Companies fail for all sorts of reasons, of course. Strategic miss-steps, poor planning, bad debts, duff management, or the impact of unexpected external events. And the climate of business uncertainty as Brexit worst-case scenarios continually dominate the headlines isn’t doing anyone any favours. 

But. In a recent conversation with a very smart, very successful, and very experienced print boss – someone who’s seen his fair share of industry ups and downs – my ears pricked up when he said: “If people are running their business in a 2018 fashion there’s great opportunities out there.”

He’s right of course. There are opportunities and there are also many, many examples of printing businesses that are happily grasping them and doing very nicely thank-you. 

Just look at the example of Awesome Merchandise, currently over-subscribed on its £350k crowdfunder to fuel US expansion.

Similarly, we were also treated to some fine examples at the recent PrintWeek Awards judging days, always a feel-good highlight of the year.  

It is truly uplifting to see the breadth of achievements being made by companies large and small, a timely reminder that there’s a lot of cool stuff happening in print, as the memories of our fiery summer start to recede.