15 Minutes
Headquartered in Elgin, Ill., Continental Datalabel president Tim Flynn's fascination with the printing industry started, interestingly enough, while students were taking a spin on the dance floor.
While working in sales with a large office machine company, Flynn stored demo office machines in his garage. During that time, his sister, who owned a dancing school, asked him to print her school's recital programs.
"I knew I was hooked on printing after watching parents, grandparents and friends at the recital read the program and gleam as they read a child's name in print for the first time. The parents would take the program home and put it in the child's scrapbook. My transfusion was underway; my blood was being replaced by ink!," he enthused.
Here, Flynn provides a little more insight into himself and the printing industry.
Print Professional: Tell us about your background—Where did you grow up, what school did you attend, etc.?
Tim Flynn: I was raised in the Chicago area, at that time the printing capital of the United States. A lot of my friends' parents worked in the graphic arts industry as did my parents. After returning from an all-expense paid trip (anything but vacation) to Vietnam in 1968, I used the GI bill to go to school and attended Triton College's graphic arts program.
PP: How did you end up in the printing industry?
TF: My dad went into the printing industry after serving in World War II. He sold business forms and struck out on his own in 1952.
PP: What is the best business advice you ever received?
TF: From whom and which time? The stage your company is in will define the best advice you have ever received. In the early stages, you may be looking for advice on growth. Then, as the growth starts kicking in and you are running out of capital, you say to yourself, "I need advice on how to finance the growth." Now the next problem comes along: You don't have the right equipment to do the job, so you seek advice on equipment and so on. I can't think of any one piece of advice that was the best, except for one thing I continue to think of all the time: "Common sense is not all that common." I think if you take a common sense attitude toward business, things will start to happen. It will bring in customers and then you can apply all of the other best business advice ideas one at a time as the company evolves.
PP: What is your greatest business accomplishment and disappointment?
TF: The company's growth over the years has been my greatest business accomplishment. The greatest disappointment was when I lost my dad in 1994. I considered him a great partner, mentor, advisor, motivator and, most of all, a great father.
PP: What do you think is the most exciting, cutting-edge thing your company is doing right now? Why?
TF: The background for the question: We are living in the greatest graphics revolution seen on planet earth since Aloys Senefelder invented lithography in the late-1700s and Ottmar Mergenthaler invented the Linotype machine in the late-1800s. I attribute our latest invention to the personal computer and honor Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple Computer. His real invention that impacted our industry was the Macintosh computer. The Mac gave us proportionally-spaced type for the first time in a computer, along with graphics and desktop publishing that the masses could afford in the mid 1980s. I think that was the real catalyst for what is going on today. The answer to the question: Personalizing just about anything you can think of—beverage and container labels and wraps; writing instrument wraps and labels; custom-created boxes; electronic device skins for MP3 players, cell phones and more.
PP: What do you think will be the printing industry's biggest challenge in the next few years?
TF: We should all realize that our biggest competitor is anybody that owns a computer, printer or has the talent to design a web page. Believe it or not, we are going paperless and "label-less."
PP: What would people be surprised to learn about you—hobbies, special interests, etc.?
TF: I enjoy base-jumping. It's very exciting and afterwards, very relaxing. To watch. All kidding aside, I like fishing, flying, bicycling, cooking and dreaming.