In Episode 281 of Shirt Show, Dylan sits down with Nick Gawreluk, founder of Print Profit and longtime industry veteran. Based in Minnesota, Nick built his first screen printing business in high school and has spent the last twenty years helping print shops across the world see their business more clearly. His mission now is simple: help shops find their profit land.
Seeing Beyond Sales
Every printer knows the feeling of being busy but unsure where the money is actually going. Nick built Print Profit after years of consulting with shops that could tell you their monthly sales but not their true profit. The software pulls data from shop management systems and visualizes what is really happening behind the scenes, including which jobs are profitable, which clients are costing more than they bring in, and what the shop needs to hit its goals each month.
As Nick puts it, “Sales are vanity, profit is sanity.” In this episode, he and Dylan cut through the noise and talk about the truth behind the numbers, what it costs to run a shop, how to calculate overhead, and how to use those insights to make better business decisions.
Finding Profit Land
Nick introduces a concept that every print shop can relate to: Profit Land, the point where your shop covers overhead and starts making real money. Getting there takes clarity. He breaks it down into four simple categories every shop should know for each job:
- Materials: Blanks, ink, and supplies.
- Outsourced work: Anything sent off to a partner or vendor.
- Sales commissions: Payments to your sales team or reps.
- Shipping: The true cost of getting product to your customer.
When those are subtracted from your sale price, what is left is your contribution margin. That is the fuel that pays your overhead and drives profit. The simpler you keep this view, the clearer your business becomes.
Reality Check: Pricing, Overhead, and Efficiency
From small manual shops to multimillion-dollar operations, every printer struggles with pricing and overhead. This episode brings that conversation to the surface. Dylan and Nick discuss the delicate balance between market pricing and what your math says you should charge, and how the right systems can help you confidently find your middle ground.
- Know your true costs: Without real data, pricing is just guesswork.
- Review pricing regularly: Inflation and supply costs shift fast, so update your structure at least twice a year.
- Watch your labor: Most shops are overstaffed. Efficiency creates margin.
- Set a profit goal, not just a sales goal: Growth without profit is chaos.
Building a Smarter Print Shop
Nick’s advice goes beyond software. He challenges printers to think differently, to plan in Q4 for the year ahead, to evaluate whether that downtown space or extra hire is worth it, and to build sustainable systems instead of chasing every shiny new idea. Whether you are running a garage setup or a ten-auto operation, the same truth applies: you cannot grow what you do not measure.
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Why Printers Should Listen
This episode is more than a talk about numbers. It is about control, knowing where your money is going, what is worth saying yes to, and how to build stability that lasts. Nick’s down-to-earth approach makes it clear that understanding your profit is not optional. It is the foundation of your shop’s future.