In this episode, host Lorie Jones welcomes Suzanne Mitchell, president of Zamar Screen Printing, whose joyful energy lights up every room. Suzanne shares her inspiring journey from aspiring stay-at-home mom to successful business owner and one of the few women in a male-dominated industry, proving that remarkable things happen when you embrace life’s unexpected turns.
Highlighting the growth found in every challenge, Suzanne opens up about balancing motherhood and entrepreneurship. You will discover why investing in coaching became a cornerstone of Suzanne’s career, how meaningful mentorship can shape your path, and the power of building a supportive network. Her story is full of real talk on navigating tough economic times with resilience and why it’s okay to pivot and redefine success on your own terms.
Suzanne’s practical wisdom will resonate with any woman striving for both personal and professional fulfillment, taking bold risks and rewriting the rules of success. Tune in to be inspired by her infectious optimism, practical wisdom, and fearless spirit!
Show Highlights:
- A fearless journey from opting out of college to building a successful branding business. [04:45]
- Reflections on balancing motherhood and business ownership. [08:14]
- Why Suzanne Mitchell swears by coaching as her game-changer. [11:19]
- The power of sales as the primary daily business imperative. [15:44]
- Discover hard lessons from the 2008 recession that helped Zamar in 2020. [19:15]
- The critical importance of financial advice to sharpen readiness and avoid oversight. [23:52]
- How do you, in practice, create a supportive network? [28:40]
- Insights on pioneering in screen printing as a woman. [29:50]
- How to delegate and trust your team, and shape a family-friendly company culture. [31:14]
- Surefire advice on fearlessness—plus, how to make Suzanne your mentor. [36:31]
To contact Suzanne Mitchell, please visit https://zamarinc.com/about-us/.
If you enjoyed this episode, please go to Apple Podcasts and leave a review!
For more information about Lorie Jones, go to https://fearlessfinancialadvisors.com/fearless-females.
00:01.09
Lorie Jones
Good morning, Fearless Females. Thank you so much for joining us today. we are here with Suzanne Mitchell, and she is the president of Zamar Screen Printing. And I'm really excited. i had a chance to just catch up with Suzanne. She is so real. You guys are going to just love hearing her advice. i have loved having the opportunity to to chat with her and kind of get the benefit of her wisdom. So I'm so excited that you get to hear it too.
00:27.57
Lorie Jones
Thank you, Suzanne, for joining us today.
00:30.07
Suzanne
Thank you for having me. I'm very excited.
00:33.49
Lorie Jones
So my very first question is always, I'm a reader. I love reading. Tell me about your favorite book.
00:39.47
Suzanne
Favorite book? Well, my favorite business book is definitely How to Win Friends and Influence People. It has affected my business. I, you know, I don't do all the principles. I'm not a follow, but I'm telling you, there's points in there that really touched me.
00:54.90
Suzanne
But personally, I'm a huge advocate of any historical novel, love romance.
00:54.96
Lorie Jones
who
01:00.42
Lorie Jones
Oh.
01:01.54
Suzanne
And there's a writer by the name of Ginny Dye. And she writes this whole series on specifically women in history. And it's just really empowering to see these women that had all these things to conquer.
01:13.77
Suzanne
So I love her series of books.
01:15.90
Lorie Jones
Oh, that sounds really interesting and like right up my alley.
01:17.88
Suzanne
Yeah.
01:18.77
Lorie Jones
I was a history major in college, so historical fiction sounds great.
01:19.29
Suzanne
Yeah. work Yeah. it's They're so good. Yeah. I love them. Yeah.
01:26.81
Lorie Jones
Do they like go through like big names in history or is it just like normal people?
01:32.73
Suzanne
it's fairly normal people. The main character that kind of carries all the way through is actually a female doctor and everything she went through being a doctor in those times and the people that didn't trust her and the people that thought she was probably less of a person.
01:47.22
Suzanne
And this is all about taking that energy for women today and show people you are powerful. You can do this. And that's kind of the theme through the whole book. And so through the whole series, all the things they go through and the,
02:02.15
Suzanne
heartaches they have. It's just, it's really good. Yeah.
02:05.21
Lorie Jones
Oh, that sounds really interesting.
02:06.54
Suzanne
Yeah.
02:06.68
Lorie Jones
I'm i'm i'm glad you shared that.
02:07.16
Suzanne
I love them.
02:08.32
Lorie Jones
i
02:08.68
Suzanne
Yeah.
02:09.33
Lorie Jones
If it's a series, it's going to really make my stack a little bit bigger.
02:14.12
Suzanne
That is what happens. I know you never run out of books to read ever. Yeah.
02:19.12
Lorie Jones
So tell me a little bit about your journey, Suzanne. How did you get started? like How did you um kind of get follow the path to where you're at today? And and what do you do? like Tell us a little bit about you.
