Sure, you've been in business for a few years... has the daily grind wear you down to a knob?
Have you lost your passion for what you thought was an earth-shattering career move a few years ago?
That absolutely is not the case with today's guests on this episode of Success Stories. Austin, Texas-based Tony Diaz with Industry Print Shop has been cranking out some of the most creative art-driven work since 2007. Whether it's posters or apparel, you can be sure that Tony's team is knee-deep in the fun of putting together some amazing work. We'll hear how Tony and his crew and industry print shop keep everything on creatively moving forward. So get ready for some awesomeness.
Sure, you've been in business for a few years... has the daily grind wear you down to a knob?
Have you lost your passion for what you thought was an earth-shattering career move a few years ago?
That absolutely is not the case with today's guests on this episode of Success Stories. Austin, Texas-based Tony Diaz with Industry Print Shop has been cranking out some of the most creative art-driven work since 2007. Whether it's posters or apparel, you can be sure that Tony's team is knee-deep in the fun of putting together some amazing work. We'll hear how Tony and his crew and industry print shop keep everything on creatively moving forward. So get ready for some awesomeness.
Marshall Atkinson
Welcome to Success Stories brought to you by S&S activewear. I'm your host, Marshall Atkinson. And this is the podcast that focuses on what's working so you can have success too.
Sure, you've been in business for a few years has the daily grind worn you down to a knob? Have you lost your passion for what you thought was an earth-shattering career move a few years ago? That absolutely is not the case with today's guests on this episode of Success Stories. Austin, Texas-based Tony Diaz with Industry Print Shop has been cranking out some of the most creative art-driven work since 2007. Whether it's posters or apparel, you can be sure that Tony's team is knee-deep in the fun of putting together some amazing work. We'll hear how Tony and his crew and industry print shop, keep everything on creatively moving forward. So get ready for some awesomeness. So all right, Tony. So welcome to the Success Stories podcast.
Tony Diaz
Thanks, Marshall. I really appreciate you having me on.
Marshall Atkinson
Yeah. So how are you doing today? What's going on down there in Texas?
Tony Diaz
It's a beautiful day in Texas. You know, we're entering this really busy season, we got everybody running on all cylinders. It's a stark contrast from where we were last year. So just that seeing the, you know, where we were last year to what's going on today. And the team that we had last year and the team that we have now. Like it's just great. I'm counting my blessings here. I'm grateful for what we do have. And I'm excited about this psych rebuild.
Marshall Atkinson
Great, great, right. So let's get the show started with just a little talk about your origin story. So how does going from being in a punk rock band to being a business owner happen? So can you share the roots of that story for us?
Tony Diaz
Absolutely. When I was a kid, I love that great stories always start with Well, when I was a kid, right?
Marshall Atkinson
Right.
Tony Diaz
So when I was a kid, and you know, not super young, I was in high school, I went to a punk rock show with my older brother, and just absolutely became addicted to the energy of those shows. I felt like for the first time, like I belonged somewhere, you know, and so I wanted to participate in that scene. And I was there was such a high appeal for going to shows and seeing these bands that were in another city the night before. And tomorrow, they're going to be in a completely different city. And just that whole idea of touring around playing, creating this energy around the country, it like really turned me on. And so at that point, I knew that's what I wanted to do. It was like a calling. After the first time I went to a show, the very next day, like I had, like all of that was figured out overnight, right. And the next day, like I had all the money I'd saved up and I got a guitar. And you know, I had I played music like in school, you know, middle school trumpet, things like that. And I loved music. So I had a decent understanding of it. But I just learned from a friend that you can do a power chord and move that power chord all over the guitar and you start writing music. So the very next day, I had a guitar the very next day after that, I was starting a band with my high school friends, you know, high school playing bands, and I would spend nights at Kinkos designing our fliers and you know going like spend all night cutting up comic books and magazines and doing all this cut and paste stuff on copiers and be making flyers and the next day like passing them out. And so it wasn't until years later that that's when I realized I had a there I was starting a path within the visual arts. So I'll come back to that. But anyway, I'll do High School, played in bands, and I'm from