#24 - Merch on a Mission - Happy New Year 2026

Print Theory is a screen printing business in Kingsburg, California. This week we introduce our newest program, Merch on a Mission. Listen to the team share stories about what happens behind the scenes as well as some of our most impactful moments.

Music: "Feel the Air" by Ikoliks
https://artlist.io/royalty-free-music/song/feel-the-air/122583

Co-host: Daniel Murrieta
Co-host: Sarah Murrieta
Co-host: Brandon Hirsch
Producer: Nathan Gomez

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:09

Hey everybody, welcome to the Birthday Podcast.

SPEAKER_03 0:14

We are and guess what?

SPEAKER_01 0:17

It's a new year.

SPEAKER_04 0:18

It's a new year.

SPEAKER_00 0:20

A new filming.

SPEAKER_04 0:23

Second take. Second take. Second take on the new year already. Yeah. My gosh. We were recording for like 15, 12, 15 minutes. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 0:33

Okay. It was only six minutes, guys. I was listening to the case. Okay, okay. Yeah. Well, that's good.

SPEAKER_04 0:38

Okay. It was six full minutes. Felt like forever. Great dialogue. And by the way. And I wasn't recording.

SPEAKER_03 0:46

But I'm sorry, guys.

SPEAKER_00 0:47

We actually stopped recording. It was recording recording and there was recording. But it's it's okay. Okay, but in your defense, on the board, the record button turns red, which for me means stop and it lights up green. I mean, I would have thought green meant go.

SPEAKER_02 1:05

This is like the Michael Scott where he says, I'm sorry. Orange, green, red, red. Go ahead. And instead of stop, it's like red means go. Green means go ahead and shut up about it.

SPEAKER_04 1:21

Nate had to stop us, and he's like, wait, you guys aren't recording. And I'm like, yeah, you said all I have to do is push the button. He's like, this button. It's not that good.

SPEAKER_00 1:30

Good thing, Nate, that you caught this because we would have gone the whole. Oh man. We would have gone the whole way.

unknown 1:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:37

Mr. Mr. Producer. Thanks, Nate. Like Mark, Mark Lemon. Mr. Producer.

SPEAKER_04 1:44

Well, happy new year. Happy New Year. Happy New Year. We are in it. We're in it now. We're here back from a pretty long hiatus, but we have been uh been busy. Been busy making uh making moves. Dreaming. Dreaming. Designing. Designing. Printing. Printing.

SPEAKER_01 2:05

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_04 2:06

And lots of other stuff.

SPEAKER_01 2:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 2:08

It has been a crazy year. For all those who are tuning in. We'll talk about it more here, but man, it's been it's been a wild. It's been a wild year. 2025 was all the emotions. And it was successful and it was awesome. And it was stressful. It was hard.

SPEAKER_01 2:28

Cried a little.

SPEAKER_04 2:29

Cried a little, cried a lot. Waited a little bit. Sighed a lot.

SPEAKER_01 2:31

The driveway for a little bit.

SPEAKER_04 2:32

Waited in the driveway. I had to do that a couple times before you go on in. You just gotta take a couple big breaths and be like, all right, now I'm I'm ready. I'm gonna decompress a little bit and then I'll let them let's let's figure out life. Right, sir. That's good, right? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:45

Okay, healthy. That's that's what I do. I just hide in the garage or I drive around the block. Sometimes, sometimes I'll pull up to my parents, and then my car will just keep going around the corner a little farther as I drive along the edge of the curb. And I'll just park around the corner for a minute because I realize when I get there, I'm just not ready yet. You know, five kids running out, five boys running out. They all have something they want to tell you that's so important, and you really do want to hear it and have those conversations, but I just have to do that first.

SPEAKER_03 3:22

Sometimes you're like, I can't. If I go in right now, no one, it's not gonna be a good one. Nobody wins. Nobody wins.

SPEAKER_04 3:28

I feel that. But man, well, we're here. It's 2026. That is a that's crazy. Crazy. We are, guys, we we hit our 10 years in 2015. Or in 2025.

SPEAKER_00 3:41

August of 25.

SPEAKER_01 3:42

August September.

SPEAKER_00 3:44

August 15th.

SPEAKER_04 3:46

We're going into our second decade as print theory, guys. Oh man. You're going into that's crazy.

SPEAKER_00 3:53

Strap up.

SPEAKER_04 3:54

You're going into your 11th year, your second decade. Ooh, put on your backpack.

SPEAKER_02 4:00

Oh, my print theory. There you go. Put on your backpack and stitch to my print theory.

SPEAKER_04 4:07

Man, it's okay. Well, okay. Well, before we go into the before we start casting out for 2026, because that just hit me right now. I'm excited for that. Second decade, that's crazy. Uh let's let's talk about I want to know your guys' most memorable moments for 2025. Who wants to go first? Oh, okay. Something that really stood out to you.

SPEAKER_00 4:27

So for me, there's a lot of things I could say, but when I do think about 2025, I the funniest thing that just comes up is the how to save a brand, how to save a brand and video that we did. So you so this is the video where Burton is like leaning up against the window and he's like, Brandon, what are we gonna do? How are we gonna tell everyone?

SPEAKER_03 4:53

He takes a big sigh. That's what that's like killed me every time.

