Service with a Personal Touch: The Larry Schendelman Approach

In this episode, we sit down with Larry Schendelman, the founder of A&J Graphics and Promotions, who shares his unique journey from working in the printing industry as a teenager in New York City to moving across the country and establishing his successful business in Arizona. Larry delves into his core philosophy of providing unparalleled service regardless of the client's budget, his early life working alongside his father, and the pivotal moments that shaped his entrepreneurial journey. He also opens up about personal challenges, such as dealing with anxiety and panic attacks, and how these struggles have influenced his approach to business and relationships. Whether you are interested in the intricacies of the printing and promotional merchandise industry, or seeking inspiration from Larry's unwavering commitment to customer service and legacy building, this episode offers both practical insights and heartfelt stories.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:23

I apply that same philosophy to my business. Whether you're a customer that spends $100,000 a year with me or spends $100 a year with me, you're gonna get the same level of service, attention to detail, you're gonna get my very best.

SPEAKER_02 0:40

Hey there, welcome back to Above and Beyond Rux and Smeeth's Elevation. I'm your host, John Simon, and this season we're raising the bar, diving into the passion, purpose, and defining moments of leaders who don't just aim high, they live there. Big ideas, real stories. Let's get into it. Today's guest brings a rare blend of deep industry experience, relationship first service, and a story that comes full circle. He was first introduced to the world of print at just 15 years old, working summers alongside his father in New York City, scraping aluminum plates, film, and lead from some of the largest commercial print shops in the tri-state area. Watching massive presses roll out catalogs, retail ads, and Broadway playbills left an impression that would quietly shape his future. Fast forward more than 30 years, and he's now the founder of AJ Graphics and Promotions, offering a true concierge-level approach to promotional products, print, signage, and branded merchandise. His mission is simple but powerful. Help businesses tell their story, stand out from the competition and leave a lasting impression no matter the size or the budget. On a personal level, he grew up in northern New Jersey, married his high school sweetheart together for over 42 years, and made a bold move in 1998, packing up their young family and relocating from New Jersey to Arizona in search of a better quality of life. Before finding his home in promo and print, he also built experience in the hotel and restaurant world with Marriott Corporation. Ladies and gentlemen, Larry Schindleman.

SPEAKER_01 2:20

That's good to be here, Jan. Thanks for inviting me.

SPEAKER_02 2:23

You're very welcome. Thank you for coming on the show. And uh I very greatly appreciate it. We've had the opportunity to play golf a couple times together, I think. We have. And uh I appreciate you taking the time to come in and let us learn more about you and your business and and uh what what makes you different than everybody else?

SPEAKER_01 2:43

What makes me different? Well, we talked about the concierge style of service, and for me, I I really cherished what I learned from Marriott Corporation, and it was take care of the customer no matter what it takes. And I apply that same philosophy to my business. Whether you're a customer that spends $100,000 a year with me or spends $100 a year with me, you're gonna get the same level of service, attention to detail, you're gonna get my very best. So the uh I I think that's where we separate ourselves from the pack. So it's the communication, it's the willingness to to listen, to make sure that we are not to borrow from you, but going above and beyond for our customers.

SPEAKER_02 3:34

It's interesting how many times that comes up, and now it's funny because I'm like, I'll be just watching TV and somebody's talking, they're going, yeah, it just goes above and beyond. And I'm like, that's awesome. So taking back to your childhood, you grew up in northern New Jersey.

SPEAKER_00 3:48

I did.

SPEAKER_02 3:50

Uh what would constitute northern New Jersey?

SPEAKER_01 3:54

Okay. You're a sports fan, right? Yeah. You follow professional. Exactly. J Jimmy Hoffa. We don't know if he was buried there or not, but that that you know, that's what these the story goes. So uh the Metal Lands Giant Stadium, I grew up probably about five miles due west of Giant Stadium.

SPEAKER_02 4:12

Wow, so are you a Giants fan?

SPEAKER_01 4:13

Uh no, I'm actually a Jets fan, but the Jets play in Giants Stadium. Yep. Friends of mine will tease me, Giants fans will say, okay, Jets fans, time to pay the rent.

SPEAKER_02 4:23

There you go.

SPEAKER_01 4:24

Especially because we we typically are far worse than they are.

SPEAKER_02 4:27

Yeah. Um you know who else is a huge Jets fan? Doug Hopkins.

SPEAKER_01 4:31

Oh, Doug Hopkins, yes, I did know that.

SPEAKER_02 4:33

He's a very big Jets. He's a New Yorker. Yes, and uh that's so I feel bad for him every time they get their butts kicked.

SPEAKER_01 4:40

We are I I want to say now we are in our 56th rebuilding year. There you go. Since Joe Willie Naven has brought us a championship in 1970. Uh it's just brutal.

SPEAKER_02 4:54

Who was, you know, 19. Oh shoot, I can't now, I can't think of the guy's name. There was a quarterback back in the eighties or maybe nineties.

SPEAKER_00 5:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:06

Vinnie Testaverdi? Yes. Vinnie Testaverdi. Vinny Testaverdi. They were pretty good back then. They weren't bad.

SPEAKER_01 5:12

They were they were okay. And then he had a he resurrected his career kind of later on with uh, what was it, Tampa Bay? Yeah, something like Buccaneers. Yep. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:20

Ah, all right. So we we can't say upstate New York, near northern New Jersey. Um, did you ever spend time down at the boardwalk?

SPEAKER_01 5:29

Oh, yeah, Jersey Shore. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, me and Snucky.

SPEAKER_02 5:33

I say, did you watch the show?

SPEAKER_01 5:35

Uh uh a little bit. I feel like, you know, those kinds of shows, you're kind of dumber for it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:41

You get done, you're like, man, I lost some brain cells.

SPEAKER_01 5:44

Exactly, exactly. So not not too much, but I'm well aware of it. But you know, just the whole, you know, the music scene uh was kind of a big deal. You know, Springsteen, Bon Jovi, Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes. I don't know if they were as well known here, but they had a couple hits. Uh was it uh there's a couple others too, but uh yeah, I mean Frank Sinatra was from uh Hoboken.

SPEAKER_02 6:09

Oh really? Okay. I did not know that. So uh sports band paper boy.

SPEAKER_01 6:18

Yeah, so so band, uh yeah, it's probably uh what'd you play? I ended up buying myself a set of drums kind of in my teen yeah. Okay, but my parents didn't want the racket.

SPEAKER_02 6:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:35

Okay, so they're like, well, you have a choice. You can play the clarinet or trumpet or flute. I'm like really those are those are my choices?

SPEAKER_02 6:48

One choice in there that might make you almost cool.

SPEAKER_01 6:51

It's like, yeah, so so so clearly I was not the cool one. I I I picked I I end up taking clarinet and it was awful.

SPEAKER_02 6:59

Did you did you switch over to saxophone at all or did you just play the?

SPEAKER_01 7:02

No, I did the I think it was like a mandatory two years. Okay, you know, kind of like kind of like uh a language. Yeah, mandatory two years. I take the two years. I'm like, get the shit away from me. It's like give me the drums. I just want to be like uh what is it, uh animal on the muppets? I just want to hit things.

SPEAKER_02 7:20

Yeah, exactly. No, I hear you there.

SPEAKER_01 7:22

So I ended up buying some drums. I got in a I think it was like late junior high school. Uh another kid I knew. Uh he's like, yeah, I got this set of drums in my basement. My dad wants me to get rid of it. Went over there, took a look at it, and gave him like 150 bucks. And that was that.

SPEAKER_02 7:38

Did your parents let you play it?

SPEAKER_01 7:40

Uh it was down in the basement. Okay. And those homes, I mean, they you know, they're concrete, and I mean, yeah, you know, they were pretty well soundproof. So I'd go down the basement and I'd turn up some.

