Good News York by Growth Mode Content - GNY EP.104 | Ward's Printing

Episode Date: October 2, 2025

Interview with Wards Printing Owner Arthur Williams On this episode of Good News York, host Matt Masur from Growth Mode Content interviews Arthur Williams, the owner of Wards Printing, a minority-owned certified screen printing business. Arthur shares the story of his transition from a 20-year career as a pharmaceutical rep to owning and operating Wards Printing. He discusses the services his company offers, including screen printing, embroidery, signage, promotional products, graphic design, and 3D printing. Arthur also explains the importance of their Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) certification and how it benefits both his business and clients. The episode highlights the importance of building strong community ties and customer relationships, and previews upcoming content from Retro Game Con and shout-outs to show sponsors. 00:00 Introduction and Welcome 00:47 Meet Arthur Williams of Wards Printing 01:15 Arthur's Journey from Pharmaceuticals to Printing 02:08 Real-Life Testimonial and Services Offered 02:58 Expanding into Construction and Signage 04:14 3D Printing and Additional Services 06:14 Minority Business Certification Process 07:50 Opportunities for Minority-Owned Businesses 09:47 Community Ties and Business Growth 11:58 Understanding Internal Sales 12:35 Pharmaceutical Sales Skills in Business 14:17 Current Business Challenges 15:19 Expanding Business Services 16:45 Face-to-Face Customer Interaction 20:05 Design and Customization Services 21:15 Conclusion and Contact Information 22:24 Upcoming Events and Sponsor Shoutout

Instagram teen accounts have automatic protections for what teens see and who can contact them. Plus, time management tools. And Instagram will continue adding built-in safety features to help create age-appropriate experiences. Learn more about teen accounts and Instagram's ongoing work to protect teens online at Instagram.com slash teen accounts. It's a gentle cruising. You start to see the village, almost like a painting. Join me, travel expert Darley, Newman and Uniworld Boutique River Cruises L' Week Bali to learn about river cruising in France. As we have been sailing there for decades, we have been able to create deep connection

with the local communities. Local connections make exploring France easy. Tune into the Travels with Darley podcast on IHeart and wherever you listen to podcasts to hear about river cruising and Unirold's 50th anniversary summer specials. Hey everybody, I'm Matt Meager from Growth Mode Content. Welcome to another edition of Good News, York. I'm joined here by my buddy Danny behind the board. And you might know our friend Mike is missing, and I'm on the wrong side if you're watching the video. Mike's got the day off. We let people do that around here once in a while. He's home with the kids. The kids are home as well. So we thought we'd let him, you know, just enjoy the day. So joining me, we do have a nice other handsome gentleman here. I don't

know, Mike's got some competition, I'm thinking. But happens to be our neighbor from Ward's printing, go ahead and introduce yourself, my friend. Thank you. Good morning. My name is Arthur Williams, owner of Awards printing. We are a minority-owned certified screen printing business, and we focus on our local community, construction, schools, health care, and our local school district, and as well as growing at our current customer base. That's awesome. Now, you, as I mentioned, you're our next door neighbor here.

moved in not too long ago, I feel like. How did your business get started, or what were you doing before you? Sure, sure. Before getting into the apparel side, I was a former pharmaceutical rep of over 20 years. Wow. So prior to that, it was kind of hybrid. I did a little bit of screen printing on the side, but I also did. My main focus was on pharmaceutical sales.

So that was over 20 years of selling new, launching. new products to our healthcare community and as well as building great community connections within there. So when this opportunity came along to start wards, I wanted to bring all the experience that I have cultivated over the years towards printing and looking to grow that customer base and as well as extending to new customers. That's so neat. And I'll tell you what, I can give you a little real,

life testimonial because you helped us out right before the state fair. If anybody saw our videos and Danny's actually got the shirt on there, even though you can't see it on. Awesome. I'm, of course, the king of the last minute. I'm like, oh, we need some new shirts. Ran next door. Yeah, we can do them for it.

I think he did them the next day. We did them next day. Beautiful shirts. Same price that I would pay anywhere else for a decent shirt. You certainly didn't gouge me on the urgency, which I appreciate. It was pretty cool. But we love them. It's so cool to have a resource like that.

