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From Rock Star to Entrepreneur: Chris Swimley's Journey · Carlsbad: People, Purpose and Impact

• 0:02
  intro: Carlsbad. People, purpose, and impact. An essential podcast for those who live, work, visit, and play in Carlsbad.
• 0:14
  Bret: Good afternoon, and welcome, everyone. My name is Brett Schonzenbach. I am the president and CEO of the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce, and I'm once again your host today, and I am excited to have with me Chris Swimley. Chris is the owner of Machine Print Shop. Good afternoon, Chris.
• 0:31
  Thanks for joining
• 0:31
  Chris Swimley: me today. Good afternoon, Brett.
• 0:33
  Bret: Thanks for having me. Yeah. Good to have you. Good to get you down here. And so I was digging into your background, you know, doing some deep FBI type work on no.
• 0:44
  Just kidding. Nice. I saw that you had, your your bachelor's degree was from San Francisco State University. So are you a a native Californian?
• 0:55
  Chris Swimley: Yeah. Born and raised Northern California, kinda just South Of Tahoe and just the tiniest of tiny towns in the middle of nowhere. And, yeah.
• 1:06
  Bret: What what town? You gotta give a shout
• 1:07
  Chris Swimley: out to me? El Dorado Hills. I mean, it's more of a thing now than it was. There was only a grocery store there when I Okay. When I moved there.
• 1:13
  And then, like, McDonald's was the big thing
• 1:15
  Bret: Right.
• 1:15
  Chris Swimley: When I moved in. And, yeah. And then I was there for, you know, till high school and, just just Sacramento was the big town and, my little more of my hobby and my passion was music. Mhmm. And just out of sheer luck, I I had a there was a music shop about, say, forty minutes away or something.
• 1:38
  It was pretty far. And I I started taking drum lessons. And so my whole goal in life was just to to be a touring musician. Nice. And, so when I finally moved to, like, 18 or so, a buddy of mine had was had moved up to Utah in Salt Lake and, went out there and, like, started my musical career.
• 1:57
  But, yeah, that's kinda there's there wasn't much that happened in where I grew up in except for a lot of music practice because there wasn't really anything going on there.
• 2:06
  Bret: No place to do jams and, not a lot of gigs going on?
• 2:09
  Chris Swimley: Yeah. I mean, we would me and my brother were in a band. He actually ended up getting into guitar, and then he had a friend who played bass. But we would we would just kinda play at the little, I mean, coffee shops. Right.
• 2:19
  Right. Right. And, I will say in Sacramento, which was, like, considered back then the big scary city, you know, for us, I had some friends in bands that I would go see. And one of them was actually my sales guy now. Oh, funny.
• 2:33
  And, he was, like, in the popular band. His name's Jared, and his band was, Low Flying Owls. And they went on to some pretty good success. And it was we just knew of each other just because we were in the same he grew up in a town just literally a couple miles away from me. Okay.
• 2:47
  And, so we, like, reconnected out of just weird serendipity here. And then, and, yeah, now we're doing music together again. I guess it was like this kind of full circle thing Right. Childhood. So
• 3:01
  Bret: And so, wait, in all that, when did you head over to San Francisco State University? So,
• 3:07
  Chris Swimley: I I lived in Salt Lake for about five years, and I and I I had some real good success with music. Yeah. I got in this band, and we we had a large following. We started touring everywhere. And, I ended up meeting my wife at one
• 3:20
  Bret: of the concerts. Nice. And, one of those, like, classic movie based love stories. Right? Yeah.
• 3:27
  Chris Swimley: She saw me twirling the sticks and she, she's all Selfies. The the dream, the goal of of being a musician. That's right. But, she ended up we ended up, relocating the band to to Los Angeles. And, I went through all kinds of musical fun escapades, record deals, and all kinds of stuff.
• 3:46
  But it just didn't really pan out for us in LA. Yeah. And, the band broke up, and and then my wife got into UC Berkeley. Okay. And then that's what got us to the Bay Area.