SPEAKER_00 4:58

And then the way he turns around, and he's like he's like naturally so I was on the other side of the press looking through the glass, and I see Brandon like leaned up against the window, you know, and he looks really stressed out. And I was like, there's something wrong in there. So then I come around the corner and I'm going through the the door into the office, and I see Brandon Hirsch standing in the doorway leaning against the wall in the same type of manner, and I'm like, what is happening? And I go living that moment. Oh, that was so funny. And I don't know how you guys didn't crack up laughing during filming. I'm I mean, I'm sure you had some blooper moments, but many um that was just a funny one for me because I was totally had at that moment. I did not know about that video, and I thought for sure something was wrong, but in the end, we just got some great comedy out of it.

SPEAKER_04 5:51

We should have had a camera on her, on whoever walks in. It's like, what's going on?

SPEAKER_00 5:55

Yeah, that would have been like an episode of the office.

SPEAKER_04 5:58

That reminds me of the video that we did for that off that office style video with Burton where Matt's like, Where's Brandon? He's like, I'm Brandon.

SPEAKER_02 6:07

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 6:08

It's like you're not Brandon. That was classic.

SPEAKER_00 6:15

We need Burton to do a collab now. That would be so fun.

SPEAKER_04 6:19

Yeah, shout out Burton. That was funny. Okay, that was a fun moment. What about you, Dan? That was cool.

SPEAKER_00 6:25

Oh tell the one you told the first time, dude.

SPEAKER_01 6:31

The first time. What are we talking about? His most first time, the first state. I would say I I I so we went to uh Impressions last year, and we stayed at this Verbo. Um, we always stay at a house or something like that. It's it's a cool, it's a cool fun time with everybody. And the the house had like these showers, this massive shower head that just like let out a whole bunch of water at the same time.

SPEAKER_00 7:05

Uh yeah, it's a very high flow shower head. Take your best shower head at Home Depot and like triple it.

SPEAKER_01 7:14

Yeah, it was crazy. So yeah, changed my life. I think I spent a week trying to find like this one looks like it, this one looks like it. Was it this one? And yeah, I found it. You found it or may have not installed it. You may or may have not.

SPEAKER_00 7:34

No, so I get home and this shower head that Dan has been dreaming about is is in a box on the counter. And I thought, oh, you know, he's really gonna like this. So I take it in, and then you know, easy peasy, right? You unscrew it off the thing and you screw the new one back on. So I screw the shower head on and I pull the lever and I realize this is it, this is the one, and he's gonna be elated because this shower head will change your life. And so I sent him a video. I get here and he's sad about it, and he said, I wanted to put it in.

SPEAKER_04 8:10

I was like, Well she's like, Well, it's already in.

SPEAKER_00 8:14

I should have said, Yep, I already took a shower.

SPEAKER_04 8:17

I took a shower, it was great. It was cool. And how did that make you feel, Dan?

SPEAKER_01 8:24

Refreshed. Refreshed. It made me refresh. Yeah. I feel that. Um other than that, I think I think um uh so we kind of played like what is it? Musical musical chairs, musical office, musical desks, musical office desks uh this year. Definitely musical desks. Yeah, and so like I moved out of the main office, Nate and Josh came over to this side and called it the Dan X for a while. And uh a few months ago we we ended up moving back to the main office. Oh, our desks, yeah. Yeah, and then we moved musical desks inside the so like I got my old desk back, but then everybody else changed desks in the front.

SPEAKER_00 9:17

My favorite part was Josh thinking that he was gonna be over here on an island, which he would not have been disappointed, I don't think. And then at like six o'clock. He would have missed everyone, everyone is gone, and me and Dan and Nathan are like, let's cut the desk up and make it fit.

unknown 9:34

So we did.

SPEAKER_04 9:35

Yeah, that was wild. I did not think you guys were gonna come in on Friday or come in on Monday, and you guys could cut their desks and switched everything.

SPEAKER_01 9:44

The back, the side, even made like a little footstool for him underneath.

SPEAKER_00 9:48

Did he ever make it to this side of the building before he realized his desk was gone? Yeah, that was fun.

SPEAKER_04 9:55

That's awesome. I love Josh being on that side, he brings something to that side today.

SPEAKER_01 10:01

I was like, I was like, man, I love your comedy. And he's like, look, I'm I'm not being trying to be funny right now.

SPEAKER_02 10:10

I was like, that's even better.

SPEAKER_00 10:11

And it's like, keep going, keep going.

SPEAKER_01 10:14

Wasn't he on the podcast?

SPEAKER_00 10:16

I feel like you've met your match in dry comedy.

SPEAKER_01 10:18

Oh man, he has. Oh man. No man, yeah. Oh man. He matches and goes beyond.

SPEAKER_03 10:27

He definitely wins that one.

SPEAKER_04 10:29

Uh I gotta yeah. I love it though, because he's he's he's weird and he's so dry. You guys are different. I don't even know what you guys are different types of dry comedy. Josh, you are the one, your dry comedy where I've known you for years and I st I still I just believe you, type of dry comedy, or like I don't know necessarily when you're joking. Josh's dry comedy is one of the ones that he says something and you want to go to the bathroom and cry, but then you're like, was he joking? And then he's like, Come on, you know I'm joking. He's like, Were you? And he's like, I don't know, was I?

SPEAKER_03 11:10

It's like I know he jealously as the tears are rolling down. I don't know if you're joking.

SPEAKER_04 11:17

And then it turns out he is joking. Yeah, throws you for an emotional roller coaster. That's what we think. At least that's what we think. We still haven't figured him out. Yeah, but I'm learning. Learning you Josh.

SPEAKER_01 11:28

I'm watching you. What's your moment, Brandon?