Branding to me is one of the biggest things. And I've always been a big fan of walking around with a logoed shirt on, at least during the workday. You know what I mean? So I love to see that. You mentioned construction and things like that is kind of some of your core clients. What type of things are you making for construction folks? So for construction folks, for what we can provide for them, we can provide privacy, the fencing signage. Oh, wow. So, for example, one of our customers is looking to do a phase one

of their project. So we were able to custom brand on their banners, which will go around the custom fence. Wow. And then we did a signage, the HCR signage that is required by New York State for doing that project. So we're able to supply that. Oh, wow. So even beyond the apparel and screen printing and things, you could do signs. We can do signage. So apparel, promotional products, and embroidery are kind of like our core products, where we're also finding another niche, which is the construction side. So we're focusing on, you know, the safety vest,

the PPE equipment for. And there's a lot of construction going on around Syracuse. Yeah. I feel like you're in the right market here. I love this. I love it. So if you wouldn't mind, I know Amanda's talked with you

and been over there and seen kind of some of your samples and things like this, but we've mentioned screen printing and clothing, and we've mentioned some science. But what are some other things that you can do at your print shop? So some of the other things we do are within partnership with our other partner over there. So 3D printing. Oh, wow.

So there is we have, there are a number of 3D printers that we have that customers are looking for. Actually, we did a light box for awards for our signage. So we have our logo and it's plugged in. You know, you could plug that into the wall and our logo is illuminated. Wow. There's graphic design, signage, banners. We also do business cards, posters, menus, things like that. We have a wide range.

That's awesome. I love that. Again, just branded materials, promotional materials, things like that are just, I think, the right way to go. You're going to have these things. And in many cases, you buy, you know, I'm a big fan of, you know, the mugs and things. If I go to buy a mug for our kitchen, I'm going to spend as much as I would with one with our logo on it. So why wouldn't I do that? Why not? Brand new is everything. You are your,

you're walking advertisement for yourself. That's it. You like to have quality products. Yeah. And it stands out and when people see it on the street, you know, they may ask you, you know, where did you get that? Or I love that logo. Yeah. You mentioned the

kind of got me thinking now about the signage for the temporary fencing. Now is that am I thinking right? That's like a kind of a continuous length, 20 foot long bend? or is it different pieces? How does that typically go? There's different pieces. Some may just want a aluminum light or aluminum board. Okay. With Grimitts in it with just their logo on it.

Gotcha. And then you could attach that to the fence. I see. You know, some want banners. So it could be a seven, eight foot banner. Oh, wow. And then get that customized and put the grommets in it so they can attach it to the fence. That's pretty cool. That's pretty cool.

So let's go back to this business certification. Sure. I always jumble the acronym. Remind me again, it's the, what is it? Minority business enterprise. Okay. And then there's the WNBE for minority women, so the W is in the front. Okay.

See, that's right. I get all the letters jumbles. What does it take to get that? Because you can't necessarily just go, hey, I'm a minority, and suddenly you're certified, right? There's some steps you've got to go through to sort of prove your credentials, right? Yes. There are many steps behind it. Quite honestly, I think when I did it, there was about 66 steps.

Oh, wow. So it basically goes from your financial history, your personal financial history, your personal business history, how many employees you have. Are there, what codes do you use? So if you're using screen printing, what's the code for screen printing, signage? So you have to put all the... I see. Put all those codes down that you're looking to get certified for. So each step, you have to complete on the application.

Part of it you have to be in business for at least a year. I see. And then show support of that. So I just show support of my statements. So that would be my bank statements. So you're not just making up numbers. Yeah. Not making up numbers.

