Ashley, a man in his early forties, worked as a power engineer in Canada's oil drilling industry for almost twenty years. "I have enjoyed oil patch work and it can be quite lucrative, but oil fields have just too many ups and downs," said Ashley. He sold one of his rental properties to finance the opening of his first business-a company that offered copying and printing services to the local business community. One of the key decisions he made early on was to offer a "one-stop shop" for promotional printing services. After reviewing the needs of his customers and doing some market research, he decided to specialize in promotional printing. When he learned that apparel is the most important among all promotional products, he purchased a digital apparel printer.

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After the installation of an AnaJet printer, his first job was to print 1,800 T-shirts for a sporting event. The shirts required imprints on the front and back, which raised the unit price he could charge. With other smaller jobs, he printed more than 2,200 shirts during that first month. Immediately following the first job, the customer placed more orders, and Ashley realized that his business potential was greater than he originally envisioned. During the first two months, he printed more than 4,500 shirts; he soon decided to add an embroidery service that would satisfy many customer requests. Indeed, other customers requested both printing and embroidery on the same shirt. For this, he bought a Melco two-head Amaya embroidery system, which works well alongside the AnaJet printer.

By this time, he was confident that his business would prosper. "In this small town, there are not an awful lot of businesses you can do at the level of investment I am comfortable with," Ashley noted. "I certainly did not want to open another pizza parlor. I wanted to do something other businesses did not offer-and something that contributed to the local business community."

Ashley has relied primarily on local customers in Ponoka, Alberta, which has a population of 7,000. He estimates there are about 50,000 people in his trading area, which includes small cities within a 20-mile radius of his business. Although there is a large-enough population base to support his business growth, he is now eyeing remote customers. "There is no reason to limit yourself to local businesses. With a digital garment decoration plant, you can really serve the entire nation," he said. For now, most of Ashley's customers are local businesses, sporting teams and their sponsors, schools and individuals. He advertises in a local newspaper and on a radio station. His three-month contract with the radio station costs $800 and is the most expensive component of his marketing. However, the most effective marketing has been the word-of-mouth by his satisfied customers.

Ashley employs a graphic designer three days a week. His wife helps as needed. His sales manager, who works four days a week, generates enough business to keep his shop humming most of the time. A Web developer is now busy building his Web site. When the site is ready, Ashley plans to launch a marketing program to sign up additional customers in northern Alberta and other parts of Canada. He is also gearing up to provide apparel decoration services to other promotional product distributors who do not have in-house capabilities. He is not concerned about the predicted recession. "When times are hard, businesses must advertise and promote their products and services. I am really in the advertising and promotion business, not in the printing business," says Ashley. He is outgrowing his current 3,700-square-foot facility and is looking for a larger space to accommodate more employees.

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