San Antonio. And so an hour and a half north is the great city of Austin. And there was more of an opportunity for me to be able to live out this crazy idea of being in a band and touring the country. So a friend of mine, we moved up here we started a band and you know we played some shows but the difference about -- what was really hard if you have this goal, the singular goal within a group, it's, if not everybody's vision is on that one goal, it's gonna be really hard to attain. You know, you're dealing with a group of people and those group of people, they have jobs, they have girlfriends, they have schools like we're really young, there's, we're on our own, for the first time in our life, like reality starts to set in of like, "Can we do this?" So for me, I saw that this is going to be harder than I want it to be, honestly. And I'm not afraid of hard work. But you know, you can lead a horse to water, you know. And so like, I was at a show and thinking, like, how can I contribute to this? And so while all that's happening, I'm starting to play around with like, just making t-shirt ideas, and started saying, well like, "Hey, I got these t-shirt ideas for my band, let me do some t-shirts for this band." And let me do, they're just designs, they're just ideas. And I started to take those ideas and, you know, sell them to bands. But what really started happening was I started making designs for a lifestyle brand. Now, this is in the late 90s. So, you know, what's considered a lifestyle brand now, like, that really wasn't a thing in that scene at that time. So I was making these t-shirts that I thought were cool. And I would go to the local shows. And I would go to the bands and say, "Hey, do you mind if I set up my merch next year merch, here are some free shirts." And they're like, "Yeah, go ahead, do whatever you want to do." But if you're there, why don't you run our merch table too? So I became like this, like the resident merch guy here in Austin. backed into it. Yeah, yeah, I just, I was selling the merch at the shows. And I'd have my designs and the bands would wear them. Then after they played, kids would come and I like that shirt, buy that shirt. They don't even know what they're buying. They're just buying it because they saw it on stage. So you know, I'm realizing that I'm contributing to this thing, like, you know, the scene, and realizing that, like these touring bands that are coming through, that's how they're getting from, to the next city is their merchandise sells. And I was really good at that. I was really passionate and excited to be a part of the scene, like a contributor to the scene. I was helping these bands make money. Like as I go, I'm a real passionate guy. So if I'm at a show, and there's a band playing, I just love and I love their record. I love their songs. Like I don't standstill. It's I can't like it moves me. And I would be moved to the merch table. And what that did was it drew people in, they're like, this guy is like going crazy over the spans on stage. He's pumping his fist. He's singing all these words, like, what's going on?
I'm drawing people in, I'm like, Well, if you don't know this band as you check it out. Here's their record, like, sit and watch his last two songs with me like people would buy the merch because I was excited about those bands.
Marshall Atkinson
Authentic enthusiasm.
Tony Diaz
Exactly. Yes, it was very contagious. And bigger bands are starting to come through the bands, I'm working for an opening for these bands, I am meeting these bands, I am giving them my clothing line to where I am. They need a place to stay. They're staying at my house like I start to become friends and grow this network of these touring artists. And for me, it was like they could have been like Superman. They could have been they were like, They're my heroes. They were the people that I like, their words, was my therapy growing up, like they meant something to me. And now they're staying at my house. And so kind of fast forward, one of these bands ends up signed to a major label. And I had gotten married in September of 2003. Sorry, it's summer 2003. And we went on honeymoon and I came back. And I got a call from this band who had just signed a major label deal. And they said, "Hey, look, we're going on for in January, like for an indefinite amount of time to push this record. And we want to hire you to be our merch guy." So I'm like, "I just got married, you know?" I get off the phone. I go to my wife, Jennifer and I tell her what's going on and she's just super excited for me and she's like, "Yeah, I know who I married. I know what you want to do. Like, go do it. Go get it out of your system." Like yes, this is amazing. So with their blessing, I called them back I took the job. And in January we were out. Again, like my enthusiasm for the band meet, I felt like I was a part of the band because I was able to contribute through my enthusiasm to generate more sales of merchandise. And that just brought me so much fulfillment, knowing that I was just contributing this thing that was bigger than me.
