KEYS TO
SUCCESS
by
Matt Puchalski
Picture Framing Magazine
September 2014
Keys to Success
By Matt Puchalski
After 10 years, I’ve found some simple business and lifestyle practices
have helped my framing business survive and prosper
M
asterpiece Framing started in a 10'x10' corner of
my parents’ basement 10 years ago. The business
operated out of a suitcase filled with 50 frame
samples, 50 mat samples, a calculator, and a handful of
blank invoices waiting for ink. I offered in-home framing
consultations.
Reflecting back, it’s obvious that times have changed.
My business has long been moved out of the basement into
retail space and now occupies a 3,000 square foot building I
own. Sales for the entire first year in business were equivalent
to what I now do in a week.
I say this not to brag but to let other framers know that
it’s entirely possible to grow a framing business and earn a
great living framing pictures. It’s not always easy; nor do I
have the magic bullet. In fact, getting the business off the
ground was painful. The start-up years were filled with
doubt as I constantly questioned if I’d chosen the right career
path. The only thing that kept me going was my stubborn
persistence; something I like to call indomitable spirit.
As I celebrate my tenth year, I’ve written down some of
the things I've learned so far in growing Masterpiece
Framing to what it is today. These are simple business and
lifestyle practices that have helped me survive and prosper in
a down economy. Not all of them are suited to everyone. My
hope is that these items will inspire you to take action and
develop a positive impact on your own business and life.
Simplify
I'm a huge fan of slow growth, continually making small
changes to achieve a larger vision. Always look for ways to
fine tune and simplify. This applies to everything. Figure out
how to streamline production, speed up order-taking, and
eliminate clutter. The goal is to make the most money with
the least amount of work.
Recently, I've focused on production flow and have
made a conscientious effort to analyze the number of steps
24 PFM September 2014
in each framing
task. This has
resulted in some
positive changes.
For example, in
the past we cut
frames and piled
the individual
rails on a table.
From there, we
carried bundles of rails to a joining station. We now stack
the cut rails on a shelving cart with casters and then roll
them to the next station. This eliminates making several
trips back and forth. It's a small change that clearly makes a
more efficient workflow. Simplification leads to fewer
headaches, lower costs, and more money in the bank.
Focus on Numbers That Matter
For some reason, the industry tends to judge a frame shop
by number of employees or quantity of frames it cranks out.
The bigger the numbers, the more impressive it sounds.
This has created a business climate that makes you think
you need to be big to succeed. But you can think small and
still prosper. I would never hire and expand just for the sake
of growth. The volume of business is not the same as net
profit. There’s something refreshing about running lean and
maximizing your bottom line.
How about using another number to analyze your business: profit per employee. I calculate this by adding my
salary and my employees’ salaries to the company's profit at
the end of the year and divide it by the number of employees (myself included). I compare this number for the current
year to last year. The goal is to have it increase every year.
Live Close to Work
As business owners, picture framers have a big say in how
close they live to work. How much time do you spend commuting each week? It's not uncommon to have an hour
commute. That translates into 2 hours a day, 10 hours per
week, and 24 days per year—a total of 3 years per lifetime.
You don't have to waste your life sitting in traffic. Live closer
to work and spend those three years with your family, pursue a hobby, or just chill out.
Start the Day Early
I made a minor adjustment to my schedule after my daughter was born. Two days a week, I get to work at 5 a.m. and
work a five-hour shift before my
shop opens. Any phone calls go
directly to voicemail, and I do
not check email. You’d be amazed
how much work gets done when
you don’t have interruptions. I
brew some coffee, crank up the
music, and get into a framing
zone. It can be very therapeutic
and gives me time to meditate on life and business. Some of
my best ideas come during these early hours.
By the time 10 o’clock rolls around, an employee has
arrived to open the shop for business. I go home for a midday siesta and family time. This includes lunch with my wife
and daughter and sometimes a walk or a nap. I usually
return to my shop around 1 p.m. and work the rest of the
day. On occasion, when I'm all caught up at work, I might
take the rest of the day off.
Minimize Debt
Debt is often glorified nowadays. There’s a view that holds
that a business without debt is not properly leveraging its
assets. This may work for some business owners, but for a
business like a small frame shop, avoiding debt can provide
more peace of mind and a better night’s sleep. It also means
you can do things on your own terms and have fewer worries about going bankrupt if things go bad. Yes, there are
pieces of equipment you may need to buy on credit that can
help you make more money. I also believe that buying your
building can be a sound investment. I just recommend
thinking long and hard before taking on significant debt to
make sure you can manage it.
