Namifiers Building a Foundation at UtahBusiness.com

Namifiers - Building a Foundation: Every Successful Company Starts With an Idea By Janine S. Creager

Utah Business utahbusiness.com | p.36 | May 2008

Entrepreneurship

When Bryan Welton, president and CEO of Namefiers received his first order from Hewlett Packard, he could’ve shouted from the rooftops with joy. But when asked for the company’s graphics department, he was absolutely speechless.

“I didn’t have the heart to tell them the company was just my wife and me,” says Welton. “So, I went along with it. I couldn’t sign my name Bryan, so I signed it [my middle name] Lynn.” Signing forms with his middle name and setting up an answering machine he bought at Wal-Mart to play “on hold” music from the couple’s 100-sq. foot office were two tactics Welton used to make his company appear larger and more established than it was. Now, with more than 60,000 clients serviced from an 80,000-square-foot office and warehouse, he doesn’t have to pretend anymore.

Welton is an anomaly for entrepreneurs as a whole, as the odds of making it as a business owner are stacked against them. For creative business minds like Welton, success usually comes by weathering some rough beginnings, working long hours and enduring sleepless nights. The answers don’t come easy, but as shown by several successful Utah business leaders, it can be done….

To meet his financial objectives, Namefiers’ Bryan Welton maxed out the family’s credit cards, took cash advances, floated expenses, asked clients to pay up front whenever possible and begged and borrowed money from supporting and believing family and friends. But unlike others, he did not seek outside funding.

“[My wife] Jenny and I worked really hard to maintain the ownership of the company,” he says. While this approach may not work for everyone, it is a decision that Welton is grateful to have made. “Knowing that if you ever have to make a [decision quickly], you don’t have to consult with a board. This was our baby. We raised it.”

Making Sacrifices
In the world of entrepreneurship, nothing of value comes without sacrifice, which includes more than just money. Time, relationships and even health can be greatly affected by the efforts needed to get a company off the ground. But for individuals who are willing to pay the price, and have great support, these sacrifices can result in success.

Among the sacrifices made by Welton and his wife Jenny were setting aside their own fears and ignoring the doubting Thomases around them. The couple developed an idea to create an online source for lanyards, nametags and other personalized items.

“There were a lot of naysayers [who said that] people want to feel the engraving, to touch it,” he recalls. “As the owner, you will always wonder if you are a viable company. The owner is the realist; deep down inside, you wonder.”

So, Is It Worth It?
With a little prioritizing and perspective, most business owners say seeing a dream become successful is worth the hard days…

Most business leaders do the best they can while growing their fledging companies. But with hindsight, many individuals recognize missed opportunities due to a lack of knowledge or experience. Welton remembers turning down a customer who wanted an astounding 20 million pieces because he felt the job was too big for the company at the time. “The company was one and a half years old. We would have had to float over time. It was easy to say no, but I agonized how we could have done it.” Although Welton may not have decided any differently, he does wish he would have taken longer to consider the decision.

“As a company, you always want to say yes and figure out how to make it work,” he says.