The Real Work of Print & Community: Tom Pruss on Entrepreneurship and the Power of Holiday Magic - The Real Work Podast

Hi, everyone. It is Jennifer. Welcome back. I have an amazing guest for you today, Tom Frost. He is the owner of North Coast PMM, which is a leading print and manufacturing solutions company based in Northwest Ohio. He has a strong background in community-focused branding and high-volume print management. He has built North Coast PMM into a trusted partner for regional banks, nonprofits, and local organizations. Tom's work has supported major cultural, civic, and fundraising initiatives across the region, earning recognition for both quality and reliability. He continues to combine his entrepreneurial leadership with a commitment to strengthening Northwest Ohio's business and cultural landscape. Help me in welcoming Tom Frost. Hi. Hello. How are you? Welcome. I'm doing well. Thank you. Good. So I always get started with, give me a little bit of your background, kind of walk me through your resume, if you will. What have you done over the years? Well, you know, it's ironic that I stumbled into essentially the print industry. I was just recently graduated from high school. There was a print shop in downtown Toledo that was looking for somebody to do graphic design. I had been on the school yearbook. Staff was not properly trained. And I thought, you know, I can do this. Little did I know I could not really do that. But they had a place for me all the same. So I ended up staying there for almost 12 years. In a short stance, I did take a sabbatical because I did decide to look at operating a T-shirt sweatshirt shop at a retail center. I was only 19 years old. And again, my first venture into owning my own company. And then, again, went back to the original place. I stayed there for like I said, another few more years. Went left there to a larger industrial printing company, working there for about two years before I ended up working at a paper wholesaler. They sold paper to the print industry. And then from there, I found myself working at a big box retail print for pay. And it was there that it translated into another opportunity where I was able to go to a... Well, I should back this up. During the 2008 slowdown, economic slowdown, I did find myself out of a job for about a year and a half, but was fortunate enough to find some place that was looking for a second shift. It's amazing that you start back at the bottom again because I managed the retail print place. And then I found myself back in the province working production. But it worked out great for me. After working almost a year on a second shift, their estimator left the company. They decided that since my extensive background in print and in retail print and things like that, I was a good candidate to do their estimating for them. And then estimating took over in charge of customer service because I knew how to manage people. And then they decided to get out of the business. Now, I find myself at an advanced age at the time, and it was hard to justify, what am I going to do? When I was younger and I would see people on the news talking about contemplating their lives after working in an industry for so long, what are they going to do? I asked myself, I've just known print my entire life. But fortunately, this company, Generous, since I was working, I was the primary contact and working with all these clients retail wise. They said, well, if you're going to hand over this book of business to you, and you can go ahead and do whatever you want to do with it. I couldn't pass that by. I ended up becoming my own boss, end up working these accounts. And that's been seven years ago. And I'm probably say that next year, it's gonna be eight years, it's gonna be eight years soon. And I probably say that is because if anybody remembers that mostly small businesses, when you start, you don't last longer than five years, that the five year mark is always like the trial. And knowing that I took this business and I survived during 2020, and lockdowns and things like that, that I was able to continue my business, I consider that a major badge of success. That is an incredible success. So I also know that you do a lot of community volunteering and involvement. I just think you have more energy than most people. Tell me a little bit about that and what you're doing in your area for volunteering. So I do a lot of do a lot of fun things. My passion is about my heritage, Polish American heritage. I sit on the advisory board of the of the Polish Cultural Center in Northwest Ohio. I also have done various other things in my old neighborhood. There was a theater there, I sat on the board advisors there for the theater. I have done a lot of community activities. I just think that, you know, giving back to the community, it's very important, makes it all better, richer and better life for all of us to live in that community. Yeah, so I'm curious, all of that volunteering, does that help your business as well? Or are those two separate things? I find it, I usually volunteer my business and I don't get paid for it because most of the places I work are non-profits and things like that. But again, it's kind of like helping out. Yeah, well, that's amazing that through your business you can help out. I mean, as you know, I have a another YouTube channel where I teach pronunciation and I don't get paid for that. Like, yeah, I get a little bit from YouTube. But I do think that giving back is just such an amazing way to just help the world. So