Pressing Matters

Filmosity:
Today, we’re at a print shop.

Filmosity:
A print shop that’s been in business for over 10 years because Malcolm here, the founder, wanted a way to support his music career.

Pressing Matters:
I continued to play music well into my 20s.

Pressing Matters:
As the bands that I was playing in grew in popularity, we started touring a lot.

Pressing Matters:
I continuously kept losing my job.

Pressing Matters:
In a very adult decision, I sold my motorcycle and I bought $1,000 of what I considered at the time very professional screen printing equipment.

Filmosity:
So my question is, how do you go from having only $1,000 and a side hustle of printing t-shirts to a high six-figure business with multiple employees?

Filmosity:
That’s what we’re here to find out.

Filmosity:
My name is Andrew, and today we’re chatting with Malcolm here to dive deep into the story of Pressing Matters.

Filmosity:
Hi, Malcolm.

Filmosity:
Give us a quick rundown of what Pressing Matters is about for those who don’t know.

Pressing Matters:
Pressing Matters is a screen printing and design company.

Pressing Matters:
We specialize in T-shirts and sweaters and hoodies and any sort of printable garments.

Pressing Matters:
We do screen printing, we do embroidery, and we do DTF, direct-to-film.

Pressing Matters:
Not what you might have been thinking DTF stands for.

Pressing Matters:
Direct-to-film printing.

Pressing Matters:
Been around for 10 plus years.

Filmosity:
10 plus years.

Filmosity:
Yeah.

Filmosity:
There you go.

Filmosity:
I hear a lot of sounds going on here.

Filmosity:
Is that the printing machine happening?

Pressing Matters:
That is, yeah.

Pressing Matters:
That’s the automatic printing press.

Filmosity:
Automatic printing press.

Filmosity:
I’ve never seen shirts being printed.

Filmosity:
Can you show me what that process is like?

Pressing Matters:
Absolutely.

Filmosity:
Okay.

Pressing Matters:
Yeah, let’s take a look.

Filmosity:
What’s going on here?

Filmosity:
Talk to me about this process.

Pressing Matters:
Okay, so this is the production zone essentially.

Pressing Matters:
It’s the back of the shop.

Pressing Matters:
Over here we’ve got manual printing going on, which is kind of like your old school screen printing.

Pressing Matters:
Crystal’s printing some tote bags.

Pressing Matters:
Essentially the process with screen printing is, put some ink on the screen and you drag it across the screen and anywhere that the negative has burned the image out, it releases ink onto the garment that you’re printing below.

Pressing Matters:
This is manual.

Pressing Matters:
I printed thousands, hundreds of thousands of shirts.

Filmosity:
Hundreds of thousands?

Pressing Matters:
Yeah, probably.

Pressing Matters:
Yeah, I printed so many t-shirts on there.

Pressing Matters:
And right behind us here is the automatic press.

Filmosity:
What’s going on here?

Pressing Matters:
So this is the automatic press.

Pressing Matters:
It’s very similar to the manual press, except it does most of the heavy lifting for you.

Pressing Matters:
So essentially what Kaio is doing over there is he’s loading on a T-shirt, and then as the T-shirt spins around on the boards, it gets printed at different stations.

Pressing Matters:
So there’s a white ink that’s being printed initially, and then it moves over here and it gets hit by a roller, which smooths out the print.

Pressing Matters:
And then it moves on over here, and it gets printed by the second color of ink, and then it rotates around, and Kyle unloads the T-shirt as it comes around.

Pressing Matters:
He puts it in the dryer, comes out of the dryer, and it’s a completed T-shirt.

Filmosity:
Can you give me, give us a little backstory on the business?

Filmosity:
Why was, how did Pressing Matters begin and why was print shop business, the business to go into?

Pressing Matters:
Yeah, well I guess my passion for screen printing began when I was in high school, specifically playing in punk bands, that there’s a big culture around kind of DIY, do it yourself, punk ethos.

Pressing Matters:
So the bands that I was playing in, I began screen printing t-shirts for those bands.

Pressing Matters:
I would just stretch my own screens with a staple gun and print them on my living room floor.

Pressing Matters:
And then friends of mine who were in other bands, they started asking me to print their t-shirts.

Pressing Matters:
And yeah, it was very, very DIY and pretty scrappy.

Pressing Matters:
I didn’t really know what I was doing.

Pressing Matters:
And then, yeah, I continued to play music well into my 20s.

Pressing Matters:
As the bands that I was playing in grew in popularity, we started touring a lot.

Pressing Matters:
And so I continuously kept losing my job.

Pressing Matters:
Whatever job I had at the time, I would lose because I was going on tour.

Pressing Matters:
And so in a very adult decision, I sold my motorcycle.

Pressing Matters:
I had this like 71 Honda CV350 Cafe Racer, a very cool bike.

Pressing Matters:
I sold it for $1,000, and I bought $1,000 of what I considered at the time very professional screen printing equipment.

Pressing Matters:
Now looking back, it was very entry level.

Pressing Matters:
But that was like a little over 10 years ago.

