In this episode of Blue Collar StartUp, hosts Mike and Derek sit down with Korey Chapman, owner of Little Moose Prints, to break down the realities of running a low-margin, labor-intensive business in a highly competitive market. Korey breaks down ten years of lessons in screen printing and embroidery, including pricing in a race-to-the-bottom market, managing production labor, investing in equipment, and building systems that keep jobs moving out the door on time.
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You can learn more about Korey Chapman and Little Moose Prints at littlemooseprints.com and across their social platforms.
0:00 Cold open and welcome
0:15 What Blue Collar StartUp is all about
1:03 Sponsors and supporting the trades
1:31 Introducing Korey Chapman and Little Moose Prints
2:08 Ten years in business and team size
3:19 From fourth-generation farming to entrepreneurship
4:54 Discovering screen printing and moving to Idaho
6:01 Starting as a side hustle and going all in
7:18 Competing in a race-to-the-bottom industry
8:49 How farming prepared Korey for business reality
10:18 Saying yes before knowing how to deliver
11:57 Manual presses, brutal hours, and automation
13:49 The biggest challenge over ten years: labor
15:47 Letting go of the wrong people sooner
16:32 Learning to track numbers and run a scorecard
18:23 Leadership, decision-making, and accountability
21:59 Pricing, margins, and firing the wrong clients
33:00 Patreon preview, where to find Korey, and wrap-up