I love that you that you do all of that. So if you had to tell people like the one of the big like learnings that you took away from taking over this print business or taking the clients, I should say, like, what should you do as a new business owner? Because I know it's so daunting for so many people. So like, what are some of your big takeaways or lessons? Know your market. I'm gonna be real honest. It's like most printers, you know, most people who go into business like they want they want these huge clients. I want this client, you know, to do it. I've worked in so many print shops where 30% 20% of their business came from one client. And that is so dangerous. Because when it's not, if this customer goes away, it's always when this customer goes away, because you're not going to retain this because people change within their work, with a work structure, things like that. And the key is, is to diversify yourself, don't link yourself to don't build your entire fortune on one or two clients, diversify yourself. I always joke, I don't want I don't want the PNC bank. I don't want this huge corporation, this, this, this big business. I want Edna's hair and nails. I want Joe's roofing company, things like that. Those are the type of business because, honestly, if Joe decides he goes out of business tomorrow, it's not going to affect my bottom line hugely. Yeah, now not saying that I don't welcome large clients, things like that. But the key is, is I can't, I can't revolve my entire business, my entire world around those two clients. Also, there's big, big businesses have a tendency to want the lowest price, the fastest service and demand most of your time. I'm an individual, I just can't do that most of the time. So again, I think that having a diverse and large client base works out better in my favor. I love that you work with the smaller businesses. I think those are often sort of like the unsung heroes of the world. That's such like a nice niche business. And it sounds like that, that is most of your business then, correct? Like the smaller mom and pop businesses? It is. I like to consider myself a printing concierge. What I do is I like to consult with these smaller businesses to let them know, hey, you can do this. You can do it within a budget. You don't have to spend ungodly amounts of money. I'm probably one of the very few printers who likes to talk them out of business. Okay. Because I always have, say for instance, a political, we just finished an election. I always have political candidates who are just, this is their first time out. Oh, I want to do yard signs and things like that. And I always tell them yard signs is probably the least thing you want to do because the idea is if you're running for politics, you want to raise money for television. Television will have a better effect on it. And then if you can't get television, for me, yard signs are a vanity thing. They'd like to be able to drive around the road and say, hey, there's my sign over there. But they don't understand that to have an impact on voters, you need a large amount of signage. It's for the reason why they call it a campaign. Most auto dealerships, you'll notice that they'll do a television ad, a radio ad, a mailing ad, all at the same time about what they're trying to do. And the idea is to try to make a large impact. So it drives you out to their dealerships. They fortunately have the backing of the big automobile dealers and things like that to get that out there. You, as an individual, I want to be able to make sure that your dollar has the most strategic value to drive that business to you. Okay. So that's so interesting. So this might be dumb on my part, but I didn't think about printing signs. I was thinking about printing paper, right? So tell me, what are the things that you print besides paper? That's my error. Well, our tagline of the business is, if you can think it, we can ink it. Oh, that's clever. The answer is yes. We can print practically anything, promotional products, pens, squeeze balls, whatever like that. We do mailings. We do yard signs. We do just a ton of things, a ton of things. Because it always starts with that small project. It's like, hey, do you print business cards? Why wouldn't I print business cards? I am a printer. And then it goes, well, how about yards? Yes, I can do yard signs. I'm fortunate enough to be in co-ops that different printers come together, or that we bring different equipment that allows us to participate. And then this way, I'm not behind a press printing all this, because you're probably asking yourself, you're just one guy hiring to print all this. Yeah, okay. Exactly. It's that I actually, like I said, I join a co-op with a bunch of other printers. We have a production facility. We have a production manager. We submit the jobs just as much as anybody else would, because we've also worked in print shops where salesmen would always do this. I need this on the press right now. My client is the most important. Well, what about this salesman and his client and things like that? So we all have an agreement that no client is more important than the other. We know the parameters. We know what we have to live with, and if my client... I will do whatever I can to get it as quickly as I can to my client, but I do have my own sets of rules that I have to live by as well. Yeah, that's so interesting. I am just fascinated by small businesses. I'm a small business as well, and I think there is just so much opportunity out there in the world to own a business. I