Marshall Atkinson
So you're designing and printing everything.
Tony Diaz
So while all this is going on, I'm still designing. I am dabbling in Photoshop learning from friends, learning through error. And I became friends with this guy, Zach here in town who had like a setup screenprint set up in his garage. So, you know, at night selling merch during the day, I'm hanging out with this guy. And I was like mowing his lawn. I was washing his car, I was sweeping the garage, I was just hanging out. And whenever there's a job on press, like I was right there I was, you know, reclaiming screens, I was catching the shirts, I was just around because I, I couldn't really afford to print my shirts, or pay to get them printed. So I had to print my designs myself. So he was really awesome. And he showed me pretty much everything. You know, we didn't have any exposure. You know, we were burning screens in the sun. And it was rad. It was really awesome. So I wasn't I was more involved in my day was being in a band, being a part of a band, designing merch, designing my own designs, etc. And I just kind of like when I was around, I was at this screen printing shop or this garage. I'm on the road for a couple of years with different bands. And this band from Austin called near miss, they had just signed to a new record label. They had cut a new record, they recorded it as a four-piece. They lost their second guitar player. So they're three-piece and we're just hanging out. We're just talking and they're like, We need another guitar player, no new guitar players. And I'm like, No, I'm, you know, I don't know, all of a sudden, they're like, well, don't you play guitar? You said you play guitar? I was like, oh, yeah, like, yeah, I play guitar. I wasn't thinking that. And I don't even think that they were thinking that they were gonna ask me to play. We were just talking. And so one thing led to another and now I'm in the band like I went from working for bands being a part of them to actually being in the band. And so--
Marshall Atkinson
It's a dream come true.
Tony Diaz
Yes. Yes, absolutely. That's tough, that's what I'm getting at I'm, I learned the songs, we hit the road, we're playing, we're on the warped tour, the drummer's Canadian, and we're on the leg of the warped tour where it goes into Canada, and, you know, the work toward the booking agents, they know what they're doing. And because Canadians love their own, they put us on the main stage. And we were on the mainstage, like in between, like to have like, the biggest acts at the time, you know, Primetime spot, you know, just crazy other, the whole other parts of the tour, we were in the States, we're like, on the like the sideshow stage, like, the baby stages, like, you know, all like on the outskirts of the festival. So now all of a sudden, we're on the main stage, and we're playing, we get to, like, you know, like our single like the hit song on the record. And I mean, you just see, like, 1000s of kids just matching the same energy that you're putting out. I mean, they're giving it right back to us. And you know, the kids are going crazy, their body surfing, they're just you could see their face, you can see I could see kids like in the front row, like seeing every single word just like I did, when the roles were reversed. And I have this experience where like, I don't even remember if I was actually playing it felt like this out of body experience, where I was like floating over myself witnessing all of this things like, you know, I'm 26 at the time, I picked up a guitar when I was 16. And it took 10 years for me to get from this desire to here where I always wanted to be. And I'm realizing that some having this out-of-body experience realizing that I'm living my dream that it took a decade. But I didn't quit. I found other paths and I still got to where I wanted to be. And it was extremely cathartic. I was just like I said, I don't even remember if I'm playing anymore because I'm just I'm not even I feel like not even really lucid at the moment. So we finished the show is amazing, you know "You know, it was so great." And the next day, I was over it, I was done. I was so depleted. I been on the road for three years and saw my wife like a total of maybe two months during that whole three years during sporadic times off, you know when went from touring with these bigger bands in the very beginning. So we're on the bus, and we're staying at hotels to the end of it. I'm in this band. And we're touring, and we have a record deal. But we don't have the budget or the tour support from our label to put us up in a hotel like we're slumming it. We slept in the parking lots at Warped Tour, you know, and I was just, I was just done, I was tired. And while all that was happening, I was still designing, I was still doing this clothing line. When I was home, I was still screen printing. I felt like I was married to music, but I had was having an affair with art and design and screen printing. And I kind of left music to pursue that I had always been flirting with that. And I was I loved it too. It made me feel good. You know, it was nice. And so we finished off the tour, left the band, and took the money that I had been saving up from being on tour and bought equipment.