SPEAKER_04 11:31

Oh man. Um man, my most memorable moment.

SPEAKER_00 11:38

Um he's like, it was a hard moment.

SPEAKER_04 11:42

I'm trying to think there was so much that just like happened. Um I think memorable for me, even and it was it was it was it was big, but I think for me and my like sales y promote like mind, when we got the CTS machine in, my brain exploded to like, oh my gosh, this is gonna change the game. Yeah, this is gonna change the game for us. Uh we got in a CTS machine um by oh, what's the company again? Advanced advanced imaging. We had seen them at Impressions Expo. Yeah, and I was just like, I mean, the amount of detail that you could get in one screen, I was like, and the speed.

SPEAKER_01 12:29

And the speed is crazy.

SPEAKER_00 12:31

That's the biggest thing is that you're exposing and printing while you're washing out. I mean, we I think we literally quadrupled our output in that side of printing.

SPEAKER_01 12:44

Something that took us 15 minutes and that we had to do by hand and hopefully like we beat it right and had to flip and do all that stuff. Like now it's all just done in like one to two minutes. Like it's it's insane.

SPEAKER_04 12:59

It's crazy fast, it's it's it's so detailed, it's so crisp. And I think when I when we got it in the shop, because I know we had talked about it and we're like, you guys had talked about deals and stuff, but we had we hadn't like waits not it wasn't in the shop, we weren't using it. And then it came in, got installed, they ran the picture of the uh the the lady, the lady on the like test print, and I immediately was like, Yeah, this is one pass. Yeah, this is one screen, one pass, and they're like one screen, and I'm like, oh my gosh, yeah, yeah, this is gonna and then we were like when he was leaving, I was like, I wonder who I and you guys were like, go ask him and see like I wonder I wonder who else has it in this area. Yeah, and we find out we're like one of three shops in all of California that have a CTS machine, and I'm like, okay, that exposes. Oh my gosh, it's so cool.

SPEAKER_00 13:52

So for me, that was like, okay, we're like this is about to change how we know the machine is good when you're like, okay, so I was at a I was in the blue water booth when I had impressions, yes, and I I want to say the guy's name was Tony, the tiger. He was from New Jersey, I think, and he was like, You he goes, I know you're here for blue water, and he goes, and you should buy this machine, but he's like, I'm gonna tell you about something else that you need to know about. And this booth was like out in the corner of ISS, yeah. And I'm thinking, you guys, this technology, after experiencing it, I almost want to call them and say, hey, I'll come be a brand ambassador for you just because I believe in the product and I know that it'll absolutely change a shop. Like it it has just so greatly increased when I think of capacity in terms of screen printing or production, I'm always thinking of like output. How can we increase how much we can do? Yeah, whether that's via equipment, time, efficiency. This blew the ceiling off the creative capacity that we could have in this shop and the capacity of just our our our skill and our ability to make things that were so complex in design and then just come out amazing. I I think Wilcox Ag was one of the one of the first one. First few. I mean, we did we did a lot of them this year, like that.

SPEAKER_04 15:28

Which is so valuable, oh yeah, yeah, for sure. No, Wilcox was they were so excited because they had had previous stuff that they had gotten from other print shops, and they're out of uh uh Northern California, and hey, they had gone with whoever they've been going with for a while, and it it was just really, really washed out and not very detailed. I mean, just it's not not not not clean at all. Yeah, and then they get we we ship the we we print it, we ship the product over to them, and she's like sending me side-by-side pictures, and she's like, night and day, this is amazing, everyone loves it. I'm like, dang, I was actually compared to the other print shop, is like, dang, that's that was that was really good. Like you did an awesome job. And that that did open the door for uh like that one and uh Golden State uh uh Golden State Autobody and uh Kingsburg Four-Wheel Drive Club that we did, like just tons of tons of Lexus was all the Lexus designs were really cool.

SPEAKER_00 16:28

I I liked the one with the car, the sports car, and then the all the color that design was so fun, and you know there's always some like technique and stuff that you're gonna use on press with pressures and angles and all these things, but yeah, it's what makes it fun. And that and the way that print came out was just so so cool. Uh, but it was neat to see the capability of that machine open the door to so much of that work, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 16:57

Yeah, that was probably my most memorable, at least for me. Like when I think of the year, I'm like in that moment, I was like, dang, this is gonna change the game of even like how I can pitch us and how it like what it opened. It just it was like this is awesome.

SPEAKER_01 17:09

Yeah, well, even so we we added that and then we added the blue water, which changed the game also for the production. Um the job more enjoyable, cut down everything. I mean everything that that blue water has changed or I mean we we were spending three to four days just washing screens with just somebody in that room all the time. Previously, yeah. And now they're running it maybe a few times a week for just a few hours. Like it's not it's not a terrible job anymore.

SPEAKER_00 17:45

No, yeah, even I've jumped into to like wash screens, like well, and I almost think the guys kind of enjoy it because when you are in there, you're you're gonna just be feeding screens through the machine, you know. You dip them in a dip tank, you feed it through. So I think a lot of them just lock into like a podcast or some music, and it's kind of a chill thing to do now where it used to be, you know, a sport of misery. You have to do this, yeah. This is your job.

SPEAKER_01 18:16

That was yeah, that was fun. Two of the best uh purchases that we made this year. Yeah, for sure. Revolution hands.

SPEAKER_00 18:23

I don't know. We made the Jima too. We made the Tejima purchase, which absolutely dang, we did a lot of things.

