Today we’d like to introduce you to Robin Houston.
Robin, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
In 1990 I had a 6-month-old daughter. I realized that I needed to get a “real job” to support her and myself. I had no idea what I wanted to do but decided to answer an ad for a receptionist because I thought I could answer the phone as well as anyone else while I tried to figure things out. And thus began my career in The Label Business at a wildly successful company called Label America. During my stint as the receptionist, I would tell people, “if you will show me how to do that I will do it for you.” I started receiving work from all departments allowing me to learn quickly about all facets of the business.
This was my professional development incubator. The owner and management teams were wonderful teachers and mentors. They created a culture that encouraged growth, learning, risk-taking and winning! The behaviors they modeled for the employees were crucial to my career development and advancement. After moving into inside sales I was allowed to make mistakes, I was encouraged to be bold. It was ok for me to run my little office as my own small business. When given the opportunity to manage a customer relationship from top to bottom, the good and the bad, you learn a lot about accepting responsibility and sticking with the customer when things work for you and when they work against you. I absolutely loved it!
I thought I would be at the company forever. Then the worst possible thing happened… the company was sold. I struggled to assimilate and decided to leave. The day I made that decision I received a call from another label company. The owner told me that he knew I already had a job but if I were ever looking he would like to talk. What are the chances! It seemed meant to be so I continued my label career at another company as VP of Customer Operations. I was joined by a key team member, Tim, from Label America and we started working with another team member, Jim, who was now our customer.
It was great to be back in a smaller company and over the following 15 years we worked hard to grow the company and hoped to realize the same success that we experienced at Label America. And then it happened again… the company was sold to a huge company!
Tim and I didn’t want to live through that again so we decided to start our own label company. When Jim found out about our plans he quickly jumped in as the third partner and the team was back together again! What were we thinking? All in our 50’s and starting a manufacturing company from scratch? Crazy, right! But this time it was on our own terms, win or lose, it was up to us! New Creation Labels & Packaging was born and here we are, 4.5 years later, still making stickers!
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It sounds cliche, but it’s true, you don’t know what you don’t know! We knew all about making stickers but we didn’t know a whole lot about financials and running a business.
To mitigate our ignorance we began meeting with an advisor at the Small Business Development Center at KSU. I can tell you without a single doubt, that were it not for our advisor, Andy Fried, we would not be in business today. He helped us prepare a three-year financial projection and a business plan to use in our SBA loan process. We were able to secure a loan approval fairly easily. But then the other shoe dropped. Some guy at the bank knew someone who used to be in the label business and he just didn’t believe we could generate the profits we were projecting.
Based on this highly scientific analysis, LOL, the bank decided that we needed to put an additional $100,000 into an account that they would hold for us until we proved we could reach our profit goals. Starting this business took about a million dollars, half of which we were putting up ourselves. And right at the finish line, we felt like the rug was being pulled out from under us. We had two choices. We could go along with the new bank requirements and scrape together an additional $100,000 or we could start the whole process over with another bank. I think the original bank believed that they had us over a barrel because of our tight timeline.
But you know what… we were not going to start our business by being taken advantage of nor in fear.
We believed in what we were doing. We believed in the financial projections. And we believed in each other. So, we started over. And what had seemed to be our darkest moment turned out to be a blessing. We were quickly approved for an even better deal by Renasant Bank. That is not the only struggle we have experienced along the way but believing in yourself and seeking advisement from the right sources can get you through most anything!
NEW CREATION LABELS – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
At New Creation Labels, we make stickers. Most people don’t ever think about it but just about everything has a sticker or a wrapper on it. Take a walk down the aisles of your local grocery store or local home improvement store. You will see labels on bottles of BBQ sauce, on packs of bakery cookies, on bolts, on cleaning supplies and even wrapping your popsicle. From decorating products to logistics and distribution uses, our labels move, sell and track the stuff you buy. But there are a lot of people who know how to put ink on paper. What makes us different?
We strive to create a working relationship based on clear and candid communication. It is in this trusting and open environment that our clients’ challenges become our challenges. By working together, with shared knowledge, we create truly inspired label solutions through…
–Teamwork: We work with our clients, not for them. We don’t see ourselves as a vendor, rather a partner working in collaboration towards a common goal.
–Respect: We treat each other as we’d want to be treated, valuing the unique talents, skills and experience that diversity provides.
–Integrity: We do the right thing when no one is watching. We never cut corners and we hold ourselves and the products we produce to a higher standard because our name depends on it.
–Leadership: It is not enough for us to fulfill orders. Four our’s and our client’s businesses to grow we must take a proactive stance, developing innovative processes and imaginative solutions that push the industry forward.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
I honestly don’t think I have experienced it yet! I so strongly believe that we are moving toward bigger and greater things that I look forward to choosing the proudest moment when I reach the end of the road. However, I was very touched by a book that our employees had made for us last Christmas.
Each employee contributed to Why Working Here Is Amazing. Creating a workplace that people love is one of the most important goals that I have. So, to receive confirmation that we are achieving that was a special moment for me.
Contact Info:
- Address: 1750 Enterprise Way Suite 109 Marietta, GA 30067
- Website: www.NCLPS.com
- Phone: 678-202-5775
- Email: customerservice@NCLPS.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/newcreationlabel/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NCLPS/
- Other: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtGmpkQVlyaxeFaMvOeYTsQ?view
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