Today we’d like to introduce you to JD Nielsen.
Hi JD, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
It all started when me and a buddy started making clothes from stencils that he was cutting out of his own artwork. It was my brilliant idea too spray paint those stencils onto clothing, and that turned into us buying a sewing machine and started sewing those stenciled patches onto other random items of clothing. Snowball later and we have a full line of clothing we make, all handmade One of a Kind items with many different mediums on them including stenciling, sewing, cutting so, and some screen printing. Our screen printing setup was small and it was just used for us and our clothing line.
After a few years, we split up and I was left with all the equipment. All my friends that were in bands then summoned me to help them print their merch because it was much easier and better for someone they know to do it and for them to hire a company to do it. The first month of doing this I made more in a month than we had the entire year previously by selling our own clothes and that was kind of the light bulb that went off that made me realize starting a printing business was a good idea.
From there, it started from a small garage to a smaller retail store to a medium size Warehouse to a larger industrial size complex to what we’re in now and it’s great to see the growth that happens from hard work. It really pays off when you focus on something, dedicate yourself, and have a really good product and or service to sell.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
If this answer is ever that it’s easy, someone either comes from a trust fund family or is doing something wrong because the road is never easy, and growth is never without bumps in the road and trials and tribulations. Obviously the struggles are real, hustling every single day is tough and when you’re doing it alone without a business partner, it’s even more difficult because everything in the end rests on your shoulders. I obviously have a team that helps me, and they definitely help take some of the weight off but when everything’s said and done, they get a paycheck and I’m the one who has to deal with the ultimate losses that come from running a business like we do.
I love what I do, and wouldn’t trade it for anything. Just being able to be my own boss, work for myself, and wake up everyday knowing that I’m doing what I love is so important that it’s worth giving up the smooth and consistent Runnings of life to be able to have that trade off.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Coming from a competitive aspect it’s very difficult to really set yourself apart, given that there’s so much out there and everybody’s driving to be the best at what they do. I know in our specific industry, that the bar is set very low and it’s not very hard to rise above the majority and set yourself apart. We still get calls every single day of people who are surprised that we answer our phone when it rings, saying that the last 5 to 10 places they called didn’t even answer or never got back to them. This is what’s common in our industry and I think that for us, it’s really easy to be different and strive to be better than others that are doing what we do.
There’s also the services that we choose to specialize in, which we select wisely and always are trying to upgrade and add more things but it’s difficult when you really find your lane that you operate in best. Sometimes adding more things just overcomplicates things and makes it harder to actually bring up that bottom line so we always debate if adding more things is better to offer more services to our clients or to just do what we do best and really fine tune that. It’s a constant debate I think.
What were you like growing up?
I grew up in a family of Navy brats, I’m moving around every few years really made us be good about making friends quickly, and being able to really find our footing when change is rampant. This allowed me to really accommodate to things that came at you quickly, like when covid hit and everybody was freaking out, to me it it was just another bump in the road of Entrepreneurship. I think the way I grew up really helped me be this way
Pricing:
- It’s hard to list prices when we offer so many
- Items that require a style / brand of shirt,
- Shirt color, design that is getting printed on them
- And quantify. All of which make up pricing. Check out our website:
- www.printrenegades.com for a full price calculator!
Contact Info:
- Website: Www.printrenegades.com
- Instagram: @printrenegades
- Facebook: Facebook.com/losangelesscreenprinters
- Twitter: @printrenegades
- Youtube: @printrenegades
- Yelp: Biz.yelp.com/printrenegades
Image Credits
Me, myself and Irene (who is me)
