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ize anything. For me, I haven’t looked at the 25 years as a milestone; I
guess running our business has always been what I do, so I never paid
much attention. Helping our clients be successful in their market-
ing/milestones is my focus.”
Actually, the company plans to host a celebration in November.
The details are still being ironed out.
Like a lot of small-business owners who have been at it a while,
the owners of TBK are cautious about advising others to follow
their path.
“There are some really great things about owning a small business,
but there are some really tough things,” says Mary Carol Flynn. The
hardest is that you never go home. “The phone is always on and when
it’s not ringing, you’re paying bills, worrying about delivery schedules
or staff issues. In an industry where competition is increasing and
keeping overhead down is a necessity. I have to believe that finding the
right distributor fit for your client would be an easier path than start-
ing your own, ” she says.
Always the pragmatist, her list of positive aspects to owning a
business doesn’t sound much sunnier.
“On a late Friday afternoon phone call, Bob Lederer of Prime
Line® congratulated me on owning a business saying that the best part
was that I get to pick
which
80 hours a week to work,” Kevin says.
“One of the good things is that you can decide who you hire and why.
You get to pick your team, and while that is
not always easy, you can change the players if
you find the need.”
“When I started,” Mary Carol adds, “I
had three boys in high school and college. I
had to support them and this was the best
way for me to do so. If I had to go back, I am
not sure I would own a business but at that
time in my life, it was what I had to do. I had
to show the kids that failure was not an
option for this or anything else in life. As I
look back, it has been great. Wonderful peo-
ple, great experiences and seeing clients’ suc-
cesses is rewarding for sure.”
“I love being able to spend money where I
want to spend it. If I want to support an
organization, I can. If I want to discount a
product for a particular event or a particular customer, I can do that.
It’s harder to make those decisions when it’s not your money to
spend,” Kevin says.
Turns out, TBK Promotions has an eye out for worthwhile causes.
It has donated t-shirts to help raise funds for college students with
cancer. And when a local family’s 12-year-old daughter became ill,
TBK offered to donate t-shirts to help raise money to cover medical
expenses. Since a decorator was already set to provide screen-printing
services for the cause, Kevin called to let the printer know he would be
sending 288 t-shirts.
“That was an interesting phone call,” he remembers. “This woman
had no idea who I was, and she was very skeptical of what I was going
to send, how I was doing it or why. She was really surprised when the
boxes came as stated, from a wholesaler branded Gildan.”
Learning by example from his mother, Kevin believes giving is
what has sustained TBK for 25 years. “Putting chips in the Karma
bank has helped keep things coming our way,” he says. “Like every-
body, we make mistakes, but we go out of our way to make it right.
And when you do that and help people … everything comes back
your way.”
“I am very pleased that we have been here 25 years. It has been a
long journey and not always sunny. I am thankful for clients who value
our service and the suppliers who have supported us since 1990.”
JULY 2015 •
PPB
• 11
12
It Pays To Go
Native
EYE ON APPAREL
17
Sensory
Media
SALES
24
Industry-Wide
Pride
FEATURE STORY
BE A WINNER!
PAGE 96
Not every small business reaches its silver anniversary, or gets a success story in its home-
town newspaper. TBK Promotions, Inc. has now done both.
21
When A
Shipment Goes
Horribly Wrong
QUESTION