It's highly scrutinized. So it was a little back and forth, but once everything was submitted and I got approval within, I'd say, 35 days or so, which is awesome. Yeah. And then that one of the reasons that's important to your business is because, as we were talking about before we went on the air, a number of these projects and things like this, they have sort of a set aside, right, where they want X percent of the job to go to these type of certified businesses. Is that, am I describing that the right way? Yes, that's correct. So it's giving us a minority-owned business is an opportunity to participate in some of these, some of the growth that's occurring here in Syracuse and the surrounding area, especially with Micron, especially with the construction that's going on on the highway. And a lot of our general contractors here still have looked for that requirement to do business with, you know, WMBE's, MBEs, veterans, and I think Native American-owned business. business also. Yeah, that's great. And then the other thing that I think is kind of interesting for folks who don't know a lot about this process is, so we hear that and what we think is, is your

sign of going to the state and bidding to them on these projects. But in many cases, it's a bigger private contractor that gets kind of the main contract and then you work directly with them, right? Is that? Correct. Correct. And for our scope of business, for apparel, we're not that type of a general contractor. So, for example, if you were, you know, a general contractor, let's just say the large ones are like Turner and Gilbin or Pike Construction, some of those construction companies, and you are the prime contractor, and you're looking for a subcontractor.

I may partner with that subcontractor that needs our services. Helps them fulfill that requirement. And it helps them fulfill that requirement, and they get what they need as far as could be PPE equipment, could be signage that they're putting around the fence. or graphic work that they may need. That's awesome. And then, of course, we're talking about some of these bigger projects and these bigger industries,

but as we mentioned already for us, you serve small businesses and organizations of all sizes, right? Organizations of all sizes. One of the things that attracted me to purchase this business is that it was a strong community tie. So Ward Sales was the original company. It was around for over 60 years. Wow.

And then another family bought that business, and I actually consulted with them for about a year on helping them grow the business. Wow. And then they decided that they wanted to exit the business and gave me an opportunity to purchase. And now we have wards printing. That's awesome. That's awesome. So I'm guessing that's where you learned kind of the screen printing process and all the stuff that goes into this specifically. Was it from working with those folks?

Well, dial back. I already had experience. So you had background in it already. You know, my background was in, I loved drawing comics when I was a kid. Oh, wow. So some of that artistic was creativeness was in me. In college, I would design shirts for friends. My first one was through ROTC program.

One of my roommates needed a shirt design. So I drew, I think, F-16s for them. That's awesome. And then we printed, you know, so it started back in college all the way on the side. as well as working corporately. Sure. So I did have some experience in learning by trial and error, make screens and everything. I love when creative people can turn that into their business and really use that.

Because that's when you get the best stuff too, you know? Correct. The best end product comes from folks that really have sort of a passion for it. So also to answer your question, do serve the local community, local events. We do sponsor some events. bunch of some golf events with signage this year. Awesome. Also, we have our collegiate license with Syracuse University. Really? So we're able to work with, be a local vendor for Syracuse University. Wow. Which we're rowing with that. So you go through that process of through the

licensing committee out of Atlanta. I see. So what does that, does that mean you can, you can make Syracuse shirts and sell them or how does that work? So it's called intern. Okay. It's a gentle cruising. You start to see the village, almost like a painting. Join me, travel expert Darley Newman, and Uniworld Boutique River Cruises L'Ik Bally to learn about river cruising in France. As we have been selling there for decades, we have been able to create deep connection with the local communities. Local connections make exploring France easy.

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So if there's a department there, let's just say Whitman School or, you know, within that department, they're getting shirts to hand out to students. So it's sure to sell directly to the university. Yes. Either to hand out to their students or whatever they want to do, but it's not retail like bookstore. Bookstore is different. That would require royalties. Different type of deal. Yeah.

And a licensing for that. I got you. That's awesome. What an incredible contract to get. You know, biggest organization in town, man. That's that's so cool. Thank you. That's so cool.

Let me ask you, it sounds like, you know, is working as a pharmaceutical rep and things like that. It's, you know, basically a sales job. Is that sort of a fair assessment? Is it a lot of the skills that you learned in that, what helps you kind of make these relationships and build this business? Or where does some of that background come from? It does. Because you're not just sales. You're more like a consultant.

Gotcha. You're looking at it as you're an advocate for the patient. I see. So, for example, if you have a patient that has type 2 diabetes and you have a product that will help treat two type type 2 diabetes, you would talk to the physician and staff about the benefits of using this product for your patient and what that medical outcome can be as a result of using this product. So it's building that relationship with the office.