02:31.26
Suzanne
Yeah, well, I started, i knew right out of high school, I didn't want to go to college. It just was not a specific occupation I knew I wanted to do. So I'm like, until I know something, just want to work.
02:42.43
Suzanne
So I started an insurance and quickly made it to an agent, was selling. Sure, that was the path I was going to take. And then I thought, you know, i want to stay home and have kids. I got married, got the house, thought this is going to be my plan. going to stay home for a while.
02:56.69
Suzanne
And my husband worked for a huge screen printer. And they had a physical fire. Literally, the building burnt down. The whole company went under.
03:03.74
Lorie Jones
oh
03:05.61
Suzanne
And they all these salespeople were set with nobody to do their printing. So my husband said, i think we should start this. I think we should start ah screen printing company. I knew nothing about screen printing, any of the things, but I had a little bit of sales knowledge from doing the insurance.
03:25.01
Suzanne
So we continued, we started, and I did not have kids for 10 years while building this built business because I was determined not to be 100% full-time working 80 hours when I had kids. So
03:38.24
Lorie Jones
Thank
03:38.63
Suzanne
We waited have kids, but we built a screen printing embroidery and promotional products company. So we kind of do all the branding things that everybody needs in a business or school or any those sort of things. And I have definitely taken the lead in the company. I'm definitely the the face. They're what people know to be Xamarin screen printing.
03:59.58
Suzanne
And through the years, I've adapted it to be much more relational. I love working with people when I can talk to them and figure out what they need and mentor them. i naturally want to mentor people.
04:11.11
Suzanne
And so I think people come to me who just sometimes need help and it has nothing to do with what I do professionally. So, yeah.
04:19.97
Lorie Jones
so insurance to screen printing that is a big like first of all no one goes into insurance it is always like the last um
04:28.78
Suzanne
I know I started there. That's funny. Yeah. You know, I ended up in a receptionist job and very quickly they're like, you need to stop being the receptionist. We got to get you into an agent role.
04:40.98
Suzanne
You have too many people skills. Let's do this. And so they kind of quickly rushed me to an agent and it was fine. I had a huge book of business that i somebody was retiring. So it worked out. And I did like the people side of it.
04:54.95
Suzanne
But what I didn't like was the, you give people a pack of papers worth $1,000 and they're like, oh, okay. Like it's, you know, I bring a box of t-shirts and people are jumping for joy, literally clapping, so excited, completely different reaction.
05:13.56
Suzanne
So I love what I deliver now. I didn't so much to like the insurance. So everybody needs it. You have to have it. but it's not exciting. And so this for me was yeah the gift giving side of it is huge.
05:23.41
Lorie Jones
I love that.
05:28.34
Lorie Jones
I think that's so funny, Suzanne, because am in that position of the, I'm like, finance is fun. This is so cool. Look at all these. they're like, okay.
05:39.94
Suzanne
yeah but Exactly.
05:40.38
Lorie Jones
okay
05:43.09
Suzanne
That was it for me. It just, I was like, I couldn't get behind it. So got out of that industry. Yeah.
05:48.93
Lorie Jones
I love it. So, um so you actually have grown the like the business side of the business, but you didn't, did you have a whole lot of like running the business experience? Or how did that piece go? Because you're, you're bigger now.
06:01.48
Suzanne
Yeah, absolutely. I had no business experience other than being an insurance agent. So we learned the hard way. You know, we made some crazy mistakes and got, you know, we grew really big, really fast because we had all these salespeople that worked for this other company.
06:19.11
Suzanne
We had tons of business to start with. So that was a great base, except we needed equipment right away. And we were 21, 22. twenty one twenty two We had very little credit, so we had to get financing you know the not so great way in high percentages. And so we had to learn a lot of hard lessons on how to do things and figure things out.
06:43.07
Suzanne
But I think that all of us have a will to survive, and in particular am the little engine that could. Don't tell me. i can't. I will figure it out.
06:54.54
Suzanne
And I just have that strive. And I think that that made a big difference. We just figured it out and plunged through. And yeah, we've been doing this for 30 years now. So we made it.
07:06.20
Lorie Jones
And um and so you were you wanted to be stay at home mom and ended up with 10 years worth of growing the business before you had your kids. So did you end up getting to to take time off and stay at home with them or did you just continue to do both or tell me how that went?
07:16.38
Suzanne
Yes.
07:24.78
Suzanne
Yeah, I think I found a pretty fine mix. You know, they say balance, which I think balance a rough word. I don't think we're ever 100% balanced. I always think something's winning and something's losing kind of at all times.
07:39.04
Suzanne
um I did work part time per se I worked in the office in the morning and i have the benefit of my mom and dad living close So they always watched my kids in the morning when I worked.
07:51.80
Suzanne
And then in the afternoon, i was home with them. And so I kind of did a mix of both, you know, and I would say it was hard on the business for me not to be available a lot in the afternoons.