• 3:54
  And I always wanted to be in the Bay Area. And, from there, you know, I was playing music, got in bigger bands, did more touring, and then got just tired of being poor. Yeah. Yeah. Because I was, like, a I was a a studio musician.
• 4:11
  I was the goal to be a studio musician. Yeah. And just, you know, Napster happened when I was living in LA. Oh. And so all the record companies, like, went out of business and, like, with how we used to be able to make money back in the day just wasn't happening anymore.
• 4:24
  And so I was like, well, I still wanna do music, but I gotta figure out a way to how can I make this lucrative? And, you know, we used to always sell merch Yep. In bands, and you couldn't sell music. I was like, well, I'll I'll just delve into the the the merch. The merch side.
• 4:39
  Yeah. And try to figure out how to make more money off of that and learn about it, and it seems really fascinating. And I'm an artist. I've always been an artist, so I thought I'd be a graphic designer for t shirts. And then that's how that that was is what got me to go to San Francisco State, to have
• 4:51
  Bret: a graphic designer. That's wild. So from the the glory slash challenge of playing in a band to, like, making it pencil financially is what led you to your current path.
• 5:04
  Chris Swimley: Yeah. I was gonna say, when I went to the Bay Area, I ended up I was doing my own thing because I got tired of bands breaking up. And when the singer left, you just lost everything. You would commit years to being in a band. Like, I was in a band for five years.
• 5:15
  I got a a big record deal in LA, and then the the singer just didn't wanna do it anymore. Oh. He quit. Yeah. So, so I was like, okay.
• 5:22
  That's it. I'm being the boss. So as I'm doing that, I was like, okay. Well, then I gotta figure out the the merch. And, but it was crazy because the last big band I was in, they were actually signed by Google and Dreamworks.
• 5:36
  Wow. And they couldn't figure out how to make any money off the music. And so, You've
• 5:41
  Bret: been being signed by such big opportunities like that.
• 5:44
  Chris Swimley: I mean, a lot of it is luck and your music catching on and all that stuff. And, I mean, there's obviously still people making music today. But, like, when I saw that happen, I'm like, woah. Okay. So I gotta rethink the music thing of these guys, and they're super talented and amazing band.
• 5:55
  And we tour on a tour bus and all stuff. And, I was like, I gotta delve into this merch thing to try to figure out because there's definitely people making money, but it's, like, live shows and merch. And that's why I went back to school at San Francisco State, long story short. So
• 6:07
  Bret: Wow. That is that is wild. So I gotta I gotta tell you. So my youngest son is a jazz music major at MiraCosta right now.
• 6:17
  Chris Swimley: Oh, awesome.
• 6:18
  Bret: Hoping to switch to Cal State Fullerton or someplace like that in the in the fall. But, when he chose that path, one of his, coaches in the music biz said to him, if you can imagine yourself doing anything other than music, do that. And he's like, he goes, but if you're really set on doing this, because then we gotta change everything. You have to come out of college completely debt free because you're gonna be poor. Yeah.
• 6:46
  That's exactly what he told them.
• 6:48
  Chris Swimley: Well, you know, it's funny because, yeah, there's everybody the the crazy thing about music that everybody tells you is, like, they all y'all have your own path. Right? It's like everybody figures out their own way of success, but it still is a business. Yeah. And and there's there's some guys that I really am into, acts that never got big deals, but are successful ones a a friend of, we grew up with who actually landed a big deal and didn't work out, but he still just does it on his own.
• 7:11
  There's definitely a way to do it, but I think, like, if you're gonna be a musician, have some kind of career, like like my business is yeah. I'm I'm able to it runs itself. I could tour if I wanted to. So you can it's flexible. Yeah.
• 7:23
  Yeah. Yeah. So you can be making money and doing it and never, like I've I've always just wanted to do it because I love doing it.
• 7:29
  Bret: Exactly. The passion.
• 7:30
  Chris Swimley: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it would be great to pay your bills with it, and I kinda did for about five years. That's all I did full time. But, I mean, when you, it is it is it is like winning the lottery.
