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A Prelude:
I look at a business as a living, breathing
organism. The purpose of any business is to attain
and retain customers. The fresh air and oxygen
needed to sustain life in any business are the
products and services that flow to the customer.
The cash that is returned for these products and
services is the life blood of the organization. If
anything, including a business, isn't growing, its
dying. Any physician or botanist will confirm that
statement. Clients move away, go out of business,
find other loyalties, or no longer need the
company's services. New customers must be found and
current ones need to be engcourged to use more of
the company's services.
Sales produce cash and cash is the only thing that
is fully negotiable. Whether one is success-driven
for growth and practices good business and printing
management or is content to stay where they are,
cash is necessary to keep the company alive. It
pays for housing, sustinence, college tuition,
medical bills, new quipment, inventory, overhead
and payroll. The family of the print shop owner
trusts the bread winner to do their very best to
sustain their lifestyle. Employees have families
and they trust the owner to keep the business alive
and healthy. Once one embarks on business
ownership, they take on greater reponsibilities. It
is no longer income substitution for leaving a well
paying job to run one's business. Others are
counting on them. If they let themselves down, they
disappoint their families and the entire
organization. Their clients will hardly be bothered
as competitors will fill the gap in a matter of
days. They owe it to themselves and those who rely
on them to do their very best in busines and
printing management.
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So, you're going into the printing
business.... How will you manage it?
At some point a decision was made by all print
shop owners to enter that field of endeavor. For
some they were following in the footsteps of a
parent who is or was a printer. Mom or dad
practiced some type of printing management to be
able to pass on their business to the next
generation. Others started in the trade and decided
that going into business for themselves was the
best route to take. Some never worked in the trade
and never considered working in the printing
industry until an opportunity presented itself.
Some of the most successful people I know in the
printing industry never operated a printing press.
They were businessmen and businesswomen who decided
to purchase or start a printing operation and make
it grow through effective printing management. By
using their business experience and skills they
decided to grow a business and make it a success as
they defined their own success. They set goals, did
careful planning and worked their plan. They set
course corrections as business conditions
warranted, but never lost sight of their goals.
They weren't paralyzed by setbacks. They simply
tried harder. They used their business acumen to
practice good printing management and business
management. They make decisions quickly and
professionally so they can take advantage of
profitable opportunities. Most of their competitors
would call them a success and wonder how they did
it.
I know many successful printers who never grew
beyond one or two person mom and pop shops. They
are happy, content and have no grand scale goals.
They pay their bills, educate their children, take
vacations and save for retirement. They substituted
a paycheck for running their own modest business
and enjoy the freedom it affords. Printing
management is of no concern to them. They have no
nagging inventory problems or labor issues. They
are their own boss. Some days, while burning the
midnight oil, I envy them. However, I would not
suggest they change a thing. They are where they
want to be.
Somewhere in the vast middle I find those that are
just making it or some that are trying to grow.
Most aren't growing and are barely hanging on.
Without getting too personal with them, it becomes
evident that they are barely surviving when they
ask for credit terms on my lowest priced product,
under a thousand dollars. I wonder how a company
can be in business five, ten or twenty years and
have so little cash available. How will they make
their utility payments next month? When they called
me for help with printing management, it may have
been too late. That's sad, because they have to
pass on a good offer because they never planned to
make their business a success. They may have wished
it, but never planned it. They planned to go into
business, but never learned how to stay in
business. Witness how many print shops have closed
in the past seven years. Its a changing world for
printers. Only those that are prepared will
survive. My prediction is that one third of the
printers reading this article will have found other
means of support in the next seven years. That may
not be entirely true. If you're reading this, and
you're a printer, you're in the minority that takes
time to learn about their industry. I congratulate
you and I wish you well.
I wish I could tell you their secret, but their are
no secrets. Successful behavior is predictable and
repeatable. Unfortunately, so is unsuccessful
behavior. Those who practice good management skills
in one business will continue those skills in
owning a print shop. I've talked to printers who
have told me that the printing business is
different. That is why I use the term printing
management. I don't want to argue with them.
Business management and standard business practices
never enter the equation of running their print
shop. That isn't limited to print shops. It is
endemic in small business. We live in a society
with a free library system and a free internet.
Information is exploding all around us for free. So
what does small business do with these resources?
Most squander them.
In a recent month almost 190,000 internet searches
were done on the following topics combined: Small
Business -87,655, Small Business Loan - 40,233,
Small Business Grant - 33,981 and Small Business
Administration - 28,440. Only 1,262 searched for
the term Small Business Help. Less than 5%. It
leads me to think that the rest know it all and
don't need help. From the number of disconnected
phones I get in the printing industry when I do
call backs, maybe they didn't know as much as they
gave themselves credit for.
Owning a business offers unlimited rewards to
those who take the chance and set the proper route
to success. Each person has to define their own
success. Invest in books, tapes, seminars, go to
the library, go online and attend trade shows and
seminars. Learn everything you can about running a
business and learn to practice effective and
proactive printing management. Start doing it
today.
If you don't practice print management
for your business, who do you trust to do it for
you?
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