08:03.87
Suzanne
Not that I didn't take tons of calls and do bookkeeping at night and, you know, all the things most women have to do to survive.
08:06.44
Lorie Jones
Oh,
08:11.08
Suzanne
But ah it was hard on the business. But my absolute first priority was my kids because I homeschooled my kids amongst all that.
08:20.60
Lorie Jones
oh wow.
08:20.65
Suzanne
So it kind of swapped later in life. I stayed home and homeschooled them in the morning and then came to work in the afternoon. And then they were with my mom and dad. So, you know, I had some years that were pretty tough to get it all done, but, but it was,
08:36.07
Lorie Jones
It sounds like you didn't sleep for a decade, basically.
08:39.79
Suzanne
Sometimes I wonder when we did sleep. I'm not really sure where that came in, but you survive. It's amazing. You're very resilient when you're young. It's good we have kids, you know, before we're 40 for sure.
08:53.44
Lorie Jones
yeah yeah, exactly.
08:54.45
Suzanne
but
08:56.02
Lorie Jones
So looking back over your journey, is there, um, What's the best investment you've made in yourself? Is there something you've done or invested in or taken a part in that you're like, oh my goodness, I'm so glad I did that. My life just wouldn't have been the same.
09:11.02
Suzanne
Yeah, I can honestly say coaching. is the best thing I ever did for myself. I started coaching with a business coach probably by year two.
09:22.73
Suzanne
ah had found somebody and i had different coaches through my 30 years. I've had sales coaches. I've had business coaches. Sometimes they've been borderline life coaches because it was more that I was struggling with that life balance than I was actual business things.
09:40.61
Suzanne
I've had more corporate ones that helped me take a bigger leap. And then, you know, but coaching has been worth every penny. I would not go back and change that for the world.
09:52.72
Suzanne
Even though I'm not a solopreneur, I had a team, I had other partners. I still bouncing all your stuff off a coach and just unloading with the things you needed help to relook at it.
10:05.91
Suzanne
That money was well invested. i yeah,
10:09.71
Lorie Jones
Where did you find your coaches? Like, how did you find one that worked? It sounds like you had several different.
10:15.71
Suzanne
I had lots of different coaches. You know, they mostly would provide introduction from somebody. You know, my first one was I was in an Allie Lassen's lead, which i don't even think is around anymore.
10:26.50
Suzanne
And somebody said, oh, this lady, you should meet her. I think she can help you get networking together. And then I was struggling with sales and somebody introduced me to a guy. I actually had one male coach.
10:37.93
Suzanne
And he was a sales coach and he was great. He challenged me because I was less, I was outgoing on personal stuff, but pretty extroverted when it came to the company.
10:51.53
Suzanne
And, you know, one of the things he said to me was, if you have great, great cookies and you never offer them to anybody, How the heck are they going to know you have great cookies? So I have thought of that over the last 20 years when I'm in a social setting and things come up and I think I just need to mention what I do. i don't have to be salesy.
11:11.54
Suzanne
And so many opportunities have opened up. So coaching has taught me so much through the years, for sure.
11:18.72
Lorie Jones
Yeah, I love that. And there are they are worth their weight in gold a lot of times because because you just you need that. That's you know like a little bit financial coaching.
11:30.05
Lorie Jones
you know like it's it's It's like my whole life is like they they need someone to bounce ideas off of and bounce bounce thoughts off of and kind of
11:30.78
Suzanne
Yeah.
11:41.44
Lorie Jones
you know, move forward in a way that, that makes them better and makes sense for them. So I love that idea of like, of like, he and you can use other people's experience too, but, but how did you, so you were in a place where you already had ah customer base.
11:53.81
Suzanne
Yeah.
11:59.16
Lorie Jones
So like, cause, cause coaching comes up over and over again, but how do you afford coaching? How do you not afford coaching, but how do you afford coaching?
12:07.56
Suzanne
Yeah, yeah. There was times I'm sure I took a few months off because sales were low and I needed to, you know, catch back up. But any time could equate sales to when I had coaching.
12:20.83
Suzanne
When I left with a plan, whether it was a marketing plan, whether it was a sales list, whatever it is, I could absolutely equate things I did on that list that became an ah ROI and actual sales.
12:35.13
Suzanne
So I could always look at it and go, it doesn't matter if this costs, I know I'm going to make this back. And I always did. I've always made back my my money in coaching.
12:45.81
Suzanne
So that's what made it, you know, but it was hard in those first years.
12:45.85
Lorie Jones
Yeah.
12:49.09
Suzanne
It was expensive. It was, you know, a line item you had to decide you were going to But I'm not sure I could have continued to be the engine that could without it. So I can honestly say, had I not got the coaching help, I'm not sure we could have gone forward.
