Today we’d like to introduce you to Daniel Fitzgerald.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
The earliest recollection I have about being interested in Marketing and Advertising, goes back to my 8th grade teacher, Mr. Estep. His class focused on Marketing and Advertising, discussing creative ways companies design advertisements to capture attention to their products and services. Myself, being from a family of very creative individuals, including my aunts and uncles, as well as my mother and sister – seemed to come naturally to me over time. When I was about 16 years old, my mother had introduced me to a guy who had a Promotional Products Distributorship located in the back side of the Dry Cleaners where she worked. I took an immediate liking to the Promotional Products Industry, and saw the potential to not only use my creative skills, but actually do so and be profitable.
Beyond high school, I moved from Northern Illinois to attend college at Arizona State University to study Business Administration and Marketing. After college, I relocated to Arlington, TX where my family had now relocated through my father’s corporate transfer. There I started working for a Promotional Products company in Fort Worth, Texas with Iralgo, Incorporated. A family-owned business who were running a $4 million dollar per year operation, including in-house screen printing operation. Custom imprinted Apparel became our lead in product, as many similar firms at the time did not offer those services in-house, giving us a sizeable advantage over our competitors. Strictly commission sales had some downsides during a slow week and was not as predictable over time.
After nearly 3 years at Iralgo, my father had provided me with a lead for one of his associates about a position open as a District Sales Manager for Molson Breweries USA. I was ultimately hired and spent the next 10 years working for Molson, and later merging with Miller Brewing Company. During my tenure in the beer industry, I was very intrigued about the volume of Promotional Products and Printing we utilized in our industry.
After our corporate merger, most of us who had come from the Imported beer side of the business were often treated as ‘not as important’ as the domestic line of Miller beer products. The corporate politics was such that I was actively looking for an alternative job when I stumbled upon Proforma through a franchise handbook I found at Barnes & Noble bookstore.
Literally, the very first page I turned to within the 300+ page handbook, I had come across Proforma. A franchise model that offered franchisees an opportunity to own their own business, while the company was responsible for paying our vendors and collecting our receivables, for a very small fee. Offerings include full commercial printing, promotional products, business forms, custom apparel, awards and recognition. Once I decided to accept the opportunity with Proforma, with only a $10,000 franchise entry fee, I was up and running within 45 days after resigning from Miller Brewing Company.
For the next 27 years, I was able to grow my business and sustain operations, with most of my time living in Louisville, KY.
In 2019, I had decided to relocate to Texas and be closer to my other 4 siblings.
Now in my 28th year of business, many of my newer clients come from referrals and also various business networking meetings I have attended.
What truly sets Proforma aside from our competitors is our depth of manufacturers and significant pricing advantages we receive as being part of a $600 million annual sales volume across our network of franchise owners.
My knowledge and expertise has grown tremendously over the years, and I very much enjoy the unique challenges I face every day. Aside from being a very social person who enjoys working with people, combining that with a highly creative mindset has served me very well over the years.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Over that many years owning my business, my biggest obstacle came about in July 2004 after I was struck in a head-on collision on a major highway in Louisville, KY by 2 teenagers, whose driver overcorrected/oversteered her vehicle an hit me head-on. After 6 days in the hospital, a broken femur bone and severed patella tendon, I miraculously survived this accident and went through over 2 years of physical therapy to learn how to walk again. Since I had all of my computer equipment located in my downstairs basement, I had no ability to walk down the stairs and do my work. By a stroke of luck, one of our parishioners at our church owned a computer networking services company and he got wind of my situation and offered his help. I can honestly say, I was the 1st private resident in my town to acquire a service called ‘wi-fi’. I had purchased a laptop computer and was simply amazed how I could get ‘online’ without any wires being connected to my computer.
Fortunately, I was able to get up and running again. Many of my clients knew about my situation and being hit head-on in a car collision, they stepped up their purchases and offered me many new opportunities I may not have had otherwise.
All in all, my recovery was successful and I was so grateful to have such an outpouring of support to help me maintain and grow my business.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
As a distributor in the Marketing and Advertising industry, we offer an extensive line of products and services to our customers. Our offerings include website design and development, along with hosting services and online marketing solutions, in addition to complete commercial printing services, promotional products, corporate and retail apparel, multi-part business forms, labels, signage, direct mail, custom packaging, eCommerce solutions and fulfillment services. Commercial Printing and Custom Apparel are our 2 main areas of concentration that make up a large part of my overall sales. I am most known for attention to detail, creative solutions, competitive pricing and quick turnaround for finished goods. Clients of mine come from many different industries with unique challenges and clientele. Our supplier network is second to none. We offer a much larger line of Marketing solutions than other competitors in our industry, often evolving into a one-stop shop assisting customers with all their Marketing needs.
What are your plans for the future?
I feel I have at least 5 to 6 years to further expand my company and may, at some point, decide to sell my business to another Proforma franchisee – which are most owners exit strategy.
Pricing:
- Lowest cost Commercial Printing
- Lowest cost Silk Screening and Embroidered Apparel
- Very competitive Website Design and related services
- Lowest cost Promotional Products
- Lowest cost Direct Importing where applicable.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://pmms.proforma.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/proformamultimarketingservices
- Other: https://pmms.espwebsite.com
Image Credits
Model wearing Apparel sourced from our Vendor Image image library with complete authorization to use for marketing purposes. All other images were created by myself.