• 7:40
  It's really tough. But if you but if you can build your own business and be doing that consistently from the beginning, which I didn't do. I went through the whole idea of, like, studio musician, play for big acts, tour all over the place, that pays your money. But then when I moved to LA, there was literally five guys who were making money doing it. They were touring all the time.
• 7:57
  You know, they have no you have no personal life because you gotta be gone all the time. Yep. And so, you know, I definitely was gonna be in
• 8:03
  Bret: the top five. Yeah. That's tough. That's elite.
• 8:06
  Chris Swimley: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And and there's really it's not you come to find out that's not what you think it is either because when Right. I got tired of work being an employee for people.
• 8:14
  Yeah. And they set these crazy touring schedules, and a lot of them don't make sense. And, And
• 8:19
  Bret: that was interesting too, which you said, like, when when the band you were part of in LA caught on and finally did get something big lined up, one one of the key players just says, yeah. I'm bored. I'm done. I'm sick of it, whatever. And the Yeah.
• 8:31
  Yeah.
• 8:31
  Chris Swimley: Things
• 8:32
  Bret: fall apart. For everybody.
• 8:33
  Chris Swimley: Yeah. Yeah. That's So if you're in charge, you know, like like a business, it never has to end. The players can constantly change. And then you're always kind of doing something you like to do too.
• 8:42
  Some my brother's a phenomenal guitar player. He tours. He still does all that stuff. Awesome. And but he likes being that side guy.
• 8:47
  But, yeah, he's he's living hand to mouth. Yeah. And and he doesn't wanna do anything else, which he he easily could and be could be living comfortable. Right. But, you know, I'd I met my wife.
• 8:57
  I wanted her to have a nice life. I wanted to Yeah. Have a house. I wanna have dogs. Yeah.
• 9:01
  You know? So it's like yeah.
• 9:03
  Bret: A little different little different experience. So I we got as far as you guys being in the Bay Area, but I know from meeting you a couple years back and getting to know you that before machine print shop got established here in North County, you got established in Austin, Texas. So Yeah. What jumped you from the Bay Area to Austin?
• 9:25
  Chris Swimley: I really didn't wanna leave the Bay Area. It was amazing, but it was yeah. We getting out of college, I mean, my wife made, like, $40, and I made I worked at the only place I could get a job, it was, like, a depression. It was a it was a great job, a climbing gym across the street from our apartment.
• 9:40
  Bret: Yep. And, What year what year are we talking here? For fifteen.
• 9:45
  Chris Swimley: Okay. Until no. No. No. Because I've been doing this for fifteen years.
• 9:48
  Maybe seventeen years ago? Yeah. Yeah. That sounds about right.
• 9:51
  Bret: Oh, yes. Like, 08/00/2009. Yeah.
• 9:52
  Chris Swimley: Yeah. Yeah. Because I
• 9:53
  Bret: I did That's when it was brutal.
• 9:55
  Chris Swimley: Yeah. It was it was it was and crash and Everything. Everything. Economy is terrible. So I was literally, yeah, working at the climbing gym.
• 10:03
  But the good thing about the climbing gym was they, they need a graphic designer. Oh. So I would work the front desk. I gotta climb all day long. It was a walk across the street, but I was doing graphic design.
• 10:13
  At the same time. At the same time for the gym. So shirts and posters and all stuff and really just learning. You're kind of, like, honing your craft a bit. Yeah.
• 10:21
  That's awesome. And, so then I was applying for jobs. And I wanted to be in the Bay Area, but I couldn't find anything. So that literally applying everywhere. But as when I was at the gym, you have all these climbers going, like and there was just it was like in a zeitgeist.
• 10:32
  Ice Austin is the place to be. It's super cheap. It's beautiful. Tons of music there. It's, like, music capital.
• 10:37
  I was like, oh, this is great. I can go there and and and, you know, maybe meet a bunch more musicians and the tons of venues. So I was like, I just applied, and I got a job out there. So you guys just moved? Yeah.
• 10:49
  I went sight unseen. Wow. You know, just used my credit card to pay for everything because I didn't sound like I had any cash. I just had a crappy Honda Civic with a million miles on it. Drove drove cross country.