It's building that trust, being transparent, showing benefits as well as side effects. And say, for example, the customer has a question or, you know, for the patient that can call and just ask, what can, I'm experiencing this. You know, what should I do? I see. So whether it's a side effect, you know, I can report that on their behalf. If there's any questions as far as dosing, you know, we can answer questions like that. So we're kind of like a partner with the office. I see.

And that way you're growing relationship because they trust you. Yeah. You know, and it's hard to get into offices as it is right now. Sure. With the way that's, you know, everything is. Yeah. It gives us an opportunity just to build a better relationship. And so I wanted to transfer those skills.

Sure. What I do today? That's great. Let me ask you this. What is your biggest challenge today in business? What's the thing you work the hardest, to overcome right now or to obtain. Maybe it's finding new leads or, you know, inventory.

I don't know. Sure. I'd love to hear about these different types of businesses. Yeah, there's challenges a long way. The challenges the industry sometimes has not caught up with inflation. I see. So as inflation goes, a lot of industry has remained static, and it should be increasing prices to try to match the inflation.

And sometimes that's tough. Because if you're dealing with a nonprofit or you're dealing with a small business that can only afford, you know, a certain, have a certain budget, you try to fit that budget the best you can. And sometimes that's a challenge. Yeah. And you just have to, you want the customer, but sometimes you, you know, you try to work with them and get them the best price and the best product possible. Yeah. So that's a challenge. One of the challenges that we're working on is I call multi-line.

Multi-lines, for example, you know, you ordered shirts from us. Now, what else do you do? So we like to talk with you and understand what other, what are your goals? So it's not just about us. It's like, what are your goals? What are you doing down the road? Do you have another event coming up? Are you doing a display?

So if those are your goals, we may be able to partner with you, whether it's promotional products, whether it's a banner or retractable banner. Do you want business cards or some type of product to hand? out to customers. Yeah. So that's what I consider multi-lining, so it's not just one. And that's what we're doing right now is our challenge, is looking through our customer base and seeing who just is doing one thing and maybe we can help them come our way so they

don't have to go anywhere else. It's a great approach. Yeah. So that's how we're looking to grow and scale in the immediate. That makes a lot of sense. You know, they always say that it's always easier to do more business with the existing client than to find a brand new client, you know, and any way you can maximize that relationship is good for all parties.

People like doing business with people they already like doing business with, you know? That's true. Make it easy for them and you got a winner, at least that's my idea. Exactly. And that's what we're doing. And also while we're doing that, I'm out meeting new customers. So, you know, one of the things I've learned from pharmaceuticals and just being in sales in general is face-to-face interaction.

As I'm going to, you know, go up to Syracuse University, I'm meeting with, you know, people that are in charge of purchasing. And also within construction, I'm going to the construction site or going to the prime meetings. Gotcha. So I can introduce myself to the subcontractors so they get to see who I am. Right. And exchange information and follow up. Yeah.

No, that's, I think that's great. You don't get that from a random website, you know? Correct. When something goes wrong or something is, you know, you need something in a pinch, you want to be able to call a person. And I think that's absolutely the right approach. I love to see that. That's so neat.

What else should we know about this awesome and very versatile business? I love that you have kind of so many different options here. But what else should folks know about it? Or in particular, where can they find websites, information, stuff like that? Sure. Well, we're growing. We're expanding a, we love to expand the Wards brand. Gotcha.

So we're also launching an online store. And we help other businesses launch online stores that want to promote their brand. Cool. So that's one thing that we're looking at. So if customers are interested in that, they can reach out to us and we can help. We're doing a couple of stores right now. Gotcha. We're also looking to, again, in the long run, we're also looking to expand region.

across the state because there's still a lot of growth going on. Oh, yeah. Improving our economy of scale through digital or, you know, there's a lot of AI going on right now. So that's helping us improve our customer relationships and communication. That's great. So we can reach us at our website. You know, that's wardsprinting sYR.com. That's one thing that they can look and get in touch with us.

or email us. So it's either at admin at wordsprintingsYR.com or we want to submit a logo. It's design at wordsprinting, sYR.com. That's great. That's great. And you do, let's see, screen printing, embroidery, signage, what am I forget? Graphic design. Graphic design.

