executive perspectives: Choose Your Adventure

P+P: What do you expect to be some of the biggest challenges the industry will face?

LG: Distributors need to continue learning to merge their service and product offerings and accept this fact. Printers are not just printers anymore. Sign companies are not just sign companies. Promo product distributors are not just promo any longer. You must learn to adapt, grow and become an expert in these other fields or find experienced help to do it for you.

P+P: What keeps you up at night?

LG: Honestly, I don't sleep that much anymore. I'm excited about the potential of our company and all the changes that are occurring. Right now, all I can think about is hiring more of the right people to continue riding the wave that we're on at the moment. I don't want it to end, so I'm constantly strategizing with myself and bouncing ideas off of business advisors and my team.

P+P: What do you think is the most exciting, cutting-edge thing your company is doing right now? Why?

LG: The most exciting thing that is happening to us right now is a major strategy move I recently made. I felt my business partner was holding us back from reaching our potential, so we agreed to a buy-out. At the time, we were 30 percent down over last year due to morale issues and team frustration over split management. The last few months of focused management and boosted morale is resulting in what we're projecting to be a 45 percent to 48 percent increase over last year. We are currently 38 percent over. I'd like to thank iPROMOTEu as well for helping us fund our growth. Having their affiliation has eliminated my fear of "how am I going to fund that sale if I get it?" They were a game-changer for us.