Marshall Atkinson
And you were still in Austin, where you are now. And that's how the industry started was with the money that you made from touring?
Tony Diaz
Yes, sir. Yes, sir.
Marshall Atkinson
And so you're still actively doing stuff for bands, you still have those connections and part of that tribe kind of deal? Correct?
Tony Diaz
Yes, yes. Absolutely. And you know, when I tell that story, that's all we Oh, you're still doing stuff for the band, you're still doing all that. It's like, Yeah, but honestly, like, that's like, not the bulk of our business, the bulk of our businesses, other Austin businesses, I feel like, you know, the majority of our business is B2B. And I think that I think that a lot of our success and growth can be attributed to being in Austin. And when we started, there were a lot of other businesses starting. And as they grew, we grew. And now only what's great for us is, if we have 10 clients that are growing, we have 10 times as much growth, you know, we're not growing with just one of them, we're growing with 10 of them. That's one of the reasons why we made some exponential growth in such short, short amounts of time.
Marshall Atkinson
So it's easy to see that you're really passionate about the art and the creative side of things because that's what really learned you away from music, right? So how do you keep that going, and what you're doing, because now, you know, you just said you're not doing so much for bands anymore. While you're in the back fist-pumping to the music and selling merch. You're doing stuff for the local deli or the gym. Right? So how do you keep that going with everything that you're doing?
Tony Diaz
Well, the local businesses, what's great about that is most of our clients are very brand conscious, they take the time to create great designs for their brand. So there's that, you know, it's not just like, if it's the local deli, it's like the cool local deli. Right, there's a little bit of that, that helps keep it going. But that same adoration got me into the scene in the music scene for other bands that still exist. But for artists, and for designers. And you know, I felt very lucky that this, you know, kid from the southeast side of San Antonio, was able to meet and become friends with some of the most influential musicians of that time. And those connections really fueled me, I don't know what it was. It's just it was just those relationships and those connections are what kept me going. I never thought I would meet this person. And the next day I'm meeting this person and if I wanted to, maybe I can meet this person and I've been able to take that same sort of approach. And but to creatives. And now I'm working with people that I have, again, the same adoration for but as for artists, like my interests have changed, like now I don't play guitar and make music for therapy. I am making work. I am making art for my therapy. And just as I had people that I had looked up to when I was playing music, I have people that I look up to when I make art, and now those people that I look up to those people we're doing work for, I always say worked for I like to say we're working with, get to work with these people alongside their vision, and offer them the expertise of what we do and how it can apply to them. And really bringing value to them and helping get their art more assessable means that a screen-printed poster is more assessable for an art collector than an original. And, you know, we're talking like, you know, go to the gallery down the street and see a very high-end, contemporary street artist's original going for, you know, $35,000. Let's say Maurice can make a screenprint, maybe they sell it for $500, maybe they sell it for $1000. And it's not accessible for everybody, but it's a whole lot more accessible than $35,000. And for us to know that, we can produce work that can generate that kind of revenue, you know, we can make a screenprint. And however much it costs, if it's a one-color, screenprint, it could be under $500. And they're going to go and take that and make $50,000. Like that's, that blows my mind, you know, and what we want to continue to strive for, is, we want to be able to make more of that work. And it's coming from our hands, it's something that we're producing that we're, we're publishing were a part of the process as apart as opposed to just taking your art printing it and giving it right back to you. Like if we can tap into, and we have them we do publish art prints and stuff like that. And we release them and we fulfill them. And we do the whole nine. But I want more of those things. And so that's what really my focus has been, is just trying to double down on the things that are the most fulfilling for me. And when you take a step back and you look at it, they're also the most profitable because we're going straight to the consumer. And so it's kind of a win-win.