SPEAKER_02 7:50

Christine grew up in in New Jersey. Well, she didn't grow up in New Jersey, she was born in New Jersey, lived there for a while, but she had family in New Jersey, and she talks about I think it was her grandmother's house that she talks about roller skating in the basement.

SPEAKER_01 8:03

Oh.

SPEAKER_02 8:04

Like it had like a metal pole in the middle or whatever. She's just talking about roller skating. I if I I may be messing that story up, but I'm pretty sure that's it was her that was roller skating and not like a cousin or something.

SPEAKER_01 8:15

Next time I see Christine, I'll have to get the real story.

SPEAKER_02 8:17

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:17

So they were they were in everybody had basements there, too.

SPEAKER_02 8:20

So Maple Shade. So it's kind of more central New Jersey.

SPEAKER_01 8:24

Maplewood? No, no.

SPEAKER_02 8:26

I think it's Maple Shade.

SPEAKER_01 8:27

I never heard of that.

SPEAKER_02 8:28

And then and then her her aunt now, well, her two of her aunts now have place down in uh Egg Harbor.

SPEAKER_01 8:35

Yes. Okay, so that's down South Jersey. Yeah. So that's kind of near Atlantic City. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:40

So it's like it's like uh maybe a 40, 45 minute drive to Atlantic City, but like as a crow flies, it might be five miles, right? Because it's like all the water. Yep, yep. In fact, I think we took the boat one time and went out.

SPEAKER_01 8:53

It's a great way of life down there.

SPEAKER_02 8:54

Oh, it's beautiful. Except for the green flies. I don't know if you had green flies up where you were, but ugh, horrible. Horrible. Um so you played band for two years. What else did you do anything?

SPEAKER_01 9:07

Yeah, I played I uh yeah, you asked about sports. Yes. So uh I bowled.

SPEAKER_02 9:13

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 9:13

Uh I played baseball, little league baseball. Um, those were kind of the two major ones. I loved baseball. Okay. I wasn't all that good at it. So I played up till uh was it ninth grade? I played up till ninth grade. Okay. Um and uh bowling actually, I bowled from eight years old up through high school. I was actually on a high school bowling team, and I get to it at some point, but that's where I met my wife.

SPEAKER_02 9:42

No kidding. Yeah, you know, you know what's funny? We we should start an APN bowling team because Steve Alexander was like, I guess, a professional bowler or something.

SPEAKER_01 9:51

I was watching a little bit of his podcast earlier today, and I picked up on the I I never knew that. Yeah, yeah. I knew he loved the cigars.

SPEAKER_02 9:58

Yeah, he was talking about the bowling, and I'm like, sounds like he was something else at some at one point.

SPEAKER_01 10:04

Twinkle toes Alexander Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 10:08

Yeah, so we'll we'll need we'll need to put together a bowling night.

SPEAKER_01 10:11

I would love that.

SPEAKER_02 10:12

Um, so you bowled in through high school.

SPEAKER_01 10:15

Um I mean not not Steve Alexander's caliber, but I was I was averaging in the 180s.

SPEAKER_02 10:22

That's nice. Yeah, that's cool. I had a uh a friend league, you know. Yeah, I mean I had a I had a friend, I had a friend growing up who I didn't realize he bowled as much as he did, but he was all into like you know, the thumb hole and the ball and the this and it's gotta be right and da-da-da-da-da.

SPEAKER_01 10:39

It's like carrying like luggage, full-on luggage on wheels.

SPEAKER_02 10:44

It's like when you show up for, you know, I I played in the league here in Arizona, oh god, I don't know, 15 years ago or so. Probably more than that. And uh you show up and and you know, I'm like up at the counter getting my shoes, walk around trying to find the ball that I used the last time because I like the way it felt, and people are showing up with their shoes and three balls. It's like, okay, how does the you know, how's the oil on the on the lane today? Which ball am I using? I'm like, okay, this is way above my grade. I mean, I can throw a ball, that's about as far as it goes. That's it.

SPEAKER_01 11:20

How fast can I throw it? Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 11:22

Exactly. So was there anybody in high school growing up? I mean, were you a troublemaker?

SPEAKER_01 11:28

Were you No, no, actually, you know, and we can we can go down any avenue you want. So are we talking high school? Yeah, or are we talking okay, yeah, high school. Okay, so high school, no, I was not a troublemaker. That's probably where I kind of got my confidence.

SPEAKER_02 11:44

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 11:44

Uh in high school, you know, kind of before that. I was kind of a little bit of a more of a scrawny kid. You know, it was kind of like the Jewish kid with the big nose and all this stuff. It's like, uh, you know, but I kind of hit my stride in high school, so the confidence was there. And um yeah, no, and I I would not say I was a troublemaker, but I did like a good time. I will say. Uh I was known to skip a class or two. Okay. Um maybe a whole day. Yeah. You know, just uh ray raise some hell. But uh yeah, no, I mean nothing, nothing really, really.

SPEAKER_02 12:51

Yeah. Did did you have a car in high school?

SPEAKER_01 12:53

Uh I did. I had a my first car was a 1977 Ford Mustang.

SPEAKER_02 12:58

Oh, nice. Yeah. Nice. I had a I had a 65 when I when I was in in well, my last year of high school.

SPEAKER_00 13:06

That's a car.

SPEAKER_02 13:07

Yeah. And you know, I was thinking about it really honestly the other day, I was thinking about because I remember thinking, okay, it's almost 25 years. And when it gets to 25 years old, it's gonna be a classic, right? Well, then my now ex-wife, but we had our daughter, and there were no seat belts in the back seat. It was like, okay, we gotta get a car that I can buckle somebody into the back seat.

SPEAKER_05 13:32

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:34

And uh so I sold that car. I think I sold it for like five thousand dollars. Wow. And then we got a another car, but I but I think back on that. Was it all stock? Oh, it was straight. It wasn't stock. The interior was not pony interior. The uh the paint was not a stock pony paint. So it was we were in Washington and it was an emerald green um color, and then it had a personalized plate that said 65 toad, and it was a yellow with the emerald green, it was a yellow plate with emerald green on it. That's amazing. Um, but it was a straight 6200, all stock. The engine was stock, pretty much everything else in it was stock except for had had the upholstery replaced. Um, and I didn't go with the pony upholstery, so but it was it was a fun car. It was fun to work on. You were a car guy. Well, I was at one point. Now you I don't know that you can be unless you, you know, I mean it's it's it's a it I was talking to Christine's boss, is it's a lifestyle now, right? I mean, you can't you go get a 65 Mustang, it's gonna cost you $75,000, $80,000 for a car.

SPEAKER_01 14:39

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 14:40

So but yeah, no, and I mean I had a I had a 72 Ford pickup before that. So the first car I learned to drive in was my parents, my parents had a 78, 79 Cadillac, big old boat.

SPEAKER_01 14:56

I learned how to drive on a 1979 Cadillac Sedan Daville. Yeah. Banana yellow with the uh brown vinyl top. No kidding. Uh it actually was a beautiful car.

SPEAKER_02 15:06

If you can learn to parallel park one of those old boats, you can parallel park anything. Uh anyway, so yeah, so and then and then I I drove a 72 Ford through high school because that was just the truck we had and I was reckless.

SPEAKER_01 15:20

Side paneling?

SPEAKER_02 15:21

No, it didn't have paneling on the side, it had a front-mounted spare tire though, so I could hit just about anything I wanted to. Remember the old Lincolns had that? Yeah, they just bounce off. So all right, so high school, you weren't a troublemaker, but you met your wife in high school.

SPEAKER_01 15:34

Uh yeah, so that was my junior year, her senior year. So she's you're older than me.

SPEAKER_02 15:42

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 15:43

Yeah, yeah. So uh yeah, funny enough, yeah. She bowled on the uh girls' uh high school and uh uh the boys, and she caught me in the hallway uh one day and she she asked me out. She says, Hey, you know, you want to go out. So our first date, we go to the Friday night high school wrestling match.

