Getting Personal with Peter Renton
- Published: August 01, 2007
Experience Speaks
How did you get into the converting business?
My father ran a label catalog in Australia. I brought the family business to the US in 1991, and we purchased most of our labels from a local printer. In 2001 this supplier went bankrupt. I had considered starting a label printing company for some time and that gave me the impetus to move forward. In 2005 I sold the family business because Lightning Labels was more than twice its size and growing fast.
What keeps you up at night with regard to your business?
How to manage growth. We are growing at more than 50% a year, and our biggest challenge is keeping our customers and employees happy while maximizing our potential.
What management or business books have influenced you?
The World is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman, The E-Myth Revisited by Michael E. Gerber, and Made in America by Sam Walton.
What is the biggest mistake you made and how did you fix it?
During our first couple of years, I made some bad hiring decisions that almost bankrupted the company. I fixed this by bringing in a partner who I trusted, and he changed our hiring practices.
| At a Glance |
|---|
| Lightning Labels 2369 S. Trenton Way Denver, CO 80231 |
| Custom Labels |
| Founded 2002 |
| 18 employees |
| Specialty: digital, short-run label printing |
What do you enjoy most about your job?
I love the marketing side of the business. I enjoy exploring new ideas, often in other industries, and seeing how they can be adapted to our business.
What is the best advice you ever got?
Bring on a partner to help grow the business. My best friend, a successful executive, helped me realize my own limitations and encouraged me to find a partner to help Lightning Labels reach its potential.
What is the worst advice you ever got?
You should stick with flexo printing—you can’t make money selling only a few hundred labels at a time.
What advice would you give someone starting out in this business?
Keep up to date with changing technology. Every part of the label business is going to be transformed by technology in the next couple of decades. If you don’t embrace these technological changes, you will be left behind.
What are most proud of in your business?
I am proud that we have created a new business model for the label printing industry. We have no sales reps; we rely on word of mouth and the Internet to bring in new business.
What do you do for your customers that makes them enjoy the experience of doing business with you?
We consider every job to be a rush job, and so we have one of the fastest standard turnarounds in the industry (three days or less).
