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October 20, 2008 New Entrepreneurs

Custom threads | A conversation with Jim Berube of Graphic Explosion in Lewiston

Founded: July 2007
Number of employees: Berube, plus five part-time
Startup costs: $15,000
Projected revenue, year one: $65,000
Projected revenue, year two: $90,000
Contact: 576-3210
730 Main St., Lewiston 04240
www.graphicexplosion.com

Tell me about what you do at Graphic Explosion.
Well, what we do is we decorate uniforms, t-shirts, wearables. Basically we supply apparel and give people as many choices as we can. So we constantly research and try to come up with suppliers that will give us a good price. The goal is always to try to get wholesale pricing and we don’t always get that the first time, you kind of have to build your way up there. You really have to do a certain amount of volume in order to qualify for wholesale pricing on the wearables, and that’s one thing we try to do is keep our prices low for everybody. Another way that I keep my prices low is I actually do a lot of the printing myself. I hope to always be over-inspecting it. Even as we grow, I still want my eyes on the printing itself. At places I worked at before, the owners would not be anywhere around the quality of the product.

Why did you decide to launch your business?
I decided to launch it because it was a trade I enjoy and feel comfortable doing and I didn’t mind getting up in the morning to do it. I didn’t have an art background. I’m a musician who had to pick up this trade up in order to supplement my income from being a drummer in bands in the 80s and 90s. I went to trade school to be carpenter and I actually worked for construction outfits for 10 years, but my music was more important and the environment of the construction and the times to go to work and come home weren’t real conducive to the music. I was always interested in graphic arts and I knew friends who were in it and I pretty much went to work for free just to learn — you know I started at $4.25 an hour just to get to know how it’s all done and I really enjoyed it and it supplemented music perfectly. As I weaned off of the music I had opportunities to floor manage and my screen printing talents got better and lo and behold here we are. I went into it with other people before and I tried to partner up but it never ended up working out and the deals never came through how they were going to. I always wanted to be in it with a partner but I finally decided I have to do it myself. So luckily with the support of my wife we’re making a really great run of it.

How is your company financed?
Business credit and personal equity. I actually went through some of the things that the state offers and was very disappointed to see it was very impractical what they had to offer. I wasn’t destitute enough for them to give me what I needed, but at the same time I couldn’t see the reality of bridging those two things together. I had enough business knowledge on my own to get it done and luckily I had some equity in some property that I had to help me get started. I really started off with the minimum amount of equipment to get the maximum production out, which is basically what I learned to do working in other screen printing shops.

How do you market your business?
We use a variety — I do some restaurant menus, newspaper ads, some of the local news magazines. A lot of it is association networking and I joined up with Lewiston’s chamber of commerce, that’s been very beneficial. I got a space at a business-to-business tradeshow in Lewiston at the Colisee, that really pushed us out there. My goal and the big challenge is when I started I had some time to go and visit potential clients and accounts and really stay personal with clientele, and I hope to continue on that pattern as much as time allows.

What’s been your biggest challenge thus far, in terms of growing your business?
Biggest challenge is the cost to maintain [the business]. I’m leasing and prices are going up all the time and the problem with that is it really makes it hard to grow because of space, heating square footage, just to power it is really tough.

Interview by Mercedes Grandin

New Entrepreneurs profiles young businesses, 6-18 months old. Send your suggestions and contact information to editorial@mainebiz.biz.

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