PODCAST · business
Printavo PrintHustlers Podcast
by Printavo
Discover amazing stories & lessons from fellow shop owners and industry leaders. Hosted by Bruce Ackerman and Steven Farag
Episodes
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43: The Honest Feedback That Rebuilt a $4M+ Print Shop
Adam Lando runs Dad's Printing out of Vancouver, and most of his printing happens somewhere else. He ran the numbers on in-house screen printing, found contract printers were more profitable, and rebuilt the shop around a small local crew, a remote order team, and a stack of automations.
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42: Rebuilding More Profitably After Losing 50% of Revenue
Nik Saija built Redbridge Clothing to $1M in annual sales as a solo distributor with a team of four, no equipment and no in-house production. Then two of his largest clients were acquired within a month of each other, and his first salesperson moved on to start her own distributorship.
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41: Mis-Hiring Production Managers, Outbound Sales with Billy McDevitt
Billy McDevitt is back for Part 3. A year after our last conversation, Billy finally has a production manager who has stuck for 16 months, and he breaks down exactly how he got there: the gut feeling he ignored the first time, the four-stage interview and half-day trial that now filter…
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40: How Bluewater Labs is Innovating Auto-Reclaim
Alex Mammoser now fully owns Bluewater, the company behind automated reclaim and developing equipment for screen rooms. He walks Bruce and Steven through how it happened, from buying a tiny manufacturer to closing out a year-long acquisition with his longtime partner.
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34: Getting Bigger by Doing Less: $5k at a Time
John from Two Two Creative grew a PostNet location into one of the top 50 in the country, then walked away to build his own shop from zero. Today he runs a 16-person team in New Jersey, and vehicle wraps are the front door to everything else he sells. Bruce and Steven dig into what the franchise...
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34: 10 Takeaways from a Unique Business Owner, Jason Fried
This one's a bit different — Bruce breaks down 10 of his favorite takeaways from an interview he listened to on David Senra's podcast with Jason Fried, co-founder of 37signals (the company behind Basecamp) and author of Rework. From "your competition is your cost" to the one-question performance...
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39: Building in Freedom and Time Flexibility as an Owner
John Gibbs of Logo Daddy is back for round two — this time on how he restructured his role to buy back his time. He walks through building a leadership team he fully trusts, why he buys buildings instead of leasing, how automation replaced the need for dozens of employees, and the exact framework...
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34: He Invented the DTG Machine in 1995, Here’s What’s Next
The inventor of DTG printing joins the show. Matt Rhome filed the original patent in 1996, sold the tech to Brother, and now runs Quality & Efficiency at Sticker Mule. He tells the full story — the garage prototype, the $1.5M machine that almost never shipped, why he sold his own patent, and…
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38: How AKT Runs Payroll, Promotions & A Million-Dollar AR Book (Part 2)
Jared from AKT is back for Part 2 — this time getting into how he grades employees, why he's building his own internal software instead of paying for seats, and the accounts receivable problem that keeps him up at night.
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37: 7 Sales Tips & The Exercise That Could Kill Your Business
Ever tried to kill your own business — on purpose? In this episode, Bruce and Steven break down 7 refreshing sales tips from a 2020 post that still hit just as hard in the age of AI, then dig into a mind-bending exercise Steven ran with his leadership team: if a smart, ruthless competitor wanted…
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36: Investing Basics for Owners, Lasting 100 Years
Bruce breaks down 401(k)s, the Rule of 72, and how to actually build wealth outside the shop — then Steven flips it to what makes a business last 100 years, using Panda Express, Costco, Buc-ee's, and Patagonia as case studies. Plus: a first look at Campus Ink's new ESPN licensing partnership. ***...