• 11:01
  You know? Just like it was, by myself. And, there's a real I'll try to tell this as quick as possible because this is kinda just to show you the stuff you can deal with. But so I move all the way out there. The guy hires me at this company, and, but he hires another artist at the same time.
• 11:19
  Right?
• 11:20
  Bret: Okay.
• 11:20
  Chris Swimley: So I'm like, this is awesome. I I got a buddy that also had a a woman who was in charge of me. She was actually a a bit younger than me. She was kinda like my boss. And I'm doing t shirts, and it goes about, I don't know, three weeks to a month.
• 11:31
  And my wife's like, I found an apartment. So she quits her job. She's she's packing up. We didn't have much of anything, so it wasn't like anything to pack. And she's heading her way, with her dad, you know, so she didn't have to drive by herself.
• 11:45
  And the the guy just I'm like, hey, man. What am I getting paid? It's been, like, a month. Yeah. I, I go in there, and, and he's like, well, what what do you wanna what's your hour what do you wanna get hourly?
• 11:56
  And I'm like, hey. This is all figured out when I started this job. Yeah. We about $15 an hour, which was, you know, not a lot Yeah. Back then.
• 12:03
  I mean, it's like, I was enough to survive. Well, Austin was much cheaper. I will set. Yeah. But, he's like, no.
• 12:09
  It's way too high. What? So then he goes, She's gonna be kidding me. And I'm broke, and I'm just using my credit card to pay for everything. You know what I'm saying?
• 12:17
  And, and my wife's in the car with her dad, and, and he got me down to $11. And then, That is brutal. And then, so then and he says, hey. Send the other guy in. Like, literally after, and then he and then guy comes in.
• 12:32
  And let me guess. He took 10. He took 10, and I got fired. And he didn't even fire me himself. He sent the this little girl in who was my boss.
• 12:40
  He was the one who actually kinda picked me. She, like which I felt great. I was like, hey. This lady Yeah. Picked me out of a a bunch, and that must mean I'm good.
• 12:47
  And, but then it literally put me on the streets with my wife coming in route. And so what I did, which was ended up being the best thing that ever happened me, it was the worst, lowest park. I think I'm just broke. I don't have a job. I have an apartment.
• 12:57
  Why is this moving here? I literally just walked into every single place in town, and I just, like, begged for work. And, the last shop I went to needed a sales guy, like, an entry level salesperson. And they, they liked me and ended up hiring me in sales because I had the background in the drawing. Right, in the graphic design, and I and that's what I'd wanted to do.
• 13:18
  Yeah. And from there, they they actually ended up paying me $9 an hour with a, I think it was 3% commission. And and so I was just like, I'm committing myself to this. I'm gonna make it happen. And it actually was the best thing that ever happened to me because I learned everything I needed to know about running my own business.
• 13:37
  They had phenomenal art department, so I learned everything you could possibly learn about doing artwork for apparel with some of the most the best artists in town. Nice. And, it led to me having my own company.
• 13:48
  Bret: Man, what a journey, dude. That is crazy. I mean, that is just so wrong on so many levels. I'm, like, I can feel the hair standing up on the back of my neck when you hear people get treated that way. And I
• 14:02
  Chris Swimley: was just like, ah. And that's not even the worst thing I went through owning my own business. Anybody who owns their own business, as you might even know and you've probably heard a million stories, the pitfalls are insane. But, like, then the rewards are just equally great. So how many years was it between taking that position and starting your own shop?
• 14:22
  I wanna say it was maybe oh, it was like eight or nine years. Maybe almost ten years. Yeah. I I hit a ceiling with them. The the the people that were running the company just they you know, it wasn't working out.
• 14:37
  Sure. And I was the lead sales guy. I was training people constantly because of the way they ran their company. No one wanted to stay with them. And so I just knew long term I would have loved to stay, but long term, it wouldn't have worked out.
• 14:51
  And that's when I decided
• 14:52
  Bret: to make the leap. I pushed you to start your own. So you started it there in Austin. And then so you guys are both Northern Californian Californianers. I'm not sure I'm Yeah.
