Printavo PrintHustlers Podcast

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 candidates, why he pays close to six figures for the role, and what two mis-hires actually cost.

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.

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 world teaches (and what it doesn't), how John decides what to bring in-house vs. sub out, why he checks...

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 review to why he refuses to plan more than 60 days out, these are lessons Bruce thinks apply directly t...

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 he uses to know how many hours an owner should actually spend in the shop.  Sponsors: GraphxSource: ht...

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 where DTG is headed next.

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.

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 to destroy your business in the next 12-24 months, how would they do it?

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. *** NOT financial advice — Bruce is not an accountant or financial advisor. Talk to a professional before...

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 like fulfilling 100,000 shirts in 5 days.

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 on what growth actually means, how he vets customers before they ever fill out a contact form, and why h...

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 starting to make every shop's marketing look the same, when it's actually worth hiring a brand agency, and the...

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.

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.

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 empower an "AI champion" in your shop, and real numbers from tools Matt's built that are being used by tho...

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 

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 managers who had to move on, 15% raises across the leadership team, and a deliberate shift from being an...

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 discipline to the apparel industry.

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.

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 and a third potentially on the way.

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 riding the shop roller coaster while balancing a young family.

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 press or a better supplier. It's the custom technology they've built in-house.

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 printing run — from chasing final four teams across the country to pulling 15-20K in sales out of a trailer...

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 that runs without the owner on the floor.

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 Steven to break down what's actually working, what he got wrong, and what he's still figuring out.