SPEAKER_01 18:30

I mean, we did, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:32

That was amazing. Yeah, totally uh improved puff in this shop. Anything puff stitched got so much better because the presser foot no longer comes all the way down and smashes the puff. Like on a bear dan, which is what we previously had, the you can't set that presser foot height. And so when you're stitching over puff, you know, you're smashing the puff down and it's cinching the thread. Well, it's cinching the puff flat, so you just can't get a lot of raise. But on that Tojima, as soon as he came in and was like, Well, we're gonna change the presser foot height, I was like, What are you talking about? And then he goes, We're gonna raise it up three mils so that the presser foot isn't smashing the puff down. Absolutely mind blowing. Yeah, great, completely change the game. Yeah, and it man, one incredible machine. They they have a customer for life out of me. That was amazing.

SPEAKER_01 19:25

Yeah, I forgot about that. We did we did a lot this year.

SPEAKER_00 19:30

I know. It doesn't it talk doesn't like now that we're talking about it, doesn't it feel like the year was longer than it felt like?

SPEAKER_04 19:36

We did that. We had our own booth.

SPEAKER_00 19:37

Are you sure we didn't have it the year before? No, no, no. We got it at the beginning of the year.

SPEAKER_04 19:42

We had our own booth, we had our own booth at the egg didn't we have it at the beginning of the year?

SPEAKER_01 19:46

No, was it last year?

SPEAKER_00 19:48

It was last year. No. But it was at the very end of the year.

unknown 19:53

I don't remember.

SPEAKER_00 19:55

It was. I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 19:56

We know we had our own booth at the World Act Expo this year.

SPEAKER_00 20:00

The years are bleeding into it.

SPEAKER_04 20:01

The years are bleeding.

SPEAKER_02 20:02

Wait, where am I? Wait a second. I don't know where I am.

SPEAKER_00 20:06

No, because I haven't. No, we got it. I'm on the podcast. Well, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:11

What is I don't know. I mean, it's a great product. Shout out to Gene. Shout out to the book.

SPEAKER_00 20:18

Okay, but it really did come at the end of the year now that I'm thinking about it, because I haven't used it on tax return yet, which means it definitely came at the end of the year.

SPEAKER_01 20:25

I don't know. We're gonna have to go back to the house. We're gonna have to go, we're gonna find out. Check those security cameras.

SPEAKER_04 20:31

Oh my gosh. Don't go back that far.

SPEAKER_01 20:34

No.

SPEAKER_04 20:35

Okay, we got some exciting stuff. That's what I told you. We got some other exciting stuff. That's true. Done done. We got some exciting stuff. I'll try it one more time. We've got some exciting stuff to announce. Uh something also that is revolutionary for us. Uh really, really uh establishing uh some purpose behind uh why we do what we do. Uh and so Sarah, I'm gonna I'm gonna hand this one off to you because I know this was your brain child.

SPEAKER_00 21:16

So uh this year uh we launched a nonprofit organization called Merch on a Mission. Ooh. Yeah. Yeah, so I think, you know, since we got into this business, we've wanted to do something where we could really like pour back into our community. And, you know, over the years we've we've given to different causes and donated to different things. Um, but you know, a couple years ago, I had a local school administrator call just here in Central Valley, and they they needed merchandise for um unhoused high school students. And this came as a shock to me because my initial reaction was, what are you talking about? Like I didn't even know that this was a demographic of kids, that we we had kids that were in this sort of need. You just expect that um that they're gonna be cared for um through various programs and state-sponsored things, and you don't you don't expect that this is an issue. And come to find out it is a very prevalent issue, and particularly for high school students, um, they are kind of a lost demographic of kids. They're not young enough to really be picked up on the radar. Um, oftentimes they're co-parenting younger siblings. Um and so yeah, it was just, I don't know, just the the thought that these these kids were in these types of circumstances and still showing up to high school to get a diploma. I mean, I just my heart just I don't want to say that it broke, but it just absolutely welled with compassion. And and also like super proud of these kids that they, you know, they know getting a good education is gonna change their life. Yeah, and they're willing to put themselves through that meat grinder and get up and go and do all this with all the hardship that they have. I mean, if it was me, I would be out like, nope, I'm going to work. But they stay locked into school and we're just um, I just was so proud of them because I was like, man, you're you these kids will change the trajectory. They'll be the kids that rewrite their story. And and I we want to do more for them. And one of the, you know, I know when Josh was on the pod, he introduced himself. Um, he's he previously worked for um a major nonprofit organization here in the valley. And he was explaining to us that high school students and kids in this age demographic, they are some of the most difficult, they are they are the most underserved area of of unhoused people groups here in in California. And so we wanted to do something more. Uh schools were having a need here, and merchandise is a hard thing to provide uh to anyone that is is struggling and needs it because you're dealing with sizes, right? And so everybody's a different size.

SPEAKER_04 24:36

It's hard to logistically figure out.

SPEAKER_00 24:37

Yeah, it's it's yeah, it's just it's a difficult thing, it's a difficult area to serve in. Um, like people donating clothes. I mean, I know Josh was saying like the amount of clothing that we that they took in and and distributed, it was just absolutely enormous there in Fresno. And but he also said it's so hard when you're dealing with young people in particular, because you just you you just don't get as much use-sized clothing and this sort of thing. So anyhow, all that to say, um we want to step in as a company and kind of make this make this our thing and serve this, serve these kids and help them, um, help them in any way that we can get through school because I do believe, um, I believe it'll change their life and and write a different different ending to their story.

