Richland Center business champions growth
While many small business owners have experienced a drastic decline in business over the past few months, many have kept a positive outlook towards the future. Brett Iverson is no exception. His screen printing and embroidery business Pioneer Print Co. LLC in Richland Center, Wisconsin, is testament to many business owners across the state determined to survive during the economic slowdown.
Started in 2013 and originally called Iverson Designs LLC, Brett’s company started with website design services. “I’ve always had a passion for graphic design. The only formal education I had for that was in high school and taking graphic design classes. I just kept with it as I went through college and such. I went to school for pastoral leadership, so I definitely have veered off from that. I’m still a man of faith,” he shared.
After graduating from college in Rochester, Minnesota, Brett moved down to Kenosha, Wisconsin to attend graduate school in the Northern suburbs of Chicago. “Right as soon as my wife and I moved there, we found out we were expecting our first child. We had to figure something out. The plan was for me to go to school, work part-time, and she was going to work full-time.” Having a child in that mix changed their situation, and Brett quickly decided he needed a real job to support his family.
Originally from Viroqua, Wisconsin and his wife from Richland Center, a job opportunity opened up in Richland Center, so he applied and was hired. “My job at that time was coordinating a grant for the Active Agent Research Center. It was a grant working with University of Wisconsin-Madison and a research team there and the local Aging and Disability Resource Center. It was a 3-year contract position. I knew my time was going to be coming to a close at the end of 3 years. I had to start thinking what I was going to do at the end of the 3-years. I’ve got a pastoral leadership degree, my family is from around here, what am I going to do? While I was working as a coordinator and working with a lot of the tech teams from UW-Madison, I taught myself how to do web design. I incorporated my graphics into that,” Iverson said.
“I started with that. My dad, who is from Viroqua, said ‘why don’t you do t-shirts too?’ I had never thought of that. He was like ‘You can find someone to print the shirts and you can sell them and market them online.’ I started doing that, and picking up more inquiries from people to do shirts. I was getting to the point where t-shirts were outselling the web design services.”
The end of Iverson’s 3-year position was coming up and having money saved from creating websites, Iverson decided to invest in some basic screen-printing equipment and teach himself the trade. He said, “I’ve always been a hands-on learner. I love to learn, love to go online and research things. I’ve always been investing in my craft. That was November 2015. My job was up May 2016. In six months, I went from buying basic equipment to, when my other job was up, decided that I had to take this full-time, because no other job opportunities came up. I didn’t have a degree or anything saying I could do graphic design, although I was proficient in it. I had interviews where it came between me and another candidate and they had the piece of paper.” Ever since then, it’s been non-stop work for him. His wife had to take a job too just so they could get health insurance.
“So, I started with web design, and saw the need for t-shirts and that it was taking over the web design part. Websites are always changing, and it’s hard to keep up with it. It became a matter of what was easiest and what was more fun. I loved being able to design the shirts using the computer, but also using my hands in the production side,” he said enthusiastically.
Iverson pointed out there are plenty ways to print shirts, but it isn’t “always good quality”. Starting with very basic equipment, Iverson looks back and thinks “wow, how did anything come out decent?” Paying very close attention to detail, despite basic equipment, he made it work.
Like many businesses, he started small. “I started in my home. Upstairs I had an office. Down in my basement, I had my press and my dryer. I just did that and it grew organically. Having the website experience helped because I realized we are in the 21st century now and websites are store storefronts.” Iverson realized the overhead is lower allowing him to reinvest his income directly back into the business. “I got a nicer dryer and a nicer press. I’m growing and growing.”
Acknowledging he had a head start with his existing skills Iverson said, “I had a nice-looking website. I was the first in Southwest Wisconsin to do online ordering for sports teams. That gave me a leg up. Doing online marketing allowed me to pick up some pretty big clients and get my name out there. I’ve built everything I have on my website from the ground up. There are places that host team websites, but I manage it myself instead of having someone else host it and going to their website. When I host online stores, people are going directly to my domain and help my search engine optimization. Things like that give me a leg up in the digital storefront realm.”
Iverson kept hustling, hustling, hustling. With his wife supporting him throughout everything, his family, as well as hers, and many others, Iverson has continued to see his business grow.
On entrepreneurship he shared, “My family is very entrepreneurial. My uncle is a dentist in Westby. My dad used to own a print shop and print paper back in the 90’s and early 2000’s called TCOB Graphics and my grandfather was very successful back when they used to go door-to-door selling insurance. My grandpa used to have Southwest Hearing Aid Service. He just retired. I think over the last year, I’ve had time to reflect that there has been a lot of entrepreneurs in my family. They really want to put their nose to the ground and get things done.”
As Iverson’s business continued to grow and eventually outgrew his basement, growth that found him moving equipment out to his garage. “I had to be able to make it work. My business was growing so quickly. I said, before I need to go into commercial space, here are the things I need. I need to be able to fit a 6-head embroidery machine in there, I need to be able to have an automatic in there, and I need to have at least one or two employees in there to justify the cost of overhead. If I went into a place too early, I would be paying for housing for all this stuff that I could still hold in my basement and garage.” (Click to take a brief tour of Pioneer Print Co.’s new home)
Iverson’s website was doing its job putting his business out there giving it a good look, he started receiving calls from people all the time. Making him feel like he was running a big business while in fact he was just on his own.
