ We won’t hire you based on your music choice, but it’s a peek into somebody’s character!” May jumped into Printavo Merch online stores to get the team back together after the pandemic. “Our store is called Rising Tide Fundraiser,” May said. “Our pitch was: we’ll help you with the design, we’ll give you this much money for each sale, we’re just asking you to promote it.” After finding the right businesses to support, throwing together some catchy designs, and quickly building a Merch store, Flash Flood Print surpassed more than $30,000 in sales through one online storefront. A huge thanks to May for taking the time to chat with us! Read more and see inside this amazing Tulsa, OK shop: https://www.printavo.com/blog/flash-flood-print-interview Try Printavo: https://www.printavo.com Join us at PrintHustlers Conf: https://www.printhustlers.com Check out Printavo Merch: https://www.printavo.com/merch Follow us on Instagram for all of the latest updates: https://www.instagram.com/printavo

Heard of Supacolor? If you haven’t, your print shop is missing out. Their unique heat transfers are some of the best in the industry. It’s a water based heat transfer, arriving fully cured – with no weeding or trimming required. Functionally, Supacolor is a way to tackle complex, colorful, low-volume jobs. Visit Supacolor: https://www.supacolor.com We talk to Supacolor’s Mike Modgill and Rum Walia on today’s PrintHustlers podcast. Mike’s from New Zealand, and his connection with Rum in Los Angeles stems directly from Rum’s quest to find the perfect heat transfer. I wanted to create this same type of product, but we were a few millimeters off. Mike pulled out a Supacolor transfer. ‘We’ve already made it. We’ve done it.’ - Rum Walia “You can basically extend the capabilities of your shop with a cheap heat press and some Supacolor,” says Mike. “This is a technical solution to complex problems. We allow you to say yes to more customers.” With production facilities in Los Angeles, the UK, and New Zealand, Supacolor heat transfers have started appearing across the globe. Supacolor has invested in turnaround time from the very start. After all, if Supacolor’s heat transfers can’t meet the fast turnaround times that custom printing demands, there’s no value added. So they’ve focused diligently on their process, developing a rapid-fire methodology for delivering on time. Snag a sample pack and learn more here: https://www.printavo.com/blog/supacol... “If we tell you that we ship the next day, we better ship the next day! No one cares if you’re low on mylar or ink,” explains Rum. “People want their product now. We knew we had to win over screen printers, because they typically don’t like transfers. So we started with eliminating the speed factor from the beginning.” That focus on speed extends beyond shipping: the product itself is intended to compete with screen printing a complex job. 10 to 12 seconds on the heat press is all of the time that many Supacolor applications need. “It had to be goof-proof. Just train someone to heat press right away. Speed was always key,” Mike says. Because of the unique printing process Supacolor uses, the transfers arrive fully cured. There’s no loss of opacity or quality when you use a heat press on a Supacolor transfer. “It’s thick and robust and layered, not like a normal plastisol transfer. It’s a proper old-school transfer with a new spin on it,” Mike says. Fascinatingly, Supacolor found that having an identical “kitchen” for producing and shipping their unique heat transfers isn’t the key to success. “Our Los Angeles shop was an exact replica of our New Zealand shop – machines, software, layout. But we totally forgot about the people,” Mike tells us. Where have they found the best employees? From the fast food industry! “Your typical screen printer is not going to do the things we want to do. People from the fast food industry are tremendously talented at working under pressure. They are experts at looking at screens and finishing complex orders,” Rum explains. Snag a sample pack and learn more here: https://www.printavo.com/blog/supacol... Supacolor’s heat transfers are stellar – grab one of their sample packs if you want to see for yourself. They’re truly vibrant and durable prints that maintain quality wash after wash. What’s impressed us at Printavo is Supacolor’s laser-focus on a positive outcome for their customers. Rum summarizes it well: “We look at Supacolour as an experience, not a product. For customers, employees, anyone involved. We want to leave you with positive energy and a great experience.” Try Printavo: https://www.printavo.com Join us at PrintHustlers Conf: https://www.printhustlers.com Check out Printavo Merch: https://www.printavo.com/merch Follow us on Instagram for all of the latest updates: https://www.instagram.com/printavo