SPEAKER_02 16:02

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 16:03

Matches. I think you were wrestler, right?

SPEAKER_02 16:05

Yep, yep.

SPEAKER_01 16:06

And from there, one of her best friends, her dad, worked security down at the Meadowlands racetrack. The Trotters were running because it was winter time. So he would hook us up, he'd get us in for free uh into the races. So a bunch of us we go we went to the races after the wrestling matches. So that was our first day. It was kind of interesting. The other interesting thing, too, was I wasn't quite driving yet. So she was my ride.

SPEAKER_02 16:33

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 16:33

Yeah, so it was kind of a nice that's drove. Oh gosh, I want to say it was like a 1971 Ford Maverick with manual steering.

SPEAKER_02 16:43

It's a fake Mustang.

SPEAKER_01 16:45

That thing was, I mean, it got you from point A to point B. I don't know who I see who idea that was. It wasn't pretty.

SPEAKER_02 16:52

No, no, no. But it worked for sure.

SPEAKER_01 16:54

It worked. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:55

Yeah. Um after high school, or well, let's let's stay there for a second, because I think in your intro 16 at 16, you started working with your dad cleaning plates and stuff.

SPEAKER_01 17:05

So yeah. So with my dad, I I I kind of worked a couple jobs in the summers. You know, the fast food, I think most of us ended up doing that. Fast food, then I was a bus boy at a couple different restaurants. Um, but actually working with him, he was a screp metal dealer, a second generation scrap metal dealer. Now in New York City, that was a um, you know, that that was a uh a job that was um not so unknown. It was it was I'm not gonna say common, but you can make a very good living doing it. Uh and um, you know, my dad did it, my grandpa did it, they both had their own business, so they were entrepreneurial. Okay, right where I got my entrepreneurial spirit. Uh, but he paid better than any of the fast food or any of the other. I mean, I remember he was paying me 20 bucks an hour cash. I mean, this is back, you know, this is back in the very early 80s.

SPEAKER_02 17:59

Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_01 18:00

You know, so he was making good money, and he, you know, as he was getting older, I became the muscle.

SPEAKER_02 18:06

Okay, yep.

SPEAKER_01 18:07

You know, and I kind of worked out. I was in pretty good shape. So uh, you know, I'd help him with that, and he was more the sales guy, you know, he'd get the jobs, we'd go into these huge print shops, like uh, you know, these shops that just print for, you know, Macy's, and I'm talking about the inserts that go in the Sunday New York Times.

SPEAKER_02 18:28

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_01 18:28

You know, uh the playbills like on Broadway, think of New York City, you know, all these big um uh printed pieces, catalogs and such. These huge 60, 70, 80, 100,000 square foot print shops.

SPEAKER_02 18:42

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 18:43

So he'd set me up and I'd start, you know, folding the metal plates and put them in these bins and then the silver and this and that, and he would go and he'd talk to the owners. So he'd go schmooze and I'd do the grunt work. So I'm like, okay, you know, I could do this summertime. So I was grateful when the shops had air conditioning. Some of them did not appreciate it.

SPEAKER_02 19:05

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 19:06

Yeah. So uh, but I yeah, I I did that for a couple summers and it was it was good, and he always treated me for a nice lunch. You know, we go for lunch, and um it was kind of interesting, but it was probably my my when I realized at some point that I was not gonna want to live long term in North Jersey was the traffic. So he drove a big truck, a box truck. I want to say it was like a 12 or 16 foot, you know, so manual steering, and when you're braking, getting into the Lincoln Tunnel and all the traffic, just the bumper to bumper traffic is just awful. Any of the major arteries getting towards like the tunnel, getting into the city, I would take you 45 minutes just to get in. And we're only talking maybe going like seven miles.

SPEAKER_02 19:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:54

So it's just terrible. I'm like, this this sucks. This is not for me.

SPEAKER_02 19:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:58

So I knew this is not what I want to do for a living.

SPEAKER_02 20:01

Right.

SPEAKER_01 20:02

He would say, Oh, pass on the legacy, it's a good business, you can make a good living. But I'm like, you know what? I want to make a living with my mind, not my brawn.

SPEAKER_02 20:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:10

And and he did. He he did it with his back. I'm like, Dad, why don't you hire a sales guy?

SPEAKER_02 20:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:15

I mean, uh a guy to uh not a sales guy, you do the sales, he's great at sales. Like, someone's to do the grunt work. And uh ultimately he had to because he was uh having back problems, okay, yeah, sciatica and all this other stuff. And he was a big guy too. So but yes, I did that, and uh that was good, you know. And dad and I really bonded in those times. Um, so my relationship with him was that's good closer than I'd say with my mother.

SPEAKER_02 20:44

Yeah. Yeah. Um siblings?

SPEAKER_01 20:48

I have a sister, uh six years younger than me. Okay, and she still lives in New Jersey.

SPEAKER_02 20:52

Oh, she does? Okay.

SPEAKER_01 20:53

She's there and she has a family, and they live in uh Montville. So they are in I'm gonna say Essex County. So uh probably half hour or so from where I grew up.

SPEAKER_02 21:05

Okay. Yeah. Okay. Um and then you met your ex. No, no exactly. Not your ex, I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_01 21:14

Honey, there's no ex.

SPEAKER_02 21:16

Uh you met your wife on the bowling team. Did you guys bowl after school?

SPEAKER_01 21:22

I mean, after you got out of high school, uh many years later. So I mean, even I think uh I don't know if it was before after we had kids, but after we got married, certainly. Um my dad was in a fraternal organization called the Knights of Pythias. Yeah, it's kind of like the Knights of Columbus or Lions Club or any of these fraternal organizations that do a lot of charity work. So they had a men's league. So I joined that, and then the wives had like a women's league, so they bowled the same night. So we'd go and she'd bowl with the women. I'd be on the other side of the, you know, and and bowl with the guys. Yeah. It was brutal. This is when I was still working for Marriott. So I'm working my 14, 12, 14 hours, and then the league would start at nine o'clock at night. I wouldn't get home. Oh my god. I wouldn't get home till midnight.

SPEAKER_04 22:05

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 22:06

And then, you know, they everybody smoked in the alleys back then. So I was like, I come home, I stink, I'm wide awake. It would take me an hour just to calm down until I fall asleep, you know, and then that alarm goes off at 3 45 in the morning. You gotta get up. That is brutal. So so yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:21

That's brutal.

SPEAKER_01 22:22

Yeah, but we yeah, we did that, and uh then we moved here. I brought the bowling balls and I they put them in the garage. And it's funny, we were cleaning out like about a year ago, and there they are, fingertip grip. I got the big luggage with the with the bowling balls. I'm like, let's just donate them. We don't buy them off, you know. So I donated them.

SPEAKER_02 22:42

Did you did you go to college after high school or did you straight down?

SPEAKER_01 22:45

Fairly Dickinson University. So they had several campuses. The one I went to, Rutherford campus, and I uh majored in hotel restaurant management.

SPEAKER_02 22:54

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 22:54

Hence the Mary. Hence the Marriott.

SPEAKER_02 22:57

And so then you moved here in 98, but did you move around with Marriott at all before that?