13:05.44
Suzanne
So it was a dollar you had to spend. You know, you just had to spend it to be able to move forward.
13:07.95
Lorie Jones
yeah
13:11.21
Lorie Jones
Yeah. Yeah. Super important to think about that too. And like, like, and you know, what's your ah ROI? What's the return on that investment of time and energy in into the coach and money?
13:24.84
Lorie Jones
Yeah.
13:25.28
Suzanne
Yeah.
13:26.20
Lorie Jones
um Tell me about, and i usually say, what's the worst advice someone gave you, but you're like, I got no bad advice. So tell me about what is the best advice you've gotten?
13:34.32
Suzanne
yeah
13:37.99
Suzanne
One of the best pieces of advice I got, it was a landlord somewhere along the way for the business. We were in a commercial building. And we were struggling. I think I was probably even in there negotiating a little bit with him on like, can we pay on the 15th? You know, that kind of thing.
13:53.97
Suzanne
Real life that was happening at that moment. And he started talking to me about sales. And he's like, you know, it doesn't matter how good you are at what you do.
14:06.84
Suzanne
You can have the best product on the planet. You can have the best t-shirts. You can know absolute best product. But if there's not somebody selling that every day all day, it doesn't matter how good your product is.
14:23.59
Suzanne
So he's like, sometimes you have to stop focusing on exactly what you do and how good you do it and just focus on sales. And it's sometimes the things people put off. It's easy to put off.
14:37.22
Suzanne
It's easier to do the to do list and do the creative part and do the fun stuff than making those hard cold calls or calling that customer that you really want a larger order for.
14:48.19
Suzanne
And so he was just like, you have to focus on sales every day, no matter what you do, matter what your occupation, you're in sales like it or not. You're in sales and you might be great at what you do, but if you're selling it to anybody, doesn't matter.
15:03.73
Suzanne
And that I have tried to think about that every day, all day.
15:03.91
Lorie Jones
i
15:07.18
Suzanne
Okay, which one of these tasks actually are going to sell something? Because that has to be priority. Dollar tasks have to be on top because otherwise things start dwindling for you.
15:20.38
Lorie Jones
Yeah, that's really important. And I do think that that it doesn't really matter what role you're in or what you do. you always do touch on sales.
15:30.69
Lorie Jones
Like you always touch on sales, engineering and, and, you know, ah everything, it just feels like everything does it.
15:31.01
Suzanne
Yeah.
15:38.44
Suzanne
Yeah.
15:39.01
Lorie Jones
So it you, i i I have a hard time with the word sales. that I don't like be salesy, but I like to think of it more as education than sales.
15:49.28
Suzanne
Yeah, exactly.
15:49.83
Lorie Jones
it makes me feel better. but But you do, you have that piece.
15:52.46
Suzanne
I totally get that.
15:54.62
Lorie Jones
And and i think i think it's interesting that it was a a landlord that was like telling you this, right?
16:02.05
Suzanne
Yeah, he was an amazing businessman. he had built a really impressive oil business. And he just had a real grasp on that. He was really into relationships. He was really into people.
16:14.09
Suzanne
I think he was very smart financially, but he just had that pulse that he knew that was the bottom line. If he wasn't selling every day, his business wasn't moving forward. And so I had never thought about it in that frame of mind. Of course, I was in sales, you know.
16:29.80
Suzanne
but I'd never thought about it quite that important. It was always more important. Like what's the quality of our t-shirts? What do they look like? And all that's important. That's not putting any of that down, but it's not quite as important as selling because if you're not selling, it doesn't matter how good the stuff is.
16:44.83
Lorie Jones
Yeah.
16:44.94
Suzanne
You have to have sales. Yeah.
16:46.98
Lorie Jones
Yeah. Really insightful.
16:48.99
Suzanne
Yeah. Good lesson for me.
16:49.44
Lorie Jones
So...
16:52.50
Lorie Jones
So Suzanne, what about looking back on your career and your journey? are there Is there something that you were like, oh my goodness, I really wish I could go back and do that again?
17:04.00
Lorie Jones
Because I would do it so much differently with what I know now than I did back
17:09.49
Suzanne
Absolutely. 2008, would have completely redone how we handled it. you know i had never encountered a recession. i had never encountered business loss. i had never you know i've never had those kind of things come about.
17:26.72
Suzanne
So here we are at an all-time high. i have lots of employees. We have large presses. We're putting out massive product. We're rolling. And I had oil companies that worked with me in particular that had, you know, they'd go to a trade show and have $30,000 to spend for that trade show of merchandise or whatever.
17:46.87
Suzanne
Well, they started having $1,500 and
17:52.07
Suzanne
Can I just get some pins? So I didn't lose clients, but I lost ginormous volume. And I just was like, this isn't going to last. We've had like so many years of great.
