We caught up with the brilliant and insightful James Yoder a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi James, really happy you were able to join us today and we’re looking forward to sharing your story and insights with our readers. Let’s start with the heart of it all – purpose. How did you find your purpose?
I found my purpose as we were struggling through life raising a family not earning enough money and barley making ends meet. I had worked really hard to succeed and no matter how hard I worked we couldn’t get ahead. I made the decision that even though I created this mess I needed the strength of a higher power for us to overcome our obstacles. I turned the whole mess over to God and told him that he is now in charge and I’m not going to worry about it anymore. I never quit working hard and never changed course but over time things got better because I changed attitude. I learned being in business is not just a way to make money, but it is an avenue to help others. As things got better in our finances I never changed that. I don’t need to be active in a business any more but I love working with a great team and love helping customers fulfill their dreams whatever that may be. So as I continue this journey I just feel my purpose is speaking life into people and helping others succeed and I will be blessed as a result.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
We have a two part business. The first part and the one I love is personalized gift giving. ( We make gift giving easy) That is our motto. We do laser engraving and other personalizations so every gift we make is personalized just for the recipient. That is special to have such an opportunity and as we are making the item we think about the joy in the heart of the recipient as they open their gift and also the joy of the giver knowing they made this special for them. That is fun and it is special as it makes us feel a part of something bigger than us as we are sowing seeds of happiness through the entire country. Not many people have such a blessed opportunity. We do mostly drinkware but we do have hundreds of other items to choose from. The second part is promo products. Having been in business for 40 plus years myself I feel strongly about promo products. When we do something for a customer the first thing is always to do a good job for a fair price. But let’s take it to the next level and give them a gift at the end of the sale or job or whatever it may be. If we did a good job they will carry our coffee mug, T-shirt or what ever we decided to do as a gift or them. That will be a walking and moving billboard wherever they go. Those gift items along with a satisfied customer will bring us more business than almost any other means of marketing.
We do have some exciting new things going on. First of we did start getting our own drinkware made with our logo on it and are going with that line. It is better quality for the same price and we are excited about that.
The other new thing we have going on is we just added a brand new designer tools on our website so the customer can now design their own products in a few minutes and hit submit and in a few days it will arrive in the mail or they can pick up at our shop. That is going to take our business to a new heights as the customer will actually have created their own special gift for someone.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Never quit. That is the biggest thing when you are in business. There are so many people that quit just before that big break would have come. There is no good way of gaging that as you aren’t there yet when you quit, but just hang in there. There will always be times when you aren’t sure what the next move should be, but if you are actually doing something that you love and feel like you are supposed to do keep going. Knowing or understanding I am not really in charge. There is a higher power that aligns things for us and we need to always focus on that higher power and on helping others succeed and everything will work out even better than we might have dreamed of.
Learn from others. Have someone you can bounce ideas off of. Always be curious. Never think that you’ve got it all figured out because it’s at that time when there will be a new challenge. Make sure you take time to relax. It doesn’t seem like there is time sometimes but for your mental health and the mental health of those around you it’s something that needs to be done. Always family first. sometimes for a short period we need to prioritize business but family needs to come first for the most part.
Before we go, maybe you can tell us a bit about your parents and what you feel was the most impactful thing they did for you?
The most impactful thing my parents did for me was to believe in me. Even though we were struggling financially my parents never gave up and were always an encouragement. They helped us financially and through moral support and advice on many occasions. One of my biggest regrets is that my parents didn’t get to see us actually succeed to the level we did. I see my children flourishing and it warms my heart and makes me proud and I know my parents would have felt the same way.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.pictureitengraving.com
- Instagram: picture_it_engraving
Image Credits
Ivanna McCoun James Yoder
