We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Bruce France. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Bruce below.

Bruce , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Almost all entrepreneurs have had to decide whether to start now or later? There are always pros and cons for waiting and so we’d love to hear what you think about your decision in retrospect. If you could go back in time, would you have started your business sooner, later or at the exact time you started?

I wish I would have started sooner. I started the business in 2005 and was working for an IT company. I had a good career, but I wasn’t happy with my job. Starting my business sooner likely would have given me a leg up in building my customer base and becoming profitable sooner. Also, as I get older, the labor is more physically demanding and starting sooner would have allowed me to take more advantage of the energy and stamina I had when I was younger.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I started out in the industry making embroidered skull caps for motorcycle riders. I began getting requests for other items and the business has evolved from there. Later on, as the business became more established, I added screen printing and laser engraving to our list of services.

We are most proud of the legacy we are building in our community as a family-owned business. We take pride in the work we do and in the fact that we do what we say we will do and meet our customer’s timelines. It makes us feel great when a customer comes to us with a rush order and we’re able to help them with their project on time.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Several years ago, we worked on a project for a local school. They were having their annual fun run activities. We needed to print 1000 t-shirts. We were met with a hurricane and had to work all night long during the hurricane to be sure we finished the project on time.

While it was a very challenging experience, it taught us to manage our timelines in a way that includes buffer days in case there are emergencies or unforeseen issues that may cause delay. It also taught us the value of working more closely with our customers, particularly for larger orders, in getting orders submitted in a timeframe that supports meeting our goal.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

I think the most impactful thing we’ve done to build our reputation in our market is to do a good job. We work very hard to do our best, whether it is for one item or 1000 items. We also ask our customers for feedback and encourage them to leave Google Reviews. Google reviews have been a huge factor in growing our customer base because it allows other customers to get real feedback and builds confidence in our services before they ever enter our business.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.franceembroidery.com
• Instagram: @france_embroidery
• Facebook: France Embroidery & Printing
• Yelp: France Embroidery & Printing

Image Credits
Tina France