Matt Lucas of Trust Printshop recently sold his shop to Real Thread and stepped down as owner. Now working in the shop on special projects, Matt tells us his journey to coming to this decision and how to run a business with intention.
Trust Printshop Shop Tour: https://youtu.be/yh1oBoETmfM
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Transcript
00:00:00:02 – 00:00:17:03
I just. I just don’t think we should be making money oriented decisions. I just think it’s too hard to do it for money. I think passion really has to be the driver. There.
00:00:17:05 – 00:00:42:12
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00:02:49:02 – 00:03:17:13
All right. Let’s jump on in. Have you been I’ve been really good, man. Really? Why? Just had a kiddo three months ago. Oh, congrats. Our first kiddo. Wow. And, you know, no one told me how hard it was going to be. But also how beautiful it was going to be. If you’d like to know both sides of the coin.
00:03:17:15 – 00:03:49:01
Yeah. It is been just so beautiful. That’s awesome. Congratulations. You’re still in Fort Worth area, right? Yes. Nice. What was interesting was, I had gotten word. I don’t know how this came out, but, of you selling trust print shop or, you know, stepping aside. I don’t know exactly how it works, but, you know, from us just getting to know each other a little bit.
00:03:49:01 – 00:04:12:01
Over the years, you’ve ran a, I like to say, a pretty deliberate shop. I trust in that. You know, we’ve got the shop tours, which people can watch down below, but it’s just like, so meticulous. I feel like you want when you really think about everything, in detail. And so, you know, I guess I thought I was like, oh, wow.
00:04:12:02 – 00:04:44:22
I mean, this is his baby, obviously. But hearing that news, I was surprised and I guess maybe not surprised. So there’s a lot to unpack there. So I guess first, you know, I’m curious as to we’ve had a couple exit related episodes, but I’m really curious as to your story. And then, over the last maybe two years and then getting to this point and your thought process of of wanting to go down this path.
00:04:45:00 – 00:05:13:00
So maybe, maybe like two years ago, it’s like, like when did the thoughts first cross your mind of like, I guess I don’t want to run this full time anymore. The, I think that the, the, the, the brand part of that was much slower than the body part of that. You know, I think just to go back and, I appreciate the compliment of really, like, thinking through the details.
00:05:13:01 – 00:05:39:08
That’s what I love to do. I love to think through the details, and push things as far as they can go. And I think that that’s really how I got the company off the ground and grew the company the first ten years. And then to answer your question, I think that’s how the exit kind of came about to, you know, the second ten years.
00:05:39:10 – 00:06:08:04
Yeah. 20 years. You started in 22,004. Yeah. I, I wanted to still focus on the details, but, you know, the company was at a size 30 people, you know, 500 customers was 4 million annual sales that I did. I didn’t get to do the things that I wanted to do anymore. I was I was just solving. I was just dealing in problems, and putting out fires.
00:06:08:04 – 00:06:34:05
And so I had the feeling in hindsight, I can really, you know, see it and speak to it. I had the feelings of being ready to, to exit. But but my brain didn’t know it. I didn’t know what to do about it. I thought, you know, maybe I was wrong or my leadership team was wrong, or.
00:06:34:05 – 00:07:03:16
We need this. We needed to switch from slack to base camp or, you know, something external. But but really, you know, I think I was burned out, years before I realized it. Interesting. So, yeah, you started 2004. Was it in Fort Worth originally or did you move to forward? Yeah, just outside of it. I grew up in a small town, Mansfield, which is now a big town.
00:07:03:18 – 00:07:29:23
And then you know, just rented warehouse space there. And then moved to Fort Worth in 2015. Was there a certain age that you guys started in, or was it taken everything that you found or, you know, was it a was it from music or from schools or. Yeah, yeah, solely from music. That’s that’s what got me into screen printing was I played in a rock band, from the age 12.