Learn how to make your print shop a better business from "What the Heck is EOS?", Tom Bouwer – at PrintHustlers Conf 2020. Tune in here for a sneak peek. Tom described three key concepts from the book, "Traction," as “not hard to master.” Just remember: keep your goals specific, measurable, obtainable, realistic, and timely. Register (for free!) for PrintHustlers Conf 2020 here: https://www.printavo.com/blog/printhustlers-conf-2020-tom-bouwer 90 day objectives, level 10 meetings, and issue solving. What are these? They're tools to take your first step toward a better functioning shop. “Progress; not perfection,” Tom urged. All screen printing shops have taken a hit in some capacity these past few months. No matter where you are, there is no better time than now to build a new system and healthier culture for the sake of your business's future. Reflect on what you really want from your business. Tom suggests taking the time to set core values and ensure they're consistent throughout the entirety of your print shop. Setting KPIs (key performance indicators) for each individual, as well as your shop as a whole, will guide your decision making. It doesn’t need to be perfect, you just need to start with something. These numbers don’t need to be accurate, but at least they give you direction and show if you’re doing it the same way every week or doing better or worse. Tom has found the only way to grow stronger is a conscious effort to design growth into the very structure of your business. “If you don’t have scalability, you’re not going to be able to grow. Structure first,” Tom shared. Join us to hear about how EOS, scalability, and opportunity will reset your shop at Print Hustlers Conf 2020 July 23-24: https://www.printavo.com/blog/printhustlers-conf-2020-tom-bouwer Try Printavo: https://www.printavo.com Join us at PrintHustlers Conf: https://www.printhustlers.com Check out Printavo Merch: https://www.printavo.com/merch Follow us on Instagram for all of the latest updates: https://www.instagram.com/printavo

Allmade Apparel has joined forces with SanMar to distribute ethically made, ecologically friendly t-shirts across the world. Designed by screen printers with screen printing in mind, Allmade’s tri-blend t-shirt has become one of the industry’s coveted products. Bruce from Printavo sits down with Allmade founders Brett Bowden (Printed Threads) and Mel Lay (SandiLake Clothing) and co-host Steven Farag to discuss this incredible partnership. Allmade is about more than t-shirts. From their Impact Calculator that shows how much water and plastic they’ve diverted through their ecological efforts to their partnership with Haitian factories that emphasize fair wages and fair treatment, Allmade has set out to make a difference in the garment and apparel industry. More than a dozen screen printers from around the world joined forces to make a t-shirt that had a story behind it – and it worked. It turns out making a t-shirt...isn’t so easy. From supply constraints to civil unrest in Haiti, Allmade’s success has come with a huge variety of challenges. Screen print shop owners aren’t supply chain gurus – or experts in geopolitics. Sanmar’s deep knowledge of distribution networks, timing deliveries, and even managing what colors and sizes to keep in stock will prove tremendously valuable for Allmade. For Allmade customers, there’s hardly any change. Orders are routed through Sanmar’s website now, which means Sanmar’s vast customer base can now access Allmade’s high-quality t-shirts. This means the Allmade team can focus on what they’re great at: telling the Allmade story. No more worrying about whether the Space Black t-shirt is in stock...it’s time for the Allmade founders to hit the gas on marketing, selling, and making an even bigger impact with the Allmade brand. The future is exciting, even if it’s precarious. While this partnership has been in the works for more than a year, Allmade found a tremendous reception from the industry at large to their brand’s story. The impact that a t-shirt company can make is surprisingly large, and Allmade is determined to do more than sell shirts. They’re making a visible impact on a large industry with a tremendous social, ecological, and economic impact. Allmade: https://www.allmade.com Sanmar: https://www.sanmar.com Try Printavo: https://www.printavo.com Join us at PrintHustlers Conf: https://www.printhustlers.com Check out Printavo Merch: https://www.printavo.com/merch Follow us on Instagram for all of the latest updates: https://www.instagram.com/printavo