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35: How Music Merch Really Works — Advances, Cuts, and the Race to the Merch Booth
Bruce and Steven sit down with Jared from AKT — a 130-person custom merch and entertainment printing company — to talk about what it actually costs to vibe-code your way out of a software bottleneck, how music merch deals really work (advances, recoupment, the $40 tote bag math), and what it's…
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34: Running a Financially Transparent Contract Shop with We Talk Shirty
Bruce sits down with Ron Augelli from We Talk Shirty, who built his shop from a college dorm room to a 40-employee operation running almost entirely on contract work. After stepping back from day-to-day operations for over a year to recover from a health setback, Ron returns with a sharper view…
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33: 10 Questions To Ask Before You Plan Your Next Quarter
Bruce and Steven sit down for a hosts-only episode to reflect on the first half of the year and build a real plan for Q4 — the quarter that makes or breaks the year for most shops. They break down the "one more order a day" math behind hitting growth targets, why AI-generated graphics are…
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32: Lee Stuart on What He'd Change: Hiring, Mental Health, and Life Past $1M
Lee Stuart (Rogue Lab / Rogue Transfers) joins Bruce and Steven for an update on scaling a 6-person screen print shop into a 60,000+ sq ft, multi-business operation — plus his systemization playbook, his AI tech stack, and the moment being "the best printer in the world" almost broke his business.
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The $500M Chess Move Rocking the Apparel Industry
SanMar just pulled Bella+Canvas exclusively in-house — 37 days after telling the market nothing would change. Bruce and Steven break down the timeline, why S&S Activewear's private-equity playbook just got disrupted, and whether Gildan is circling S&S next.
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How One Shop Owner Got 15 Employees Using AI in 4 Months
Matt Marcotte (Free Gang Sheet Maker, ScreenPrintGPT.com) joins Steven Farag solo (Bruce is out — he just welcomed a baby girl 👶) to talk about what's actually stopping print shop employees from adopting AI — and it's not laziness. They get into the psychology of resistance, how to find and...
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How to Turn Your Order Taker Into a $1M/Year Sales Machine
Most print shops have untapped revenue sitting in their current customer list — and the person to unlock it is already on your payroll. Steven sits down with Kevin Baumgart (Sales Ink, fractional VP of Sales at Campus Ink) to break down exactly how to
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What Healthy Co-Founder Relationships Actually Cost
Eduardo Carbia built a screen printing shop in Puerto Rico from the ground up — two automatics, 12 employees, a 50/50 partnership. Then COVID hit, the partnership split, and he started over. Now he runs Puro Print as a one-man operation, subcontracting everything — and he's earning 3–4x what he...
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Working Less is Not The Goal
Dan Frank of Silver Screen Printing is back — and a LOT has changed since his last appearance on the show. Dan went from a $2.7M print shop to projecting $23M this year with 110 employees, 60,000 sq ft, and facilities that essentially never close. Along the way: a full company restructure, two...
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Taking a Manufacturing Approach to T-Shirt Production with Rodney McDonald
Running 210 people, 12 automatic presses, three shifts, and 30,000+ units per day isn't a hustle story — it's a manufacturing story. Rodney McDonald of US ColorWorks built one of the most operationally sophisticated contract decorating shops in the country by bringing private equity turnaround...
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The Biggest Free Event in Screen Printing Is Happening at Made Lab | Brett Bowden
Brett Bowden of Made Lab and Printed Threads joins Steven to talk about the Make Ready open house event happening June 12th in Fort Worth, TX — and what the print industry needs to understand about AI right now.
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How a Shop in Canada's Smallest Province Is Outbuilding Most Shops in the US
Coltin Handrahan started Stay Golden Custom in his high school student council office on Prince Edward Island — Canada's smallest province — and he's been proving that geography is no excuse ever since. Fourteen years in, he runs a 12-person operation with a second location now open in Halifax…
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Slow Months, Cash Flow Issues, and Redesigning the Shop (with Jonathan Ornelas)
Jonathan Ornelas from Success Print Shop has been in the industry long enough to have big revenue years — and still wonder where the money went. In this honest, wide-open conversation, Jonathan walks us through a brutal March 2026, what he's doing differently in April, and the mental toll of…
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How This Screen Printing Shop Built Custom AI Tools (Without Hiring a Dev Team)
Alex Meiners is the co-founder of Family Industries, one of the most innovative shops in the decorated apparel industry. Based in LA, Family Industries does it all — from live printing experiences at the US Open and Apple Store events to bulk custom orders — and their secret weapon isn't a bigger...
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How to Double Your Print Shop Revenue in One Year (+ Inside the March Madness Hot Market Rush)
What would you do if you had to double your company in one year — without working more hours? In this episode, Steven and Bruce break down exactly how they'd approach doubling a print shop's revenue, and Steven shares the wild behind-the-scenes story of Campus Ink's March Madness hot market...