00:07:30:01 – 00:07:54:01
We were playing shows and selling t shirts at shows and getting other people to print our shirts. I think, Brett Belden printed, our shirts early on. Yeah. And, and, the idea just kind of hit me, I think I can do this, not really knowing why or not really wanting to all that much.
00:07:54:01 – 00:08:25:13
Just the thought that I could do this just kind of hit me, you know, printed shirts for my band, printed shirts for our friends bands. And so that’s how it really started, was printing tour merch for rock bands traveling around the country. And then I’m sure was like, damn. So where else? Starting up a shop? Well, I mean, this was a long time ago, but Rhett stopped printing shirts.
00:08:25:15 – 00:08:54:11
I don’t really know the details about it, but he stopped printing shirts for somebody time, and, you know, he should be the one telling that part of the story. But, Yeah, I started when he stopped and then after him printing shirts for my band the next time I saw him, he was installing internet, like, commercially. He was an internet installer or something like that.
00:08:54:13 – 00:09:20:01
And he was dressed in his internet installer outfit, and he came to my shop, and then and then we just, you know, that was kind of the the beginning of him getting back into it. And, you know, the rest is history. What was a good those first few years, I feel like are some of the fun times, running a business, getting it off the ground.
00:09:20:01 – 00:09:46:02
I mean, you know, it’s stressful too, but I think because you have no expectations, you’re just toiling away like you haven’t seen, you know, the ups and the downs and the swings and you don’t have payroll and all this other stuff really. Do you remember, a highlight that sticks out from those early days? Golly. So many, so many.
00:09:46:04 – 00:10:15:02
You know, I really loved, like, learning what, having employees, like, should be, like. I thought that I had to buy everybody’s lunch. That’s a nice perk. And when it’s just, you know, one or 2 or 3 other people, like, that’s fine. But I remember when when, you know, we started growing and had a team of like six or so, I had to tell everybody that, hey, we can’t buy everybody’s lunch anymore.
00:10:15:02 – 00:10:37:03
Or what kind of lunch you’re talking sushi or pizza usually. Okay, okay. Yeah, yeah. Nothing crazy, but yeah, we used to be, we used to have a lot of fun, a lot of inappropriate stuff, you know, that we wouldn’t do now, you know, that we could have gotten in trouble for. I remember early companies were fun to do a lot, a lot more drinking.
00:10:37:05 – 00:11:04:08
Yeah, I definitely things that were said that. Yeah. You don’t want to say it in the larger company. I mean, it’s just yeah, you’re right. It’s different time for sure. Yeah. Yeah. I think that there’s a video of it on our YouTube for the Trust Print shop. YouTube. We got our ink mixer, and we, we like, tried to to sit on it and stay on it as long as we could.
00:11:04:10 – 00:11:28:02
And then we upgraded to sitting on a five gallon bucket on the, the turnabout. And, it was a lot of fun. That’s amazing. Did you take a lot of photos then? You know, I don’t have a lot of photos. What year did the if the. Yeah, the if the first iPhone came out in like 2007.
00:11:28:04 – 00:11:53:19
Yeah. You’re right. And before that, like cell phone cameras, you know, we wouldn’t really do much. So there’s a big gap in my, my, my photo library where maybe I had the iPhone in 2007, but I don’t know where those photos are. Where would they go? Yeah, right. The Apple’s like iPhoto. There was no, iCloud or something probably then either.
00:11:53:23 – 00:12:11:12
I mean, that’s one thing that I wish I would have done early company days is take a lot more pictures, because I think I may have 5 or 6, but you don’t think that, but I so if anyone’s listening and you know it’s one person, you just get started. Take a lot of photos because those they’re always so cool to look back at.