SPEAKER_01 23:04

No, I didn't. So that was all in New Jersey. So uh actually I started working for Marriott during college. Okay. Uh January 1985 or six. Uh I started there. And I started as a host and they're a multi-purpose restaurant, which means they're open breakfast, lunch, dinner. Uh did that. And then ultimately I moved upstairs. They used to call it the um the Penthouse. There was a fine dining restaurant up on the top floor of the hotel, the Marriott Hotel. And um they made me a supervisor up there. And um basically I was a glorified manager because there was one manager, there was one assistant manager, and if they were both off, I was running the whole show. I was doing everything. Um, but the nice thing is they were only open for dinner, so the hours were limited. It just gave me a lot of flexibility. It was pretty cool. The food was way better, too. So on breaks, I got to eat, you know, I mean, I could eat a filet mignon on my breaks. It was kind of nice. Yeah. Um, so yeah, so I worked Marriott during college, just part-time. I also picked up some gigs doing, you know, banquet watering, bartending, all stuff in food and beverage. So uh I stayed with Marriott throughout and I graduated in uh May of 1988. Okay. And I was interviewing and putting out, you know, uh interviewing with some other hotel companies. But um, because Marriott knew I had the experience, they gave me the best offer. So I signed on with Marriott, I went into their um uh management program uh for running front of the house. So back of the house is working in the kitchen. I didn't do that. Uh I worked front of the house, so we were managing multi-purpose restaurants, fine dining restaurants, and because I worked at a hotel at a uh airport property, I worked at the Newark Airport Marriott, um we had 24-hour room service. So we're also in charge of that.

SPEAKER_02 25:07

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 25:08

So long days. Yeah. Very long days. Um, I burnt out pretty quick. So from age 22, 1988, till 1992, I did that. I worked my way up a little bit, you know, got one or two promotions, but things weren't moving fast enough for me, and they don't pay you squat. So, I mean, I'm working like subsistence level, yeah, you know, and my wife's like, you know, okay, we've been married a couple years now. If you want to start a family, you better find something to do that's gonna pay you like a decent wage so we can afford to have a family.

SPEAKER_02 25:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:45

You know, and it's not dependent on me. So um this is where I get out of hospitality. So I leave in April of 1992 and enter the print industry again.

SPEAKER_02 25:58

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 25:59

So when it comes back full circle on this side of it, I'm working as a uh salesperson, okay, print broker. So one of the guys that I met while in the bowling league, the um the fraternal organization, Knights Bethius Bowling League. I meet this one guy, and uh we're in a I don't know if we're on the same team, we're bowling against each other, but we get to chatting, and he's like, You don't seem very happy. You kind of seem a little grumpy. What's going on with you? What's your story? I said, Well, I said, You'd be kind of grumpy too if you work 12, 14 hour days and you come here and you've been up for 18 hours already. You know, so I just gave the whole spiel and what I did, and he's like, Why don't you come work with me? He's like on Monday through Friday, no weekends, no holidays. I mean, I worked all the weekends, you know. I mean, weekends, holidays, you name it, especially being an airport property. You never close. You're like a hospital. You don't close. So I'm like, huh, this is interesting. No weekends on holidays, you set your schedule, call on who you want to. Your clients are your own, but I had to bring in the clients. So he wasn't feeding me any leads or anything. So I go home, I talk to my wife about it, and she's like, oh, it sounds interesting. So several weeks go by. I mean, he's hitting me up every week that I see him at bowling. I'm like, you know what? I'm just getting so frustrated. I just feel like my career is kind of a dead end with hospitality and and and restaurants. I'm like, what the heck? I'm like, I have built up so much goodwill in the hotel and restaurant business that if it doesn't work out, I know I can go back and I I could have a job in five seconds. I, you know, I always believed in leaving on good terms. Always, always maintain the relationships. So I figured to myself, okay, I'm gonna try this. Where am I gonna go? Where am I gonna find business? Okay. Well, I worked at this hotel, this hotel, this hotel, this restaurant, this restaurant, this banquet facility. These are the gonna be the places I call on first. Every single one of them. Said, okay, here, take these samples, quote them. And if you're in the ballpark, we'll use you. We know you. Yeah, you know, we don't owe anything to the other guy. So that's how I started building up. And that was that was that. And uh I never went back. Yeah. Yeah, that was that. April 1992, that was.

SPEAKER_02 28:54

Okay. So up until that point, was there anybody that helped you along, mentored you, kept you on the straight and narrow?

SPEAKER_01 29:04

Uh, I'd say with the with the business part of it, my dad. My dad was pretty business, I have to say. Um, not to go off on tangents, but back to the Cadillac. I mean, he could sell and he can drive a sale, and he can get his price too when he's on the buying side. I watched him make the Cadillac dealer cry, and I am not kidding. No kidding. I am not kidding. That man walked out over a hundred dollar bill in 1979. Yeah, he he yeah. So he he knew what he was talking about. So when it came time, you know, for me, I started working with this this one guy, and and it was fine. Uh, but I started building up, my revenue starts going up, up, up, and it's like the end of 1994. So I've been doing this for about two and a half years, and my revenue was probably about 85, 90 percent of what his was, and he's been doing this for years, probably 10 years. He's like, What do you think about becoming partners? I'm like, huh. I'm like, well, what'd you have in mind? Well, you know, this, this, this. I said, okay. I said, that car you drive. I said, is that a business for business? Oh yeah. He said, my wife's car is too. I said, well, am I gonna get that? Am I gonna get a business car? And is my wife too? Oh, well, well, you know, I don't know. So I said, let me think about this. I go home, I talk to my dad. He says, You're not doing that. He says, You built up none of these clients were given to you. You take those clients and you start your own business. Come up with a name and you're going into business for yourself. And I went back the next day and I told him, I said, This is what I'm doing. That is not what he expected to hear.

SPEAKER_02 30:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:48

Um I'm sure he respected it, but he didn't appreciate it. So our relationship from that point forward was pretty frosty.

SPEAKER_02 30:55

I'm sure.

SPEAKER_01 30:56

Um, my dad knew this guy very well. Actually, knew the guy's father.

SPEAKER_02 31:01

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_01 31:02

So, and this guy highly respected my father. So he wasn't gonna pull any shady shit. Um and he knew what the deal was gonna be, and if anything went a little bit funky and sideways, or if I didn't, if I thought that something was not going above board, my dad was gonna get involved, and my dad is an imposing figure. Think Frank Sturpey. Not quite as tall, but my dad was about six, two, three hundred and thirty pounds. Oh wow. Big dude. Yeah big dude. So uh so anyway, so I started my own business, and that was January 1st, 1995. And the next challenge was okay, what do we call it? I'm asking around, what do you call it? What do you call it? Hey, what's your kid's name? Alexa. I have one child at the time.

SPEAKER_02 31:47

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 31:48

Bingo, we're gonna call it Alexa Graphics, problem solved. Well, stupid me, it never occurred to me that I might have another child down the road.

SPEAKER_05 31:57

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 31:58

Might not appreciate that I named it after the one kid, yeah, you know, but not the other. So as luck would have it, as time would go on, 1998, when we decided to move, I sold the business, which gave me an opportunity to start a new business and come up with a new name. So I went a little more generic.

SPEAKER_02 32:16

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 32:17

Hence A and J graphics and promotions.

SPEAKER_02 32:20

Okay. I'm assuming the J is after your second child. Justin. Okay. All right. And that was ninety-eight when you came here. June of ninety eight. Okay. And and and since then you have not looked back. I have not. Any time in there and we'll call them seasons that that that kicked you in the teeth where you were ready to just be done. I mean, I can imagine you had you had we'll call it a book of business or a clientele in Jersey.

SPEAKER_01 32:50

Book of business is good. Yep.

SPEAKER_02 32:52

Right? And you you sell that. So I do. You may or may not have a couple dollars in your pocket.

SPEAKER_01 32:57

That was a learning lesson, too, uh, the way it was structured. Uh I wished I had it in in hindsight, I wished I had structured it a little bit differently. The guy I sold it to was a guy who I think was a little bit lazy, was somebody who wasn't willing to go out and knock on doors, pound the pavement, do just grind, just grind it out to build. He was looking to buy accounts, which is fine, but he wasn't really nurturing those accounts the way I did. You know, and my client clients always stayed with me because I took such good care of them. And this guy didn't.

