Print & Promo Marketing’s ongoing feature series, Executive Perspectives, tells the personal entrepreneurial stories of leading professionals in the print and promotional products industry. This month, Tyler Norman, CEO of Eugene, OR-based McKenzie SewOn (asi/323805), shares his tale. It begins with little more than an embroidery machine and belief – and evolves to where things stand today, with Norman at the helm of a thriving distributorship.
PPM: How did you get started in this industry?
Tyler Norman: McKenzie SewOn was started by my parents nearly 40 years ago in a tiny little warehouse while coming off a bankruptcy. The only thing they had left to their name was an embroidery machine that they had co-signed on. Growing up, I never considered being part of the family business, nor did my parents, especially my mom, as she would say, “Small business is really hard, so go join a big company.”
Out of college, I did just that and went to work for Jeld-Wen. I was only a few months into that position when my parents bought out their partner and my dad came up with the idea that I would join the business, learn how to run it and then buy them out years later as their retirement. The way my dad rolled was that everyone would be in agreement with him; they just didn’t know it yet. With that, I jumped in right at the beginning of 2008 – certainly an interesting year to learn the industry!
Fast-forward five years, and we somehow survived the recession and had started to see some nice growth. It was during that time that my dad was diagnosed with cancer, which is when I essentially took on the main leadership role of the business. Sadly, my dad passed away two years later, but thankfully I got to spend some great time with him that I otherwise would have missed had I not joined the business. Also, to our great fortune during those years, we were able to put together an amazing team that kept things moving forward in a positive way.
PPM: How do you set goals for yourself and for your business?
TN: One of our core values is “Get better every day.” It’s something that I try to live up to personally with a number of tools. At the core of them is an app called Day One, which I use to journal daily and track key personal metrics. From there, I set up annual goals for myself and break them down quarterly.
As a business, we utilize the Entrepreneurial Operating System from a book called Traction to establish annual goals and Quarterly Rocks that all lead to our Three-Year Picture – essentially what we want the business to look like in three years. Our meeting cadence is roughly every other week to ensure things are on track and/or to adjust as needed.
PPM: How does the current economy affect the industry?
TN: A saying that we have picked up is “Whatever you think about grows,” and I believe it applies to this question. There will be opportunities for our industry in good times for the economy and bad. It is all about focusing on what you can control as an individual/business and keeping an eye on what is out there. Economic forces might shift where these opportunities are; your biggest customer might cut spending, but by staying nimble there are other ways to continue growing.
PPM: What will be some of the biggest changes or challenges the industry will face?
TN: One of the many big changes that has been occurring and likely will continue is consolidation, both for suppliers and distributors. It seems that there will be positive and negative outcomes, which will be interesting to watch unfold.
PPM: What keeps you up at night?
TN: Not a whole lot keeps me up at night in terms of worries or concerns. One interesting definition of hell that I have heard is this: “Hell is when you arrive at the end of life meeting the version of yourself that reached the absolute pinnacle of what you could have become.” What I take from that is to just aim to do the best I can with what I’ve got to get close to that best version.
PPM: What’s the most exciting thing your company is doing right now?
TN: The thing I am most excited about, other than continuing to grow our current team and helping customers to succeed, is actively looking for industry acquisitions. I believe that our company culture and strong systems and processes can be a great fit for some companies out there that would want to join in on what we have going with a win-win mindset.
PPM: What would people be surprised to learn about you?
TN: An easy answer here would be that people are generally surprised to learn that I played in three consecutive baseball College World Series. The caveat is that we were a small D3 college, but still: Go Chapman Panthers!
Getting a bit more vulnerable… People are often surprised to learn that I’m quite introverted, so it takes lots of energy to be part of most social and group settings. I have been fortunate to be part of a CEO peer group called the Young Presidents’ Organization, which allows the opportunity for this challenge on a regular basis.
