The free monthly webinar series, kicking off on 5 March, is aimed at giving signmakers, commercial printers, copy shops and associated agencies the business tools and techniques they need to thrive in a challenging business environment.
Mason’s business, The Ink Shop, grew from a Glasgow East-End print shop to being one of Scotland’s largest print chains – but went bust after almost exactly 20 years.
Drawing from his experience in print and business coaching – and the eight avoidable errors that resulted in the unexpected failure of The Ink Shop – Mason will provide a structured approach to identifying weaknesses in other businesses.
Richard McCombe, managing director of Graphic Warehouse and its parent company Matic Media, told Printweek he had learned so much from Mason in their long friendship that he knew many of his clients would benefit too.
He said: “I’ve known Stuart for a long time, through his highs and lows, and I think he has a compelling story. You walk away from each workshop, thinking ‘I have to try that.’”
At the time of its failure, The Ink Shop had eight branches over Scotland, and was a pioneer of the ‘hub and spoke’ model of distributed printing capabilities.
Each workshop will be held after work hours, lasting between an hour and an hour and a half.
“He’s got some really interesting, simple calculations that you can apply to your own numbers and away you go – these are really workshops as opposed to lectures, and at the end of them you have outcomes,” McCombe said.
McCombe compared the approach to that used by Dave Brailsford, the British cycling coach that popularised a style of performance improvement through widespread marginal gains.
“Our business has been transformed, and I don’t even work directly with him – at times of uncertainty in the economy, if we can support people, it’s only in our interest [as a trade supplier] as well,” he added.
Graphic Warehouse is likewise hosting a series of 21 podcasts from Mason, also aimed at giving business advice, which kicked off on 9 February.
Both the webinars and podcasts will be available by clicking here, or via enquiries@graphicswarehouse.co.uk.
