Printavo PrintHustlers Podcast

Lee Stuart (Rogue Lab / Rogue Transfers) joins Bruce and Steven for an update on scaling a 6-person screen print shop into a 60,000+ sq ft, multi-business operation — plus his systemization playbook, his AI tech stack, and the moment being "the best printer in the world" almost broke his business.

Matt Marcotte (Free Gang Sheet Maker, ScreenPrintGPT.com) joins Steven Farag solo (Bruce is out — he just welcomed a baby girl 👶) to talk about what's actually stopping print shop employees from adopting AI — and it's not laziness. They get into the psychology of resistance, how to find and empower an "AI champion" in your shop, and real numbers from tools Matt's built that are being used by thousands of shops.

Dan Frank of Silver Screen Printing is back — and a LOT has changed since his last appearance on the show. Dan went from a $2.7M print shop to projecting $23M this year with 110 employees, 60,000 sq ft, and facilities that essentially never close. Along the way: a full company restructure, two managers who had to move on, 15% raises across the leadership team, and a deliberate shift from being an operator to being a coach.

Brett Bowden of Made Lab and Printed Threads joins Steven to talk about the Make Ready open house event happening June 12th in Fort Worth, TX — and what the print industry needs to understand about AI right now.

Jonathan Ornelas from Success Print Shop has been in the industry long enough to have big revenue years — and still wonder where the money went. In this honest, wide-open conversation, Jonathan walks us through a brutal March 2026, what he's doing differently in April, and the mental toll of riding the shop roller coaster while balancing a young family.

What would you do if you had to double your company in one year — without working more hours?In this episode, Steven and Bruce break down exactly how they'd approach doubling a print shop's revenue, and Steven shares the wild behind-the-scenes story of Campus Ink's March Madness hot market printing run — from chasing final four teams across the country to pulling 15-20K in sales out of a trailer in 3 hours.

Dominic Rosacci of Superior Ink is back — and this time, the conversation goes deep. After relocating his entire manufacturing operation 90 miles from Denver to Fountain, Colorado, rehiring from scratch, and opening a satellite office to keep the culture intact, Dom sits down with Bruce and Steven to break down what's actually working, what he got wrong, and what he's still figuring out.

Jordan Tollakson built Fast Threads in Montevideo, Minnesota — a town of 6,000 people — and has since expanded to three locations across rural Minnesota and South Dakota. In this episode, he sits down with Bruce and Steven to share how he blew past the ceiling that most small-town shop owners run into, and what it actually took to get there.

You say you value your team. You say sales is the priority. But if you looked at your calendar from yesterday — does it actually back that up?In this solo episode, Bruce shares a simple but eye-opening idea from a recent nutritionist podcast that applies directly to running a print shop: you make time for the things you value. The question is, are your actions matching your priorities?

Nicole from Embellishr joins Steven and Bruce fresh off Impressions Long Beach to discuss the booming used equipment market in the decorated apparel industry. As the founder of the leading pre-owned screen printing equipment marketplace, Nicole shares insider knowledge on buying and selling used presses, dryers, and embroidery machines—plus what's driving the resurgence in analog screen printing equipment sales.

Matt McLellan from Apparel Lab joins Steven and Bruce to share his unconventional journey building a thriving DTG (Direct-to-Garment) print shop in Madison, Alabama—without ever touching screen printing equipment. Starting in the back room of his nutrition store in 2016, Matt has grown Apparel Lab into a multi-service operation proving you don't need to follow the traditional decorator path to succeed.

Steven sits down with Daniel, Senior Product Manager at Roland DGA, for an in-depth conversation about Roland's entry into the DTF (Direct-to-Film) market and an ambitious mobile printing project that's pushing the boundaries of what's possible in the custom apparel industry.

In part 2 of our year-end conversation, Justin Lawrence and Steven Farag get deeply honest about the hardest parts of business ownership—from the loneliness of financial struggle to making tough decisions that saved their companies. They discuss the Thunder championship impact, 30% workforce reductions, knowing when to step back from trade shows, and why both are working to build businesses they could sell (but may not).