We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Bruce Tokar a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Bruce, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

I began my career in the signage industry 40 years ago, sweeping floors at a local sign shop in Columbus Ohio. Working from the ground up, I moved into several roles for other companies, designing and crafting signs and other creations for the Greater Columbus area. As my honed my skills designing signs, I dreamt of owning my own business and could never bring myself to make that jump. Throughout the handful of companies I worked for, I learned both the good and the bad and how to properly manage projects, interact with customers, and bring to life many visions. I struggled to rest at the larger businesses, working to enlarge profits and put out the little guy. Eventually, that longing was stirred to create a competitive company based uplifting and inspiring other businesses through focusing on the customer’s request, profits took a backseat. After a strenuous period of life working a significant amount of hours weekly, sacrificing time with family, I realized that I needed to take that leap of faith and embrace the risk of creating my own business with the many skills I had developed through my experiences. At the end of the day, I desire the legacy I leave to not only be a successful business owner that impacts the lives of other corporations or individuals with beautiful creations, but also help other business owners realize their successes like I did myself.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

From a young age, I always had a passion for art and design. While sweeping floors at a sign company, I saw first hand the potential to put those passions to work and sharing them with others. Slowly, I worked up the ranks of that sign company and on to others, learning every skill imaginable from hand cut vinyl letters to bending and filling neon tubes. Eventually, I rose to management and began teaching those skills to others with new twists on how to do age old techniques. Not only am I proud of the skills I amassed over my life but the skills I was able to pass onto young employees sweeping floors and even my children. When I started my own business I knew it would be difficult but I leaned on my ingenuity and demonstration of skill over many years to motivate me, for many years my family always pushed me to go on my own after seeing things like kid games at our parish festival or the Narwal tusk I carved from foam for my son’s junior speech project. Today, I am able to develop a vision, quickly realize how it goes from paper to physical existence and deliver it to my clients from the footprint of my small shop. Many times, it allows them to get that little bit of motivation that their small business dream is actually coming to life and it supports them to take those scary leaps of faith.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

I hold trust above all else as a value, not only personally but professionally. My belief is honesty breeds success in a business and that honesty to customers brings them back for repeat work. I have witnessed first hand salesmen and business owners intentionally drive a customer to the option that is not in their best interest but in the businesses best interest. When I started Artiplex, I was sure that this will not be how I do business for the simple fact that society can be dishonest and the only way to fix that is become an honest light out there that customers know they will be respected and taken care of.

Any advice for managing a team?

I managed a sign shop for over 15 years before starting Artiplex, managing teams of all sizes and stages, from difficult to cohesive. My approach to managing a team is setting roles and responsibilities, leading by example, and being that servant leader. Growing up Catholic, I always have desired to live by “treat others the way you wish to be treated” and this motto drives my management style. As a manager it is important to understand the tasks of your team because you may have to step in at any point and support them, when someone calls in sick, or the work goes above the current bandwidth, being able to pitch a hand makes all the difference. Building and maintaining high morale is simple: it comes down to knowing your people, taking care of them, and working with them. Many times, I have had folks call in sick or have an unexpected tragedy; these are the times when they need you the most and knowing that their manager is going to support them builds a respect like no other. While my company is still small and growing, I believe respect should be held in high regard and given to every individual no matter their role.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://artiplexsigns.com/