<<Commercial>>
Marshall Atkinson
So easy to see sales as being transactional. Okay, and you said to me once you try to keep it pure, and about deeper relationships, which is what you were just about talking about there. So what does that mean? And how have you built that with your business?
Tony Diaz
We could talk revenue, we could talk sales, we can talk all that stuff? And is that? Can you measure success on those things? Yeah, yeah, sure. You could. And based on that, what I consider ourselves successful? Sure, yes. It's not where I want where I would picture visions. And you know, I feel like there's definitely room to grow in that. But is it successful? Absolutely. We've been doing this for 15 years. But success, like that, 's not how I define success. Success for me is developing the relationships that I have, with the people that we're doing work with. Like I said, there, there are people that I look up to that, if I wasn't doing this, I would still be a very huge fan of their work, I would still be collecting their work, I would still try to want to be involved in their community in some way or form. And to be able to be seen as a partner with these people like that success for me to be able to be an extension of their studio. A tool in their drawer is why I like to tell them just think of us as a tool in your drawer. We can help you produce your works and get them out to people and help that happen and being a part of their process that allows me to learn from them. I'm learning from who I think are the masters I'm able to look at their files and what are they doing and talk to them about what inspires you we can were hanging out in their living room, you know, having a beverage and discussing what inspires them. And so like those conversations, those connections, those relationships, that's what I value most. That's what I value most about what we do. And honestly, it's not just these people that I think are larger than life. It is the local deli owner, it is the brewery down the street. You know, those people are amazing people, and being a part of their network and their connection and learning about their processes. We're all business people. We're all, you know, trying to make it. And it's great. It's a great feeling to know that there's a community that supports us, and we support them. And that's all connected. That's all relationships. It's not just because we have a cool logo.
Marshall Atkinson
Yep. So I love that. And I love the fact that you're all about deeper meaning and stuff because I said it before is like we don't do business with our enemies. We always do business with our friends. And so when things are about relationships, and it's not about just hey, thanks for the sale Sia, I think that really allows you to grow and prosper and get more satisfaction out of just what you do every day than anything else that you can do, don't you think?
Tony Diaz
Absolutely. I think that you know, if I have a relationship with somebody, I want to give them more value, not gonna take them for all that they can afford. I'm going to get them what they need. And you know, of course, you know, it's a business, we're going to get paid. But this happened this morning, if I just had a real conversation with a client, I said, Well, I can give you a price right now. But what's your budget? What's your budget for this I can get you the bare minimum. But if you tell me what you're willing to spend, per person, for this project, I can really give you way more than this bare minimum that you're asking me for. And so it turned out that just what we were going to produce for them was half their budget. So there was a whole other half budget that I was like, "Whoa, now we can do this to it. We can put inside labels, we can put woven tags, we can do a holding bag, we can do all these extra things! Oh, you want some stickers on top of that? Sure. Like, oh, well, we always wanted to do this, or well, because I know your budget, I can offer you all of these things." And it's a client that I have that open relationship with. So it makes you want to give the most value, but also like the best service, you know, like right, as you said, they're my friends, why would I just want to give them the bare minimum?
Marshall Atkinson
So I think what's really interesting here is this industry is moving really quickly to more automation, right. So we have the advent of the online store with print on demand. And there are all these ways that we could do sales. And we don't even have to talk to the customer. There's no personal involvement, right? So where do you see yourself and of what you do with your process going? And how are you working on building your business and scaling your business? Keeping these relationships going without so much going down that path where it's all about doing things with touching things less and not actually talking to anybody? Can you explain that a little bit?