didn't even realize in your world that you're in a co-op and that you're not actually... You don't have all of these printers somewhere. That would be just crazy to know that, well, you need to have this printer and this printer and this, and it's like this machine and this machine. It just wouldn't be sustainable. I would have to employ thousands of people to be able to do this. This way, I can just focus on my clients and making sure that they get what they need. Okay, so interesting. So you seem like you're really creative and you said you were in the theater. What did you do in the theater when you were doing that? Well, I did multiple plays, musicals. I've always been told I have a face for radio and a voice for newspaper. Of course, I put myself out there. I enjoyed it since I was in high school, things like that. I love performing. I look at it as I go in front of a customer, I'm doing a performance, and I'm letting them know that they have confidence in me that their job is going to get done, and it does, and it does get done. Do you have any tips for people who don't really like to maybe sell or speak in front of other people? Just something simple. What could help people just embrace that aspect of work a little bit more? Key is, what motivates you? You're not going to grow your business by being a wallflower and sitting idly by and expecting people to come to you. I see a lot of people think that, well, if I had a storefront, and again, I'm coming from somebody who does not have a storefront. I have an office and that's the best I can do because I don't want people walking into my facility, things like that. I have an office for those just because of the stigma of, well, you work out of your house. You can do that nowadays. You can do that. I literally have a printer in my basement that I can print from, a commercial printer that I can print from. It's not huge, but if you called me up and said, I need a quick run, I can do that for you. That's the idea is to be as nimble and as agile as you can possibly be, at least in my industry. If you don't go out and sell yourself and talk to clients and let them know what are your capabilities and know when you have reached your limitations. I have said no on a few occasions where somebody said, I need many of these in an hour. I told them it's just physically impossible just can't do it, just can't do it. The key is to get yourself out of your comfort zone, join a networking group, join a chamber of commerce, get yourself networked with other people because you'll be surprised. I can't tell you. When you have a tagline, if you can think and you can ink it, people still come to me and say, oh, can you print this? What did I just tell you? If you could think it, I can ink it. What does that mean? Those are important parts. Just getting out there and making sure you work with people and you let them know what your services are. I love that. Get out there, get after it. Don't be afraid to talk about your business and what you do. I also love being able to say no. I think people don't talk about that enough. I actually have to say no to students every once in a while. It's like, yeah, I've talked to you, I've met you, what you want, I can't do for you. I think that that really builds trust and it sounds like you have a lot of trust with your clients that they trust that you're going to speak the truth to them. I fired about three clients in my history just because they've come to the point where it didn't become sustainable. Their demands, their requests, how they wanted me to provide, it didn't make any sense. Yeah, so interesting. I have to ask about the beard. Can you tell us a little bit about your beard? Well, right now, we're in the season where, yes, as a side gig, I do Santa, or at least, well, from July until December. I do Santa, Christmas in July, things like that. Do I like a beard? Oh, no, I hate my beard. I hate waking up in the morning with a mouthful beard or trying to eat and get food. It's always there. I enjoy, again, performing. And you can't get any more joy than being Santa and watching the children light up when they see this face. Okay, so when you actually said that, you actually have a sparkle in your eyes. So if you're watching this, you see the sparkle. If you're listening, you can't see that sparkle. How did you become a Santa? I don't even know how that all works. Well, it's funny because, again, the first print shop I walked into, the owner's brother-in-law, their Santa had just retired, and he needed a Santa. And he looked at me, and not that I had a white beard then, it's because I fit the suit. So at 19 years old, I'm playing Santa. I thought it was kind of fun. Again, it's all about the performance. I did it. I enjoyed it. I got such a tremendous joy and high off of that that every year, I would go back. And as I got older, I said, well, how can I parlay this into a business? So it evolved just within the past, gosh, I would say in the past four years. As I'm getting older, and I'm trying to think about what to do for my second part of my life. Yeah, your second act. Exactly. Because printing is great, but it's also work. I look at the Santa thing as fun. Yeah. One to do. And I'm trying to figure out, okay, how can I take this? Something that I can end up doing until I'm 90 years old of taking Santa to another level. And it's great because I've started marketing myself, come up with business incentives to have a Santa. And just, again, working with as many now in Northwest Ohio, I have a pretty good