Good Neighbor Podcast Northport
Bringing Together Local Businesses and Neighbors of Tuscaloosa and Northport!
Good Neighbor Podcast Northport
TuscaBlue: the Design of Success with Stacie Tucker
When Stacie Tucker stepped into her role at TuscaBlue, she brought with her a spirit that transformed a traditional blueprinting shop into a dynamic hub of creativity and innovation. In our latest episode, you'll hear from Stacie herself, the vibrant partner at Tuska Blue who—with her partner Veronica—navigated the stormy waters of the pandemic to anchor their family business firmly in the Tuscaloosa community. Through a fascinating narrative, Stacie recounts the company's evolution and how embracing every project with open arms has led to an inspiring mix of services that stretch the imagination.
As TuscaBlue continues to adapt and thrive, offering everything from eye-catching vehicle decals to economical promotional materials, our conversation reveals the keys to their success. Embracing change and powering through adversity, Stacie shares insights into her journey from the world of accounting to steering TuscaBlue alongside her family. This episode is a testament to the resilience and innovation that personify Tuscaloosa's local business scene, and an invitation for you to discover how TuscaBlue's expansive palette of services can bring your imaginative projects to life. #GNPNorthport #TuscaBlue #Tuscaloosa #Printer #Print #Design #Designer #printing #banner #printmaking #packaging #stickers #sticker #business #percetakan #screenprinting #tshirt #businesscards #flyers #custom #fashion #banners
This is the Good Neighbor podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Patricia Blondheim.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the Good Neighbor podcast. I'm your host, patricia Blondheim, and today we have Good Neighbor Stacy Tucker, and Stacy is the partner at Tuska Blue here in Tuscaloosa. Stacy, how are you this morning? I'm great. How are you, patricia? I'm doing great, thank you. I'm excited to hear more about Tuska Blue. Why don't you tell me a little bit about it?
Speaker 3:Well, we started. The business started in 1994 by my mother, Shirley Crowder, and my aunt, Loretta Fretwell, and they started out as an actual blueprinting company and did like ammonia printing and like had the big machines to do stuff and there was a need in Tuscaloosa for that. So they set out door to door, joined every group they could to do what they started out to do and has grown into what it is now, which is totally not actual blueprints anymore.
Speaker 2:Yeah, y'all do everything. Well, you still. I think you can still do blueprints, but now you're doing graphic design, signage, banners, business cards, I mean. I'm not even scratching the surface, am I?
Speaker 3:No, you're not, we do. There's probably things I don't even know that we do. They had a. Their mantra back in the day was if you have anything you want us to try to do, we'll try to do it, and we still kind of hang on to that. We do some weird little projects for people I can't even tell you. This is part of the thing that I said Veronica could give you a little more information on, because I've been involved in the business for so many years on the outside so it's kind of hard for me. But as far as the little things you know, we do a lot for the schools, the city, but we also have people that from you know out of the state that we've done things for, that bond us online. They're probably one of the only people that do the blueprinting side of it in Tuscaloosa. You'll have to get me back on because I'll get way off of it.
Speaker 2:And we will have to talk about, I mean, anything that has to do with putting ink on any kind of material. You, you all, do that there.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's like I tell people so we can print pretty much anything except money, and we have. We have had some crazy times where somebody's come in and wanted like copy a check, and we're like, yep, we can't do that, but we we do a lot, lots of cutouts. You may have seen those somewhere, like people cutouts. We do a lot of different things for some of the industrial businesses around and the manufacturing in keeping up with like tags for machineries or forms that they fill out on a daily basis, or you know boards for their walls of where they keep up with things. We do different things like that. We also do somebody that walks in and wants to send a fax. You know it's such a A big array of things that we do With our little staff of ten people, so it's Every day is different here.
Speaker 3:Oh, I imagine it you know, and you we have the jobs that we do with people that come in. You know we give quotes for stuff, but some people just walk in and they can sit down with a designer, Design whatever they're needing. You know and it. You just never know who's gonna walk in the door, who's gonna call, it's just a.
Speaker 2:It's you are. You're confined only by imagination, and that makes you pretty unlimited, doesn't it?
Speaker 3:Yeah, it is. It's just so Different and when somebody comes to work here, it's really hard for us to explain that to them. So after about a week they're like, okay, yep, I get it. It only takes a little while for them to realize it and I think for the most part, customers are very, very good about you know, understanding If something is gonna take a little longer or if we could get it done quick, because a lot of people come in and you know it's like they want it that day or you know really soon, and we have to say, okay, we can't do it, then we will promise it to you as quick as we can, but they don't realize like any business. You know what other stuff is here and the you know it may have been here for a week or whatever. So we do a lot of. We do a lot of relations in Trying to explain to them why something can't get done as quickly as they want it.
Speaker 2:Well, tell our listeners about your journey. Obviously, I mean, this is a multi-generational business and but Were you, were you always thinking this was what you wanted to do?