SPEAKER_04 25:27

I love that. And what are we, what are we calling it?

SPEAKER_00 25:31

Merch on a mission.

SPEAKER_04 25:32

Merch on a mission.

SPEAKER_00 25:34

Merch on a mission.

SPEAKER_04 25:35

I am so, so, so excited because we've always we've always talked about I know it's been even before I was here, but I know since since we are like we're we've always talked about like man, it's just it's more than just merchandise for us. And the way that we talk about what we do and stuff like that, it's not just a job, and it's not just we're slanging t-shirts and stuff like that. Like it really is, it's in our pitch, it's in the way that we take care of our customers because we care.

SPEAKER_00 26:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 26:00

And this was an awesome way to be able to the best way I can start, like put your money where your mouth is. Like, like we we were able to be like, okay, it is more than just our words of it's more than it's more than just smirch. It's not just by how much we care. Now we're showing how much we care by taking care of our customers and also repurposing that uh love and care that we want to extend out to our community and get to actually do something with all the merchandise that we that we make all the time. And it's uh it was so cool. I remember when we when you had announced it at our uh family breakfast that we had that one Friday, and we were kind of all talking about it, and you were like, all right, here's the idea, and here's the vision behind it, here's our heart in this. We want to do this as a company, and like everyone was on board. Everyone was like, Yep, we can get behind that.

SPEAKER_01 26:55

And didn't was it Burton that came up?

SPEAKER_00 26:58

Yeah, Burton actually named it March on a Mission. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:01

So he'll forever be a part.

SPEAKER_04 27:03

He'll forever be in our hearts.

unknown 27:05

Forever.

SPEAKER_04 27:06

But merch on a mission, that's I'm so excited. I'm so excited. So we got uh we got some stuff launching. Do we are we able to talk uh about what we have done?

SPEAKER_00 27:16

Do we oh yeah, we can with some discretion.

SPEAKER_04 27:20

Okay. Go for it, go on.

SPEAKER_00 27:23

So what we did was uh this last year, we actually partnered with local schools, um, and we asked them to, with discretion, like if you can, if you can gather some information for us so that we can curate merch packs for these kids. And so what we did was we did um we did everything. We did shirt, hoodies, joggers, stuffed it full of a bunch of goodies, essentials and snacks. And yeah, and and these kids, I I think we gave out just over a hundred packs um across the valley this year as kind of yeah, it was a trial run. I we didn't even get our nonprofit certifications until toward the end of the year. So it was kind of like, hey, let's pilot this program, let's launch it with some of the schools that we work closely with, and let's kind of refine. And I and I'm sure there'll be more refining and more things that we we implement. Um, but we do have a pretty big vision for this year. And we want we want to provide a way for not just our community and our customers uh to partner, but we we also want to make sure that we sew into this as a company. And so we've got some really fun plans, and I know Brandon will lay those out um with all of the the stuff that he shares here in a bit. But um, you know, our goal is that we outfit these kids with some really slick merch. And one of the things that that we did was we we're making sure that the merch that we make is branded with their school logos. Um, we want to make sure that we are uh being cautious and that we are, I don't know if cautious is the right word. I I want to bless these kids, but I want to bless them with dignity and I want I I want them, we want to honor them. And so this is how, yeah, this is how we chose to do it. And it was just amazing. I the the the involvement we got from schools. I mean, that was like unbelievable.

SPEAKER_04 29:31

I really didn't expect. I mean, I as we started looking into it more and gathering more data and stuff like that, it was like, oh man, this is a really under under underserved uh demographic. And then when we started putting it out to the schools, I didn't realize that a lot majority of these schools, one, already keep keep, keep track of and and on their own, whether it be as a school district or as a school site, uh help build relationship with the with this demographic and with the unhoused kids on their uh students on their campuses already, and they have either a full department or one single person that's checking in on them and making sure they have what they need because they know that that the need that the need is there. And when we were like, hey, this is what we want to do. I mean, there were the the reception that we got from these schools was so awesome, and it was so cool to be able to hand deliver uh those packages to to the school sites and to get the feedback afterwards. Man, that was that was fun. I had had one one of our school sites that we partnered with called me within probably an hour and a half of of giving them out to the kids, was like, I just wanted to give you a call and let you know. Like we handed it out to one of, and it was a it was a senior at the time, and she was like, This, this, this kid is said he is like he started crying and was like, He is n he's a senior and he's never gotten any type of school spirit wear or merchandise for the four years that he's been there, and the fact that it was his size and it was relevant and it was cool. Uh she said that the student was just in tears and was like, This is awesome. And it was right before right before Christmas break, so they got to enjoy it over the Christmas. It was like, Yes. I remember driving the driving our new uh our new our new van.

SPEAKER_03 31:13

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_04 31:13

And we got it, we got a van down theory van delivery van and dry driving that delivery van back, and I was like, this is what it's all of like this is awesome. Like I was so excited, and not because like, oh man, we like you know, oh yeah, it's gonna put a feather in our cap or anything like that, but it was just like man, we got to serve these people in our community that help serve us and help us thrive and help us have helped us build our company. Inadvertently through all this, we get to now help more kids this year and more students and more people that need. And it's a way for us to honor them, like you said, with dignity. And I'm I'm super, super excited. So I don't know how do you want to transition into uh here.