18:05.08
Suzanne
This isn't going to last. And I kept my people and I used all my reserves and we stayed the same size. And then it's like, okay, this is lasting. And I just waited too long.
18:16.73
Suzanne
Had I pivoted, Right at the beginning, like I ended up pivoting and downscaling and getting smaller digs and not having as so many people. Had I done that faster, I don't think we'd have suffered so much. It was a very, that was, those were some hard lean years. And in hindsight,
18:35.16
Suzanne
Sometimes when something worldwide like that is happening, i needed to make a much bigger jump. It wasn't just my city. and do that Obviously, in 2008, everybody was like, and I learned a lot during that time.
18:44.56
Lorie Jones
and
18:48.65
Suzanne
So 2020 wasn't as hard on us because I had all those lessons from 08. And I knew we had to pivot faster and change. And so that was very helpful. I learned a lot from that.
19:00.49
Lorie Jones
yeah A hard lesson, right?
19:03.77
Suzanne
Oh man, there's a lot of hard lessons in business. That that is a fact. lot of hard lessons.
19:10.61
Lorie Jones
Yeah, yeah. And and it is it is interesting, like the, you know, the COVID era, um yeah, it didn't, it wasn't as, it wasn't, it was what you were thinking the 2008 era was going to be, like where it was a slight downturn and then things came back and it was a pretty quick recovery.
19:24.87
Suzanne
Absolutely.
19:30.17
Suzanne
Yeah, we were able to get our role again. and Exactly. That's what I thought in my 20-something mind that 2008 was going to be. and it it was much rougher than that.
19:40.44
Suzanne
Yeah, it was a hard overcome for sure.
19:41.79
Lorie Jones
Yeah.
19:44.23
Lorie Jones
Yeah. I'm thinking back and I'm like, but how do you know which one you're going to have? How do you know if it's like 2008 2020? Like then could that if you had a crystal ball
19:54.89
Suzanne
Yeah.
19:57.16
Lorie Jones
then i could see
19:59.86
Suzanne
Absolutely. if you had a crystal ball, that would make a difference. But I think even in the first few months of 08 or whatever exact 2007, when it started happening, it wasn't a client who had this kind of drop.
20:14.27
Suzanne
It was like all my clients.
20:14.36
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
20:16.96
Suzanne
So that was really the difference. Because even in 2020, I had certain industries like my restaurants immediately, they were struggling. My builders, not so much. They still were building. They were still going.
20:31.60
Suzanne
My oil companies, they were still going. Whatever. Banks were fine. So there was lots of industries that were kind of okay because they were considered essential. My hospitals, matter of fact, ambulance work went up for me.
20:44.60
Suzanne
You know things went up. So it was different in that there was just industry specific where 08 was everybody. Like everybody was struggling.
20:52.11
Lorie Jones
Everybody. Yeah.
20:53.95
Suzanne
Yeah.
20:53.92
Lorie Jones
Yeah. That's a really, that's, that's an interesting way of looking at it. And that, that feels right.
20:58.72
Suzanne
Yeah.
20:58.92
Lorie Jones
You know, like it's just, there's a difference in severity and you could see it.
21:03.28
Suzanne
Yeah.
21:04.06
Lorie Jones
And, and, and if you had had more experience, probably, i guess we only gain experience by going through the hard parts to learn it.
21:04.50
Suzanne
Yeah.
21:09.57
Suzanne
Absolutely.
21:14.53
Suzanne
I agree. If you don't have hard spots, you'd never learn what's like on the other side and learn those lessons and not make those same mistakes. Because it's that adage, you don't know what you don't know.
21:27.19
Suzanne
And that is true every day. You do not know what you don't know. So when something happens, you're like, no idea that could have happened that way. But how do you learn that unless you go through it?
21:38.73
Suzanne
So that's important.
21:39.58
Lorie Jones
Yeah. Yeah. So tell what is, if you go back and talk to yourself at the beginning of this journey, what would you tell her?
21:50.37
Suzanne
Oh, man. I think I would stress less about the actual business activities. You know, in the beginning, you spent so much time worrying about Do we have the writing system? do we Are we bringing in the right t-shirt brands? Are we doing this? Are you doing that?
22:09.83
Suzanne
And really focusing on the bottom line dollars. Because I think in the first few years, we didn't charge enough. We didn't realize our value.
22:19.08
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm.
22:19.14
Suzanne
We were just kind of base.
22:19.32
Lorie Jones
right.
22:20.34
Suzanne
And so I think we could have. stayed longer. We could have made more money and been a little more profitable even going into like 08 had we known that.
22:30.84
Suzanne
So just because somebody says your t-shirt's worth six or 10 or 20 or fit whatever, you have to figure that out more completely in your business and really focus on the dollars. I probably should have paid for better CPA and business help because I think we made some decisions that maybe an advisor who had a better financial backing could have helped us see those things versus make those mistakes because we just didn't have that experience.