00:12:11:13 – 00:12:49:23
Yeah, I might have a couple. I’d have to really dig deep. But one thing that’s really helped is Instagram. When I created the print job Instagram in 2012, you know, I can scroll all the way to the bottom of that feed, and see some really cool stuff. True. So that’s help. Yeah, just a big gap between a photo that I do have sort of the very first print that I did, was in my dad’s garage, and I get the screen loaded on the press and the ink loaded and, you know, the screen’s taped and I’m about to print the shirt.
00:12:50:00 – 00:13:14:02
And my dad was there, and he was like, wait, wait, wait. Any, like, runs off, into the house and he comes back out with this camera and he’s like, I want to get a picture of this. And I freaking love that picture. It’s so meaningful to me. The photo of my first print. Yeah, yeah. So I tripped.
00:13:14:04 – 00:13:36:13
But yeah, you should frame it. This is a fun trip down memory lane with, like, a. We’ll get to the exit part, too, but, like, with the real thread. But was there a point where trust print Shop and the trajectory a bit. Right. Because you’re sure you’re cruising along, you know, kind of literally growing, doing your thing.
00:13:36:15 – 00:14:04:08
Was there a point where it was, oh, wow, this is a bit more different than it was last year where it just felt different. Yeah. Like maybe just bend the curve more like, you know, sometimes maybe a certain marketing channel just works super well and drives a lot more sales than the normal. Sometimes it’s, hey, we got the space that we finally needed to be able to produce the orders to be able to grow as a business.
00:14:04:08 – 00:14:48:07
We hired the right. But like, there’s certain there’s there’s there’s business bending points. Yeah. I haven’t heard that term. But yes, I mean, I feel pretty magic all about the growth of trust. And you know, going back to every piece of equipment that we, that we, that we purchased every, you know, big step that we took from screen making to, to automatic press to getting another machine to moving, moving spaces.
00:14:48:09 – 00:15:14:04
You know, I was always naturally scared of taking those steps, right? Especially when the company was small. Like, those are big steps. But every time we did it a few weeks, maybe a month after we’re looking back, we’re we’re we’re saying to ourselves like, there’s no way that we could do what we’re doing now. How do we not done that?
00:15:14:06 – 00:15:42:22
And so what’s an example of one? Moving, moving from, 4000 square foot shop to a 12,000 square foot shop. That’s a big jump. Moving from from outside of the city to inside of the city. It’s almost like there was, like a newsletter that went out to all of our customers, you know, telling them what we’re doing and and that they need to order more or something like that.
00:15:42:22 – 00:15:58:18
It was almost like somebody was just telling somebody about what we’re doing. At the time, we weren’t, and it’s when you, you know, it’s you’re closer to the city.
00:15:58:19 – 00:16:25:21
That and really just every big step that we took along the way. And I’m just really glad that it went that way. There wasn’t a big decision that we made that that didn’t work out. That’s great. Was there something that you, looking back, would have wanted to buy sooner or upgrade sooner or, you know, move into sooner?
00:16:25:23 – 00:16:53:12
I don’t I don’t think so. One of the big ones was, was computer to screen. Really? Which one did you buy in 2012, we bought the Kubo I jet two. And you know that that was an expensive machine and and, I spent maybe a year or two, like, thinking about it. And we finally got it.
00:16:53:12 – 00:17:26:01
And that was a really big growth period for us from, from our screen resolution. Interesting. I would say 80 to 90% of people ask that question to say the exact same thing, not necessarily the, you know, brand name and model tone, but the exact same piece of equipment. Yeah. I remember taking our big library of film and to the dumpster, jacking it down to the dumpster, and we romantically, like, throw it in.
00:17:26:03 – 00:17:51:23
And we do have a photo of that of our film length filling up a dumpster. We would try to keep it right. It was super expensive. We would try to keep it. And so we had this big library system, and I was really happy to throw all that stuff away. That’s pretty cool. You know, through through walking around in your shop, you know, you you spent your time, you, you built your own shop management software.
