Print Pros Tell Us What They Wished They Did 5 Years Ago

QUESTION:

What do you wish you had spent more time doing five years ago?

• Taking a community college course in Abobe Indesign. Now it’s too late. — Barbara Allen, Fresh Artists, Philadelphia, PA
• Learning 3D modeling and CAD/CAM software. — Wade Neff, Strategic Factory, Owings Mills, MD
• Selecting only one niche industry to focus on — wraps. — Trey Matula, Picture This Wraps And Graphics, Mandeville, LA

• I wish I had given more thought to the changing nature of the marketplace. Not so much from a negative perspective … how it was going to hurt my company, but rather what hidden opportunities were there to create sales for both our company and our clients. — Jim Dittmer, JDA Creative Color, Gresham, OR

• Getting organized and hiring a bookkeeper instead of doing it all myself. — Britt Hoff, H N H Sign Company Llc, Nucla, CO

• That was pre-COVID, but if everything was “normal”, I would have moved into growth planning farther ahead.  Business and growth plans work, and I would have planned beyond the 3-5 years.  Personally, I started traveling abroad for leisure — who would have thought that would be put on hold back then? — Linda Fong, Justipher Inc., Dba Fastsigns Oakland; Fastsigns Hayward, Oakland, CA

• Invest on a POS system to retrieve payments from all payment programs. — Tommy Melendez, Master Graphics NYC, Bronx, NY