Pressing Matters:
And so that’s when I say that pressing matters started in earnest.

Pressing Matters:
It was about, yeah, 10 or 11 years ago.

Pressing Matters:
And that, in addition to music, has been what’s sustained me since then.

Filmosity:
You sold your bike for $1,000 to do screen printing, I guess, make it kind of like a full-time thing, or at least a thing to give you a living income.

Filmosity:
But did you have any doubts about that, or was this kind of like, I just had to make this work because I need more freedom to tour?

Filmosity:
What was the thinking behind that?

Pressing Matters:
Yeah, totally. That’s a good question.

Pressing Matters:
There was a lot of encouragement from my girlfriend at the time.

Pressing Matters:
She’s now my wife.

Pressing Matters:
She was just kind of like, you should try this.

Pressing Matters:
Like, I always tell people that I accidentally started this business.

Pressing Matters:
There was no business plan.

Pressing Matters:
There was certainly no business plan.

Pressing Matters:
There was no business school.

Pressing Matters:
It was just something that I was already doing, and I was already making a little bit of money at it.

Pressing Matters:
And so, yeah, Alexis, my partner, she said, just give it a go.

Pressing Matters:
And so, yeah, like it was this kind of accidental thing that started.

Pressing Matters:
But it was very much out of necessity that like, historically, I’m a terrible employee.

Pressing Matters:
I am not a reliable, good employee.

Pressing Matters:
I think historically, I’m a questionable business owner too.

Pressing Matters:
But it’s just slowly grown.

Pressing Matters:
It’s like every couple of years, a new chapter has started.

Pressing Matters:
And it’s always a little bit bigger than the last chapter.

Pressing Matters:
And it’s always a little bit more legitimate.

Pressing Matters:
And so now after like 10 years, 10, 11 years, there’s kind of been five distinct chapters, this being the latest iteration.

Pressing Matters:
And each one I’m like, oh, holy cow.

Pressing Matters:
This feels like it’s turning into a real business.

Pressing Matters:
And like now it’s a real business.

Pressing Matters:
It’s a real business.

Pressing Matters:
Like my books are clean.

Filmosity:
Yeah.

Pressing Matters:
They’ve got full-time employees.

Filmosity:
Yeah, there you go.

Pressing Matters:
Yeah.

Filmosity:
So you mentioned you learned a lot of lessons when you first started out.

Filmosity:
What were some of those lessons?

Filmosity:
What were the biggest obstacles that you learned?

Pressing Matters:
I think that having prompt, succinct communication with your clients.

Pressing Matters:
Yeah, oftentimes when someone’s looking to get some shirts printed, they’ll email four or five print shops.

Pressing Matters:
And the person who responds first will oftentimes get the gig.

Pressing Matters:
And then also just having clear, simplistic communication regarding the options.

Pressing Matters:
Like through my wholesaler, and this is a lesson that I’ve learned over time, is that through my wholesalers, there’s thousands of T-shirts.

Pressing Matters:
And oftentimes when someone goes online and they look for a T-shirt, they all look the same.

Pressing Matters:
And so learning what’s trendy right now and kind of understanding different kind of client segments.

Pressing Matters:
So it’s like, okay, you’re a gym.

Pressing Matters:
Like a gym reached out to me.

Pressing Matters:
I’ve printed for so many gyms now.

Pressing Matters:
I know generally what kind of garment a gym is looking for.

Pressing Matters:
And so I will give them the three options that I think they’re most likely going to choose.

Pressing Matters:
I’m not going to inundate them.

Pressing Matters:
just really learning how to kind of guide the consumer’s trajectory.

Filmosity:
Yeah, totally.

Pressing Matters:
That’s been something that I’ve just had to learn through trial by fire.

Pressing Matters:
Also staying on top of fashion trends.

Pressing Matters:
I think one thing that we’re really good at that sets us apart is that we have our finger on the pulse of what’s going on with fashion trends.

Pressing Matters:
And that’s something that is actually a huge asset.

Filmosity:
Is that also just part of who you are as well?

Filmosity:
Are you someone who’s fashionable?

Pressing Matters:
Yeah, yeah, totally.

Pressing Matters:
Yeah, I mean, I’d like to think so.

Pressing Matters:
And it’s rooted back that it’s like, I didn’t start this to make money.

Pressing Matters:
I started this because I loved printing T-shirts.

Pressing Matters:
And just to be clear, I no longer love printing T-shirts.

Pressing Matters:
If I never print another T-shirt in my life, I’d really be happy.

Pressing Matters:
I’ve printed hundreds of thousands of T-shirts.

Pressing Matters:
Now I run a T-shirt printing business.

Pressing Matters:
but I started because I loved the art of that.

Filmosity:
It’s always an interesting pattern I’ve noticed with the other businesses that we interviewed.

Filmosity:
They’re always like, we had a cupcake one.

Filmosity:
They’re like, I just did this because I love making cupcakes.

Filmosity:
But now I’m not even making cupcakes.