00:17:51:23 – 00:18:18:08
You’ve got these all these like little kind of maybe these are like lean supply, chain hack type improvement is the way that you’ve constructed things. As far as how the workflow goes in the business. Are you thinking about that stuff all the time? Is there, production manager or operations manager that’s thinking about that staff that’s always trying to improve little bits here and there.
00:18:18:13 – 00:19:05:23
I think for the most part, it’s it’s a collaborative effort. You know, I’m I’m always thinking about that stuff. I really love to think think deep and, and work with my hands, really hands on. I think every company. Right. We’re selling the same thing. And, you know, we’re humans. You know, you think that we would we would be kind of like, similar or identical, but really the thing that makes every company different, are the people that who work at the company and, and, you know, the decisions that they make and how they solve their problems.
00:19:06:01 – 00:19:39:06
I got really lucky, with, with the team, from first employing people in 2009 to the team that was here on the last day, with me as the owner. Not sure really what to say about that, but, or where to give to give the credit for that. But man, was that for me. Like asking them a lot of stuff, like, you know, hey, what do you guys think?
00:19:39:06 – 00:20:08:22
How do we improve? Or do they just feel comfortable making changes or improvements or, you know, bringing them up to you or. Gotcha. What was that structured? Yeah, a couple key people that I would work really close with. And Jeremy on the production side and Jesse on the, the creative and the marketing side. You know, we worked really close together.
00:20:09:00 – 00:20:32:08
You know, it was kind of just like each day was just like a hangout, you know, we would we would bump into each other, you know, we would try to find each other somewhere around the shop, and pitch an idea. And, you know, it was it was a bit like a hangout. Some things would, would stick and some things would end.
00:20:32:08 – 00:20:46:23
And then, you know, a week later, I would see Jeremy or later that day, you know, I would see Jeremy with a table sell out, cutting boards and building something.
00:20:47:00 – 00:21:23:11
You know, it just depends on what it was. But really, you know, I, I would attribute that to having a great team, and really collaborating with them, in really informal ways. Do you think that was, partially an interview process, or did you did did you know friends bring in friends and that that created a good team or or was it just, you know, churning through people over time until you you had that right mesh?
00:21:23:13 – 00:22:10:03
So coming from a rock band from age 12, you know, to really like 18, 19, 20, something like that. You know, it was me and my, my friends creating something. And those were pretty formative years. So really, the analogy that I use with building trust was, you know, really wanting it to feel like a band. And, you know, everyone has their parts and we’re collab creating, and so the hiring process was very much like, hey, we, you know, we’re all over worked, right?
00:22:10:05 – 00:22:41:11
We barely had time to even talk right now. Does anybody know anybody who can help? And a big fan of getting temp help, and trying them out, them trying the, the job out. And then if both people are excited then, then we’d move forward and hire them. That’s, that was the bulk of our hiring process.
00:22:41:13 – 00:23:14:11
And and building the team. And I think. When it became less interesting to me as when things got more formal because of the number of people you needed, more, you know, people process type stuff. HR teams. Yeah. We would need a specific person. Yeah, yeah. That’s when, you know, it just became less interesting to me.
00:23:14:13 – 00:23:35:07
Is that because it pulled you away from like, would you say you’re more passionate about, you know, is it the supply chain aspect or is it the actual printing aspect, or is it the art or like what was that? And was that way, you know, the people stuff pulled you away from?
00:23:35:09 – 00:23:39:18
00:23:40:16 – 00:24:20:04
And it’s hard to say I, I’m, I’m both very organized. Like, I use a calendar and I map out, you know, every 15 minute block of my day, and I’m doing that in real time. I’m. I’m organized tomorrow, and the next week. And then also, as today is, is taking shape, organizing it in calendar events, so on both very organized but also, I just love to I love the freedom to explore.
00:24:20:06 – 00:25:03:12
I guess what I’m saying is I like to be in control, to be organized to, you know, to go long or late on this one thing because I’m really, you know, hitting a flow with it. And I like to know what I, what I want to focus on tomorrow in a more structured way. And so I think that that weird part of me, it’s just a lot harder to fit into, you know, a company this size from, you know, when the company is demanding so much, you know, from, from all sorts of things.