SPEAKER_02 33:37

Gotcha.

SPEAKER_01 33:38

And he started losing business. And the way the thing was structured, the way the deal was structured was if he starts dropping revenue, the what he would pay me was a percentage of that revenue. Of that. So, yes, that but that's a lesson that you know, you you learn.

SPEAKER_02 33:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:57

I said if I the next business I sell, it will not be structured that way. And I know now.

SPEAKER_02 34:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:02

You know, but I was young at the time. So uh yeah, yeah. So um, but I mean it still worked out because at the time, you know, we had a uh four-year-old and an eight-month-old. So, you know, my wife was home, so we were really fully dependent on me. Now, the crazy thing was we moved without real like jobs. So her plan was to stay home and be mama for a while anyway. And my job was gonna be okay, we're gonna start up another business, start from scratch. I don't know anybody in Arizona. Well, take that back. I knew one person, but it wasn't a business associated associate. Yeah, I was gonna ask that question. It's like you you leave it was a it was a friendly known. It was a golf buddy. Okay, it was my wife's ex-boss's husband who became one of my golf buddies back in Jersey. And he moved out, he uh got a job about two years before we moved out. He was in construction, he worked for a huge company in New York, Lair, Lair McGovern. I mean, they built the big skyscrapers in New York. I mean, just huge, huge construction projects. So he was looking to move, and he got a job with I can't remember the name of the company. They built Bank One Ballpark, which is now Chase Field with the Diamondbacks play. So, anyways, comes to the moving part. This is like 1997, calls me up, Phoenix opens on TV, so it's January. I'm home, it's freezing, it's snowing. Calls up, Angel, what's up? His name's Angel. How you doing there? Good. You watching the tournament? Yeah. It's like, yeah, it's 81 degrees, slight breeze. I'm like, yeah, F you. Yeah. I'm like, I'm like, what's your point? It's like, I thought, you know, maybe you'd uh you'd want to come out, play some golf, kind of, you know, see how things are out here. So um I did. A few months later, I went out. Uh it was actually in June. I don't know why I waited till June, but I went out in June. Early June. Yeah, 106 degrees the first day.

SPEAKER_02 36:05

You're like, what did I step into?

SPEAKER_01 36:06

Well, I tell him, I tell him, I'm like, oh man. I was like, I was a much better golfer back then, too. I'm like, I'm gonna play 36 holes a day. He's like, dude, it's hot here. You sure? You sure you want to do that? No, I was much younger, too. Probably in better shape, too. First day we play 18. The next two days we play 36 a day. I thought I was gonna die. I mean, like, we're on the course, and it's like, he's like, okay, you gotta hydrate, you gotta hydrate. Okay, I get it. I'm drinking as much water as I can handle. Like, I don't like pee. Like, I don't go to the bathroom for hours and hours. I'm like, what's the deal? Yeah. You know, and I'm I'm not gonna get too graphic here, but it doesn't look normal when you do. You know, it's like, gosh, it's like I'm so dehydrated. It's like, what is going on here? This is like otherworldly. Yeah. But anyway, I I just fell in love with this uh Phoenix Metro area. So he so he lived up by um uh Red Mountain, up by Les Cendas.

SPEAKER_02 37:01

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 37:02

Well, what's that to like? This was 1997, everything was brand new. Yep, all the infrastructure was new, the schools were new, the roads were new, the shopping was new, the taxes were low. I'm renting and raving. I'm I'm so happy. I I I just love my experience. I go home, bragging to my wife. I'm like, we're miserable here. You hate your job. I hate my, you know, I'm not real happy where I'm at. Taxes are high. We want a bigger house because we're, you know, thinking of having another child before our second kid. And we're in a little ranch style house, like 1,300 square feet, which is fine to start a family, but it ultimately you want to move into something bigger. I'm like, we can afford our dream house here, you know. So I'm telling her all about it. So the following April, I get her, we go, we come out, and we get hooked up with his realtor, my friend's realtor, and we schedule a four-day trip, we bring the kids, and on the third day we found the house and bought it, and we're still living in that house. Oh, really? We're still in the same house. Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_02 38:04

Yeah, wow, that's pretty impressive.

SPEAKER_01 38:06

20, 27 and a half years later, almost 28.

SPEAKER_02 38:09

And I'm sure you paid almost nothing for the house.

SPEAKER_01 38:12

Yeah, it was um, I mean, it was like it was like 196,000 for a 3,200 square foot T.W. Lewis house. Which is nice in Gilbert. And we put like eight grand in upgrades in. So it was like $203,000, $204,000. I sold my old 45-year-old ranch for more for like $35,000 more than what we paid for that house. Wow. Brand new.

SPEAKER_00 38:39

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 38:40

Yeah, it was crazy. Now the one thing I do miss is land. Yeah. So we had some property. We had about four tenths of an acre, which here is hard to come by unless you're buying, you know, you go far out east or wherever.

SPEAKER_02 38:55

Yeah. Everything everything's on postage stamps.

SPEAKER_01 38:57

That's yeah, postage stamps, yeah, yeah. And everything's cookie cutter.

SPEAKER_02 39:00

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 39:01

Yeah. So yeah, I regret that a little bit, but I mean, in the end, I mean, we're very happy. We had the best neighbors, we had the best street. When we moved in, our neighbors were they couldn't do enough for you. I was like, I'm like, these people, they're so friendly.

SPEAKER_02 39:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 39:18

Like back east, it wasn't like that.

SPEAKER_02 39:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 39:21

I mean, you had your best friends, the people who deeply cared about you, but like your neighbors, I mean, you were either dear, dear close friends with them, or it's just like they didn't even look at you when they passed down the street.

SPEAKER_02 39:32

Oh.

SPEAKER_01 39:33

You know, here, I mean, everybody was so friendly. I think things have evolved and changed a little bit, but I will never forget. The day we move in, my wife's like, okay, we have a refrigerator, we have no food in it. We need, I need to go to the grocery store. So she runs up to Albertson's, a power and baseline, I'll never forget it. And she comes home and she says, I had the weirdest experience at the checkout counter. The uh cashier asked me, Did you find everything you need? Is there anything else we can get for you? And can we help you out to the car? And she's like, And you're coming from like North Jersey, New York, it's like, nobody talks like that. She's like, She's like, What the F do you care? What do you care how my day was? Yeah. This is just like foreign to us. Like foreign. Like now we get it. Like, you know, we've we've we've come accustomed to it. But it was like, it was like we went to Mars.

SPEAKER_02 40:29

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 40:30

I mean, you you do not find that. Even when we go back east, you go to the grocery store or any major retailer and you go to the cashier, and they just look like they've had the suckiest day of ever. You know, they've got like RBF on the face, and it's like they can't wait till their shift is over, and you could just see it. You know?

SPEAKER_02 40:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 40:51

And so um when we travel or we go back east or wherever we go, I'm always happy when we fly back. I never mind coming home after a vacation. It wasn't that way when we lived back east. We go on a vacation, we come home, you fly back into Newark. I'd get a I'd just get in the pit of my stomach. I'd be like literally sick.

SPEAKER_02 41:13

Really?

SPEAKER_01 41:13

Well, I worked there. I worked, I'd like I'd pass and there's there's my work, there's the Marriott right there, right at the airport. And I would get just a knot in the pit of my stomach. I'm like, I cannot believe I have to go back to work tomorrow.

SPEAKER_02 41:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 41:27

Yeah. My wife would be the same way. So all that went away when we moved here. Yeah. It was a great move for us. It really was.

SPEAKER_02 41:34

How long did it take you to build your business back up after you because you in 98 you moved here not knowing really anybody? And so boots on the ground.