Speaker 3:Oh gosh, no, I was in accounting for 25 years and when I got out of that.
Speaker 3:I actually Was working part-time for Tuska, blue just doing payroll yeah, okay, blue, just doing payroll, you know, accounting type stuff and my mom and aunt they were 72 and 73 and they were just getting, you know, older. They didn't want to be doing it. They started it when they were 50, after they had careers. So Veronica and I talked about it and we wanted to try and do it before they got any older and it just kind it just all happened. So we started. You know, like I said, we um, we purchased it in 2020. Of course, covid happened and that was a Huge undertaking, trying to start that business and the maneuver through all of that, like anybody else that you know, had that same thing happen, but it was, uh, it was definitely not something that I had ever thought about doing. It was not the thought.
Speaker 2:Well, when people come in and they come into Tuscaloog for the first time, do they have any misconceptions about what it is that you do or what you can do?
Speaker 3:They probably have more misconceptions of what we can do because we do so much more than they even know and a lot of ours is word for word of mouth. You know, if somebody says, yeah, I got my business card's done there, they may come to do that and we're like, well, we can do. You know, brochures, pamphlets, signage. You know we just give them everything else we could do and nobody knows those things. You know we do badges for a lot of people. They come in, get their pictures made. We do their badges. You know, like somebody that walks in to get that done, they have no idea what we do here if they've never used them. But they may come back a week later and say, hey, I want to, like y'all might could do this, blow up a picture, or you know anything like that. So it is a very different thing. If somebody walks in, they kind of look around and they can see some of the stuff we do here in the office.
Speaker 2:But really it's just a matter of just asking for whatever your imagination wants you to produce. I mean, sounds like if you can't do it, it can't be done.
Speaker 3:That's right. And you know we get calls sometimes if there's something that touches the line of what we do. We used to wrap vehicles but we don't fully wrap anymore and you know we do get calls on that and we have people that we send them to if we don't do it. But a lot of times you know they don't realize you don't have to do a full vehicle wrap, you can just do the vinyl on the side it's. You know it's not as expensive, it's doing the same thing, you know it's promoting that advertisement. So it's just different things like that. We walk people through a lot of that just because they haven't thought about something or they just don't know we do it.
Speaker 2:Well, what do you do for fun, stacy? This is a big business, what do you? What do you do for fun when you're not working?
Speaker 3:I actually work, I do. My mother also has some rental property and things like that so I help take care of that and help take care of her and her husband and my mom had eight sisters and a few of them are here in town, so I still help do things with them a little bit, but mostly it's family and friends spending time with them. But as far as doing anything really fun or just for myself, I don't really do anything like that.
Speaker 2:I completely understand that. Being a fellow entrepreneur, I can understand that. Well, has there ever been anything that has it's happened in your life? You've gotten over it, but it delivered you on the other side as a stronger and better person.
Speaker 3:Gosh, there's lots of things that have, I think, made me stronger and better. The change of career path even though I still do a little of what I did before, it's on such a different level from taxes and like multi-client and things like that and doing a lot of behind the scenes stuff and then being right here with the public. It is different, as one thing I did learn from my long accounting career was that I was replaceable. It's an odd thing to think about, but you know, for years it was just like now I'm going to miss me when I'm gone.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you have a mentality of different people come in. The younger generation is a little different and it's like they don't do it like me. Different things like that have helped me now to trust somebody younger that has a different perspective. Or they may not work or have thoughts like me, because I'm one of those you know well, I just work 24 hours a day if I need to, and some people are not like that, so that's one thing that has. You know, I've actually learned and it's made me appreciate other people more in the way that they work.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I agree, I agree. Well, how would you like our listeners? What would you like our listeners to take away about Tuska Blue?
Speaker 3:That if they have any questions or needs about printing graphic designs, any type of signage, promotional products, events they have coming up, they need to give us a call because we could probably handle all of their printing and you know promotional needs that have something to do with that. Or again, if there's just some, if you need a photo album copied for family members, you know bring it in or call us with any questions.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I love Tuska Blue. We've done a lot of business with Tuska Blue in the past and unfailingly friendly and helpful, and if you've got an idea or an idea about an idea, just bring it in, have a little talk. How can listeners learn more about Tuska Blue? Veronica Sorry, I'm thinking Veronica, your partner. How can people get?
Speaker 3:ahold of you, stacey. They can find us on our website at tuskabluecom, or we have a Facebook page and also an Instagram page, but what we're most is for them to come into the office, and we're located at 2806 Greensboro Avenue, between the Salvation Army and Rose Stull Baptist Church, and we would love for them to come in and give us a shout. Let us help them Great.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much, Stacey. I appreciate you coming by. It's been a pleasure speaking to you.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much, Patricia. It's been great speaking with you.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor podcast Northport. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to GNPNorthportcom or call 205-809-4910.