SPEAKER_00 32:02

I I I think for me, the the thing that if I could cast a little vision for the next year, so we did a hundred and two packs, I think, this year. Um and I felt like I remember having breakfast and thinking that I think I said, like, guys, I want to do, I want to do, did I say like, did I say about a hundred packs or something? I think I said 500, and everybody's like, whoa, hang on, wait a second. Christmas is like three weeks away.

SPEAKER_04 32:32

And we're like, it's it's getting it close.

SPEAKER_00 32:33

And so we're like, okay, let's just pull a couple schools in and let's pilot this thing and get get the system down. Um, but but for this following year, I have a personal goal to produce 5,000 packs for kids. Uh, we have, I mean, when we look at the statistics, we have 1.3 million um students that are experiencing some form of of of homelessness. It's either, you know, they're they're couch surf couch surfing, they're living with someone else, they're doubled up, um, or in in really difficult cases. I mean, these kids really are. Um, they are really in dire straits. And so we um, yeah, we wanna we want to make a small dent in that. Uh 5,000 feels like a big number, but when you look at 1.3 million students, um, you know, it's a it's a small piece of the pie. Yeah. And and I I could absolutely see this program exploding. Yeah. I would love to see over the next decade of this business we're talking about, decades. I'd love to see over the next decade us get to the point where we are doing a half a million to a million of these packs every single year. And I'm convinced that that is completely and entirely possible. Um, and I don't think, you know, when I think about like what the Lord is passionate for, he wants you to care for orphans and widows. Nugger to love is this, right? That we care for these two people groups. And so when we have kids that just need this kind of care and need a fresh set of gear, like, man, I I know the Lord will breathe on it. And so for me, I just believe like it's absolutely possible. We could have a whole nother facility just for this.

SPEAKER_01 34:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 34:22

That's true. I mean, we could, man. And when you think about like, we're like, well, why like merchandise? Or like, because it's merchandise is tied into like your I mean your identity. People when when you we we we talk about it on the sales side, we're like uh how it can help transform like a company or a brand or stuff like that. Because when you put something when you buy a new shirt, you feel good, you look good, school spirit. Yeah, it really changes the culture. Yeah. If it can change the culture, it's because it first changes the way that the individual wearing it perceives themselves and acts then now when you have pride and where you're like all this stuff, and we're like, dang, and then they get this confidence about them when they're wearing something nice and they whatever they've been feeling previously. Now they're like, Man, I have a full outfit of clothes I maybe have never maybe haven't gotten in a while or never gotten or whatever. Like that's reusable that you can just keep all put together in a nice drawstring bag that they can use for like whatever. It's all it's all useful stuff, not just something they can be like, oh sweet, I'll use this one time and throw it away. And like yeah, it's like something they can actually use and and feel good about themselves wearing, and it's nice, uh, nice blank brands that that are used, and we print on high quality, and it's like it's all the stuff, and it's like, man, it really is connecting everything that we do on our wholesale and volume side to our customers. It's now like now we have not just our words of why we do this, it's like here is why print theory. This here's why we live today.

SPEAKER_01 35:55

Yeah, and the cool thing is is not it's it's yeah, it can be seasonal for Christmas, but it's like something that can be it's needed all year. So that's that's the cool thing about it because we're we're gonna be able to do this in the spring, summer, back to school, Christmas. Like, like the goal is to to meet the need. Oh, yeah. And we know the need is there. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:18

Yeah. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_04 36:20

So that's gonna be a lot of fun on how we even like as as we're crafting this out. Uh we'll explain more as the details come out more, but there's gonna be ways for us to uh other ways for our clients and our customers and anyone else who's wanting to get involved to get involved via whether it be sponsor packs or partnering with other schools, we're gonna share this mission out. And I believe what we are gearing up to do uh shortly here is where uh I believe every box of hats sold, correct?

SPEAKER_00 36:51

Yeah. So for the month of January, we're running our annual hat sale. Uh we've done this now for I think four years. Yeah, that deserves a buzzer. Um and it sale January. Yeah, totally. Yeah, get excited about that one because it's gonna be amazing. Um, every year, I'm always trying to one-up it, you know, every single year. It's like, oh my gosh, how can we make this better? Um, but we do have some crazy sales going for that, which will be really fun. And um our our goal was hey, every box of hats that we sell, where this company is gonna fork in and sponsor um a merch pack for a student. And so that is one way that you can get involved, be a part and be involved, is just simply by by buying the merch that you were already gonna buy and knowing that, like, hey, a portion of this is gonna get set aside. And it doesn't mean that you know you're gonna have some price hike for it. Um, we're we're gonna drive, we're gonna drive that with volume. And we're believing the Lord for some big volume this year and a lot of growth, and um, and that's how we're gonna help make this mission possible and make it real. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 38:03

I'm excited. I'm excited. And that January hat sale is live now because it is New Year's now. So it is live. So we are selling uh it's uh 48 hats, so it's two boxes, uh two boxes of hats uh with a one placement logo, and you get your hats at$12 a hat, which is crazy.

SPEAKER_00 38:25

Well, and that's a Richardson hat, right? So that's the big kicker there is that you're getting a premium hat.

SPEAKER_04 38:31

Premium trucker hat,$12 a hat, two boxes of hats, and each of those boxes you help sponsor a merch pack for a merch on a mission for a student. I mean, that's awesome. Yeah, that's gonna be so cool. I'm excited. Reach out to us at uh you can either contact myself or our office, however you want to get involved, DM us on social media if you're watching this on social media. Hey, we're here. Let's uh let's help out as many, as many people as we can uh this month. I'm excited to see, I'm excited to see what God brings through this.

