At a time when most people are dreaming of a leisurely retirement, Graeme and Lois Connell mortgaged their house in 2001 and purchased their very own business, the Minuteman Press centre at 5809 MacLeod Trail SW, Calgary. Within a few short years, it became Alberta’s leading Minuteman franchise and maintains the prominent status still today.
Of course, this kind of success doesn’t come easy. When they first purchased the shop, Graeme states, “It was not doing well at the time and, after a couple of months, I wondered what we had done to ourselves.” But after 40 strong years of marriage that had produced three children and eight grandchildren, he and Lois were made of the right stuff to see this commitment through and nurture their business back to health—together. “We were about a month away from burning the mortgage when we made the decision to embark on a fresh adventure together,” Graeme says. “Those first years were really tough and it didn’t take me very long to find out the true meaning of cash flow.” A profit re-investment program paired with faith, desire, and many long hours of teamwork allowed them to upgrade every bit of equipment in their print shop to meet the needs of their steadily growing, modern-day client base. And let’s not forget enthusiasm: “It’s been a great ride,” says Graeme. “We enjoy every day growing the business fourfold, finding the opportunities and meeting challenge after challenge head-on. We’ve had the benefit of terrific people working with us through the years. And when someone has moved on or moved away another talented person has walked in.”
When it comes to multi-part (NCR) forms, brochures, flyers, reports, booklets, binders, business cards, signs, and presentations, the Connell’s longstanding team of employees is highly proficient. The print shop offers both digital and traditional offset printing. Orders can be custom finished to a variety of finishing options.
In addition to standard printing services that can be ordered over the phone or in person at their MacLeod Trail SW location, Minuteman Press South Calgary also offers a fast, convenient, three-step online design program that allows today’s busy customers to order their self designed and proofed business cards, letterhead, and stationery straight from their website. According to Graeme, Print-on-demand isn’t demanding at all at Minuteman Press South Calgary! It can be easily produced on their modern Xerox Docucolor 5000 digital press or on the Xerox 260 colour or Xerox 4127 high-speed black and white copiers with high resolution and fast output. Full colour digital output makes important marketing materials spring to life.
Avid artists themselves—Graeme is a photographer and writer while Lois is an artist — this couple delights in taking the creative approach with each project to help bring all marketing materials to life. Nothing is left to chance, right down to choosing the best paper to use and how to put color onto that paper for maximum impact.
Over the summer, the Connell’s began the transition from full-time management at Minuteman Press South Calgary to pursue another creative pursuit—a non-fiction book about Graeme’s 1968-69 expedition to Antarctica. Their daughter Rachel has now taken over the day-to-day management from her parents. She has been in the background on a part time basis looking after the money side of the business since day one. Rachel has a strong business background, and was formerly prepress supervisor with a national printing company in Calgary. She attended Minuteman school in New York before taking over the shop.
It’s a marriage made in heaven when traditional printing meets online design. And who else would know better about heavenly marriages than Graeme and Lois Connell who will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary in 2011! Give Minuteman Press South Calgary a call today at 403-543-5959, drop by their 5809 MacLeod Trail SW location, or click here to browse their website and see what they can do for you.
Comments