• 15:04
  Yeah. Yeah. Norcalers. And you end up in Austin, and you start this shop. What prompted you to start a satellite shop or a second shop here in Vista, in North County?
• 15:17
  So I
• 15:18
  Chris Swimley: had a family member who had the ability to do production in Mexico. They just had access to a warehouse that sold me on the the the fact that it was so inexpensive to do and, that we could set it up. And so I was doing my own, business on nights and weekends only, so I didn't let it affect my day job. I would just punch out at five and work sometimes till 03:00 in the morning, prospecting, emailing, calling, doing everything I did all day long, only at night, and then not trying to compete with, you know, my the area, you know. And so, once I had the I'd I'd landed a few large promotional product customers.
• 15:55
  Nice. And so that put a lot of cash in the bank. And so once I landed my first real whale, I had two options. So, like, one was, like, pay my house off, stick where I'm at, and then just keep building the funds up again. It was like an I had a sizable amount of money.
• 16:14
  I was coming in on a pretty good regular basis. Or, like, this connection I have in Mexico, maybe I could take advantage of it and do, like, a lot put my money somewhere like an investment for long term. So I put, like, maybe, I don't know, quarter million up to half million dollars into this factory building it up and Wow. And, getting the equipment in there and and then building up the business. And the first big hit I had was when it was, like, just on fire because we did land some really big clients who were doing really, really high volume, 30,000 shirts a week.
• 16:43
  Wow. COVID hits. Oh. You know? Just just as we're, like Yeah.
• 16:48
  Really just turning, burning. And, so then I I just, out of sheer luck and tenacity, ended up selling insane amounts of masks and hand sanitizers. Wow. Because I've been in the promotional product business, you know? Yeah.
• 17:03
  Yeah. And that just, like, held me over till it opened up the you know, just, like, literally paid them for my overhead, broke even. And, when when that happened, I just realized, first of all, it was just so dangerous down there just to to operate and stuff like that, and then that my business partners were were basically ripping me off, and and it wasn't working out. I I had to I had to walk away from the the operation. But it ended up being for the best.
• 17:27
  The margins were really small. The customers were really terrible. They're really mean. Their terms are very long. It's really hard to get paid.
• 17:33
  And Austin was just booming. Yeah. So all the work I did in Austin was was making up for whatever I was losing in Mexico. Mhmm. So I was like, okay.
• 17:40
  We're just and then Austin's even moving now. We're just gonna grow Austin, and then I'm gonna try to do what we did in Austin here. So that's when I got my office in Vista and, started connecting with the chambers and really focusing on growing this area. And it's been going great ever since I met you guys. Carlsbad Chamber was the first chamber I signed up for.
• 17:57
  Nice. Signed up for Netforce and met a lot of great people, and it just got me in the mix. So it's like Carlsbad connected me, got me going, went into, Vista Chamber of Commerce got me going, Oceanside. Now we're in San Marcos. And we just feel really well connected, and and we're growing like crazy.
• 18:13
  That is awesome.
• 18:14
  Bret: This is a great place to take a quick pause. We're talking to Chris Swimley, the owner of Machine Print Shop. When we come back, we're gonna talk about all the different things that they offer and how you can take advantage of it. Stay with us. We'll be right back.
• 18:26
  So, Chris, we were talking about your journey, man. That's been that was quite a journey, that got you to this point and and even the steps that led you to come out here to the beautiful North County. So let's tell everybody what you guys offer at Machine Print Shop because I know I've been the beneficiary. I'm gonna talk about a couple projects that we've been connected with together. But, tell everything that you guys offer.
• 18:53
  Chris Swimley: So, yeah, we do custom branded merchandise. That's apparel, with shirts, hats, and then promotional products. And, you know, it's pretty broad when it comes to the promotional products. Yeah. You know, if anything from, like, a tent and table cloth to I just did I'm doing an order now for I wanna say oh, yeah.
