Family First
Greg Muzzillo, founder of Cleveland-based Proforma, never planned on being a bigwig in the printing and promotional products industry. In fact, a career in print merely was an afterthought. Friendship, a bit of cash and a soup diet were all it took to get there—or so the story goes.
After graduating from college in 1977, Greg and his college fraternity brother/roommate embarked on separate journeys. Greg got his first taste of the corporate world when he joined the staff of a big 8 CPA firm as an auditor. Meanwhile, his friend went to work for a small print broker. Neither got off to a great start, and they decided to combine their respective talents to launch Proforma.
"He didn't like his boss. I didn't like auditing. But we figured he knew the industry and sales, and I knew accounting," Greg recalled. "We could eat Campbell's soup for a year, so we each put in $100. We bought some business cards, stationery, an answering machine and a used file cabinet and started knocking on doors."
Proforma has since grown into a $312 million-plus organization.
In 1986, Greg developed the Proforma franchise model—a network of independent distributors working together to build strong supplier relationships. He views the Proforma owners as an extended family, so it only seemed logical to bring his own relatives into the mix.
About 20 years ago, Greg bought out his former partner. Today, four of Greg's family members work for the company. His wife, Vera Muzzillo, and her brother, Steven Hillegass, work for the Support Center. Vera serves as Proforma's CEO, while Steven runs the Mergers and Acquisitions group. Together, Muzzillo and Vera have 10 children—most of them have worked at Proforma over the years in internship positions, meetings and event support. Currently, two children, Greg Muzzillo, Jr. and Theresa (Muzzillo) Mueller, are in their first year of business as Proforma franchise owners.
Similar to Greg, Vera Muzzillo's initial career path did not include a stop in the print sector. But her growing attraction to the industry could no longer be denied. As a result, she left her job in the banking industry and joined her fiancé to become the co-CEO of Proforma in 2001.
"I joined Proforma because I love the print and promotional products industry," Vera explained. "It is an industry that touches almost every other industry in America. It is fulfilling to help our owners become successful business owners."
Things were a bit different for Greg Jr. and his sister Theresa, who have been immersed in the Proforma culture since they were little—before they even took their first steps, according to Greg Jr.
"My baby daycare was sometimes the conference room at the Proforma office, and our family vacations were annual Proforma Conventions with the franchise owners and vendors (Preferred Limited Partners)," he said. "We would roam the vendors showcase trade show like kids in a toy store and fill our bags with promotional products and samples. I have missed only two Proforma Conventions in my 25 years."
Nothing was ever handed to the Muzzillo children. It was very important to Greg and Vera that their children understand the importance of an honest day's work and the value of a dollar. While they were given an internship and the opportunity to receive a college education, the rule was to graduate in four years.
"Part of our graduation present would be all of our bills in our own names," Greg Jr. added.
He went on to say that he is very happy with his upbringing and hopes to one day instill the same values in his own children.
"My dad taught me a very good lesson; he would always show me family businesses where the parents would create a very successful business and spoil their children and give them everything, until one day these children would be handed the family business and run it straight into the ground. He would say, 'How are you going to teach your children the value of a dollar, if you haven't learned it yourself?' This really hit home with me," Greg Jr. remarked. "So my dad's philosophy was that us kids wouldn't starve; if we got hungry, we would find a way to feed ourselves. It was very motivating that he had that kind of faith in us.
"But don't worry, my stepmom Vera was there to make sure we didn't actually starve," he joked.
Greg Jr. admitted that if it wasn't for his family's background, he doesn't believe he would be in the industry today. In college, he studied a lot of logistical engineering and supply chain management. He spent his senior year interning at RF Micro Devices, where he supervised the production of radio frequency microchips.
Post-graduation, Greg Jr. landed a job as the production manager for a Chinese manufacturing company getting its start in the States. "I was responsible for everything from supervising the manufacturing, shipping and receiving, and controlling the supply chain that shipped millions of dollars worth of raw material from our parent company in Shanghai, China," he commented.
However, he wasn't happy. "It wasn't until after a couple years later that I learned no matter how much money I could save a company, it was never going to pay as much as the top sales executive for that company," Greg Jr. said. "I thought back to what my dad had taught me so many years ago, the value of a dollar. I'd much rather be paid in direct correlation with my efforts."
After many long talks with Greg and Vera, Greg Jr. decided owning a Proforma franchise and selling print and promotional products would be the best way for him to start his own company—even if it meant starting at the bottom with zero in sales. A friend of Greg Jr.'s, Katherine Giraldo, found herself in the same position, so the two put their entrepreneurial interests to the test and launched their franchise: Proforma Reliable Business Solutions.
"We had a slow first few months getting on our feet, but we've come a long way in our first year and even hired our first full-time employee to handle all of our graphic design," Greg Jr. stated.
Theresa also started out in a different field. She attended the University of Miami with plans to be a marine biologist, but eventually switched her major to business finance. Throughout college, she continued to intern and work on various projects with the Proforma Support Center. But following a summer internship at Morgan Stanley, she accepted an offer to work for the company in New York City after graduation.
"I felt it was important after college to pursue my own career and 'prove' myself before I even considered joining the Proforma team," Theresa said. "I wanted to gain experience from another firm so I could be a value-added member to the Proforma team."
Theresa worked at Morgan Stanley for three years until she and her husband relocated to New Orleans to pursue a new opportunity. With some encouragement from her little brother, she found that opportunity with Proforma.
"This past summer, the Proforma Annual Convention was held in New Orleans. During the convention, my brother [Greg Jr.] encouraged me to consider opening my own Proforma franchise. I probably would not be a franchise owner without his encouragement and support," Theresa confessed. "Greg is two years younger than me, but now I am the one turning to him for advice."