23:00.11
Lorie Jones
Oh, yeah, that's that's a really good point, too.
23:01.38
Suzanne
Yeah.
23:02.88
Lorie Jones
Like, looking for those partners that have that um experience, because because your job is is making t-shirts, not deciding, you know, on the ah spreadsheets and the books and the CPA and the taxes and stuff like that.
23:11.96
Suzanne
Yeah.
23:17.40
Suzanne
Yeah.
23:17.62
Lorie Jones
So finding those those partners that will help in those places that you don't have experience in quite yet. I bet you know it now.
23:25.93
Suzanne
Absolutely. There's a lot of data bank there I've got. But you know, now when I have a big decision like that, I do go to advisors. Okay, we have choice A, B, and c Financially, which one should we do?
23:39.04
Suzanne
And you know, even now, I don't make all those decisions by myself, because I know that's not my gold spot. I have places I can shine. that necessarily my best decision. I don't want to look at the spreadsheet and decide which one is going to be the best percentage in the end. I just need somebody else to analyze that and then and make the best decision.
24:01.87
Suzanne
So I know now advisors are absolutely essential to your bottom line.
24:08.66
Lorie Jones
Yeah, yeah, I like that. and and And vice versa, like like I'm not dealing with like spanish logo wear or anything like that.
24:19.25
Suzanne
Yeah.
24:19.41
Lorie Jones
Like, I am happy to let you do that sort of thing.
24:24.50
Suzanne
Absolutely. Yeah.
24:25.78
Lorie Jones
I don't want stacks of t-shirts in my office. I just, I just want Suzanne to take care of that sort of thing. So I, I think that leveraging those, those partners, that's a really good, that's a really good lesson for, to to go back and tell yourself.
24:36.89
Suzanne
Yeah.
24:41.76
Suzanne
Yeah, absolutely. Everybody needs that. in Whatever you're not the best at.
24:44.62
Lorie Jones
Hmm.
24:47.18
Suzanne
Get help with it. Yeah. It's okay. Yeah.
24:51.41
Lorie Jones
What scared you the most when you started your career? Is there anything that that was terrifying and does it still scare you? Did you work through it?
25:00.17
Suzanne
Yeah.
25:00.17
Lorie Jones
Tell me about that.
25:01.28
Suzanne
I definitely was scared of the unknown. i think there was so much unknown. I didn't know how things operated or how I could get this or get that. And I didn't know about the advisors. I didn't know who to go to.
25:17.95
Suzanne
i didn't, it was like, it was all on me. And I definitely felt that I had mostly male partners and they were the craftsmen. Like they were the experts in screen printing and art and all the things.
25:32.30
Suzanne
So everybody looked to me to make the business decisions because I was the outward, you know? And so all of that unknown definitely scared me, held me back. I think I made decisions sometimes that were like,
25:45.35
Suzanne
a little jumpy because I didn't you know. i didn't know And so the unknown still ah definitely it affects me now. you know You don't know what the economy is going to do. You don't know what the... But same thing. I can just relax and be like, okay, we our business is set.
26:01.72
Suzanne
We have a plan. We have operations. We have sales. It's going to be what it's going to be. So i don't have to be so afraid.
26:07.28
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm.
26:08.76
Suzanne
i think I can just look to the system and move, you know, and that's huge for me. Taking the leap, just do what you do. Go forward. yeah
26:19.35
Lorie Jones
Where do you find um the advisors? Was it the coaches that kind of got you in touch with the people that could help you make those decisions? Because it sounds like you kind of, you got you got your who, your team there.
26:33.82
Lorie Jones
And then you're like, okay, I don't have to be so terrified because they understand this sort of thing and they can give me advice here.
26:40.48
Suzanne
Yeah, I just kind of slowly collect you know collected people. As you got a good business coach, they were like, I think this bookkeeper would be good for you. I think meet this CPA. And I changed a lot through the years. If there was one who...
26:55.70
Suzanne
didn't feel exactly like we do. I had some that maybe weren't as forgiving or willing to work in the gray. I had, you know I wanted a CPA that saw some of the things that were gray.
27:06.67
Suzanne
So I just had to kind of keep upgrading and changing and, and, you know, the, the team has changed. It's similar people, but it's different people that have gone through the years. Some have been here for a long time. I've been with the current coach for 10 years, probably now.
27:22.21
Suzanne
and a CPA for several years, but I think that's also part of it is being willing to adapt. When something's not working, look for another one of them or just be willing to pivot, be willing to look for somebody different if you need to, but if you find somebody that's good for you, you know keep them in your circle. Yeah.
27:45.40
Lorie Jones
What about unique challenges because you were a woman and along your journey?
27:52.67
Suzanne
When I first started, there was not women in screen printing. Like that was pretty unusual. Most of the men were salesmen. Most of the crafters were men.