reputation to the point where I had a friend who walked into an office, he looked on the wall, he goes, oh my gosh, I know that Santa. Okay. So I have to say, I know this Santa. I have Tom graciously volunteered to, he actually drove from Ohio to Chicago when I was in Chicago and volunteered for a fundraiser that I was having. And I have to say, you were the best Santa I have ever seen. The pictures were exceptional. And these were just pictures that people were taking on their iPhones. You just bring it. There's magic. You are Santa. So I have to ask, do you talk to the real Santa? Does he give you tips? How did you learn how to be such a good Santa's helper? Honestly, it's just watching the characters that other people do as Santa, whether it's on television or the movies, I project it in my head. And this ties into my printing business. The TV show MASH, the set in the Korean War, medical surgery. One of the characters always talked about, they did meatball surgery. And I tell people like, oh, I do meatball graphic design. I know what looks good. I have an eye which looks good. If you're coming to me and say, I want you to build me a brand, I'm not that type of graphic designer, but I can do things that aesthetically looks good. Same thing goes for the Santa business. In my mind's eye, I see how it's supposed to look. And this is the image I portray. And I tell you, that's what does it. Again, you have to be a performer. You can't just be a wallflower. Just because you're a big fat guy who has a white beard doesn't make you Santa. You have to have that sparkle that people really want. And it's great because I work with a photographer and she and I are just on the same page. We know each other so well now about what to get the best picture and how to, if a child's apprehensive, if a child's crying, things like that, we can still get a decent picture. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's your magic. Yeah. Right. And it's like, that's what has to happen. A lot of Santas out there seem to think that if they bought this $2,000, $5,000 suit that it's going to make everybody go, Oh, what a great Santa. Yeah. I like to tell, I like to tell a lot of these Santas, you can buy a hundred dollars suit. It's what you bring to that Santa persona. Yes. It actually makes the kids feel good. Yes. Yes. Um, I, I just have to share a quick memory. So, um, my daughter, um, loves that we know, um, an official Santa's helper. And, um, Tom stayed at our house with his official Santa costume. I remember Claire saying like, wow, like it's amazing when you become an official Santa's helper. Like you could see yourself sort of transitioning into that. And it is, it is just so magical. So if someone wants to, um, what kind of gigs, first of all, do you do as Santa in the, in the season, I should say, and you do it in July. Yeah, I do. I'll do Christmas in July. So I did a, yeah, it's great. And, and, and the nice thing about it, I mean, um, I've done no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. That would be one sweaty guy. Uh, I usually wear it. It's, it's, it's, it's a, it's like Santa's jacket, uh, Hawaiian shirt, uh, shorts. I love it. It's cute. It's cute. I love it. Okay. Um, but the, uh, but during the summer, I've done, um, a dog park fundraiser. Okay. Three, three years in a row. Okay. Um, and then I've done, uh, just this past summer was, uh, a daycare center that opened up. Um, the fun part was going into the ball pit and hanging out with the kids. Uh, and two is like, you can't be, you can't be very, uh, you have to have fun at this. Um, I did a, uh, uh, um, an indoor bounce park where I was bouncing on the trampoline. I was swinging on the swings. It's just fun. Uh, I've done, uh, you know, coming up this, uh, in fact, coming up this week, I have, uh, the tree lighting event at the local zoo. Um, and then that there are local, uh, uh, minor league baseball stadium. I have tree lighting for that. Uh, just, uh, and then a toy drive for the local news station. So these are different, these are different types of things that we do. I just last week, I just did a photo shoot for, uh, a gentleman who has a, uh, cornhole manufacturing, uh, business. And we, he did promo shots for his Christmas sale. So he said, and it was funny because he goes last year, I saw you at the zoo. He goes, I needed a, I knew I needed to get you. Okay. Yeah. Because of the expressive looks that I usually have. And I, and I, and he sent me the pictures last night and I can tell you, they were awesome. They look so great. So I think it's so interesting as an outsider of like your businesses that like, they're sort of symbiotic that you're in the sort of advertising printing world. And now you're doing sort of the, um, the acting side of the like commercial business and they kind of go together. That's interesting. Did that just like happen or was that a plan? Um, it just, honestly, it just kind of happened. Interesting. It's hard. Like you just always say, yes, no wonder everything just happens for you. You make it happen. Right. I'm just like the character on Oklahoma. I'm just a girl who can't say no. I love it. I, uh, I have a, I have a friend who does print brokering. And when I tell him what I'm doing, he goes, I'm amazed that you, you always find a way to reimagine yourself and, and, and explore more capabilities or more services that you can offer. And I said, I do that not out of, not out of like trying to challenge myself, but it's strictly out of just like, how can I grow my business without