We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Chad Muzzarelli a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Chad , appreciate you joining us today. Coming up with the idea is so exciting, but then comes the hard part – executing. Too often the media ignores the execution part and goes from idea to success, skipping over the nitty, gritty details of executing in the early days. We think that’s a disservice both to the entrepreneurs who built something amazing as well as the public who isn’t getting a realistic picture of what it takes to succeed. So, we’d really appreciate if you could open up about your execution story – how did you go from idea to execution?
When I first moved to Austin all I wanted to do was make posters and work with bands. Getting into school I realized I was one of a few that knew how to screen print posters. After bringing in some finals I had printed it started quickly where I was having people ask if I could do it for them as well. This made me realize I could do something others couldn’t and made me really focused on screen printing. After my internship at Industry print shop here in Austin I was fully focused on printing and how it worked. After having been asked to come on full time I was able to start seeing the designers that I’ve always looked up to. Which helped create my design style. I think it was super important to have the screen printing background before I started to design for print. Years went by and all I was doing was printing. That is until COVID happened. This forced me to try and break out of the print bubble and lean into design. With no events or tours happening the bands all dried up. Once I started to design for clients it helped having the print background so I can save my clients time and money on creating designs straight for print. Also being able to educated my clients when it comes to getting the designs ready for what ever merch they are putting it on. Now that I am running my own business I have taken all the things I’ve learned and liked and put them in place with my company. Once the bands started to tour again I was able to grab some of my biggest and best clients I could ever ask for and will be helping them through the rest of their careers.
Chad , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
My name is Chad Muzzarelli. I am 32 years old and live in Austin Texas. I was told when I first moved here if I wanted to become a screen printer to start printing and I had to buy my own equipment and get it figured out. Slowly I was able to buy a press and dryer. From there it just started to happen where I had people I would have never thought I’d get the opportunity to work with start hitting me up. It really started with the BMX companies my friends have or worked at. Only would get to work with bands every now and then. When I was able to design and print for The Dead Milkmen for a festival called Sound on Sound then bands were more eager to let me know if they needed help. Now I love going to shows and talking with the merch guy. This always helps open a door to get to the correct person to talk with, bands I’ve used this technique for would be Urban Heat. These are my number one client and I will continue to get designs and print their merch.
We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.
The side hustle had always been important to me. I have always had the screen printing studio running while working a full time position. I’ve always been a screen printer so I have mainly just had full time positions at bigger screen printing shops here in Austin such as Industry Printshop, FSG Printshop, Bat City Awards and Apparel. The last shop I worked at I realized that I was making more on the side hustle then I was at the full time position I was in as a production manager. This finally gave me the courage to jump ship and go on my own. Now that I am working on my own for almost the last year I have my business working and I am glad that I made the choice of going out solo on my own.
How did you build your audience on social media?
I am lucky enough to have my wife that works for Meta as a media buyer. I’ve worked hard on making my social media an outlet to find new clients and get a further reach with campaigns that I run. Social media content is crucial in this day and age. I am lucky enough to be able to have cool content with the screen printing process and it’s a lot of fun to show the process of it.
Contact Info:
- Website: Madmustystudios.com
- Instagram: @madmustystudios
Image Credits
Andrew Wade Nunn