Ellen: Hey! Good morning, and welcome to the next episode in the Wilds Are Working series. My name is Ellen Matis and I’m the owner of Hello Social, and I’m a PA Wilds ambassador. Today on behalf of the PA Wilds Center. I’m interviewing John Yogodzinski of The Graphic Hive. John’s going to share how that organization has pivoted in the last few months in what is really an uncharted time for our business owners. So, John, just to get started. Tell us a little bit about the Graphic Hive. 

John: Yeah. So the Graphic Hive actually turned 10 years old in October, and we’re a full service web and marketing design agency. So we do anything from create logos or do layouts of brochures, business cards, business essentials. And we also do screen printing, embroidery, and build websites for people. So we’re kind of like a one stop shop when it comes to anything for business.

Ellen: Awesome. Congratulations on the big milestone!

John: Yes.

Ellen: So why the PA Wilds? Where are you located in the PA Wilds and what kind of led you there?

John: So we’re located in downtown Williamsport and Williamsport is one of those weird cities that I sort of hated and then fell in love with. So I went to Penn College for four years studying graphic communications. And while I was in college, I purposely set my schedule so I was only there three days a week. I’d go home to Wilkes-Barre Scranton area. But eventually after I graduated, I moved back to Williamsport. So I had a few friends around and kind of just fell in love with the community, the small businesses, the First Fridays, things like that. So that kind of just drug me back in and then we kind of set up shop here. It’s been kind of fun ever since.

Ellen: Yeah. I think we hear that a lot of people kind of come back to the PA Wilds. So how has the Graphic Hive shifted its business model a bit amid the COVID-19 crisis?

John: Well, when COVID was first announced, it was sort of like we were a bit panic stricken because a lot of our printing for apparel is event based. So we do shirts for 5k’s and things for schools. And the first reaction was, ‘oh, we have all these orders in the queue. Are they still going to happen?’ Like, we had a Loyalsock musical…. There was a kind of semi-rush job that was supposed to be the Tuesday before the governor shut everybody down, and we reached out saying, ‘hey, what are we doing?’ Because if school’s not in session, you know…. So there were some orders that wound up being canceled. But everyone kind of packed up and we all started working remotely. But we kind of pivoted where in order to make the big orders that we’re used to, we used our web technology to create online apparel stores for small businesses. So those things are kind of two fold where they help give us work to do, but also give the small businesses and organizations that are involved the chance to raise funds where if you’re a salon and you’re not able to be open, we set up a web store, we create a couple design, that’s, you know, open the store for two to four weeks. And then once everything’s sold, or once the stores are closed, we print everything, send it out and write a check to the business owner. So it’s kind of like we’re working together, where they get the profits or the wholesale cost and we’re still able to work.

Ellen: Yeah, that’s awesome. So you say “we,” how big is your staff?

John: We have a staff of eight.

Ellen: OK! And this program was pretty successful. Right? I think you have a big number.

John: Yeah. So actually, as of this morning, we’ve raised over $35,000 for small business…. We’ve done probably about 40 of these web stores. And the neat thing is all the intangibles of the web stores, where there are certain people that are certain businesses that really need the funds right now because they’re not able to work or their business has been drastically impacted or there’s places like Guitarley’s where they donated half the proceeds to the Uptown Music Collective. It’s kind of neat to the extent of, you know, I know The Brickyard, with their store, all the money is going to their furloughed employees. So, it’s kind of neat to see the reach of just a little bit of a fundraiser.

Ellen: And these web stores, do you think that there’s something that will continue after the pandemic is over?

John: Yeah, well, I mean, we used to do the Web store strictly for the school booster clubs because usually it’s a parent that’s trying to organize everything and they’re pulling their hair out because they forget who ordered what. So it’s a nice, convenient factor for them. But the beauty of the web stores is once they’re built, we can turn them on and off, like with relative ease. And usually what happens with the web stores is people are reluctant to order the first time when they see their friend with the nice Otto Bookstore shirt, they’re like, ‘Oh, I should’ve got one. When’s that store going to open back up?’ So I imagine a couple months down the road, these stores might start resurrecting themselves again.

Ellen: Yeah. So when it comes to either this initiative or just how you’ve run your business in general over the last many weeks, are there any programs or resources, maybe organizations that have helped you along the way?

John: Well, I think there’s a couple groups that have done really well in terms of informing people and keeping you motivated to go just kind of see this thing on the other side. So one group in particular has kept me motivated as I belong to A B&I chapter in Lewisburg called the B&I GSV. And we still meet every Tuesday morning at 7:00 a.m. and we shifted from the in-person meetings to the online meetings, and just having a group of other business owners in a virtual room to talk about how are things going. And, you know, we’re still passing referrals around. So that’s kind of neat to see that business is still happening. Also, the Williamsport-Lycoming Chamber has done a phenomenal job about sending out nightly emails. Here’s the new webinar or here’s a new grant program, because I think the biggest thing that’s happening now is there’s a lot of information out there. Some of it’s good, some of it’s misinformation. And just trying to, you know, as a business owner figure out, is it worth my time to fill out that application for that grant if it’s not an actual if there’s not enough funding behind it or things like that.

Ellen: Sure. So other than obviously the success of this initiative, are there any other silver linings that you’ve seen during this situation?

John: Well, I think it’s helped me get a lot more organized because initially when we started, I was working from home. I come in every other day. So kind of working in two locations, I’ve had to rethink how I keep track of everything. Another new thing is with our embroidery machines, we actually were making masks for a little bit there when the demand was very high. So we’ve donated, I think, 50 mass to shared support in Lewisburg. So there’s different ways that I think having the time to kind of work from home has also given me time to enrich, you know, watch some videos or learning new things as we go, because this is so uncharted territory. So any kind of way to better ourselves now, take advantage of it.

Ellen: Yeah, absolutely. Is there any inspiration maybe that you’d like to share for other businesses that are going through the stressful times?

John: Well, I think the big thing is stay positive, don’t just give up, because I think the biggest thing is, OK, maybe you’re not able to operate, but can you pivot yourself and do something online….  I love the fact that the web stores give us everyday something to post on social media. So just being active and engaged in our community, I think, you know. And the same applies to any business, if you could just be out there, say, ‘hey, you know, we’re still thinking about you,’ or I saw online barbers giving free tutorials on people that are giving themselves COVID haircuts. So any ways to just kind of be a little bit more friendly with it.

Ellen: Yeah, I could have used one of those videos. Well, John, thank you so much. If you’re watching this video and you’d like more information on how to support small businesses in the PA Wilds make sure to visit WildsCoPA.org. And just a reminder that applications to appear on this series are still being accepted. So if you’d like to share your story, make sure to hop on that website that’s listed there below and apply. So, John, again, thank you for sharing your story.

John: Thanks for having me.

Ellen: Yeah! We’ll see you guys next time.