Filmosity:
I have people making cupcakes for me and I’m working on the business.

Filmosity:
That always seems to be kind of a trend I noticed.

Pressing Matters:
Yeah, it’s interesting.

Pressing Matters:
And I really enjoy running a business.

Pressing Matters:
Now it’s no longer a passion directly related to screen printing.

Pressing Matters:
Now I’m finding it really interesting and I’m passionate about managing a business and running a business.

Pressing Matters:
And so it’s kind of morphed in that regard.

Pressing Matters:
I think it’s cool that it’s a screen printing company because it’s something that I do find really cool.

Pressing Matters:
But what’s kind of making me horny is actually just looking at the business from a meta perspective.

Pressing Matters:
Does it have to be a screen printing business?

Filmosity:
No, it doesn’t necessarily.

Filmosity:
There you go.

Pressing Matters:
And so ultimately, like what my goals are is like my immediate goals for pressing matters is to remove myself from the day to day operations and continue to look at how this can scale.

Pressing Matters:
But then also looking at, well, what are other business opportunities?

Pressing Matters:
What do I what’s the next thing I want to do?

Pressing Matters:
What can I do that I’ve taken the lessons learned from this and apply those to the next venture, which is absolutely what I want to do.

Filmosity:
Right now, currently, in about a year, in a year, what’s kind of the rough revenue?

Pressing Matters:
Yeah, like the average revenue for the last few years has been kind of between $400,000 to $600,000 annually.

Pressing Matters:
But already this year, we’ve broken all of our records for any previous January, February, or March.

Filmosity:
Oh, wow.

Pressing Matters:
Yeah.

Pressing Matters:
So this year, I’d like to break a million dollars in revenue.

Pressing Matters:
It’s interesting.

Pressing Matters:
It’s a learning curve to see what the balance is between wages for my employees and what is the production capacity here.

Pressing Matters:
I’m not maxed out.

Pressing Matters:
And so is that million dollar revenue mark, is that maxed out here?

Filmosity:
Yeah, right.

Pressing Matters:
And then is that the sweet spot?

Pressing Matters:
Is that it?

Pressing Matters:
And then, yeah.

Filmosity:
Of course, that’s just revenue.

Filmosity:
What can we expect in terms of expenses for a print shop like yours?

Pressing Matters:
I think industry standards, and you might want to fact check me on this, but I think industry standards is, it’s about a 20% take home relative to total revenue.

Pressing Matters:
Your net, like your clean net, depending on how you’re running your business, is around 20%.

Pressing Matters:
Yeah.

Filmosity:
I have a tradition on this show where the previous business owner has a question for you.

Filmosity:
And this, I’ll play for you, is that question.

Motion Grey:
Which role that you hired was the most impactful for your business?

Pressing Matters:
Okay.

Pressing Matters:
So the question being, which role that I hired was the most impactful for my business?

Filmosity:
Yes.

Pressing Matters:
I would say, oh, Marcel’s got an answer on this one.

Pressing Matters:
I would say, hands down, it’s been the shop manager, Kyle.

Pressing Matters:
He’s been like a godsend.

Pressing Matters:
He’s really detail-oriented and just kind of oversees the day-to-day.

Pressing Matters:
Yeah, that was huge.

Pressing Matters:
And when I hired him, I didn’t even hire him as a shop manager because I’ve kind of just been figuring this all out as I go.

Pressing Matters:
But he’s stepped up to the plate.

Pressing Matters:
Yeah, and this business wouldn’t run without him.

Pressing Matters:
And then another really, really good outsource hire is hiring someone to take care of my advertisements.

Pressing Matters:
Yeah hiring definitely real for definitely real yeah yeah for advertisements.

Pressing Matters:
That was huge because because i think i think as a like business owner you start out by having to do everything and then systematically figuring out what you shouldn’t be doing anymore is a huge lesson.

Filmosity:
And what question do you have for the next business owner?

Pressing Matters:
I think my question for the next business owner would be if your business ended today what would your next venture be?

Pressing Matters:
Would you continue on in the same field that you’re currently working in or would you take what you’ve learned and start something completely different or would you just go get a job working for somebody else?

Filmosity:
There you go, that’s a good question.

Filmosity:
Okay thank you Malcom.

Pressing Matters:
Yeah thank you

Filmosity:
That’s it that’s the video that’s the interview if you need some shirts printed or anything printed, they don’t just print shirts, come to Pressing Matters here in Burnaby in BC.

Filmosity:
Malcolm is a super cool guy. If you want to come in and chat music with him, he also just makes music that we didn’t really touch upon but you can talk to him about that as well.

Pressing Matters:
Absolutely.

Filmosity:
And you know what to do, if you enjoyed this video, hit the like button, comment down below anything for Malcolm or me and make sure to subscribe because we’ll have more videos coming soon of amazing business owners like Malcolm.

Filmosity:
See you in the next one.

Filmosity:
Malcolm says you’re his most impactful hire.

Pressing Matters:
Oh yeah.

Pressing Matters:
This place was nothing like this when I first started here.