SPEAKER_00 39:01

Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_04 39:02

It'll be fun. Man, we we got a lot to go over. We have impressions coming up in a couple weeks. Yeah, we have our Disney in a couple weeks. I'm so excited. Uh I know who it is. He's like, cut it, cut it, cut it. It's gonna be a fun year. It's gonna be a fun year. If when we think about everything that we did last year, yeah, and the stuff that we've accomplished in the past, we finally hit our goal that we've been trying to hit for three years. And so I'm excited. So now the new goal is audacious to use this word as well. But I mean, if I mean we we have we have our why. Yeah, and it's only gonna help. The more that we sell is uh the more that we sell, the more people that we're gonna be able to help with everything that we do and to give back to in our community, and that's what it's all about. So I'm excited of what 2026 holds for us, what God holds for us, uh, and I am excited. For what that's going to look like.

SPEAKER_00 40:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 40:02

Yeah. It's going to be a good year.

SPEAKER_00 40:05

It's going to be a great year. I feel coming into this year, just so much traction that we did not have in previous years. Previous years, they really felt like an uphill climb. And this year, I think we've spent, you know, the last really we've spent the whole year building back-end internal systems that help serve the business and help grow it that most companies have fully implemented before they ever even break a million dollars in revenue. And we've gone as far as we have without having them, which is just a testament to how amazing our team is. And um, I'm so excited to see like the kind of fire that gets breathed on all that stuff with all these things, all this infrastructure on the back end. So yeah, lots of exciting things. New website, new website launching.

SPEAKER_04 41:00

You got a lot of stuff. You guys got a lot of gifts coming your way.

SPEAKER_01 41:04

Yeah. And Josh.

SPEAKER_04 41:06

Nate and Josh, new marketing material that's going out to prospects and clients and goodies and all this stuff. We're gonna, we're gonna, we're gonna love on our clients and love on our community this uh this year. I'm excited.

SPEAKER_00 41:17

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Me too. It's gonna be fun.

SPEAKER_04 41:20

We're gonna merch different this year.

SPEAKER_00 41:21

Wait.

SPEAKER_01 41:22

We are waiting for what are you drinking, Brandon?

SPEAKER_04 41:24

What am I drinking? Oh, snap. I am drinking a cafe con leche from Ola Cafecito, our our official, unofficial, official sponsors of the print theory podcast. It's been a while, but we do want to give them a shout-out. Don't worry, we haven't been portraying you or anything or cheating on you. We just have not had the podcast. Yeah, but every Friday. Every Friday. We still have a whole law Friday.

SPEAKER_01 41:48

We do have Olaf Friday. And so if you're in Hanford or Mercedes, Hanford or Mercedes. We drove. We drove to their opening. Oh, yeah. We were killer.

SPEAKER_00 42:01

I did a little like braining on why I think this coffee is so good. Outside of the fact that the flavor is incredible, right? The balance, unbelievable. But it's because it's so cold, huh, Nathan? It's so cold. I mean, I don't know how they do it. It's it's almost like their milk is stored in a freezer or something, but you get an iced coffee, and it's not like it's an iced coffee. It's iced, it's iced like they blew nitrogen into it, iced. It is amazing. Did they? I don't know. You tell us. I don't, I don't, I don't think they did that, but they have some trick. Let's not false advertise, but it is really cold, and that's not false advertisement at all.

SPEAKER_04 42:40

And it's really good. It is so good. It's so good. It is so good. You guys are drinking massapans, right?

SPEAKER_00 42:44

Yeah. Mayases coffee with a snack at the bottom. It's the only one I know of.

SPEAKER_01 42:49

What's that drink with the snack on the bottom? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 42:53

And they were when you guys first started drinking them. I was like, I don't want peanuts in my coffee. It reminded me of my mom drinking peanuts in a Pepsi. What? Which I yes. I always thought this was so gross. You haven't tried it. Because the peanuts were salty, you know, and you put them in the Pepsi, and then it's like, it just didn't. Really? It's good, but you gotta wash the salt off the peanuts first.

SPEAKER_04 43:15

I gotta do extra work.

SPEAKER_00 43:16

Which when you get it at a gas station, you don't have time to wash them off, so you just dump them in there.

SPEAKER_04 43:21

Yeah, I'm not here to start peeling peanuts and then put it in. I'm just taking them by the pre the previous.

SPEAKER_05 43:31

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_02 43:32

Yes, yes. You know what? That is what you do.

SPEAKER_00 43:36

Anybody watching this podcast that is in their upper 30s and beyond knows how hysterical that was right there. Because that is proof that Brando But you kill peanuts.

SPEAKER_04 43:48

That's all I you're right, you're right now that you're saying it.

SPEAKER_00 43:50

I will tell you though, I heard of this one. Who was it that told us, was it Joseph that he eats the peanuts with the shell?

unknown 43:58

What?

SPEAKER_04 43:58

What? I knew he was weird.

SPEAKER_00 44:01

He did when we were at our Christmas dinner. He was telling us, I'm pretty sure it was Joseph, that he needs it. He eats the shell off the peanuts.

SPEAKER_01 44:10

I wouldn't doubt it. I think he knows somebody. I don't think it was no, no, no.

SPEAKER_00 44:14

He's I'm pretty whoever I listened to was like, yes, I do this. I'm certain it was him, but you know, you can never be 100% certain.

SPEAKER_04 44:21

We'll have him on the podcast sometime and we'll have to verify that.

