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

Hi Wyatt, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?

in 2012 I had the idea to print personal photos on wood, which launched this little side hustle. At the surf shop we referred to these as wooden plaques / planks, so I thought the name Plank-IT, Plank That, etc. would be good. When I went to find a domain, instagram handle, LLC, etc. I ran into some issues. In 2012 there was a craze on the internet of people “planking” which looking back was such a silly trend. So, “plank that” was out because I would never show on google. Then I went on to “Plaque That” but quickly realized it was dominated by dental hygiene products and I would never show on first page. So then I just spelled it “wrong”, the domain was available, handle was available, etc. and I went for it. Looking back I’m glad I did because now we are doing signage and awards and stuff that “plank that” wouldn’t have been applicable to anyways. To this day most people refer to my company as “plank that” so many years ago I bought that domain name and it auto-forwards to my actual business, Plak That :)

Wyatt, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Wyatt and I am the owner of Plak That in Ocean City Maryland. Plak That started as a solution to a customer who wanted to have his family photo printed on wood. I was working at a surf shop and had been designing these printed wooden boards for sale in the shop of the boardwalk, sunrise, waves, etc. but never customized. I thought it would be a cool low-overhead side hustle and just sub out the work so Plak That was born in July 2012. I kept working at it and it kept growing so in 2013 I bought a warehouse and got a small business loan for my own printer.

Over the years we have dabbled in all sorts of things, from printed yoga mats and frisbees to massive commercial art installations. I like to keep the workplace a little bit chaotic with lots of different ideas and things going on at all times. Fast forward to today and we do work for national brands (tap handles, point of sale display racks) as well as small one-off items for local customers. We work with designers, brands, other business owners, and personal customers to help them with signs, awards, decor, & more.

Clients come to us with a budget, a need, an idea, or literally nothing and we help them figure out what they need! Sometimes they have a complete brand guide and other times they draw their logo on a piece of paper at the shop and we turn it into signage for them. We are a young, very small team and none of us come from a sign or manufacturing background. I studied Anthropology in college and I do have a graphic designer / production manager as my right hand, but other than that we are kind of flying by the seat of our pants. What makes it fun is that we love figuring out cost-effective and material-effective ways to make things. For example, our sizing is a little funny compared to the normal 12×18, 16×20, etc. sizing for photos. That’s because when we cut down a piece of plywood to make the wood prints we want to minimize the amount of waste that goes into the dumpster. We routinely design items for clients that maximize the yield, are better for the environment, and ultimately better on the wallet for everyone!

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

Let my People go Surfing – Yvon Chouinard. I read this book in college and always dreamed of owning my own business. When I started Plak That it was just me, so balancing work and personal time wasn’t as difficult. Over the years I have tried hiring more people, less people, etc. and really what it comes down to for me is finding less people but make sure they are supported and you take good care of them. Covid was a really challenging time but I feel like the employees that I had really respected me and wanted the business to survive / thrive so we made it through relatively unscathed. My production manager has been with me for 8 years now and Yvon’s book really showed me that treating your employees more like family and allowing them some flexibility is crucial. This past year my wife and I welcomed our first child so balancing more time home with the business has been challenging. We produce a tangible, physical product that does require shop time (limited remote work with our business) and my employees have been so amazing with picking up the slack at the shop while I learn how to be a parent at home :)

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

From 2012 to 2017, our online sales were about 80-80% of our total sales. Direct to consumer, e-commerce personalized photos printed on a variety of mediums. In 2018 I started noticing a sharp decline in sales mixed with a noticeable increase in the cost of online advertising and marketing. So, in 2018 we started doing more commercial work and signage. Our online sales were really slipping no matter how much we marketed (increased competition in the space) and we were happy / fine with the new commercial reality until Covid hit. Covid shut down multiple large commercial jobs that we had on the books and we had to pivot back to e-commerce quick. Fortunately with everyone at home most of 2020 and us still having the e-commerce nostalgic photo print business, we had one of our best years ever in the online space. On the commercial front I started fabricating a bunch of sneeze guards and PPE type things for our local areas and for businesses that we had done work for in the past. After 2020 the online sales died back down again and have been decreasing as a total percentage ever since. Now we are close to 90% commercial work and I don’t really see the online direct to consumer stuff ever going away completely, but we aren’t spending any more money or time trying to prop it up.

Contact Info:

• Website: plakthat.com
• Instagram: plakthat
• Facebook: plakthat

Image Credits
Alex Ashman Photography Sarah Murray Photography