00:25:03:12 – 00:25:35:11
Right? The finance piece of the business, the HR piece of the business, the admin stuff. Right. Just the various parts of the business, that require a bit more structure, I think, is where, I kind of butted heads with it. Interesting. So, I mean, yeah, over 20 years, you know, growing to got 4 million or so, profitably.
00:25:35:11 – 00:26:07:23
You know, I have a great brand name and recognition in the space. What, what? Over the last, like, even more specifically last couple years, do you think created some of the feeling of the burnout? I mean, you talk about some of the people management staff, which I know a lot of people can resonate, but, you know, was it a lot more of your time having to be spent there, or was it, you know, I’m just not getting to do the stuff that I wanted to do before.
00:26:07:23 – 00:26:42:00
Like, I’m just curious as to what. How did that feeling get created? Yeah, it was very slow over a long period of time. And and it’s it’s quite it was very hard for me to talk about while, while I was in it. And it’s still a little bit hard for me to talk about. Not from, like, an emotional standpoint, but just from a, like, just trying to understand it.
00:26:42:02 – 00:27:14:01
But the best way I think I could put it is. I, I felt like I was the right person, for the first 15 years or so. Like, any problem that came up, I could solve any problem that anybody had. I was ready for it. And then it it just I just stopped feeling like the right person.
00:27:14:03 – 00:27:48:08
Is that because you didn’t want to be the person to make the decision? Or was it like, I don’t know. Yeah, I definitely remember feeling somewhere where it’s like I look figured out, like, I don’t I don’t want to have to make the, like, constant, you know, micro decisions of stuff all day and so and that’s what makes me curious is like, was that something that you felt or, you know, it’s just these are not the decisions that I want to be thinking about.
00:27:48:10 – 00:28:15:10
Yeah. I mean, it’s still hard for me to really understand. I can talk about it and abstract ways. Yeah. It’s like the easiest for me to easiest way for me to to talk about it. Like, I, I, I enjoy working with my brain and working with my hands. Yeah. Right. That’s that’s where I that’s what I enjoy.
00:28:15:10 – 00:28:52:06
That’s what I feel good at. I feel like there are some people, who enjoy and are good at working with their brains and work and then working with their voice and, you know, I think having a team of 30, I was really, like, cornered into. Yeah, kind of speaking into things. And so I was less working with my hands and more working with my, my voice.
00:28:52:08 – 00:29:23:17
And yeah, I just, I think just wasn’t satisfied. Interesting. What? So. Okay, so pushing forward into connecting with real thread, you know, was there a decision in your mind that said, look, this isn’t working out right? I think I’m going to sell the business or or did real threat approach you like how how did that happen? It’s a bit blurry.
00:29:23:19 – 00:29:50:10
We’ve been friends for about ten years. And we we talked about kind of merging. I mean, about ten years ago, maybe it was. Maybe it was eight years ago. You know, I, I love what they’re doing. I love how they’re doing it. We’re similar, but also a yin yang. And then you know, eight years goes by.
00:29:50:12 – 00:30:20:08
I didn’t really think much about it, but once I started to really uncover, like, understanding, like where it was at and what I was going through, this is the great part is I’m not sure if I reached out to drew or he reached out to me. It just kind of felt like a natural. We were talking, and, and then it just kind of came back up and, that was about a year ago, and it took me a year to really think about.
00:30:20:08 – 00:30:45:22
It took me a year of of talking through it, thinking about it. And, you know, there’s a lot to consider there. How did you go through that process of like the year of it? Was it just like, should I do it? What am I going to do with like all the questions, or was it more tactical negotiating back and forth for a year or what was it that was a big consideration for me?