taxing my time more? And the key is to try to monitor or try to maximize the amount of, of value that I can offer people without overwhelming me. Interesting. So work smarter, kind of not, not harder. Okay. Wow. Um, you just have quite the varied and diverse, um, experiences. Is there anything that's like similar with besides the like sort of advertising component? Like what's similar with your Santa business and your print business? Are there any similarities? Well, it's always about promoting and promoting the business. Yeah. And that's the, that's the key, um, is making sure people know that you're out there, that what you offer, uh, and, and, and offering variety too. Yeah. Not only do I, you know, not only do I do the home visits, I'll do, um, virtual zoom visits. I'll do a, uh, I I've, I'm trying to hone in on a St. Nicholas visit. You know, so, so if anybody needs him for December the 6th on St. Nicholas day, you know, I've got a whole St. Nicholas outfit and a whole St. Nicholas gig that I can present to people. Um, and then, you know, there's, I, I became an ordained minister so I could perform marriages. I did a marriage for somebody two years ago on Christmas Eve. It was magical. Had the local news come out there and it was just a wonderful story. Just an awesome story. Oh my goodness. And the funny thing about it is that, um, uh, both of the, the, the couple every year, we, we, we, they come and see me and we have a little, uh, anniversary, uh, reunion. So, so it's, it's fun. It's fun. I love that. Okay. So I'm just trying to like summarize everything. Like what I'm kind of learning from you is just say yes and do the next right thing. I feel like that keeps coming up again and again, bring energy and bring magic to everything you do. Is there anything else that I'm missing? Any other kernels of wisdom that you want to share? The key part is, you know, say yes, but know your own limitations as well. Yeah. Um, always, always under promise over deliver. Oh, that's good. Yeah. Under promise and over deliver. I love that. Because that's how I've grown my business. It's like, I don't, I don't give anybody, anybody false hopes that this is going to be the best fantastic thing. I like surprising them. I really do. I like giving people surprises when, whether it's print business or Santa, um, that they, they, they go there with the, with the idea that, yeah, we just hired the Santa guy, but oh my gosh, he was the best Santa. I mean, you hear a lot of people talk about their Santas. Oh, he's the best Santa. I, and I don't want to sound egotistical or not or egotistical about this, but when you have people, strangers who see you on the street and walk up and say, oh my gosh, you are the best Santa ever. Yeah. It, it, it kind of gives you some, a pause to think about like, Hmm, I'm having somewhat of an impact on people. You, you are, um, I just think it's so, I just think your businesses are so incredible. Just you've built something so incredible over the years. And like you said, you've had some adversity, but you've turned all of that into opportunity. And I just think that that is incredibly, um, just inspiring. So I always like to talk about, um, generosity. You are like the OG of generosity. Like you're always giving back to others, but who has sort of given something to you that's been so generous that's Oh, lots of people. I, I, I'm a true advocate of, of whenever I, again, for a former employer to say here, take this book of business. You, I wholly believe that you, you never, never burn bridges. Never. You know, you, you make sure that you stay friends or have contacts still because you never know when you're going to need these people in your future. Yeah. Um, and, and I try never to make, you know, somebody not like me for some reason or another. And you know, I mean, for Jiminy Christmas, I'm Santa, you know, Santa. Yeah. Um, where can people find you, Tom? Um, if they're interested in my print business, they can go to, uh, www.northcoastprintmail.com or if they're interested in Santa and again, Santa can reach everywhere. We can do it virtually. We can do, uh, we can, depending on it is, I'd love to come out and do some, uh, promotional shots for businesses, things like that. Um, you can reach me at www.419santa.com. That's 419santa.com. Okay. 419 Santa. And you said that you are going to be at the tree lighting at the zoo, which zoo and when? Toledo zoo this Friday, um, at 6 PM. Okay. And then Friday, the, what is the date on that? That would be the 21st. Yeah. Okay. And then Saturday, the very next day, uh, Toledo Mudhens, uh, Hensville, um, Hensville, I will be lighting the Christmas tree downtown Toledo. Okay. As well. And what time is that? That would be at 6 PM as well. Okay. All right. Everybody, if you are in the Toledo area, you are in for a treat this weekend because you can meet the best Santa I have ever met and get your printing done at the same time. Um, and I do have to say that, um, Tom Frost is amazing because he is also my husband's best friend and a dear friend of mine as well. So Tom, you are amazing. You are just a gift to all of us. We just love you, love you, love you. So thank you so much for being here and have a Merry Christmas and don't work too hard this season. Thank you very much. And thank you for the kind words. I'm sure, I'm sure your husband's paying you off by saying that. So everybody have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy Thanksgiving. Okay. Happy Thanksgiving to you too, Tom. Okay. Thanks so much. Take care. Bye.