That doesn't mean there isn't some friendly sibling rivalry, or "healthy competition." As franchise owners (Theresa is now owner of Proforma Big Easy Solutions), Greg and Theresa have the same goal of growing their respective businesses and joining Proforma's Million Dollar Club.
Theresa noted, "I get emotional thinking about the day I will shake my dad's and Vera's hand when I receive my Million Dollar Club jacket. I want to make them proud."
The Muzzillo family has clearly mastered the challenging task of balancing business and personal relationships. In addition to trust and a mutual respect for each other, it helps that they're based in different states, with different responsibilities. Greg Jr. is based in Charlotte, N.C. and Theresa is in New Orleans, while Greg and Vera are located in Cleveland.
"I handle the finance and technology. Greg is more involved with sales and marketing. We trust each other and try to stay out of each other's way," Vera explained. "The kids are coming into their own, and quickly achieving success."
"It took awhile, but we do a good job of coordinating and cooperating together in our leadership of Proforma," Greg added.
Not all families are as lucky. But so far, things have worked out for the Muzzillos. Greg and Vera want to someday help their other eight children "learn how to own and grow" their own businesses if that is their goal.
"The advantage to working with family is having a built-in support system that understands your challenges and successes," Vera noted.
Perhaps Greg summed it up best: "If you can't trust family—who can you trust?"
The Finn Way
What do you get when two strangers looking to start a business answer a newspaper ad and meet on April Fool's Day? Not a bad punchline to a joke. The answer is Finn Graphics, a 72-year-old company based in Cincinnati.
In 1940, John Finn and Joe Jaske took a chance. According to John's son, Bob Finn, current owner and CEO of Finn Graphics, the two men wanted to launch their own company. They met each other at a hotel and had a long discussion. Before leaving, John and Joe shook hands and decided to become business partners.
A job in the printing industry was coincidental for John. While Joe knew how to run presses, John knew very little about printing.
"Dad was a good salesman. ... He handled all of the administration and the sales at first. Dad was very creative and not very mechanical," Bob explained.
Together, the two entrepreneurs recognized the opportunities in advertising specialties and soon introduced their first promotional product under the FINN-Line name: the original 12-month padded calendar with an adhesive back.
John and Joe's partnership lasted until Joe's death in 1962. The two men trusted each other implicitly—so much so that Joe, a bachelor with no children, made John the executor of his will. John instilled the value of trust in his children and that's how Bob and his brother, Charles Finn, managed to remain successful when they took over the business after their father retired.
"My dad drilled that into you—your word is everything," Bob said. "My brother and I trusted each other for a long time. I handled sales and marketing and he handled the plant and the money."
But Bob and Charles' partnership almost didn't happen. John expected an honest day's work from his employees—no matter who they were. When Bob was 16, he worked for Finn Graphics until he was fired by one of his dad's foremen.
"My dad backed him up. And very honestly, I had no qualms about it—except I didn't like it," Bob laughed. "I said at that time I would never work here [again], but I ended up buying it."
Bob went to college and earned a degree in marketing, eventually landing jobs with big corporations like American Express and MacGregor Sporting Goods. Bob thought American Express was "it" for him until 1962 when Charles, who was currently working at Finn, gave him a call to ask if he wanted to partner up and buy their dad out, since he planned to retire. Bob decided New York wasn't for him, so he packed his bags and returned to Finn Graphics. They dropped the printing business completely and concentrated solely on promotional products. The rest is history.
"My brother owned more than I did because he is four years older, so he had more stock than I had," Bob recalled. "But we operated as partners."
Bob bought out Charles in 2000. At first, his employees were concerned with what the changes would bring. "You have to let people know who you are and what you are. You have to be a leader. I played sports enough and coached enough—you learn from other people," he said.
This year marks Bob's 50th anniversary with the company. He is slowly handing the reigns over to his son Brian Finn and nephew Dan Finn as he transitions to the role of chairman.
Brian and Dan did not get a free pass or a guaranteed job because of their last name. In fact, Bob and Charles enforced a strict policy that any child of theirs had to work somewhere else before they could work for Finn Graphics. "They had to prove themselves. They couldn't get out of school and then get a job, you know," Bob commented.
He realized that when you bring in family members, they have a big enough hurdle in earning the respect of other employees.
"They had to apply, nobody forced them in or anything like that. If [someone has] a talent, that's the best person you could have. And very honestly, my nephew recruited my son. That was a strange deal," Bob laughed.
Bob keeps his rules simple to avoid any possible confusion. First, no distant relatives.
"You always have some cousins or whoever looking for something. And we don't hand out," he mentioned. "I would never hire [distant] relatives. ... I think that can get very, very hairy if you get a little further out. My dad did it once and it was pure trouble."
Second rule: Spouses must get along. "If they don't, you've got a problem. None of the wives have anything to do with the business. That's a rule. They don't hear about it at home," Bob explained.
Third rule: Communicate. "If you have a problem, before it becomes a mountain, come talk about it. If you trust each other ... do you argue and fight? Yes. But you don't ever walk out of a room without settling it. It's resolved. It's done," Bob stressed. "You have to bury your ego sometimes and that's the way it is. So it's respecting the other person, really."
Bob has three other children, so where do they fit in with the company? One of his daughters worked for Finn Graphics for about five or six years as a sales director. She currently resides in Germany with her husband, an FAA diplomat. His other daughter has her own ad agency, which Bob uses. Finally, his son Kevin is a vice president of an insurance company.
As for his brother's children, Bob laughed and said, "Dan Finn said that if I brought in any of his brothers or sister, he'd quit, so that settled that problem."
At the end of the day, despite Bob's position on family in the workplace, he is happy to see the kids continue his father's legacy around the office.