28:05.53
Suzanne
um You know, it came out of the 60s and all the guys started screen printing shops in their garage and it kind of just moved. It was a very male-dominated industry.
28:16.19
Suzanne
So when I started coming into businesses to sell, they were not expecting a woman to be selling to them. I was accepted and I never had any crazy obstacles with it, but I had to get over that idea that I was probably one of the only women they ever had come in.
28:32.48
Suzanne
And then I think just the challenge of balancing but the mom and the business and the where I wanted to be. I wanted to be with my kids and that's where my heart was and the business just had to adapt to that.
28:45.54
Suzanne
I wasn't gonna let it go, but that is a challenge I think, you know? I think when a kid is sick, it tends to fall to the mom. I wanted it to. In all honesty, I wasn't going to leave my sick kids. I wanted i wanted it to be me that took care of it.
28:59.86
Suzanne
But that's a challenge when you're the one running the company and the face every day. It's a challenge to try to balance that when they're little and getting it all together. But I think, you know, all of us are, again, more resilient than we think. We're really strong and people are more adaptable than we give them credit for.
29:20.31
Suzanne
You're thinking, oh, the team's not going to be able to do this if I'm not there.
29:20.38
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm.
29:23.66
Suzanne
What if such and such doesn't happen? You know, if you've surrounded yourself with good people, if you have good staff, if you have good people will pick up the slack. You know, that's the idea of having good people around you so that you can stop when you need to.
29:39.20
Lorie Jones
Yeah, yeah. I think that's, I think that is interesting that idea of like tribe or or getting your people, um you know, put together people that are like-minded that are, that working towards that, that kind of same goal.
29:54.68
Lorie Jones
um And then, then the hard part for me, at least is then I have to let go. Then I have to let them
30:02.50
Suzanne
Yeah, delegation. That's a whole different conversation. I agree. it is hard to let go. It's your baby, especially if it's something you've built. It's your baby and your reputation and your everything.
30:16.84
Suzanne
So letting go is definitely a difficult, you know, it's a learned skill for sure. It took me a lot of years to decide I could let go. And I probably still have things I harbor pretty close to my circle.
30:29.73
Suzanne
i don't really want to let them go. But, you know, you definitely learn to trust your team, learn to trust your tribe, learn to, yeah, rely on them because they grow by that too.
30:34.06
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
30:40.60
Suzanne
If I have finally let my team or tribe take on something without me, Man, that's a confidence boost for them. I, for a while, didn't realize how important that is to them, that I trusted them enough to let them do it, gave them a boost.
30:48.96
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm.
30:58.18
Suzanne
They're a better employee. They're a better, you know, whatever, because i I let go. So it's just as important to them as it is to get it off my plate.
31:07.86
Lorie Jones
Yeah. And you, is your company set up now a little bit so that like you took some of those challenges you had from starting a company and being an entrepreneur and balancing your mom duties and, and things like that. Have you, have you set up your company so that um it's a little bit more friendly towards those balances?
31:29.97
Suzanne
I think so My office manager was able to work a similar schedule as me. It was important for her to be with her kids too. So we always worked around her kids' school schedule and she was able to work from home hours.
31:44.18
Suzanne
And so I think I understood that. I could... definitely follow and help her with that situation. So I do think learning how to balance my own has made me a better employer for letting people figure out and balance what they can do. And you know, it's hard. There's some occupations.
32:01.17
Suzanne
If our screen presses are running, You have to be here. Somebody's got to catch the shirt. somebody You know, there's certain things that can't be as adaptable, but office work and calls and things can be done from anywhere.
32:13.56
Suzanne
And so I can be adaptable in some some positions and not as much in others. But I do think I'm more sensitive to it and definitely pay better attention to people.
32:23.89
Lorie Jones
Yeah. Yeah. I love that. And I love that, that, that, you know, your experience is now helping and growing those that you're making it just a little bit easier on the next, the next set of people that are kind of coming through that.
32:37.67
Suzanne
Yeah.
32:38.88
Lorie Jones
So.
32:39.49
Suzanne
I hope so. Yeah.
32:40.77
Lorie Jones
Yeah. What is the thing you are most proud of, Suzanne?
32:47.27
Suzanne
Oh, let's see. At home, I'm the most proud of my family. have a 25-year-old son and a 19-year-old son who are successful human beings and will make a difference in this world. So I'm proud of that at home.
33:01.83
Suzanne
And I'm really proud that we've had this business for almost 31 years. There's not a lot of people that can say they survived in business. And, you know, but there was some lean years, there's some terrible years, but I'm proud we made it through.
33:16.70
Suzanne
We fought and did what it took to make it here. And so I'm very proud of that.
33:22.22
Lorie Jones
I love that. That is a really successful business. That's 31 years. That's a long time. Great job.