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The Do's & Don'ts to Hit $5M in Print Shop Sales | Dom Answers 10 Shop Owner Questions
Dom from Superior Ink is back for Part 2. In this episode, he answers 10 real questions from shop owners — covering what it actually took to grow to $5M in sales, the risks that nearly broke the business, why they turned off $10-15K/month in marketing spend, and how they built a production system...
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The Print Shop Owner Who Stopped Chasing Revenue | Dom Rosacci
Dominic Rosacci of Superior Ink is back — and this time, the conversation goes deep. After relocating his entire manufacturing operation 90 miles from Denver to Fountain, Colorado, rehiring from scratch, and opening a satellite office to keep the culture intact, Dom sits down with Bruce and…
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How to Build a Print Shop That Doesn't Depend on You | Jordan Tollakson Pt. 2
Jordan of Fast Threads is back for Part 2, and this one goes deep. After last week's episode on multi-location expansion and the Four Burners Theory, Bruce and Steven invited Jordan back to pull the curtain back even further — on how he actually runs the business day to day, where the gaps are…
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Management Offsites, Remote Sales Expansion & the Four Burners Theory
Jordan Tollakson built Fast Threads in Montevideo, Minnesota — a town of 6,000 people — and has since expanded to three locations across rural Minnesota and South Dakota. In this episode, he sits down with Bruce and Steven to share how he blew past the ceiling that most small-town shop owners run...
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How This Print Shop Finally Took a Real Vacation (And What They Learned)
After 15+ years of running In the Zone Inc, Deanna and Josh Smith finally did what most print shop owners only dream about — they took a real two-week vacation. No day trips, no long weekends. Two full weeks away from the shop, exploring Yellowstone, the Grand Tetons, and glaciers. And it changed...
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You Make Time For The Things You Value | Print Hustlers Podcast
You say you value your team. You say sales is the priority. But if you looked at your calendar from yesterday — does it actually back that up? In this solo episode, Bruce shares a simple but eye-opening idea from a recent nutritionist podcast that applies directly to running a print shop: you…
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Lessons Learned from Screen Printing Since the 1980s with Jedd Swisher
What does it take to build a print shop that survives 40+ years of economic crashes, technological upheaval, and a global pandemic? Jedd Swisher — co-founder of Campus Sportswear and Steven Farag's longtime business partner — sits down with Bruce to share the raw, unfiltered story of how it all...
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Buying Used Screen Printing Equipment: What You Need to Know | Embellishr Founder
Nicole from Embellishr joins Steven and Bruce fresh off Impressions Long Beach to discuss the booming used equipment market in the decorated apparel industry. As the founder of the leading pre-owned screen printing equipment marketplace, Nicole shares insider knowledge on buying and selling used...
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Faster Growth by Acquisition with Weston Cotton
Weston Cotton of Custom Print Graphics joins Steven and Bruce to break down one of the most aggressive acquisition strategies in the decorated apparel industry. In just 9 months since buying his first contract print shop in May 2025, Weston has closed 3 acquisitions and is working on a…
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Going from Shop Owner to CEO, Hiring Early, Working Less
Matt McLellan from Apparel Lab joins Steven and Bruce to share his unconventional journey building a thriving DTG (Direct-to-Garment) print shop in Madison, Alabama—without ever touching screen printing equipment. Starting in the back room of his nutrition store in 2016, Matt has grown Apparel…
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Your 2026 Print Shop Playbook: $0 to $1M Revenue Strategy with Sales Ink
What would it take to grow a print shop from zero to $1 million in revenue? In this episode, Steven from Campus Ink teams up with Kevin Baumgart from Sales Ink to map out the complete playbook for scaling a decorated apparel business from day one.
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Taking Direct-to-Film Printing On The Road with Roland DGA | Print Shop Innovation
Steven sits down with Daniel, Senior Product Manager at Roland DGA, for an in-depth conversation about Roland's entry into the DTF (Direct-to-Film) market and an ambitious mobile printing project that's pushing the boundaries of what's possible in the custom apparel industry.
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Year End Shop Organization, Budgeting For 2026, Leveling up Employees
As 2025 wraps up, it's the perfect time to reflect, reorganize, and plan ahead for your print shop. In this episode, Steven and Bruce discuss practical strategies for year-end shop organization, budgeting for 2026, and setting goals that actually stick.