00:30:46:00 – 00:31:14:14
Is who’s going to value what is trust, friendship, and who’s going to take care of the customers that we have and the team that we have in the in the in a way that, you know, I can stand behind and, and in a way where I can sleep at night. And that kind of, you know, brings me up, you know, all the way to the, to the origin.
00:31:14:16 – 00:31:46:18
I didn’t really mean to start this company, you know, I was printing IBM shirts and our friends band shirts, and I just kind of grew from there. So with that said, I, I never felt like a business owner, you know, I didn’t intentionally do it. I just found myself there, and I did it. But I think I stayed the sole business owner for the 20 years because I wanted to protect it.
00:31:46:20 – 00:32:44:00
Interesting. And once we once we had a team, even when the team was five people, I really wanted to protect it. So in that year, what pushed you over the edge? So we talked, it was early in the year. And, you know, I’m thinking about it. I’m sure he’s thinking about it. And, really, what pushed me over the edge was when we found out that my wife was pregnant, and, we’ve been we’ve been trying for some time, and, and, you know, at the point in our lives we’re ready to be parents and, you know, I’ve sacrificed so much of myself, building this company would work before.
00:32:44:00 – 00:33:22:23
Work would work out. Work would work after work. We work on weekends. Right? Where you’re not where you’re at. You’re thinking about it. Yeah. I was working in my sleep, you know, I, I really gave it my all, and, I’m glad that I could. That I was young and in a spot to do that. And, you know, so once we found out that my wife was pregnant, you know, I wanted, trust to be in a great spot and to be taken care of, but really felt like, okay, I’m going to focus on my family, and I’ve.
00:33:22:23 – 00:33:51:20
I’ve paid my dues. You know, I, I feel like I’ve, I’ve worked the full 45 years of my career, right. In a compressed time. I. Yeah, I feel near retirement. And so, like, I was kind of thinking about it like that, that, you know, I’m, I’m really tired. And both. I want it to go to the right person and.
00:33:51:20 – 00:34:18:08
Right people, I want everyone to be taken care of. But also, I’m ready to start my family and focus on that. And that’s what I’m doing. And it’s it’s been great. That’s an interesting, turning point right there. Like emotional side is what draws you forward. There’s a lot of different ways to structure a deal like this.
00:34:18:08 – 00:34:38:10
And, you know, you don’t have to get into details, but like, it seems like the most common is some sort of, you know, cash payment for, let’s call it, the value of the business and maybe some sort of like, split between that and like an earn out there, like a seller financing type of deal where it goes over a couple of years and is paid.
00:34:38:12 – 00:35:11:01
And then like, is that sort of similar to what you guys were thinking or what what you felt was best? I’m not sure how to answer that question. It’s more complicated than I, I would have liked for it to be, but, I’m happy with how we were able to work it out. Okay. Which I take to like, you know, sometimes their accounts are tied to maybe performance metrics or there’s just, like, so many ways that these things can work out, but that’s that’s good that you feel comfortable about it.
00:35:11:03 – 00:35:40:07
Like, how do you find your role now? What do you workwise. What are you spending time on? Is it still with trust or. Yeah. So last week was my my first week back. After after leave. Oh how long do you took off. I was about three months. Wow. How that feel. It felt great. It was the right amount of time.
00:35:40:09 – 00:36:07:23
And if I can go back and change our, our, our maternity and paternity leave from four weeks to three months, I would do it because that’s how long it takes to really, like, get back to stable. Yeah. Were you able to not be on the phone and not be in the slack stuff and the emails, or were you still sort of one foot in?
00:36:08:01 – 00:36:32:00
For the most part, I was out, you know, we we had our kid Charlie. Carly 16. No, is a month. There was a full month after after closing on the deal. And then I think, you know, as I was, I was here at the office for a couple weeks, and then had about two weeks before we actually had our kiddo.
