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

Alright, Gary thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with 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?

So, I was a service tech in the Grand Format Digital Print industry after moving from NYC back to my home state of Rhode Island. In New York I worked in large format printing for years. We did all of the gigantic ads in Time Square and around the world. I took a chance by moving back to RI to help a friend start up his printing business in Massachusetts but after a few months it had failed so I ended up taking a design job at a local company just to pay the bills. I had planned to go back to NYC but it kept getting further and further away. I was basically stuck back in RI with my wife and our 2 daughters so I had to maintain an income. Years later a good friend that I had trained in NYC called me and spoke about a company in Canada looking for technicians. He had given them my number and they called one day and the next day flew me out to Toronto for an interview. At first I was reluctant to take the job but after a few months of back and forth with them I excepted the offer and flew back to Canada for a 3 week training course on Field Service for the complete line of Grand Format Digital Printers. Gandi Innovations was the company name. This was in 2007. I lasted there for years flying around the world week after week and across North America until in 2012 they sold the company to AGFA Gavert which was a film and plate company expanding into Grand Format. I was still traveling but they were more of a local company so they gave me a brand new car to drive around the North East of the US. Things got slower and I started seeing my friends from Gandi starting to loose their positions. AGFA already had a huge staff so once they learned our printers they pretty much got rid of us. My manager and I didn’t quite get along but He knew how good I was so he kept me on-board to make his team look good. Well one day I drove to New Jersey and an old company from queens New York had their printers being stored in a warehouse as they were planning to sell them. I went there and my old fried said He was retiring and wanted me to fix the one printer so He could sell it. I said to myself but out loud that maybe I should buy it?? He heard me and jumped right in to make the deal. I called my wife and she said to go for it So I gave him an offer that He agreed with. Next I took 5K from my 401K Plan as a down payment. We shook hands and wrote up a person to person agreement that I would pay him monthly until it was paid for. 12K was the price for 2 printers and all of his printshop supplies including Mac computers, desk, materials and all of the associated stuff He had in storage. I know had to start a company. So I came up with a name and registered it. Next I needed a location so I ran around from factory to factory looking for enough room to set up shop. Meanwhile I was still working for AGFA. When the equipment arrived a week later I had found a small place close by my residence that would suffice temporarily. I set up shop and then began looking for customers. I made some flyers and went to local print shops telling them I can print the BIG banner and such. I also signed up to Facebook and Instagram and went to work on advertising. I grew up a Graffitti artist so all of my friends knew I was good at art so that part was easy for me. Next thing you know… I am the guy to see for printing service all around town. We were getting well known. A year later I moved into a bigger facility. This was in 2013. At this time I was still working for AGFA until on my 3rd daughters birthday November 2014 I got the bad news that my position with AGFA was coming to an end. They severanced me out and even offered to help me find a new job but of course I refused it. It was now time to set my sails in the right direction and steer this thing to success. That’s what I am still doing today as I write this article. Hall of GraFX is one of the biggest Print Shops in Rhode Island. My oldest Daughter runs production, I have a top notch designer and we take interns from the Local Colleges and High Schools as part of our training program. We work with lots of event planners and every local business around the state including CT and Mass. Since the beginning we have grown this business by buying printers and everything we need to keep advancing for the future. Without taking a chance this would have never happened. We have received numerous awards for our service as well. WE ARE THE BEST… THINKBIG!!! www.hallofgrafx.com

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

Using social media is the best free advertising you can get for a small business. When I do work for friends they usually post it and tag you in on it so everyone can know where they got the artwork. This is huge for me as my shop depends on day to day consumers. We do not have big company accounts here and honestly don’t want them. Working with the masses of people is much harder but the results are much better. Big companies do not like to pay us smaller companies right away so you do a huge job for them and they pay months and months later.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

Managing a team is easy. You have to treat people with respect and allow for human error. No-one is perfect and when people feel comfortable around you they work stress free and actually do a better job. Also at my place I am not the Boss. I am a co-worker. We all have our positions so we do not need to give titles to each other as in who is hire up. We treat each other equally nd with respect of each others position here. The keeps the machine well oiled.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.hallofgrafx.com
• Instagram: hallofgrafx
• Facebook: hallofgrafx

Image Credits
image credits go to Asya Wallace