Overcoming Adversity Through Faith, Determination, and Hard Work: The Printing Specialists Story

Like the Energizer Bunny, Marcus Newton “keeps going, and going and going” – despite adversity, setbacks, and seemingly insurmountable odds.?

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Newton’s road to print ownership has been filled with potholes, detours, and roadblocks but like many NPSOA members, he has persevered despite it all, capitalizing on his faith and relentless work ethic.

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Newton has never had it easy.? The native Arizonan is the sixth of 13 children. “It was before televisions were in bedrooms,” he jokes.? “We didn’t have much money and had to fight for everything we had.”

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He would have to rely on this fighting spirit his whole life, particularly as a printer.

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Newton’s path to print was certainly circuitous. Boisterous and talkative, he was kicked out of study hall in high school because he was a distraction to the other students and was put to work moving projectors and other AV equipment to a neighboring building, which by happenstance housed the district print shop.

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Newton was fascinated by the print production and quickly ingratiated himself with management who were impressed with his inquisitiveness and work discipline.? When he graduated from high school, they hired him.

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He was a quick study and learned all he could about the business in his weekly four 10-hour shifts. Before long, he took on a second position with a local AlphaGraphics, where he worked evenings, making the 10-mile commute each day between jobs on his bike.? If this wasn’t exhausting enough, he had a weekend job as ride operator at a local amusement park.? “I needed the money for a car,” he stresses.

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Newton would eventually leave the district print shop to take the day shift at Alphagraphics after they fired their pressman.? But his evenings wouldn’t be free for long.? “I knew if I wanted to make more money, I needed to go to college,” he shares.?

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Unable to afford the time or tuition for full-time enrollment, he took two classes a week at night.? He similarly gave us his amusement park job to focus on his studies on the weekends. It took 14 years, but he ultimately graduated with a business degree with honors from Arizona State University (ASU).? Along the way, he met his wife Michele, a schoolteacher.? They have been married 25 years.

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Newton excelled at AlphaGraphics, learning every facet of production, and employing the skills he was studying at college.? He was put in charge of a second location and ultimately ran both businesses, doubling sales under his watch.

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In 2004, after 20 years with his employer and after his boss successfully exited the AlphaGraphics franchise agreement, Newton purchased the company – then named Graphics of Tempe. He later renamed it Printing Specialists, which “more accurately described the business to potential customers,” he says.

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Newton borrowed against his home and cashed in whole life insurance policies to finance most of the purchase, with the seller, his boss, carrying a 10-year note on the rest.

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The euphoria of business ownership was short-lived as things quickly soured when the seller of the business was no longer in charge.? “He thought he could still dictate everything in the shop, including unilaterally setting the lease terms on the building he owned,” recalls Newton. “That didn’t fly with me.? I knew I had to get out eventually.”

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While business soared from 2004-2006, relations with the previous owner continued to deteriorate.? Newton decided to put together a comprehensive banking proposal to acquire a building of his own.? He also factored in paying off the seller’s note in the loan request.? While unconventional, “the economy was booming, and bankers were friendly at that time.”?

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NPSOA owners are all too familiar with the fair-weather, friendly, and fickleness of banks.

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However, with a growing customer base and enhanced service offerings, Newton was able to secure the backing of a bank that stood behind Printing Specialists with an SBA loan.? The year was 2006.

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Newton finally saw light at the end of the tunnel after years of business stress and acrimony.? Alas, the light turned out to be an oncoming train when literally on the day that papers were signed on the shell of his new building, he received a call from the industrial park realtor informing him that Staples, which was also breaking ground in the park, had exclusive printing rights for the whole development.?

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Newton was incredulous.? How could the park not know Printing Specialists would be printing?? A typical finger-pointing exercise ensued, and despite appeals up the SBA chain, Newton was on the hook for the $1.8 million construction loan, albeit because no customization had taken place yet, he was only responsible for SBA interest on $500,000 – at eight percent.?

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It was still tantamount to throwing money out the window and Newton had to be out of his current location within the year – a nightmare.?

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Ever the negotiator, he eventually found a 10,000 square foot building and proposed keeping the terms of the loan but changing the asset.? Once again, while unconventional, all parties agreed. He occupies the space to this day.

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Newton leveraged the remaining value of his house to customize his new space and moved in at the end of 2007, literally with no time to spare.? Relief at last, or so he thought.

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The first quarter of 2008 was great. Newton and his team were in a beautiful new facility, the corrosive former owner was out of the picture and business volume continued to exceed expectations.?? Newton thought that his years of hard work had finally paid off.

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But then in April, like a cruel April Fool’s joke – the Unites States economy nearly collapsed.? Over inflated real estate assets spiraled, hundreds of banks and Savings and Loans went bankrupt, and America’s housing bubble burst, culminating in a perfect storm which led to the Great Recession, the worst economic crisis in the country since the Great Depression. ?Arizona was among the hardest hit states joining California, Nevada, and Florida – all of which experienced the highest rates of home appreciation in the early 2000s.

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Overnight, Newton’s personal and professional real estate assets lost half their value and bankers were no longer friendly.? In fact, they could be viewed as hostile.? Despite having no balances on company credit cards, the banks took them away.? The SBA similarly called Newton’s line of credit.

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The situation was exacerbated when a large chunk of Printing Specialists’ clients also went bankrupt, and Newton could not collect on his receivables.? Even though no one client represented more than 10 percent of company sales, many of the segments he serviced were decimated – mortgage brokers, landscapers, homebuilders, pool installers, realtors, etc. – which all became pariahs in Arizona’s economy.?