SPEAKER_00 44:24

No, here's what we do, Nathan. You we're gonna bring a bag of peanuts and we're just gonna set him on his desk. We're gonna pop the camera up secretly and film him, and we'll just wait to see if he just pops one in with the shell and eats it.

SPEAKER_04 44:39

You know, he would be the one, he would just oh, there's a random pack of peanuts on my desk.

SPEAKER_00 44:43

No, we'll put them in a bowl and everything. We'll just set them there.

SPEAKER_04 44:46

That's even more suspicious. Like, why don't we get it?

SPEAKER_00 44:48

I know, but he's gonna but because he told me he's gonna be like, oh wow, they brought me peanuts.

SPEAKER_02 44:55

A Pepsi and be like, what do you choose?

SPEAKER_00 44:57

He puts them in with the shell in the Pepsi. Oh man. Oh no.

SPEAKER_04 45:02

Psychotic.

SPEAKER_00 45:03

Yeah, that would be crazy.

SPEAKER_04 45:05

I'd be like, sorry, Joe, you're out of here.

SPEAKER_00 45:07

You can't sit at the front desk.

SPEAKER_04 45:10

You can't be the face of the company if you're doing that. My goodness. Well, this has been fun. This has been fun. You guys have anything to add before we close?

SPEAKER_00 45:18

Okay, do you guys have any like what do you have any like big goals for this year?

SPEAKER_04 45:26

Full sales team.

SPEAKER_00 45:28

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_04 45:29

Full sales team.

SPEAKER_00 45:29

Yeah, you better get ready.

SPEAKER_04 45:31

I'm excited. I'm I'm I'm excited. That'll that'll that'll change the amount of care that we're able to give each one of our customers uh and clients and really build out the relationship side of things uh even more. And I'm just excited what that's gonna what that looks like to us even in six months, four months. I'm excited. That's my goal.

SPEAKER_00 45:54

Dano.

SPEAKER_01 45:56

Um yeah, yeah, I don't know. I'm just gonna play it by ear. Go with the wind.

SPEAKER_00 46:08

Dan, there's a Bible verse about that. Oh, we can't just be DOS with the wind.

SPEAKER_04 46:16

Gotta have your solid firm foundation. Gotta build your on the rock.

SPEAKER_01 46:23

Yeah, I don't know. Um for sure would be really cool for the sales team. That would be that would be cool to do. Um maybe another graphics designer to to help would be really cool because that would help. Yeah. If we have more sales, then we'll have more art to do. We will definitely have more sales. No, we don't go crazy. That'll be yeah, I can't have you gone crazy or Josh. Yeah, creating all the cool stuff. Yeah. You know, that'd be cool. Just making really cool stuff. Making really sick stuff. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 46:59

Sweet, sir.

SPEAKER_00 47:01

I, this is the year we buy property to break ground on our new PT hub. So if you or any of your friends or satellite location.

SPEAKER_01 47:14

I'm down for a satellite.

SPEAKER_00 47:16

Dan is down for a satellite, but we don't have any room for machines anymore. So we need to explore expansions. Both? We could, we'll see. We'll see. But hey, if you or any of your friends have any property here in this business park we're interested, let's have a chat. But we are, I am, I am reverse engineering the next 18 months of this business in hopes to get us to a groundbreaking of an absolutely phenomenal facility which is lives alive in my mind. And I just get so happy when I think about it. You know, I was at lunch today and I almost asked the waitress for a napkin so I could start drawing out the lunchroom. That's how excited I am about it. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I had a moment of passion and I was like, I need a pen and a napkin.

SPEAKER_01 48:09

But the you know, I mean they have napkins, but they're cloths, and you can't draw on the cloth. I mean, she asked. Maybe just listen.

SPEAKER_00 48:16

I could have asked. I could have asked, but I thought Dan would have been like, What are you doing? I'd be like, I gotta draw this. Exactly. What's happening to me right now? I I thought about doing it on my phone, but you know, digital drawing when you have pudgy fingers is kind of hard.

SPEAKER_01 48:28

Levels, just everyone on different levels. Little stairs going up. Everyone on there. There's only two levels in my mind. There's only two. That's from Steinfeld.

SPEAKER_00 48:38

Oh, is it? Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 48:39

We're living on levels, Jerry.

SPEAKER_00 48:42

Oh gosh.

SPEAKER_01 48:44

Well, with that, guys, that was a fun episode.

SPEAKER_04 48:47

That was a fun episode, guys. We are very excited.

unknown 48:51

Every three weeks.

SPEAKER_04 48:53

We are every three weeks. We are every three weeks.

SPEAKER_00 48:56

Podcast and all year.

SPEAKER_04 48:58

We got this. Our next episode, we will be at ISS.

SPEAKER_01 49:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 49:03

So, guys, that's gonna be that's gonna be fun.

SPEAKER_01 49:05

A lot of dreaming.

SPEAKER_04 49:06

There's a lot of dreaming during that one. Thank you to everyone who is watching this right now or listening to this. Uh, thank you so much for sticking with us and make sure to stick with us throughout the rest of this year because we're all gonna find out.

SPEAKER_02 49:19

We're all gonna find out together where this goes.

SPEAKER_04 49:22

But we are merching with a mission this year. Uh, we are merch on a mission, we are merching different, we are all of that. We got everything we need. Uh, we got a great team that we're building off of here. Uh, and I'm excited. So stick with it. Thank you so much. This has been the Print Theory Podcast, first one of the new year, 2026, and we are out. See you later.