Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Paul Smith. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Paul, appreciate you joining us today. We love asking folks what they would do differently if they were starting today – how they would speed up the process, etc. We’d love to hear how you would set everything up if you were to start from step 1 today

One of the things that I have always concerned myself with is security. Even though I had the entrepreneurial bug from a very early age, I always valued security. My want for safety outweighed my desire to make my own way in life. That being said, I have always had a side hustle. In school, I had two part time jobs.

Once I was working full time, I started landscaping on the side to earn extra money and to scratch a creative itch I had. By the time the business started growing (no pun intended), I was moving up the company ladder. I was making better money, I had benefits and it was much harder to give up that security to chase that dream of working for myself. I had the opportunity to work for another company again making more money and this time working lots of overtime so I decided to take that and give up my landscape company.

Soon thereafter, the bug hit me again and I used my contacts to start an industrial signage company out of my garage. This started blowing up and about the time I thought I could dive into it full time, I changed jobs once again to go into management and put aside my dreams for security. Can you see the trend?

The point to all of this is that if I were to have it to do over again, I would have followed my dreams. If your work ethic is solid and you have the talent and desire to follow your dreams, the best time to do it is when you are young. If I would have followed my dreams from the beginning, I believe things would have turned out differently. It’s like starting a family, if you wait for the perfect time, you may never have one. There are always arguments for waiting but there is no time like the present.

Paul, 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?

I worked in the electrical industry for more years than I like to admit and started the industrial signage business using my contacts from work. We still have the commercial part of the business and have been running it for the last 20 years. During that time, we have also designed and produced dollhouses and miniature furniture using the equipment we use for the commercial business and sold these items through websites and conventions.

Recently, we have expanded into promotional products. I have teamed up with my daughter and son in law to open Disturbing Designs. We produce custom t-shirts, buttons, stickers, posters, hats and many other promotional items. We can also help with logo design and any other design projects our customers require. This has been fun for me because I get a chance to be creative again. That fulfills something that has been missing in my life and makes me happy. The other thing that makes this venture rewarding is being able to share this with my family. We work together for a common goal.

The biggest thing that makes us stand out from our competitors is quality. We are very particular about the products we provide. If the quality is not up to our standards, the products will not be shipped.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

From the beginning, we have attempted to be self-funded. When I started the landscape company, I purchased all of the equipment as it was needed to grow the business. The industrial signage company was a different story. The first piece of equipment we purchased was more that we wanted to spend so we ended up securing a personal load for $10k to purchase that first machine. We managed to pay that back in the first year and went on to purchase several machines to improve the business without additional financing.

Disturbing Designs was started as a spin-off of the commercial business and with cash from that business. We are completely self-funded and hope to continue to grow in the same manner.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

As stated previously, quality sets us apart from others. We pride ourselves on the products we produce and the proof of that is the amount of work we get without advertising. To date, all of our business has been through word of mouth. That says a lot about our service and quality. We do plan on advertising in the near future to introduce ourselves to a bigger audience.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.disturbingdesigns.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/disturbing_designs