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Hey, this is Gary Morris, and what I'd like to do in the podcast is in the following weeks and months to come, at least once a week, I want to highlight just some things that we're seeing in particular industries. So this report's going to be for print business owners. And uh some of the data that we're getting recently we sent out a survey request for print business owners, and we had we have 499 people on that list. We requested a survey report going through some of the challenges, what they're seeing on growth rates, and different data points that I think are going to help them as they're thinking through the year to come and as they're planning on potentially looking at selling their business. Some of the correlating data that you'll see in these reports, we actually had a roughly 12% response rate. I think it was a total of just over 50 business owners that responded. So, again, this is a small segment, but typically the people that are responding to those are motivated in some way to give some good data, and obviously they get this full report. I did just want to highlight a couple snapshots for you to be thinking about. It has greater application in certain data points across different industries, but for those of you who are in the print industry, you're going to see some things here that I think might help you understand where to position yourself in the next for 2026 and beyond. One of the uh survey questions was in regards to revenue trends. And basically the data that we got back there was 42% are experiencing flat revenue growth year over year. So from 2024 to 2025 and into the first quarter of 2026, that was the majority of those that responded. 37%, so not far off, are experiencing growth, and 21% are declining. And I just want to highlight one number here that I think is important. When our question about how do you market your print business came up, 70% of the responders said that their growth methodology was word of mouth sales. And when it comes to middle America businesses, basically 5 million and below, that is typical data point correlation there in terms of the number of people that are relying on word of mouth, not just as a primary, but exclusively as their channel of growth. So another correlated data point here is that 60% of those people that responded plan on exiting their business within the next five years. So the problem that we encounter, this is both a good thing and a bad thing if you've got strategic buyers. And if you don't, it's a bad thing. Here's the problem: if you have one channel of growth, which is the word of mouth, you're going to experience flat growth or declining growth potentially over time because it's not scalable. There are some ways to orchestrate referrals, but it's very challenging. If you have not unlocked a specific vendor or somebody that's good at social media marketing or PPC Google ads or direct response, you can't just increase putting money into a marketing campaign and grow your numbers. You're just kind of waiting for the phone to ring, which is a good foundation to have, but for growth to happen, you have to have some marketing channel in which you can put a specific amount of revenue into and expect a positive return, and you can scale that. So if you're in these numbers, if you're particularly today, I'm talking to the print industry, if you're your exclusive channel of marketing is word of mouth, I wouldn't even call that marketing, I would call that uh brand uh the results of brand exposure, maybe, but it's not there's no correlated expense to return on investment ratio. There is some correlated data. You can talk about return on relationships, but where the problem comes in is when we're going to sell a business that has an exclusive method of marketing that is not scalable and it's primarily utilizing word of mouth, buyers and banks are going to be a little bit hesitant because they're going to wonder if you, as the owner, are the driving factor in sales. And if you leave the leave the business, how much of that business is going to be lost because of the relationships that you have built. Now, on the plus side, and this is why we do what we do, we we target industries, we build relationships and industries, and we focus on niche industries, building buyers list and strategic competitor list. Because if let's say you're in the promotional merchandise industry and you're printing promotional merchandise, and you have not unlocked a other marketing channel, but a company or a competitor has maybe they they're experiencing great growth through direct mail, and they have a direct mail vendor that they utilize that helps them with copywriting and they have a positive return on investment, and you don't, they can look at your under-marketed value and see if we acquire this business, we can increase sales by 20% just by turning on that one marketing channel. And so I want you to be aware of the need as you get closer to retiring or exiting your business, adding some versatility to your marketing channel stabilizes it and it makes it much more attractive for a larger pool. But the fact that it's undervalued and undermarketed could also be highlighted by buyers, but you're going to have a smaller pool. So just be aware of that. Now, I wouldn't say the best thing to do is go and start spending money on marketing, particularly if it's going to reduce the amount of money that you make, the seller discretionary earnings or the profit of the business. Because every dollar, if you're particularly if you're planning on exiting within the next 12 months to two years, you have to understand that every dollar that we spend on marketing, when you go to exit, has a multiple attached to that if it's tied to your profit. So if you reduce what you pay yourself by a dollar, when we go to sell that business, it's worth two, two fifty or even three dollars or more, depending on owner involvement and other criteria. But the multiple has greater value than what you could potentially get from marketing. So where you're at in terms of your exit preparation and how soon you want to step back, I would say be careful with how you expand your marketing. But I just want you to be aware that you're not the only one experiencing maybe flat sales or declining sales. And if you're word-of-mouth marketing, that's typically the correlated data point that is the problematic spot in the business because you have not invested in predictable returnable marketing campaigns. There were some other data sets we're sending out to our list right now that came from that. One of the other ones were things like um the top hiring challenge is finding qualified press operators. Now, again, if you're the primary worker in your business and you're actually doing a majority of the printing, you're the print operator. Uh a business that already has an experienced print operator could see the potential acquisition as buying something where you're required to do it all, but they're you're overpaid by the business because they can pay somebody an actual market value to do the job that you're doing. They've already got the person. So if they acquire you, that is a big expense they can reduce off the books. So even though it's a challenge, it it can also be a sweet spot for somebody that already has a qualified press operator. So just be aware of some of those issues that you're going to come across. You know, again, 60% across the board, this just isn't in the print industry, a majority of people in service-based businesses, middle America businesses, who are talking doing under$10 million a year in annual sales, probably closer to the under$5 million, they're they're going to be retiring in the next five years, and they need to be looking at some of these things that can be done to increase your profitability and reduce the owner involvement. So across the board, you're not you're not alone. If you're seeing some of these challenges, this is uh this has been a good report for a test run for us. We're going to do this annually. And if you own a press company or a print company and you want to get the full report, just go to what's my print companyworth.com and you'll see join our list. And when you're on that list, you'll get our once-a-month updates on either businesses that we're selling or things like you know, the print industry snapshots. This one was particularly to Michigan because it was a big pocket of buyers or sellers, owners on our list, and it has a lot of correlation to other states as well. So if you're in the print industry, just know that you're not alone if you're seeing flat growth. It was 42%, 60% are nearing retirement, and 70% of them those that responded, primarily, I would say exclusively, rely on word of mouth. That's the one point that I would like. If you have more than three years ahead of you, we need to have earlier talks rather than later on how to make some adjustments so that you can increase the stability of your company. It's not completely reliant upon you as the operator and you as the marketing source. I hope that helps. Again, if you'd like to get on that report, uh go to what's my printcompanyworth.com and you'll see join our email list. Obviously, if you look, you could also just fill out there's less than three to five minutes of questions there to get a free valuation. That free valuation has no obligation. We're not gonna, you know, try to sell you anything. And if you if you're interested in selling after we give you a rough number, we can have those talks. If you're like, I just wanted a rough number to know what I would exit at here in the next, you know, 12 months to to five years, that's the good baseline to start at. So thanks. I hope that helps, and we'll chat soon.