Issue link: https://nbm.uberflip.com/i/1451382
G R A P H I C S - P R O. C O M S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 2 • G R A P H I C S P R O 5 5 A P P A R E L D E C O R A T I N G THE AGONY OF SUCCESS DEALING WITH THE GROWING PAINS OF A JOB WELL DONE M A K I N G S H O P M O V E S | H O W A R D P O T T E R G rowing pains is a very interesting topic that you never really hear anyone speak of. It is something that is very positive but also very negative at the same time. As a business owner of 19 years, I know this issue very well in stages. Our company's normal expected growth ranges from 15% to 20% each year, which we typically can handle since the growth is spread out all year. But this year is unlike any other we have ever encountered. We are up 47%. at is a whole new level of learning about growing pains for our company. NEW INVESTMENTS Over the past three years working through COVID, our company was still maintaining our current growth patterns since we learned to not only pivot but we started offering new services and products. One service we started offering was ful- fillment, where we would pack out bulk order packages for clients and ship or mail them. We just thought that would be a short-term service, but customers are still wanting that more than ever. It helps them not have to use their own staff to do it and allows them to focus on what they are good at. We also invested in top-quality online store software. We had always offered online stores for years, but the new soft- ware allowed so many more options like digital gift cards and more, which, again, we thought would be a short-term gain but exploded. Some companies will purchase anywhere from $5,000 to $70,000 worth of digital gift cards at a time. Another process we added about a year and a half ago is our 2 D and 3D lasers. We were always interested in this process but did not have the extra time to learn, but COVID gave us the time to make the investment. It is a process that is in high demand that most do not realize the true potential of the process. e last major change we made to our company was the investment in becoming a full-fledged uniform shop for police, fire, and EMS. is was our largest and almost unheard of for our industry. It's another market that was much larger than we realized. KEEPING UP WITH GROWTH As you can see, we have added a lot throughout the past three years, and during those past three years, our total growth in sales was up 60%. Now we have this year, which is a whole new animal with a growth rate of 47%. One service we started offering was fulfillment, where we would pack out bulk order packages for clients and ship or mail them. (All images courtesy Howard Potter)