Farewell

My time at Lightning Labels has come to an end. It feels strange typing these words but they are true. Some of you may know that in July 2008, we sold Lightning Labels to Cenveo, one of the leading companies in the printing industry. I was committed to seeing Lightning Labels through a successful transition and I feel the time is right now for me to move on.

This has certainly not been an easy decision. Since the idea for Lightning Labels germinated in my head during a Thanksgiving ski trip back in 2001 I have poured my heart and soul into this company. It has been the most challenging and the most rewarding part of my career. Most days I have loved getting up in the morning and coming in to work here. It has been exciting to see us grow from nothing to one of the leading digital label printers in this country.

Of course, none of this would have been possible without a great group of people. We have a fantastic team here at Lightning Labels and I leave with the confidence of knowing that the company is in good hands. We have weathered the economic downturn well and are growing steadily again. In fact, we just had our best month ever in April. So, the future looks bright for Lightning Labels and our customers.

I am planning on taking the summer off and doing some traveling. We are heading down to Australia next week to visit my family there for three weeks. We will be vacationing up in the Colorado mountains in July and also spending some time with my wife's family in Des Moines. After that I don't know. I have been doing some blog consulting and I have a couple of new business ideas that I am mulling over.

One of the joys of my job the last few years has been writing this blog. You may well find me back here doing an occasional guest post as I come across an article that I know would be of interest to the Lightning Labels blog readers. In the meantime, my co-author here for the last year and a half, Christy Correll, will be doing the writing.

So now it is time to say farewell. Before I sign off, I would like to say a few thank yous. Thanks to my regular blog readers, some of whom I know have been reading and commenting on here for years. Thanks to our great team of employees who have gone above and beyond to make sure we provide the best customer service and turnaround time in the industry. Thanks to my old partner and good friend Steve Smith, who also put his heart and soul into Lightning Labels for many years. Thanks also to the many great vendors we work with every day, especially the folks at Masterpiece Graphix and HP. Last, but certainly not least, thanks to all you wonderful Lightning Labels customers, it really has been a pleasure serving you.

It just seems like yesterday that I watched with excitement as our first digital printing press was being unloaded and installed in our warehouse. But that was eight and a half years ago now. It has been a great ride.