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Like many NPSOA owners, it took Newton years to recover, particularly being locked in at his eight percent interest rate to service his SBA loan.? Often, he would not even pay himself and is grateful to his wife for having a stable job.? Even when interest rates decreased to five percent in the early 2010s and banks were lending again, Newton was being “strangled” by the rigidity of the SBA, which would not buckle on its penalty provisions for early loan terminations.?

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Asked how he could soldier on, he replies “my faith has always gotten me through difficulties in life, and this was no different.”

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Despite the financing challenges, Printing Specialists continued to expand its product offerings over the years, specializing in full-service branding which included display graphics and car wraps, promotional products, embroidered apparel, and trade show displays, in addition to its full graphic design and both traditional offset and digital printing. “We really offer it all under one roof,” asserts Newton.

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Business began to grow again, and Newton hired new staff accordingly.? And then the second shoe dropped with the arrival of Covid and the worldwide Pandemic, something every NPSOA owner can unfortunately commiserate with.?

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Unlike the Great Depression which disproportionately hit certain regions and segments of the economy, however, “everything shut down with Covid,” states Newton.

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Undeterred, he let his faith guide him through another bump in the road, taking comfort in the fact that he knew the economy would eventually re-bound.? “I mean we are America after all,” he patriotically proclaims.? It helped that there was government assistance for companies willing to invest in their employees, which Newton always had.

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“Would you rather invest in a piece of machinery that will rust or in people that can run with the ball and make a difference for a customer?” he asks rhetorically.

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Conversely, Newton submits the government didn’t do any favors to small businesses by encouraging people to stay on unemployment as the economy came out of the pandemic, rather than return to their jobs.

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One of the casualties of Covid was a friend of Newton’s who had an 18,000 square foot silk screening operation. ?Even before the crisis the company had excess capacity, falling victim to the “build it and they will come” fallacy.?

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Newton seized on the opportunity to not only help a friend but also acquire equipment for a market segment that is growing – all at bankruptcy rates.? He also hired three former staff members of the operation, who could run the equipment and were familiar with the customer base.?

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What he didn’t realize and never expected during an economic crisis is that he would once again be plagued with building issues – this time finding available space to run his new silk-screening operation.? The 18,000-square-foot existing footprint was too large and expensive to maintain, and commercial space was at a premium because many California businesses were moving east to Arizona to escape a pernicious business climate.

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Ultimately, he had to pay to store the equipment for almost a year before finding a suitable location with just under 5,000 square feet.? He kept personnel to keep the business going and subcontracted the silk screening, obviously at margins less than he expected.

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Fast forward to 2024.? Now fully operational in silk screening, Newton is bullish on the future, and sales have surpassed pre-pandemic levels.? He estimates he will exceed $3 million this year with capabilities in design, traditional offset, digital, bindery, wide format, and silk-screening.?

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His major equipment list includes: Konica 6136,4080,3080; Xante Impressia & Ilumina; Direct Color Systems 1800s, DTGs- Epson F2100 & Brother 2200, Interchange MD-8 gas dryer, ASPE 10 station Tag printer 4 color; Workhorse 10 & 8 color automatic plus 8 color manual; Colex SX1732 flatbed; Canon AZ 1280; HP 360 & 700W; GCC GLS Hybrid Laser; Crystal Blast SandBlaster; Ryobi 3202 & Direct Press 5634DI; TICP Pad Printer; Eurofold & Baum Autofold, Sterling Digibinder, Count Auto Score and Creaser.

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Printing Specialists has also differentiated by delving into custom design projects using unique substrates, like sandblasting text on glassware and applying UV inks on fabrics.? It produces elaborate braille invitations, customized dye sublimation pieces, and one-of-a-kind multi-layered trophies.?

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It also sees great potential in Artificial Intelligence. “AI will change our world,” asserts Newton. “Even in its infancy, it is an incredibly powerful tool that could eliminate complex design work. Photography and models are all going to be highly affected by it.”?

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Printing Specialists have already used some AI programs to generate some incredible artwork.? Newton is encouraging his team to learn how to make money from it.? He is already a personal fan of Apple Vision.

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At the end of the day, however, nothing will beat a personal connection with a customer.

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“We always put ourselves in the customer’s shoes and try to meet their business objectives with creativity,” says Newton.? “God made us in His own image, and we are the only species on the planet that can think creatively.”

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If Newton isn’t busy enough working both on and in his business, he has always given back to the community for causes near to his heart, such as Project Cure, which delivers medical supplies to needy third world nations; the Phoenix Dream Center, which hopes to eradicate human trafficking and assists the homeless and those struggling with addictions; and the Foster Care system.? He is also an advisory Member for (EVIT) East Valley Institute of Technical, which is a trade school for young students.

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For over 20 years, he also served on Boards within the printing industry, ultimately becoming Chairman of the Western States Printing Alliance (WSPA), an affiliate of Printing Industries of America.

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Asked what advice he would give a new entrepreneur going into the printing business, he replied, “Love what you do because it’s hard, and if you don’t, you’ll fail.”

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Newton, now 60, had hoped to be close to retirement by his age, but factors clearly conspired against this goal, as this profile has illustrated.? He hopes within the foreseeable future, however, to make Printing Specialists a “sparkly enough” business to attract a passionate purchaser that can take it to the next level, leaving him time to focus more on volunteering, coaching, and helping organizations grow one way or another.

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The great American business titan Lee Iacocca wrote, “In times of great stress or adversity, it’s best to keep busy, to plow your anger and your energy into something positive.” Marcus Newton is clearly a business leader who has done just that.