You may be getting into the promo industry and researching tools, or you might already have a software solution and are investigating new ones. Either way, this guide will be a comprehensive resource for you to reference along the way.

Today, we’re chatting with Issac Childs, founder of Rustico, one of the most beloved brands who closed their doors after a very successful run of 22 years.

Lia Garvin, author and speaker, is known as the team whisperer: She’s the bestselling author of Unstuck and author of a new book released just this week titled The Unstoppable Team: A simple formula for managing your team, reducing overwhelm, and increasing revenue.

Today, we talk with Ryan about this incredible business they’ve built in California, their expansion into the industry providing workwear, plus how their audiences have widened to include not only the trades but also this huge market for transitional workwear.

Linni Kral is a Brooklyn-based writer, editor, and educator. Her work has appeared in The Atlantic, the BBC, Condé Nast Traveler and more.

In September (2022), only 2% of all PCNA purchase orders were sent in by ePO. By December of that year, 50% of all purchase orders were sent straight from a distributor’s hands into commonsku and directly into PCNA’s ERP.

Today, we’re talking mergers. KG Specialties is a Portland-based distributor who, this year, merged with Premier Press. Premier employs over 200 people, and they handle a wide variety of print, fulfillment, and logistics management for clients. Our guests are Kyle Gibson, the owner of KG Specialties and now Director of Promotional Merchandise at Premier, and Premier’s Vice President, Manuel Saez.

Liz got her start as the production manager at RightSleeve, then became the director of supply chain for Rightsleeve and eventually, the VP of Supply Chain and sustainability for Genumark, one of the largest distributors in North America and managing a team of 16 people focused on optimizing supply chain diversification and sustainability to drive growth .

Today on the skucast, we’re joined by Kirby Hasseman, whom some of you know as the CEO of Hasseman Marketing & Communications, a full service marketing company and promo distributor.

This year, a renewed focus on operations, sourcing, and technology has emerged for suppliers. At skucamp in Austin, Texas, we held an interview on stage with three of the industry’s largest supplier leaders: Neil Ringle, CEO at PCNA, Dan Pantano, President and CEO at alphabroder prime, and CJ Schmidt, President and CEO at Hit Promotional Products.

Emma Ralphs is a strategist and copywriter at Butterfly Cannon, an independent, award-winning, sustainably-focused brand design agency, headquartered in London, specializing in aspirational brands across the world. Emma wrote an article, “From Tacky to Trendsetting: How to Create Covetable Brand Merch,” based on her research experience and work done for the exceptional Johnnie Walker merch campaign.

From protest merch to campaign merch to bands and brands, branded merch has become what one author calls a social signifier: From Tim Horton’s shop to UPS merch to Biden’s Dark Brandon mug and more. Plus, how branded merch is the perfect medium for what some are calling the Joyconomy.

Tune into today’s skucast as Joey shares his best tips from "Never Lose an Employee Again" and in January at skucon, he’ll be sharing some useful insights!

Mike is moving out of his role as Production Manager and into a new role as Program and Fulfillment Manager for Paperclip, so during our chat, we wanted to know not only what his experience was like in the production role but how he’s training his replacement, plus, his advice on how to do this production job well and what it involves.

Paul Roetzer is founder and CEO of Marketing AI Institute, and founder of Ready North (formerly PR 20/20), HubSpot’s first partner agency. He is the author of Marketing Artificial Intelligence (published last year)  The Marketing Performance Blueprint,  and The Marketing Agency Blueprint (Wiley, 2012); and he’s the creator of the Marketing AI Conference (MAICON). Paul’s mission is to make AI approachable and actionable for marketers and business leaders and he has consulted for hundreds of organizations. 

Andrea Stoll is a brand fanatic. A graduate from one of the most prestigious business schools in the world, Babson, with an MBA in entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial studies… she’s a veteran of brand experience through her work with some of the greatest brands in the world, including Nike, Vans, Reebok, and Converse — and today, she advises clients and serves as director of brand engagement for Touchstone.

Mike Paton has spent a lifetime learning from entrepreneurs. He’s an author, speaker, EOS Implementer, and host of The EOS Leader Podcast.

Three friends are laid off from their jobs around the same time, and one thing they have in common is a love for all things outdoors, including surfing.

A shocking stat: Less than 4% of the federal budget for cancer research is dedicated to childhood cancer. After accidents, cancer is the second leading cause of death in children ages 1 to 14*.

Our good friend Seth Godin released a new book today, May 30th, and in concert with his new book, Seth joined us to pre-record today’s conversation so that we could publish it simultaneously when the book dropped, the book is called, The Song of Significance: A New Manifesto for Teams and it’s a management book for a new era.