Stay Hungry
Find what motivates you and keep the fire going. It might
be money, it might be making customers happy, or it might
be your love of the craft. Your motivations may evolve
26 PFM September 2014
throughout your career. Nothing motivates me more today
than providing for my family. It’s important to continually
analyze and remind yourself why you do what you do for a
living. It will help you to remain focused and purpose-driven.
The term “indomitable spirit” mentioned earlier translates
into motivation. When applied correctly, it helps you overcome your shortcomings. For example, when I first started my
business, I had a knack for working with customers and
designing great creative framing for their artwork. However, I
was not well versed in the more analytical aspects of running a
business. Accounting, taxes, and payroll scared me. However,
my passion and intense desire to succeed forced me to learn
the things I wasn’t good at. Harness your fire and use it to
improve your skills, taking your business to the next level.
Learn From Success
Take a close look at the things you did well in the past that
had a positive outcome. Build on those successes, and you'll
start picking up momentum.
You need to learn from your
failures, too, but the big breakthroughs come from learning
and analyzing things you did
right. For me, a big success
came when I invested in a large
format printer. I was able to
offer customers oversized prints of their photos on canvas.
This added service has led to countless framing sales over the
years. Chances are, if our store prints a photo for a customer,
there’s going to be a frame needed for that print. Cha-ching!
Consolidate Vendors
When I opened my first brick-and-mortar store, I felt I had to
offer my customers a huge selection of frames. I did business
with five vendors and filled my walls with towers of corner
samples. The downside was that I split my money between
too many companies and was unable to leverage any buying
power. Having too many vendors also complicates the ordering process, including keeping
track of which vendors deliver
on what days. It added up to a
higher cost of goods.
A few years into running
my business, I learned that consolidating vendors leads to more
money spent with fewer companies. In turn, I was able to negotiate deeper discounts, which
give me greater margins. How do you decide which vendors
to keep and which ones to let go of? I ran an analysis on my
POS software to determine where my best-selling mouldings
were coming from. Those vendors deserved more of my business. Another good idea is to look at vendor location. A local
company can get you material faster when you need it, a significant factor in keeping that vendor.
Perfect Your Website
The saying used to be, “Location, location, location!” Now, it’s,
"Website, website, website!" My first store was tucked away in a
dark corner of a strip
mall. It was not the
ideal location. I spent
lots of money during
my first years in business on traditional
forms of advertising
trying to get customers
to discover me. There
was one form of advertising that worked very
well—my website.
Once it was up and
running, it only cost
$10 a month. It may have been the biggest factor to the success
of my business.
Do whatever it takes to make sure you have the best possible website. This is a visual business, so it’s crucial to have
strong imagery on your site. This means having beautiful photos of framing samples and also great shots of your gallery.
Combine that with well-written text, and you’re on your way
to a solid website. When done correctly, it will bring you boatloads of business and make up for a lackluster location.
Buy Your Building
ly income.
• It adds to your business credibility. When customers realize
you own your building, you gain an extra level of trust and
confidence in your product.
Look Within
The best advice is
to take a brutally
honest look at yourself. You, more than
anyone, know what
needs to get done to
improve your business. A great exercise is to pretend to be your own customer. How does your
store look from a customer’s perspective? Does your gallery
look like it’s stuck in a 1980s time warp? How well do you
present yourself? These are all thoughts that float through
customers’ heads when they decide if they want to do business with you.
It's taken me 10 years to figure out what's important in
life and business. When I was fresh out of the gate, work
controlled my life. Now I’m in control and steering my own
ship. My path is clear, and I remain focused. I’m not saying
my way is the best or only way to run a framing business, but
it works really well for me.
There’s no better time than now to make things happen.
You owe it to your business, your employees, your customers,
your family, and to yourself. Happy framing! n
Matt Puchalski, owner of Masterpiece
Framing in Bloomingdale, IL, has been in the
picture framing business for 13 years. He also
holds a BFA in graphic design from the
American Academy of Art.
If you're in this game for
the long haul, you need to
consider purchasing
instead of renting space. The long-term benefits are huge. I'm
not suggesting you jump into a mortgage during the infancy of
your business; wait until you have a proven, profitable business
model.
There are many advantages of owning. Among these are:
• Your monthly mortgage payment is locked. You don’t have to
worry about a landlord raising your rent.
• Your building becomes a savings vehicle for retirement. You’ll
eventually own the building free and clear. It can either be
sold for cash or you can rent the building and collect monthPFM September 2014 27