15 Minutes

Terri Welisek jumped into the sales arena because she thought it would lead her to her ultimate career goal of vice president of sales and marketing. Once there, Welisek, owner of Sherwood, Wisconsin-based Stratosphere Sourcing, realized she had a flare for sales in the printing industry.

"I quickly realized that selling in a consultative style that solved problems was my forte," Welisek said. "Trust and long relationships formed as a result. I was employed by other national printers including Moore Business Forms as a pressure sensitive products specialist and then Nashua Label Products in a national accounts sales manager capacity, the experiences being instrumental to my present independent success in forming Stratosphere Sourcing, LLC in 2003."

From there, she never looked back.

Here, Welisek talks about what's happening with her company and what's hot in the industry.

Print Professional (PP): Tell us about your background—where did you grow up, what school did you attend, your degree?

Terri Welisek (TW): [I was] born and raised in a family of six children in Cary, Ill., a small 2,500-resident, rural suburb of Chicago. [I] attended Cary-Grove High School where I met and eventually married [my] sweetheart after finishing a bachelor's degree in business and economics from Carroll College in Waukesha, Wis.

PP: How did you end up in the printing industry?

TW: [I] held a position as a market manager for SPSS, Inc. in downtown Chicago for several years before transitioning to the print industry where I took a job with UARCO as a product manager and sales trainer. An internal transfer to the sales force occurred when [I and my] husband Jim moved to Appleton, Wis. and [I] joined the small team there selling labels and business forms.

PP: What is your greatest business accomplishment?