SPEAKER_01 41:43

It was total boots on the ground. So fortunately, because you know, I mean, we are we are connectors, we're networkers, you are, I am. Uh I had a buddy who actually introduced me to the promo industry. Shout out John Helder. Um, and I knew that he was in a networking group called LaTip. It's like a B and I. Okay. La Tip, B and I, they kind of do the same thing.

SPEAKER_02 42:08

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 42:09

And so I remember him telling me this. He's still in that same group like 30 odd years later.

SPEAKER_02 42:14

Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_01 42:14

So anyway, I said, hey, what's the name of that place again? So I like call the 800 number. I'm like, hey, you got a chapter, you know, here, here's where I am. I'm at Gilbert. Yeah, we got one here. It was like at like Alma School in the 60.

SPEAKER_02 42:27

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 42:28

So I go and um, yeah, so I start there. Funny thing is, I picked up like my first like nice size account through that group.

unknown 42:38

Huh.

SPEAKER_01 42:39

Um, do you remember rebath? They're still in business. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They're not what they were.

SPEAKER_02 42:43

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 42:44

Well, 27 years ago, they were pretty big.

SPEAKER_05 43:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 43:23

So what their their tagline was, we'll put a new bathtub over your old bathtub. And their biggest clients were the hotels. They're going to the hotels and they they'd like retrofit, you know, uh bathtubs and showers in the hotels that needed, they needed redoing. Yeah, it was time to time to redo them. So I got in there and they became quickly. They became a big accountant for me. And uh, I mean, I was in there, I was in their office three times a week, you know, meeting with marketing, you know, with sales, with human resources. We were doing work for everybody. The guys in the, you know, out in the warehouse. So that was really good. And then another one came up through networking, it came up through the guy at Rebath. He left and he went into the marketing department at Coldstone Creamery. So that became another good-sized client for me. So things have evolved, you know, these clients have come and gone.

SPEAKER_02 44:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 44:20

Uh, but that, you know, those accounts like those are what kind of sustained me in the beginning. You know, I I think everybody kind of needs to get like a break. You get a break, you know, you grind and grind and grind. It's like, oh, where's the payoff? Yeah. And um, you know, you never know. You know, you're networking with people, you never know who they know. And uh it's just okay, who do I know? Who's connected?

SPEAKER_02 44:43

So from so from the beginning of when you started the business, we'll say restarted the business in '98, got in the promo business.

unknown 44:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 44:51

Actually, I started I dabbled in promo in in New Jersey when I had the print because the print customers were asking me, hey, can you get me t-shirts? Can you get me tote bags, frisbees, cups, you know. You know, I'm a guy. I'm like, ooh, this sounds like an opportunity to make money. Yeah. I gotta figure out. So that guy John Helder, who I was telling you about, who introduced me to promo, I found him through quote unquote the yellow pages.

SPEAKER_05 45:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 45:14

Yeah, yeah, I find him. Yeah. I mean, that was a thing back in the day, right? Showing my age here. But yeah, so I found him and he was a great resource. So I started funneling these orders through him. And it got to a point where that started growing. He says, look, he's like, I could take your money all day, but as your friend and good conscience, you should join what's called ASI. So it's kind of like a uh an industry. Um this is where it's like a database where you could do all your research and find all these products in the promotional industry. Okay. Um, like a governing body, maybe you probably have it in your industry where you go to like conferences and stuff, and it's run by such and such, you know. So um I started getting into that, going to the trade shows, and I started okay, gosh, I have all these products at my disposal to sell to my existing print clients. So that's how that's Started. But uh yeah, so I made it more of a focal point in my sales routine when I got here.

SPEAKER_02 46:17

Gotcha.

SPEAKER_01 46:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 46:18

From the beginning, was it all rainbows and butterflies, or did you have any bumps in the road?

unknown 46:26

No, no.

SPEAKER_02 46:27

Did you ever ever get to a point where you're like, you know what, I just want to go back to nine to five? Well, I guess your your world was never a nine to five.

SPEAKER_01 46:34

My my worst day in print was better than the best day uh in um in the in the hospitality industry. And and and those who may listen and say, Oh yeah, I worked in restaurants or I did this in hospitality or in hotels, it's brutal. It's it's I call it a young person's game.

SPEAKER_02 46:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 46:53

You know, when I go out to a restaurant, I talk with the chef and they're in their 40s, I'm thinking, gosh, you might be just a couple years from having a heart attack. Yeah. Like seriously, I know so many people in the industry that got out early and I'm I'm I'm glad they did. They probably saved their lives. I I think I'd have been dead by my 40s.

SPEAKER_00 47:10

Wow. Yeah. It's just it's such a grind. Yeah. It's such a grind.

SPEAKER_01 47:14

Unless you it's very niche. You know, if it's something where, you know, maybe a very high-end restaurant, you're only open for dinner, you only open four nights a week, that's one thing.

SPEAKER_00 47:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 47:24

When you're working in a hotel in a restaurant that's open twenty, you know, 365 days a year, because you have to be, yeah. Because you're in a transient property, you you have to be available.

SPEAKER_02 47:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 47:36

So it's just it's brutal.

SPEAKER_02 47:38

So can you share with us maybe a time in the promotional business with A and J where you know you you you were kind of up against a wall, you really felt like, oh my God, this is just kicking my butt. You know, obviously the the hospitality business was worse.

SPEAKER_01 47:57

I I I um I think it was personal. So um I've had uh bouts of uh anxiety and depression, which I know a couple people on your show have have talked about. Um and I have so much respect for people. I mean it it is somewhat taboo, but I I think this is an opportunity for people like me to cast a light on it and say, look, you are not alone. There are people who are very successful that have anxiety and have had times where they just feel like they're overwhelmed, they can't handle it. I mean, I've gone through periods in my life where I felt like, oh my God, I have to get up and speak. I can't talk. I'm like free, I'm I'm frozen. Uh or you know, I had an a couple embarrassing moments. Um so my daughter, um, believe it or not, I know you've golfed with me. Uh my my daughter's a very was a very good golfer, probably still is. She doesn't play as much anymore, but she played collegiate. She came up through the ranks and played junior golf. So anyway, I have her in all these tournaments, so many times I'm driving her to these tournaments. And I want to say this is probably, I don't know, 2007, 2008-ish. I'm driving her to a tournament. We have to go up to like North Scottsdale. And I'm like, I gotta pull over. I'm having a panic attack. And I'm so embarrassed because this is my daughter. I cannot make her late for her golf tournament. Like, like I'm a failure. I pull over, and and she's like, Dad, you know, call call Josh's mom. And uh a friend of ours' mom had also been through some anxiety and this and that, and and we would talk to each other, we'd help each other, and you know, we just talk about okay, just stop, breathe, do some affirmations, just just kind of slow it down. Let's let's slow it down a little bit. And you know what, five, ten minutes, I'm back on the road. And that's all I needed. And eventually I've learned some coping mechanisms and and some ways to uh to deal with it. So uh as I'd gone on, those types of episodes would happen less frequently. But it was so embarrassing, I felt so terrible. Well, you know, I think for my daughter, uh or if it would happen, you know, to my son where I'd have to take him somewhere, and yeah, you know, but it was an episode, and fortunately, you know, I'd got some help and and and we're we're we're good. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 50:28

No, and I and I've I've been there, and and I mean it It could paralyze you. It absolutely absolutely can. And the worst thing I think that can happen is you know, when you're trying to have a conversation, you're trying to figure out how to fix it, yeah, quote unquote, right? Is somebody just say, well, just change your mind, just stop thinking about it.

SPEAKER_01 50:50

100%.

SPEAKER_02 50:51

It's like you don't understand. It the the thoughts and and and I have some obsessive issues, which is leads to anxiety and things like that.

SPEAKER_01 51:00

Oh, I have that, I got it.