“The products that I put out, the website, and storefront, the customer service that I presented, I can’t think of a job that I lost because I was doing it out of my basement. I’ve always wanted to make sure everything that I put out looks good, is going to last and reflects my business and essentially who I am. I always want to make sure that it is top-tier quality that people are getting,” he said of his products.
Last year was a huge year for Iverson’s business. He had hired a full-time employee. “She came on board when I was still in my home. I wasn’t planning on moving to this space as quickly as I did, but it came up (Memorial Day weekend 2019). Once I saw this place was opened, I knew there were some things I wanted to do. I knew I needed a better dryer to keep up with my automatic printing press. I made those changes and installations. Tons and tons of new equipment. I wanted to streamline my process because I saw a trajectory of growth. I wanted to be able to keep up with growth, but a big thing is training people and finding good people to work here. I wanted to make sure whoever I bring in, training could be as simple as possible because in making a shirt, you are pushing ink through a screen. When I say it like that, it seems simple, but there are so many other things that go into it in that process. I wanted to make it simple for whoever came in. This is what this process is and this machine helps us do that. This year (2020) was supposed to be ‘The Year’.”
Iverson also changed his business’ name. “I started with Iverson Designs because I wasn’t planning on taking this as a full-time job. I thought Iverson Designs sounds cool, I’ll go with that. I never wanted the company to be about me though. I didn’t want to feel like I am that guy-The Iverson. I wanted to have an inclusive culture in this company as I continue to grow. I didn’t want people to think that I was the main focus. Me, my wife, and my buddy were sitting around. I was in this building and didn’t have a sign out front because I knew I wanted to change my business name. The place that was in here before was called Powerhouse Fitness. We were joking around saying Powerhouse Prints, so I could use the sign out front and just take off Fitness and add Prints. We started thinking and thought of Pine River Press because the Pine River is local and sounded cool. We were going to go with that for a while, but then thought, as I continue to grow my business and learn my craft because if there is something new or different out there, I’m willing to try it if it is going to have better efficiency or a better end-product. Last year, I invested in water-based inks and incorporated that into my product. I thought that I am trying to pioneer this, essentially learning this on my own. I thought Pioneer Print Co. I really like that.”
Iverson felt that the name embodies the spirit that he’s always wanted in his business. “Whether it’s me pioneering my process here, or me helping another business pioneer theirs with apparel or getting their brand or message out,” Iverson shared, is paramount to his ideals.
Little did anyone know; trouble was just around the corner. “This was going to be my year. I had processes down and things were going to be able to go smoothly, but then February and March come around with the Coronavirus. I had literally just installed the press, and that was the last phase of my equipment package that I had planned out, and then boom, the economy kind of stalls. I’m just doing what I can to get through it.”
Seeing many businesses sharing the recent economic pain and wanting to help them in any way possible, Iverson was driven to take action. “I’ve always had this idea, and wish I would have started it a month ago. I connected with a shop in St. Louis called Tiny Little Monster. They did a #HereForGood campaign. They made it really simple. $10 from each shirt sold goes to a business you support by buying a t-shirt. That’s simple. I wanted to keep things simple and I wanted to help local businesses stay here for good. We are all suffering through this. I’m struggling, other small businesses are struggling, how can we band together. I wanted to get it out there that I can help businesses, and it will help me too. I’ll be able to keep printing and keep a steady flow here and help other businesses and create those relationships.”
Always interested in keeping things local and helping the area, Iverson was involved in a music festival for three years called Ochoochapalooza. The aim was to highlight local music and get more people visiting downtown Richland Center in turn boosting Main Street businesses. “I’ve always had a passion for local businesses in this area and helping people go out on their own like I did and say ‘we are going to make a path for ourselves and define it and pioneer something new here’. We are doing our best, but now are facing circumstances that put all of that in jeopardy. So, whatever we can do to get us all through this to make sure in the end we are all still here.”
Iverson stated he has a few more businesses to get set up with shirts and hopes #HereForGood gains traction, giving people hope by helping someone else out while they are helping him out. “We need a lot of hope to get through this as there was a lot of unforeseen stuff that we can see right now, but in the future, what is the end of all this going to look like. I want to band with other businesses so they know we can get through this together.”
Truly caring for his community, he said, “I’ve always wanted to continue to grow this business because I’ve enjoyed it so much. A big part of what I want to do is provide good paying living wage jobs for people here in Richland Center and making sure I have the infrastructure to be able to do that. My hope is within 4 or 5 years is to have 5 or 6 employees that are making a good wage and enjoying their job, enjoying one another and a culture that people want to come into work. They will love being together and love helping people out with their apparel needs and getting their messages across, whether its branding for their company, for their website, for events. I’ve been seeing through #HereForGood there is a lot of commodity in t-shirts. If at the end of the day, I had to reflect on the situation, I’d just make t-shirts. My website domain is idoshirts.com, what is my purpose in all of this? If it was apocalyptic, t-shirt printing probably isn’t up there, but doing what I can to bring people in the community together is. The shirts do that in a lot of ways. We all wear shirts, people want a good quality shirt, a good product. Through this, with the #HereForGood campaign, it brings people together around local businesses, and keep that hope going.”
Iverson acknowledged, in order to continue to go strong, he won’t need any new equipment, and stated that was a good thing. With plans to continue building on his ideals, Iverson admits it is an evolving process.
Visit Pioneer Print Co. LLC on Facebook or the Web.
Photos by Brayden Smalley
