At 23, Wayne Hesler-Mondore had never owned a business. He wanted to buy one anyway. So he walked into a Utica bank and asked for $85,000. When the banker didn’t say yes, Wayne kept asking. When the banker worked out of a different branch on Wednesdays, Wayne showed up there too.
The loan finally came through, and within ten years the company was debt-free.
That’s just the opening chapter of the story Wayne tells on the newest episode of Behind the Open Sign, the freshly renamed podcast from hosts Tammy Crossway and Carl Ulinski that goes behind the scenes with the people running businesses across the Mohawk Valley.
Today Wayne runs a print and design shop out of a converted barn in Richfield Springs, packed with CNC machines, a laser, and a plasma cutter he admits still scares him.
He’s also a partner in CNY Awards & Apparel at the New Hartford Shopping Center, born from the merger of two local shops that no longer have a slow season.
He shares the rule that ends endless design revisions (the fourth proof costs you ten bucks), why a customer’s AI artwork falls apart on a vehicle wrap, the morning his printer’s ink melted a hole straight through the machine, and how donating a thousand brochures to his community keeps paying him back.
It’s funny, honest, and full of real advice for anyone who has ever flipped their own sign to OPEN.
Watch the full episode on YouTube or listen wherever you get your podcasts.
Discover more from The Daily Post
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