SPEAKER_02 51:02

Yeah, where it's like yeah, where it's like it's like your mind goes down this path and and you can't pull it back. Oh and it's crazy. And and I think that's the thing that you know, and I don't I don't know what it is that yeah, that started me on it, but same thing. A lot of times it it started out with travel, but yeah, yeah, you know, get in the car. I couldn't even drive from my house to Target, which was two miles without having panic attacks.

SPEAKER_01 51:25

It's like so where you gotta get something to get on an airplane because you don't know if you could sit for a two-hour flight.

SPEAKER_02 51:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 51:30

I've had that too. Where like I'd start walking on and I'd turn around and say, I need to get off this plane. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 51:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 51:36

You know, and my wife, you know, God bless her, you know, she's like, okay, just you know, calm down, take me by the hand, just kind of it's good that you have somebody like that that supports you.

SPEAKER_02 51:45

And I do now. It's it's um at one point in my life. I don't feel like it.

SPEAKER_01 51:49

It's crucial to have that.

SPEAKER_02 51:52

So that's that's that's awesome. Um when you strip away the numbers, the sales, the money. What a success to Larry.

SPEAKER_01 52:07

I thought a lot about that. And so I work with a business coach and and I've been working with her for about three and a half years now, and she would ask me similar questions. And she asked me, you know, like, why do you get up in the morning? You know, why what makes you tick? Why is this important? And I thought about it, and for me, it's legacy. And she sent me a little charm, and it says legacy, and I have it in my office. So whenever I question why am I doing this, I think about my legacy. And for me, what my legacy is, it's my family.

SPEAKER_02 52:44

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 52:44

You know, it's my wife, it's my two amazing children, and my son-in-law, three children. Uh, they mean everything to me. They're they're they're my why, they're they're all of it. I mean, that is the whole reason that I do what I do. Uh, yes, I need to make money, but it's so I can do things with them and and provide and to, you know, do some nice things, and and um that's what it's all about. That that's why um I could do you know what I do every day, and that that's really what it comes down to. On top of that, I love what I do. I love it. No two days are the same. Every client has a different need, different challenge, different opportunity, you know, uh different different case to solve. Uh so uh, but yeah, for me it's it's it's family. And um yeah, I'm reminded about you know about it. I've got their pictures all over in my office, and um, so it's just very easy for me. I look at that and I say, okay, you know, this is why I do what I do, and I love it. And uh that's it. It's it's easy. It's it's easy for me, I I I will say. But yeah, I think you do have to, you've got to find that sense of purpose. Like, why am I doing this? You know, is it just so I could feed myself and my family, or is there a higher purpose? You know, for me, I mean it's allowed me some wonderful things, you know. Uh, I've got a lot of flexibility with my time. Uh I could travel, you know, I've got support in the background, you know, and the kind of back-end support that allows me if I need to take some time off, or I just say, you know what, honey, it's Sunday, tomorrow I don't feel like working. Yeah. You know, how about if we just unplug, let's just go take a drive up to Cottonwood, let's go do some wine tasting or whatever that looks like. You know, can you can you can you free up your schedule? Yeah. I may have to give her a few days' notice, but um, I think that's great when you can do that. And if you can do stuff like that, or you find whatever it is you absolutely love to do other than your work, if your work allows you the freedom to do those things, you know, it's like, oh, I don't need to stop doing this, I can keep doing this, I can do everything else I love to do.

SPEAKER_02 54:57

Yeah. Yeah. So if you could go back to 1997 and give yourself one piece of advice, what would it be? Wow.

SPEAKER_01 55:07

Uh probably have a better plan. I mean, we really, we really flew by the seat of our pants. I mean, we defined it. Sometimes that's the best, though. We defined it. I I have friends like, I can't frickin' believe you had no job, no income, two basically babies, you know, I had an eight-month-old and a four-year-old that are totally dependent on us. And you guys just I think when there's no choice but to succeed, you succeed, you figure it out.

SPEAKER_02 55:39

Burn the bridge.

SPEAKER_01 55:40

We figured it out.

SPEAKER_02 55:41

Yeah. Well, and I think I think there was a lot of pain along the way. Absolutely, I'm sure. But you know, you talk about this, and and I've talked about it a couple different times on different shows where if if you wait to be ready, that day's never gonna come. It's not coming, right? There's always gonna be something that stops you. There's gonna be, whether it's money, time, the people, whatever it is, there's gonna be something that stops you.

SPEAKER_01 56:10

If you allow yourself to stop and think about those things, forget it'll paralyze you.

SPEAKER_02 56:13

Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. So, so really, sometimes leaping without a plan is the best plan you can have.

SPEAKER_01 56:21

I like when Frank says we're flying the plane as we build it. That that that has stuck with me, but I think to some degree or another, we all kind of do that.

SPEAKER_02 56:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 56:31

It's like, well, I don't know how I'm gonna do this podcast, but I'm gonna figure it out. That's right. That's right.

SPEAKER_02 56:36

It's like it's you know, it burns inside you, and you think, you know what, I'm gonna do this. I think it'd be fun.

SPEAKER_05 56:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 56:43

And we'll shape it as it goes. Exactly. We'll make it better, we'll figure it out. Um talk to me about A and J uh Promotions, right? Promotional.

SPEAKER_01 56:52

A and J graphics and promotions.

SPEAKER_02 56:53

A and J graphics and promotions. It's a mouthful. What what what tell me what you do.

SPEAKER_01 56:58

So what we do is we provide solutions for uh uh we provide branding solutions for our customers. So we take their logo, their image, their message, and we put it on you know, physical product. So whether it's you know promotional items, you know, your your cups, your bags, your pens, your tech items, wearable pieces, stuff like that, uh, to um, you know, print, uh, which is I call ink on paper, uh, to you know, signage, uh the apparel I touched on. So we take their message and we put it on printed media. Media, essentially, is what it is. Um, and uh, you know, we can make them look pretty awesome on these different types of sub substrates. And um so that's what we do. So no matter what type of business you're in, if you're looking to promote yourself and give out some type of a promotional marketing piece, if it can hold an imprint, we provide it. Okay. Um, you know, the one thing that we kind of stay away from, and I know there's there's other people uh within the network that that do, uh we stay away from the full vehicle wraps, and the main reason that we do is um that is a specialty. And it it takes somebody that really knows what they're doing. Many people can print beautiful vinyl graphics, but if the install's not done right and the seams don't fall in the right places, and this and that, it could really go sideways.

SPEAKER_02 58:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 58:36

I'm thinking there's too much liability and there's too little profit. The the margins are very slim. So I'm like, you know, I'm gonna stay away from that. Plenty of people that do, and I can refer out. Uh but in the promotional space and the print space, you know, I feel like I've got something to bring to the table with experience, with, you know, I mean, our core values, you know, with the communication and the uh uh, you know, we're we're looking to develop a relationship, an ongoing relationship with our clients, our client partners. Uh, you know, we want to be their their their marketing partner uh essentially uh for them. So um yeah, we're you know, we're there for the long haul, uh where we are different from, let's say, these internet companies where you can, you know, 1-800, whatever. You go in, you pick a product, upload art, hopefully it's good art, you plug in your credit card, you hit send, and you hope for the best. We're much more of a concierge approach. So let's have a phone call. Let's talk about okay, what kind of products you're looking for? Is there a specific event? Okay, who's gonna be at the event? Um, you know, certain, you know, are these adults or these children, certain uh age groups, uh, male, female, what industries, you know, who who are you giving to? You know, do you have budget, uh budget constraints? So, you know, we want to do some fact-finding so we can bring them products that um, you know, make sense. Yeah. You know, products that, okay, yeah, this makes sense for me. This works with my budget, this works with the event that I'm doing, uh, versus giving them stuff that are way beyond their budget or just, you know, it doesn't make sense, or or the order minimums are way too high, uh, that kind of thing. So we want to make sure that we understand, okay, you know, what's the event? Who's the client? What are they looking for? What what what are they trying to get from this? What's what's the result that they're hoping to get? So I really want to kind of understand, okay, you know, kind of build a picture.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:50

