15 Minutes
Paul R. Edwards, president of the Fenton, Missouri-based FormStore Incorporated, found himself in the printing industry with a little help from a college friend.
His pal at the University of Missouri helped him get his foot in the door when Edwards landed a summer internship at his friend's family-owned printing company.
"We worked there during the summer between our junior/senior year, began as a sales representative the next spring, sales manager, vice president of sales and marketing and member of the board of directors," Edwards said. "Eventually [I] got fired and started FormStore 30 years ago with what I learned. Our organization is known as an innovative, industry leader with premier quality products and global distribution."
Here, Edwards digs a little deeper into the company he created, providing insight about his business philosophies and himself.
Print Professional: Tell us about your background—Where did you grow up, what school did you attend, your degree, etc.?
Paul R. Edwards: [I attended] University of Missouri, [earning a degree in] BSBA Marketing.
PP: Describe your business style.
PE: Professional, aggressive, entrepreneurial, innovative.
PP: What is the best business advice you ever received?
PE: Focus on five selected key metrics. Follow the Golden Rule. Implement the 'Corridor Principle.' If you are not having fun, you are paying too big a price.
PP: What is your greatest business accomplishment and disappointment?
PE: Building an industry-leading company, 27 international patents. Who's disappointed?
PP: What is the secret to your success?
PE: Be creative and innovative. Treat all customers fairly.
PP: What do you think is the most exciting, cutting-edge thing your company is doing right now? Why?
PE: During the last few years, FormStore has invested significant resources into building, equipment and software to become the largest trade-only digital color print and mail facility in the St. Louis market. We have both Xerox iGen and Kodak NexPress digital color press platforms. We are aggressively riding the accelerating growth wave in the digital print segment of the graphic arts industry.
PP: What do you think will be the printing industry's biggest challenge in the next few years?
PE: Training, keeping pace with technology, attracting new people. The future of the business is exciting. We see enormous opportunities in digital print are with POD and VDP, being able to print what customers need, when customers need it and to deliver it where customers want it and target the direct mailing to relevant customers. The new technology is amazing and we are beginning to attract several young people into our organization to work with it.
PP: What is the best part of your business day? Please explain.
PE: Creating new products, applications and solutions for customers to help them drive new sales and revenue opportunities.
PP: What would people be surprised to learn about you—hobbies, special interests, etc.?
PE: I enjoy deep sea fishing.
For your chance to possibly be featured in 15 Minutes, please contact associate senior editor Melissa Busch at mbusch@napco.com or managing editor Elise Hacking Carr at ecarr@napco.com.
- Companies:
- FormStore
- Places:
- Fenton, Missouri
- St. Louis