• 19:16
  It's gonna be 250,000 bone dog bag dispensers. Just like the most random stuff all you know?
• 19:24
  Bret: Oh my god.
• 19:25
  Chris Swimley: And, so I was gonna ask
• 19:28
  Bret: you, what's the weirdest thing you've ever done, but I think you covered it already.
• 19:31
  Chris Swimley: Oh, yeah. That's a pretty weird one. I've done some crazy ones. Like, I I remember it was one mass order I did was Moscow mule mugs. I can't remember what they're made out of copper or something, out of turkey.
• 19:42
  Bret: Oh my god.
• 19:42
  Chris Swimley: And I was doing and then I just it was this vodka company, and they just wanted tons of them. And I just, out of sheer luck, found a found a source. And that was a that was a moneymaker till it became a fad, and everybody started just stealing them. Oh. So then companies couldn't afford to do them.
• 19:55
  Oh, wow. But,
• 19:57
  Bret: That's crazy.
• 19:58
  Chris Swimley: But I I wanna say that the one thing, I guess, that really sets us apart, I guess, is that I I had a huge focus because I'm an artist too is the the graphic design. Yeah. And, that might lead you to the
• 20:06
  Bret: Yeah. So, we were celebrating in 2023. We celebrated our wait. It was 2023. Right?
• 20:15
  No. Let me think about that. Twenty twenty four. I'm sorry. In 2024, we were celebrating our fiftieth anniversary of our street fair.
• 20:22
  And so we did a graphic design contest to have the t shirt at, like, a memorial you know, what do you call it? Yeah. Memorial t shirt. Is that the right word?
• 20:31
  Chris Swimley: Yeah. Yeah. I mean,
• 20:32
  Bret: you know, to to celebrate that fiftieth anniversary, we did a graphic design contest. And your design that you personally drew up won, which was super fun. And when we did the it was the staff. We we voted, and we had all these different designs that were submitted. And and you know there were submissions from local graphic design students at the high schools and stuff which was cool and we didn't as we were judging we had no idea whose design was whose.
• 20:57
  I think one of our staff members knew because when yours won she was like oh I was hoping his won. And I'm like, why? Whose is it? I didn't even know it was yours. I'm like, Kathleen.
• 21:07
  Yeah.
• 21:07
  Chris Swimley: She was she was super
• 21:09
  Bret: excited that yours won. And and, but then once we figured out it was yours, we were all equally like, oh, that's super cool. And so not only did you design it, but then you printed them for us and we sold them all year at our street fair last year. But then, you guys helped us out. One of the super cool projects here in in San Diego North County is, the Kindness Matters project.
• 21:34
  Yeah. Cool. Yeah. So cool. And our friends at Kids for Peace, you know, had a really cool sign made, kind of a Hollywood, style sign made that they got displayed over there in the displayed over there in the Strawberry Fields off the five Freeway heading north on the 5 Freeway.
• 21:52
  And you know, it's it's a it's a cool sign and, the wood shop classes at Carlsbad High designed the letter or cut out the letters and then this, you know, the pieces were sent out to all the different elementary schools and so each school painted one letter and it and it all came together. And when when you drive by, it's actually difficult to take a photo of it because it is literally right on the Fife Freeway. There's no real frontage roads there. So unless you're visiting the strawberry fields and get out and take a picture, it's hard. But even when you have a photo, as you know, the words kindness and the words matter overlapped.
• 22:28
  And so we brought a photo to you guys, and you extrapolated it. You separated the words, which we needed for two projects, and then, and then you filled in the missing pieces. So graphically, I mean, we really appreciate you guys being able to do that.
• 22:45
  Chris Swimley: I love doing that stuff. I would do some of those, you know, you take photographs and you do funny things with them and and then I would do that with my buddies a lot. And so I always really enjoyed Photoshop. And and just to let you know, it's an honor for you guys to for for me for you to to pick us for the contest and for the Kindness Matters. So I really appreciate you guys doing that.
• 23:05
  But, yeah, whatever you need, I'm happy to help the Chamber. You guys have been, an insane help to us in growing our business and connecting us and all that. So we're we're all very grateful Yeah. And, me especially. And so whatever we can do to help, and, we're we're there for you guys.