Gotcha.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:51

Uh, and then provide proper proper solutions for them and kind of see it through. Uh, you know, we're we're there before, before, during, and and after the service, you know. Uh 99.997% of the time things go great, but I want to hear about it when something doesn't go great. Uh, because I look at it I look at that as an opportunity to shine. Okay, here's another way that we we stand out. Hey, Larry, uh, we received the box of pens, but the UPS box had a hole in it. And I can't say for sure that all the thousand pens that I ordered are in this box. And I said, Hey, you know what? I don't want you opening and wasting your time counting out a thousand pens to see if a thousand pens are truly there. I said, Does the box seem relatively full? Like, you know, you think you got 750 pens in there? Oh, probably at least that. No problem. So we have vendor partners that we work with. We call them MVP suppliers that we have very special relationships with. We provide them a lot of business. So I'm part of a larger buying network, which gives me um a lot of buying power. Okay. So we let we leverage the relationships with these suppliers, and we try to use them as exclusively as possible. So when something goes a little bit sideways, we can go back to them and say, hey, we have this challenge. You know, customer thinks, not sure, might be missing some pens here. No problem. I'll go to BIC, I'll go to, you know, whoever it is, pilot pen, whoever, whoever it might be. No problem. How many you need? 250. Done. We'll print them the next day, we'll overnight them on our dime. Two days late, 48 hours later, the customer receives another box of pens. He's like, this is so much more than you needed to do. You went so far above and beyond. Yep, there you go. But that is how you make your reputation.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:52

So I love the fact that we have these vendors that we can lean on that do quality product, you know, every once in a while, you know, maybe you know, something wasn't quite as the customer expected. Um, they're there. Yeah. You know, they're there. We can call them and say, hey, this happened. Make it right. What are you gonna do? I'm the advocate for the client. Yeah. Just like you are with your clients. I'm the advocate. So I go to bat for them and I say, okay, you know, here's what the client's looking for. I want at least this. Sometimes I'll even ask for more than what they ask for. Yeah, granted, I want to come back looking like a hero. Usually we do. Um, but I'll always be, you know, I'll always be very candid. I'll be upfront with them, I'll be honest with them. Um, you know, but nobody's perfect. But give me the opportunity to make it right.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:45

What what's the most unique thing you've ever had to imprint something on? Can you share?

SPEAKER_01 1:03:50

We had a request. I don't think we did them.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:53

It wasn't for a bachelorette party.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:55

No, it was cust it was custom packaged condoms.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:57

Oh my god, no kidding.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:59

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:00

We ended up not doing them, but we did um inserts for uh DVDs for a guy that was uh making um x-rated film.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:12

No kidding.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:12

Yeah, that's fine. Yeah, like the full color inserts. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We've done that. Yeah, we've done that. Yeah, I mean, you know, and that part of it is all fine. I mean, we've done stuff for the cannabis industry, which is I mean, fine now. That's very mainstream. Um, but that's the cool part of it because we get all these different projects that come to us.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:32

You know, we've done uh, you know, we've done like uh you know t-shirts for for a cannabis company, and um they have all these cool sayings. Now, you know, I don't partake so much, but you know, those who do may understand some of these sayings in that world, you know, people who like to get high or whatever it is, whatever the world, you know, that world is. Um there's some very fun, fun sayings, and we can print that. Um oh gosh, there was another one. Uh, this guy was doing um he was doing mobile oil changes, and we did some t-shirts for him years ago, and he had all these taglines like you know, like um Star Wars, lube long and prosper, that kind of stuff. Yeah, um that's funny. Uh something about the color of the oil, or you know, uh just very very funny little little puns and jokes and stuff like that. Plays play on words.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:31

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:32

So so that stuff's kind of fun. Uh, I enjoy that. Um, I mean, we've done some cool things like you know, race cars and stuff like that. Like I'm I'm I mean miniature race cars. Okay. Yep. Um, I mean, gosh, we've done some cool stuff with drinkware. We've done some cool uh yeah, I mean lots of cool things. I mean, there's not one specific thing that comes to mind. A lot of the stuff we do, you know, we do a lot of catalogs and brochures and pens and mugs and tote bags, tech gear. Um, but every now and then people come to us with something like, hey, I used to get these Nalgene bottles when I was at Sleep Away Camp when I was a teenager, and I was wondering if they're still in the industry. Well, I do a little search, and sure enough, Nalgene bottles are still in the industry, and there have been some knockoffs, but the Nalgene brand is still a thing, and they've been around for decades and decades. E-glue brand, you want an e-glue cooler? I can get you an e-gloo brand cooler. You know, um, you know, selling brands. That's that's another fun one, too. Uh, this uh show I was out last week, they had blackstone grills there. Oh, wow. You want a blackstone grill with your logo on it?

SPEAKER_02 1:06:40

I couldn't how cool would that be?

SPEAKER_01 1:06:42

I mean, it's it's crazy. I mean, you can buy, you know, I mean, uh, citizen watches, a lot of retail brands that are that are out there. You might not even think of uh Weber Grills, uh, you know, they're another one that's there. Lots of lots of brands. So that's kind of fun too because people want retail brands.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:58

Yeah, yeah. That's cool. What what's something that that we should know about Larry that that most people don't know?

SPEAKER_01 1:07:06

Is there any I'm a I'm a good friend. Uh I I I care a lot about people. Um and you know, maybe part of it is because my own struggles and it it meant a lot to me when someone was there for me, whether it was anxiety or whatever it was. Or I mean my wife has been just an incredible rock star. She's so steady, just like a steady hand. You know, no doesn't have the highs and lows, it's just rock solid. Um, but um, you know, I I think it's important for me, for the people that I care about and the people in my sphere to know that that I care. Whether it's yeah, we're we're yucking it up at the bar on the golf course or you know, one of these networking functions, that's all great. But if you've got some deeper stuff going on and you need somebody that you can sit and have a serious conversation with, I could be that person too. You know, take off the work hat, you know, put on the friend hat, whatever it is, yeah, uh, to know that there's a good chance I've walked. Or I know someone who's walked in your shoes. Yeah. Uh and uh I don't judge and and um you know sometimes I think people feel like, you know, I I don't I don't know who I can talk to or something will come up and say, Oh, I didn't mean to t touch on that, that's not your business, I don't want to bug you with it. Oh no, you know bug me with it. You know, the business stuff is secondary. You know, you're you're a human and and your feelings are important and they're important to me, you know, being someone I care about. So I I think I'd want people to know that, you know, besides being somebody who loves what they do and I'm happy to sell you a product, um, you know what? If we don't do business together and I can be your friend, that's cool too. You know, if I can help you in any way, if even if it doesn't bring me uh anything of a monetary value, that's totally fine. I feel like I'm at a uh stage in life now where you know I've succeeded to a point it's like it's time to give back.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:58

You know, whatever it is. Um, you know, your time, what's it time, talent, and there's there's something else to that. But um how do people find you? Uh so you can reach me at uh our website is www.ajgraphicsandpromos.com. The end is spelled out. Um my number is 480 236 6431. Email Larry at ajgraphicsandpromos.com. The end again is spelled out. And uh if I don't catch you there, I'll probably see you at a local networking function.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:41

Awesome. Well, hey, I really appreciate it. I've enjoyed getting to know you better. I love it. And uh thank you for coming on and sharing with the with us for having you know about you and and uh hopefully somebody gets a little deeper understanding of who you are and respect for it. So thank you. Yeah, thank you.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:58

I appreciate it. This is Larry Shenelman, and I went above and beyond.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:13

Authentic connections are kind of heals from bombs brings to fine top trades. APM's networks found out the plate.