00:36:32:00 – 00:36:55:21
So, we’re able to get a lot done in that time. But, you know, also, you know, didn’t sell a screen printing company to assign making company. You know, we sold I sold a screen printing company, within a niche to another screen printing company in that same niche. So, you know, we know them well, they know us well.
00:36:55:21 – 00:37:22:19
And so it was able to translate relatively easily. How do you talk to the team about this? Right. Because, you know, it’s it’s an how did I tell them. Well, and, and I think to create comfort as well. Right. Because it is a little bit worrisome for a team. You don’t want people to just dip out and quit and keep things pretty stable operationally.
00:37:22:21 – 00:37:53:06
Was there anything that that you did to help with the messaging there? I was really nervous to join the team. Yeah. I think it was a shock to the team. Even though I had taken some time off over the last couple years. I think it was a shock, but I think that they understood, I think that there was a lot of s.
00:37:53:08 – 00:38:24:08
And I think that that’s just really natural being in that, being in that position. But, you know, one thing that I did was I just kept talking about it. We we kind of on a weekly cycle, we’d have an all hands meeting. The first half of Monday and then the second half of Friday. Not the full half of the day, but just a little 15 minute huddle sometime, within those hands of the day.
00:38:24:08 – 00:38:51:20
And I just kept talking about it, you know, updating everybody. I was very transparent. I think within a few days of telling the team, the real threat leadership team came in and, you know, met the whole team and introduced themselves. And, you know, we’re able to kind of, you know, create that relationship that is important for trust.
00:38:51:22 – 00:39:15:22
And so we were really transparent, from the announcement until until the deal was done. How do you think about your, your, your role there now? So is it is it very similar? I’m sure it feels different though, right. Because it’s technically it’s not your business anymore. So it’s like, you know, you’re you’re reporting up you’re reporting up to drew now.
00:39:15:22 – 00:40:00:23
So, is your responsibility sort of the same? It is the do you care about it differently? Yeah. All of the above probably. It’s it’s it’s very different. But honestly, I love the technical side of of what we do. I love the people here, that I get to work with and I really believe in the potential of the larger organization that’s created with real threat acquiring trust.
00:40:01:01 – 00:40:41:13
It it opens up a lot of doors for me to do what I love to do and what I feel great at doing. So my, my title is Special Projects and just kind of a couple projects at a time that I just get to really go deep in, you know, technically, you know, go as deep as as I want to and, and surface that up to, you know, the rest of the team to, to work with and make decisions on.
00:40:41:13 – 00:41:16:14
So, I’m two weeks in. But it’s been it’s been a new hire. It’s it’s been a lot of fun. That’s cool. What do you what do you like? Would you say that you’re happy with the decisions that you made? Obviously they’re cemented, so that’s what it is. But, you know. Or is it still a little bit rocky, which, you know, maybe that also takes time of getting settled into your new spot, let’s say like somewhat like a bit of both.
00:41:16:14 – 00:41:42:19
Right. And so that’s a big, decision to make. I don’t have any bit of, of sellers remorse. You know, I’m happy with that decision. But, you know, I think it’s natural to think about it. You know, and, and learn from it. So, you know, think about what you would do different.
00:41:42:22 – 00:42:06:00
And I think that that part is natural. And I really don’t spend much time thinking about that. I’m, I am really happy with the decision I made and how things are going. That’s cool. That’s actually a good last question for me is just, you know, other shop going through it, they maybe are feeling that. All right.
00:42:06:02 – 00:42:30:06
I’m not as motivated with this anymore. I’ve spent a lot of time on it, maybe looking to to pivot, do something different or bring someone in or sell the company. What would you say to then? I know you’re still early in the journey, but what would you say to them about that as to how to think through that decision and process?
00:42:30:07 – 00:43:10:04
I feel like I’m talking to a wide range of of people and trying to answer this. I don’t know if I could really talk to them. All right. If I have time for a little tangent, maybe I’ll just kind of riff off for a second. I just do it. I, I feel like personally, I’m tired of of people, you know, trying to, I’m tired of people making money oriented decisions and, you know, passive income, you know, you name it.