Tony Diaz
Sure, there is all of that. And I want to say like, I'm not concerned about it, but it doesn't really, I don't really feel like it's gonna affect us too much. Because, for instance, our sales team, our customer service team, the position is not salesperson, or you know, its print consultant. And really, because we take that project and we consult on it, we're not just taking the order. And I don't know, just following their orders, like because sometimes people are asking for something they don't even know what they're asking for. And we can tell them, hey, well, we can get you what you want. But we got to go do this. And this is what we recommend, and, and all of that. And there's a decent amount of hand-holding. We're lucky too though we have some clients that send us exact mechanicals. And this is how we want it. This is the garment we want this how far we want it from the scene, etc. So that's really helpful. But I think that our clients, the people that we work with value, that expert touch that consultative approach to, to our processes. And you know, how do we survive? How do we stay relevant in this changing world of eCom and, and DTG and all this automation stuff? Well, you know, we're offering fulfillment now. The other thing that's really kind of like our ace in the hole, is we have an in-house design agency. So I have a creative team that is doing branding identity logo work, we're on retainers for different companies doing their design. So we have a design agency, and that is, there's no cost of goods. In a design agency. It's all intellectual, it's all skill, it's all art. And it's easier to put a higher value on that service. And also, like, it gives us a leg up being in Austin, there's some amazing design firms, design agencies, ad firms like there are huge ones here in Austin. And when having that design agency, having that talent in house, really helps build the trust with our other clients that are very brand conscious, you know, like, well is this garment on-brand for us is this you know, and so having that in house allows us to be able to consult even deeper on a project. So for us things that you know, the future hold is to grow the design agency, continue to grow fulfillment, and start both myself my creative director, who runs the agency, we started our paths in screenprinting, by having a t-Shirt Company having our own clothing company, you know, and they were existing at the exact same time in the late 90s. His was, you know, hip hop-based and mine was punk rock-based. And so a lot of the conversations we've been having is like, man wouldn't have been cool to have had had as many toys at our disposal 20 years ago, when we were doing this, you know, like, wouldn't have been cool to have had an automatic press and to be able to do this than the other when we were just like trying to get by with a one or two color screen print a t-shirt, you know. So we're tapping into those original roots, developing our own brands, our own lifestyle brands, and talking with some of our clients, some of these artists that we work with, and helping them develop their brand. And so I would like to the ideal situation for us would be to be our own client, where we're designing the goods upstairs, and we're printing the shirts downstairs, you know, and we're going straight to the consumer, or straight to the retail outlets, and try to phase out the custom work for 80% of our other clients. I do value every single person that's ever trusted us with their project. But if we can, there's definitely you know, I like to reference that 80-20 rule. And those 20% clients that are bringing 80% I'd love to be able to give them 100% of our attention, you know, and so, you know, the goal is not to like completely eliminate doing custom work for other people because I really like that still. But I want to do it as you know, we were talking about earlier, it's like doing it for select people doing it for people we want to do it for and then also help these other artists develop their own brands, and we can fulfill them and send us files, we'll print them, we'll fulfill them, we'll put them on an online store, it's done. Like you don't have to lift a finger, all you have to do is say hey, fan base, this is where you can get my latest t-shirt, you know, right? So just focusing on those things. And I think that those goals are attainable. They are already being worked on. And I think that those things will keep us continuing on for another 15-20 years.
Marshall Atkinson
Well great. Great. Well, thank you so much Tony for sharing your success with us today. So if someone wants to learn more about what you do or how you can help them what's the best way to contact you.
Tony Diaz
Our website is industry print shop comm we're also active on Instagram our Instagram handle is at industry print shop, we have a request on our website you can just drop that in there you can send an email to info@industryprintshop.com and love to help out anybody that's listening to this you know personally my Instagram is @tonyindustry and I welcome people to DM me they want to talk shop I have a small group of who I consider friends that are very early on in their print career and they hit me up all the time asking questions and I love helping them. So there's anybody else out there that would like to pick my brain about anything, just hit me up @tonyindustry or Tony@industryprintshop.com.
Marshall, I really appreciate everything that you're doing for the screen printing community, all the information you're putting out there, and the content that only benefits us. So thank you for all that you're doing. Thank you for having me on it. I feel honored to be on this alongside other friend juggernauts. And so to be a part of this, it's another like, just makes me feel really good. So thank you very much.
Marshall Atkinson
Oh, my pleasure. Thank you.