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From Burnout to Balance: Family, Trade Shows & What's Next with Justin Lawrence
In part 2 of our year-end conversation, Justin Lawrence and Steven Farag get deeply honest about the hardest parts of business ownership—from the loneliness of financial struggle to making tough decisions that saved their companies. They discuss the Thunder championship impact, 30% workforce...
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Year-End Review for Print Shops: Planning, Bonuses & Metrics That Matter | Part 1
Join us for part 1 of our year-end conversation with Justin Lawrence (Oklahoma Shirt Company) and Stephen as they share their annual planning rituals, team bonus strategies, and the business metrics that transformed their shops. From implementing Traction EOS to discovering that 30% of revenue...
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Unreasonable Hospitality for Print Shops: Transform Customer Experience (Will Guidara's Strategy)
n this episode, we explore how print shop owners can apply "Unreasonable Hospitality" principles from Will Guidara's acclaimed book to transform ordinary transactions into extraordinary customer experiences. Learn why emotional connection matters as much as perfect execution, and discover…
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Annual Business Review Checklist for Print Shop Owners | Goal Setting & Year-End Planning 2025
Looking to close out this year strong and set your print shop up for success in 2025? This comprehensive annual checklist covers everything you need to review, plan, and optimize your custom apparel business for the year ahead.
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How We Built a Headwear Brand | The Atonal Headwear Story
Nathan from Relentless Merch shares the complete journey of launching Atonal Headwear - from investing in inventory before making a single sale, to losing 4,000 hats to mold, to building a headwear brand while simultaneously running an print shop with 48 employees.
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How Miles T-Shirts Built A Niche Print Shop | Growth, Pricing, Automation & 365 Shirt Reviews
n this episode of the Print Hustlers Podcast, Bruce and Steven sit down with Miles from Miles T-Shirts (Springfield, IL) — a 25-year print shop owner who built a wildly successful niche business serving disc golf, apparel brands, and national clients.
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Print Hustlers Recap: AI Tools, Industry Data, Licensing Truths & Social Media Strategies (2025)
This week on the Print Hustlers Podcast, Bruce and Steven break down every major moment from PrintHustlers Conf 2025 — live from Chicago. From AI tools that are reshaping production workflows, to Alex the Economist’s data-driven outlook for apparel decorators, to social media advertising insights...
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DTF Growth: Kyle Robinson on Profit Shares, Lean Teams, and Building a Sustainable Shop
In this episode of the PrintHustlers Podcast, Kyle Robinson from Print My Threads shares how his shop transitioned from traditional screen printing to a DTF-powered hybrid model — and why that move led to record profits with a lean 9-person crew.
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From Contract Printing to 2,000 Online Stores: Kevin Oakley’s MerchLoop Pivot Story
In this episode of the Print Hustlers Podcast, we sit down with Kevin Oakley, co-founder of Stoked on Printing and MerchLoop, to unpack a story every print shop owner should hear.
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Inktavo + OrderMyGear Join Forces | AI, Automation & Leadership Lessons for Print Shops
This week on the Print Hustlers Podcast, Bruce Ackerman and Steven Farag break down the biggest news in the branded merchandise industry — the Inktavo and OrderMyGear merger.
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Live Phone Calls with Print Shop Owners: Hiring a Head of Ops, Moving a Big Shop & Q4 Growing Pains
In this episode of the Print Hustlers Podcast, Bruce and Steven take a new approach — cold-calling three shop owners in the middle of their day-to-day hustle.
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Discover amazing stories & lessons from fellow shop owners and industry leaders. Hosted by Bruce Ackerman and Steven Farag
HOSTED BY
Printavo
CATEGORIES
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How many episodes does Printavo PrintHustlers Podcast have?
Printavo PrintHustlers Podcast currently has 470 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Printavo PrintHustlers Podcast about?
Discover amazing stories & lessons from fellow shop owners and industry leaders. Hosted by Bruce Ackerman and Steven Farag
How often does Printavo PrintHustlers Podcast release new episodes?
Printavo PrintHustlers Podcast publishes regularly with 470 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
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Who hosts Printavo PrintHustlers Podcast?
Printavo PrintHustlers Podcast is created and hosted by Printavo.
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