• 23:22
  Bret: I appreciate that. And the that artwork that you helped us create, you know, is now a t shirt that you've printed for us and is available on our website if you'd like to purchase one. They're very cool. And, I don't know how many more shirts we have in the first run, but there's already plans on making a second run. Probably Awesome.
• 23:42
  Probably changing up instead of a we did get some people saying, oh, I don't wear white t shirts, and we didn't really think about that. We went with a white base when we talked to you because most of the t shirts we do here at the Chamber for, I don't not it wasn't planned this way, but most of them are black. Yeah. So we're like, we gotta mix it up. And so we went with white, and then people are like, oh, I don't wear white.
• 24:00
  And we're like, okay. We need another
• 24:01
  Chris Swimley: It is really funny because, like, yeah. In Austin, the number one color t shirt we wore is black, and it was couldn't and we couldn't live in a hotter place. Right. You know? And and I've always I've just loved white T shirts because I just I probably grew from living in Austin just being so hot.
• 24:16
  Yeah. But, yeah, it's, like, for whatever reason, it's not a thing. I've always gotta do some kinda everybody wants a color. It's I have no clue why. That is
• 24:23
  Bret: Yeah. But you guys I we just appreciate, like, you guys' ability to to do this from a graphic standpoint, but then also, you know, being able to print the shirts. We've really enjoyed working with your with your company and getting to know you guys. I also know from being on the Board of Directors at Solutions for Change, you've created a cool project there. Why don't you share about that?
• 24:46
  Cool idea.
• 24:46
  Chris Swimley: And we and we want to do more. And and so with them, teamed up mostly with Jason in the marketing department. We've created two designs. They're on our website. You can buy them and all the proceeds go to solutions.
• 24:57
  But, so when I moved out here and I've been wanting to get involved in some kind of charity. What's crazy about here is there's so many. First, when I was in Austin, I never even was aware I know there's a Chamber of Commerce now, but I didn't know of the Chamber of Commerce. The business I was in didn't deal with it. And then, like, I had no access to really much of any much of a charity or anything.
• 25:19
  Oh, I did find one when I just before I left, and it's a nice, organization that helps homeless and a very interesting it's Mobile Loaves and Fishes.
• 25:27
  Bret: Mobile Loaves and Fishes. I'm one of them. Yep.
• 25:29
  Chris Swimley: Yeah. And so I wanna get involved with that in some shape or form. I just I didn't get a chance to before I left. But so of all the ones I came across, Solutions, to me, was the coolest Yeah. In what they do.
• 25:37
  And so we've we just barely, I think, touched it. We've just done two designs. I wanna do as many as they'll have us do. And then we'll just our reach, market wise is not as good as I would like it to be because I feel like if we put it out more, we could we could draw more business for selling those teas. But, yeah, whenever since I know you're part of their organization too, And then, they just also have that new retreat that they purchased, also.
• 26:01
  Oh, yeah, at Green Oaks Ranch? Yeah. Send us whatever and we'll design stuff all day long, every day to help grow, hopefully, some more revenue to help that organization. Oh, that's great.
• 26:12
  Bret: I love it. I love the the innovation in that. Right? And solutions loves it too. They've told me.
• 26:17
  I mean, they they love how you've created, like, a a partnership, you know, with them for that. And that's so cool. And so just to make sure people are aware, like, if they're like, these guys are so cool. I really appreciate, you know, your approach to how you do things. Best place for them to reach you is your website?
• 26:39
  Chris Swimley: Yeah. Website, machineprintshop.com. And then our email's on there, contactmachineprintshop, and then you can follow us on Instagram. We try to do kind of a funny Instagram thing. Jared, my, sales and marketing guide that runs all of that, and so you can see a lot of work we've done for people.
• 26:55
  We're we're revamping the website now. We're revamping our showroom. We're completely doing a whole brand new little thing. Like, we have we have a nice office with a recording studio and a little bar and all that, but we've kinda decided to make something, take it to another level to make it even nicer and have more products. So if you wanna come by our office and visit us, I'd love to have anybody over there to check out samples.