Promotional products. Make all those things look good. We want your customers to look good. One of the things we learned with having a customer base already is created like a tribe of customers. Yeah. You know, their callback every year. Sure. So, and we actually have a big order that we have to finish today where we've consulted with them throughout the last couple of weeks about best way of the logo should look on this shirt and what colors work best with the shirt.

That's great. We like to be a lot of business partner, and that's part of our value properties. is just being a great business partner. Some people don't understand that. They want to put the weirdest thing on, oh, that looks great. It's like, doesn't. Somebody needs to be able to tell you that, you know, and I appreciate that you can do that for folks.

Yes, we love to help them because, you know, at the end of the day, it's their product, and we want them to look like the hero at the end of the day. That's our goal. How much do you find that you're doing a lot of design work versus somebody submits you their completely finished design? Sometimes there's a little manipulation through Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop because to go to print, it has to be a certain way. Yeah.

So if it's a SVG file or, you know, AI file, that kind of helps us manipulate it a little bit easier. Sometimes we get layers, you know, no disrespect to some of them. Some of them could be like Canva or something like that where some are great, but then we have to go in and undo the layers. and then redo it. So that does take some time for a graph for Kate, a graphic designer, to redo the logo. So I'm sending just directly from the website Google. Yeah.

You know, it looks great at an inch high, but when you pull it up, the X is very pixel. So we have to correct that and reach out to the customer and see if they have any other logos that we can work with. Otherwise, we will do it. That's got to be fun. Oh, man.

Well, this is great. I'm so excited to have you in. And what a great neighbor to have next door. Because, like I said, it's already come in handy. So I appreciate it. And like I said, a fantastic job on top of it. It's good quality stuff, man. I love to see it.

I love to see your growth. And anything that we can do to help you further promote, anything special going on, new products, things like that. we'd love to have you pop in anytime. Makes it real easy. So, yeah. Thank you so much. Appreciate your time, and I appreciate coming in and everyone learning more about words printing.

Yeah. It's a great business right here on East Maloy Road, right next to us at Growth Mode Tech. If you're not familiar where we're at, I don't know we ever really talk about where we're at. It's almost like, we're not like hidden in a bunker or anything like that. We don't have sweet numbers, so you just got to read the name of the business over the door. That's right. Not every UPS guy can figure that out. But you just, that's what you got.

No shade to the UPS. Guys, this has been another fantastic episode of Good News York. I want to give you a little programming notes. So next week, next weekend is actually the Retro GameCon. Danny and his team are working like it's going out of style to get ready for the biggest event that the Syracuse on center was on center. Convention Center. Is that what we technically call that building? Biggest thing that happens there all year around.

Biggest game convention, this half of the country, it's such a cool, awesome event, and we are going to be there. We are going to be covering it. We're going to be doing all kinds of things. But that means our schedule next week is going to get a little hairy. We're going to take a couple days off during the week, and you're going to see some new content over the weekend, because we're going to put that out as we're recording at GameCon. So stick around for that. That is going to be something that's really cool. And also, last but not least, I got a shout out our man at Zach at Ads on the Go, the official sponsor of Good News, York. Get Ads on the go.com is the website.

If you are around Central New York, you have seen Zach and his guys driving that truck around mobile video billboards. It's the coolest thing around. Really neat way to advertise. And we just can't thank Zach and the whole team over there enough for sponsoring the show. So with that, like, subscribe, share, do all that fun stuff. I'm Matt. Michael will be back next time. Peace out.

It's a gentle cruising. You start to see the village, almost like a painting. Join me, travel expert Darley Newman and Uneworld Boutique River Cruises L'ouique Bali to learn about river cruising in France. As we have been sailing there for decades, we have been able to create deep connection with the local communities. Local connections make exploring France easy. Tune into the Travels with Darley podcast on IHeart and wherever you listen to podcasts to hear about river cruising and Unirworld's 50th anniversary summer specials.

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