33:28.57
Suzanne
It is a long time. Thank you. Hence some of the gray hair I have and the wisdom that comes with those years.
33:38.29
Lorie Jones
yeah Yeah. Well, it is. And it's it's quite similar to, I know that, you you know, you had your kids and you're proud of them and they're going out and doing great things, but you actually did like grow a business as well, you know, like 30 years worth of, of time and energy into this, this company that is going to have a life for hopefully lots and lots more years.
33:51.61
Suzanne
Yeah.
33:59.80
Suzanne
Absolutely.
34:02.04
Lorie Jones
Right.
34:02.29
Suzanne
I agree. That is the plan.
34:06.21
Lorie Jones
So any advice for a young lady who's just kind of starting down the path that you're already successful at? And and you that it's so interesting. Like, i' I'm not sure that as a young woman, I'm like, I go, well, okay, I could a insurance person or like screen printing.
34:22.17
Lorie Jones
Like, I'm not sure I would even think of that job. but
34:24.42
Suzanne
yeah
34:26.59
Lorie Jones
But I think it's so cool. So how would you how would you talk to that young woman? What advice would you have her for her that would help her succeed like you?
34:35.58
Suzanne
Yeah, you know, I think people have to be not afraid to take a leap, you know? Just because everybody says you have to go to college or not, or this or that, you have to figure out what you want for you.
34:49.37
Suzanne
And if at 18, you say, i don't want to go to school, that's okay. But you know what? At 20, if you say, I want to go to school, great. No decision you make right this second defines your whole life.
35:04.22
Suzanne
There's so few decisions in life that define your whole 80 years or what, you know. And so I think sometimes people are so afraid to make that decision that they make one they feel is a little safer.
35:17.28
Suzanne
Well, just take the leap. Try something because the worst that could happen is it doesn't work out and you do something else. But you never know.
35:26.62
Lorie Jones
love
35:27.12
Suzanne
like I didn't know I was going to be a good businesswoman. We could have gone out of business in six months. But we said, let's try. Let's do this because we can always do something else and go back to work for somebody.
35:38.05
Suzanne
So don't be afraid to make bold decisions and go for what you want to do You can always change your mind. You can always change your mind.
35:46.05
Lorie Jones
i love it
35:47.57
Suzanne
Yeah.
35:47.77
Lorie Jones
Yeah, you can always pivot. I love that. That is so smart. and And they do a lot of times, you know, you you like are expected to have your like whole future mapped out at age 18.
35:58.65
Lorie Jones
Like you're knowing exactly what you're going into, exactly what you're going to be, you know, all that sort of thing.
36:00.60
Suzanne
and
36:03.87
Lorie Jones
And I think that's that that lessens the possibilities for those and puts them under a lot of pressure, but lessens the possibilities for those young people.
36:11.85
Suzanne
Yeah, I agree. when you you know you Maybe you do start school just in general, but you don't have to decide, I'm going to be X at 18 and no. Because how many people know what they want to do at 18? Not a lot.
36:25.00
Suzanne
And that's okay, but I don't think they're told that's okay very much.
36:28.70
Lorie Jones
Yeah.
36:28.92
Suzanne
I think they're told, no, you got it. Let's take a test. Let's figure out what you want to Let's s nail it down, you know, and that's a hard, you know, position, I think, for a young person to be in. Just think about all the things you might want to do and try some.
36:42.78
Suzanne
Go try them for a while.
36:42.91
Lorie Jones
yeah
36:44.79
Suzanne
Be in a building with a doctor. Be in a building with, you know shadow something. What do you think of it? do You have no way to know what you don't know. You don't know if you're going to hate it or fall in love with it until you try it.
36:56.27
Lorie Jones
Yeah. Yeah. And a really good idea to do that young, because if you've already put six or eight or whatever, how many years into like this one career and then discover you don't like it
37:00.90
Suzanne
Yeah.
37:08.98
Suzanne
Exactly. It's much better to pivot when you're younger. But even then, I've known people that pivoted at 50 and are thrilled out of their hearts. I think that's a general good advice for anybody. If you're not happy, do something different. Try something different. Get some education. Change it up.
37:27.11
Suzanne
It's okay. Just be brave. but
37:29.66
Lorie Jones
I will love it. I love it. Well, thank you so much, Suzanne, for spending some time with us and just sharing your story and your journey. I've really enjoyed it. If I have a young lady who's listening, who wants to ask you a question or pick your brain, how does she get ahold of you?
37:44.62
Suzanne
Absolutely. We have a website, which I'm assuming you can put there. They can reach out to me from that. um I'm happy to have anybody email me or call me. I love to mentor people. I love to ask questions. So I am happy to talk to anybody. They can definitely reach out.
38:00.49
Lorie Jones
Well, perfect. Thank you so much, Suzanne, for your time. I've really appreciated it.
38:04.67
Suzanne
Thank you so much for having me.