• 27:17
  And, yeah, but email or meeting us
• 27:19
  Bret: in person would love to help anybody who needs it. Very nice. So, most people who have, like, a print shop aren't explaining about their recording studio in their office. Yeah.
• 27:30
  Chris Swimley: Well, it's funny because I mean fun. I think a lot of guys in my in in this industry are production guys. Yeah. You know? And so this the the the place that I got my job in in Austin Yeah.
• 27:43
  That was one thing that really set them apart. They had the the most the best showroom in the whole, city. And so people would come and be like, Wow, here's this table with all these shirts and it's all organized and hats. And I was like, As a person trying to sell for the first time and not knowing anything about it, it was a huge tool as an asset. And so I wanted that for my company and to make it as fun as cool as possible.
• 28:03
  We're we're trying to buy a place right now. We're actually leasing our our our place, which isn't bad, but I I do wanna take it to another level. I want it to be a whole experience where people come in. They wanna hang out, and and it is a great selling point because they wanna come back and and visit us and stuff too. So I love that.
• 28:17
  Bret: I know you shared a little bit earlier that you're part one of our Netforce groups.
• 28:22
  Chris Swimley: Yeah. And,
• 28:23
  Bret: you know, not everybody listening maybe knows, but Netforce is a Chamber version. Some people are familiar with, like, BNI or something like that, where you have, like, industry exclusive members that you guys meet weekly. Your group meets on Wednesdays?
• 28:37
  Chris Swimley: Wednesdays at 8AM, and, we we're looking for members. Nice. But we got a great team of people. I've I've been in it, I think, about a year and a half now. Yeah.
• 28:46
  And, it just helps in so many ways, not just the referrals, but just, like, everybody talking about their businesses, giving strategies to each other and Nice. I mean Like a mastermind group? Yeah. I mean, you never know. And it's like we just even the last meeting, I I, you know, I stumble upon different businesses or industries that I I wanna get into just out of sheer randomness, and then all of a sudden you realize the person in your group has all these connections.
• 29:08
  Nice. And so and, I mean, it's been a year and a half, and I'm that was a brand new thing that we stumbled upon. Oh, I know that person that that you're right. That is a good thing, but you're constantly in each other's thoughts, and we've all referred each other business. Love it.
• 29:20
  So, it's been huge, and I I plan on sticking with it indefinitely, you know?
• 29:25
  Bret: Love it. So Love it. Well, appreciate that. Well, thank you for taking the time to come down and share your journey. It's a fascinating journey.
• 29:33
  I'm literally gonna have my, my son, who's a budding musician, listen to this episode.
• 29:39
  Chris Swimley: Yeah. And any any I can give him any kind of, like, some advice as far as pitfalls and his instrument he plays again? He's Keys. Oh, that's I like I yeah. We we we yeah.
• 29:50
  We ran into the Jazz Festival. Yeah. Yes. Which was also the, trying to remember. It's, which jazz festival?
• 29:55
  That was one
• 29:56
  Bret: of oh, probably over here at, at, Saint Michael's at the Carlsbad Jazz Festival.
• 30:00
  Chris Swimley: Yeah. So we yeah. We did their merch, and amazing people at church is beautiful. Anybody who wants to go see some jazz, I I haven't gone to that fest. But, yeah.
• 30:08
  The keys are the best instrument to play. Yeah. You play with anybody, highly sought after because there's there's not many around. So he he he definitely
• 30:16
  Bret: picked a good instrument. Very cool. Well, thank you, Chris. Appreciate you guys, and thank you for coming down to share today.
• 30:23
  Chris Swimley: Hey. Thanks for having
• 30:23
  Bret: me. It was my pleasure. Thanks for joining us today on our Carlsbad People, Purpose, and Impact podcast. If you got value out of our episode today, please hit the follow button on your favorite podcast app, and please tell a friend. Can't wait to see you next time on Carlsbad People, Purpose, and Impact.