00:43:10:04 – 00:43:47:14
Right? Like the, the, the trend is, is has been extra hot over the last decade. You know, just money oriented decisions, maximizing revenue, minimizing costs. Right. Like getting the most that they can. I just personally feel really tired of that. And, you know, even even within the last year of being the owner of trust, you know, I kept going back and forth with, with staying on and, and trying to kind of rekindle something.
00:43:47:16 – 00:44:13:23
What I do love is seeing a small company where the business owner loves doing what they’re doing. They’re a couple businesses come to mind where you just walk in and you can tell someone really cares about this place, right? Someone’s not maximizing profits here, someone who really cares about this place. And I think we need more of that.
00:44:14:00 – 00:44:41:15
So maybe to shortcut that line of thinking, I want to see people doing what they love. And if they got into the industry, to make money, I just. I just don’t think we should be making money oriented decisions. I just think it’s too hard to do it for money. I think passion really has to be the driver there.
00:44:41:17 – 00:45:18:07
I agree with that. Although I do think people get into it for the love. But then that. But then that can change and it’s okay if that changes. Whereas it’s interesting right, from your perspective of the things that I needed to care about, I wasn’t as passionate about as I was prior. Like it is that you think that time where it’s like, okay to start thinking about someone else to take this on, that does care more about those things the the people management, the scaling, the the, the bigger problems.
00:45:18:09 – 00:45:43:06
Can you rephrase that question? Well, if you’re talking to maybe, maybe it’s even your younger self. Like if you’re, you’re you’re looking at yourself in the mirror two years ago, which I think other shops are in this position as well. What would you say to yourself then that you now know? I mean, if it feels right, then it’s right.
00:45:43:06 – 00:46:14:19
If it feels wrong, then you know it’s probably wrong and it’s time to face it. You know, just it’s it’s really hard. I don’t know if it’s just for me or everybody else, but to decide sometimes. And, you know, I just, I just want people to do what they love and to be happy. And I think that I don’t think that there’s any person or any job that’s wrong.
00:46:14:21 – 00:46:39:14
I think that that I think that there are combination of people, you know, just in the, in a job that’s wrong for them. And, you know, it sometimes it really takes trying a couple things out to find what’s for you. And I just really want people to find that. So if that’s and it doesn’t matter what it is, what you know, it could be anything.
00:46:39:14 – 00:47:00:13
I like that, and I think that helps clarify. You’re right. Like there is a gut feeling there. Like I’m just not enjoying this or I’m just spending way too much time here. I need to have better balance. You know, I have a family that’s starting. I need to figure out how I figure out what is most important here and and allocate time accordingly.
00:47:00:15 – 00:47:28:16
So I love it. Congratulations to you. And I, you know, I always appreciate you being able to share opening your doors for hustlers. You know, before you had so many people that are able to come in and ask you tons of questions for hours. So, you’ve been great to be able to do that. And, excited to see what you do in the future to thank you.
00:47:28:20 – 00:47:46:07
Yeah. Me too. All right, producers, thanks so much for joining this awesome episode. It’s Matt from Tress Print Shop out of Fort Worth. Check out the shop tour. It’s really cool. I’ll be down in the link to, description down below so you can take a look and we’ll see you guys in the next episode. Have a go.
00:47:46:07 – 00:48:08:18
And thanks so much for listening. Hopefully that was informative. Don’t forget to subscribe. Don’t forget to like, don’t forget to hit the bell for notifications if you enjoyed this video. If you enjoy all the stuff we’re putting out, it’s really helpful. We love to just be able to see it. That means that we’re doing a good job. To subscribe, hit the bell for notifications to hit the like button and I’ll see you in the next episode.
00:48:08:18 – 00:48:09:05
Bye.
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