The Minuteman Press franchise in Lebanon, Ohio, has been sold by retiring owners Mike and Karen Geygan to new owners Frank and Melissa Hiti. Mike and Karen owned the business for 31 years, and the franchise has been operating for over 40 years.
New owner Frank Hiti says, “We are really excited to take over a business that has such an outstanding reputation in the community. As business buyers, we are blown away by the strong foundation that Mike and Karen Geygan built with Minuteman Press in Lebanon. This business is a well-oiled machine thanks to their hard work. Everyone has been so welcoming to us as new owners, and we will continue the path that Mike and Karen set by being a fixture in our community and make sure our business takes care of our customers.”
Frank continues, “I am an engineer by trade, with a business degree. I spent my entire career in automotive manufacturing doing sales, engineering, project management, and procurement. I climbed the ladder but I always had that desire to be an entrepreneur. I felt I was in a good position to find the right opportunity and the right business to purchase. Everything I’ve experienced in the last few weeks since purchasing Minuteman Press has been even better than I expected. The support has been phenomenal from our local field rep Ryan, our team here in Lebanon is simply fantastic, and it’s so much easier to hit the ground running thanks to the strong customer relationships that Mike and Karen Geygan built. They earned their retirement and it’s been a win-win situation all-around.”
Growing to a Million-Dollar Business
From 1991 to 1998, Mike, along with his wife Karen and his staff, were able to steadily build the business. They first joined the President’s Million-Dollar Circle in 1998 and they continued to hit that impressive milestone every year for the next 24 years (with the exception of 2020).
Mike shares, “We grew significantly based on those two key areas of quality and service. After 31 years, I can’t think of one customer that we lost because we dropped the ball. It’s all about communication. We talk to our customers, and we are honest with them. If we need to fix something or deliver on a tight deadline, we find a way to get it done.”
Today, Minuteman Press in Lebanon is a digital print shop with six full-time staff and two part-time staff. Mike shares, “We specialize in digital printing and do a good amount of mailings. We are in a rural town and so we do a lot of saturation mail for local school districts and other clients such as a large HVAC company and an addiction treatment facility. We also saw that during the pandemic, our community needed products such as large format printing, labels, posters, and signage.”
“We went from 100K in yearly sales when we first started to about $1.3 million per year. We got very comfortable and now it’s time to retire.” -Mike Geygan
Selling the Business
When asked what it was like to work with Minuteman Press International to sell the business and secure his exit strategy, Mike shares, “I first had the thought of selling in March of 2022. I was turning 63 in July, I mentioned to my Regional VP Gary Nowak that we were starting to think about selling the business. My original intent was to retire by 65, and conventional wisdom told me that it would take some time to complete the sale. We were not intending to sell this year and weren’t ready to actually list the business for sale.”
Mike continues, “Gary informed me in early July that he had potential buyers who he was already in contact with, and I figured there was no harm in meeting with them. As it turned out, the meeting with the buyers went well, and we ended up getting an offer fairly quickly. By September, the agreement was signed, and the sale was completed in November of 2022.”
From his perspective, Frank Hiti says, “When we started looking to buy a business, I came across a business for sale ad from Minuteman Press. Gary Nowak reached out to me and as we were discussing a couple of different opportunities, we were introduced to Mike Geygan. We liked what we saw on our end with Minuteman Press in Lebanon and now during the transition, we are absolutely thrilled with how things are turning out. We bought the right business for us from great people in Mike and Karen Geygan.”
Final Reflections & Advice for Others
As Mike and Karen transition to retirement, he reflects on what he’ll miss most. “Everybody says it’s the people that make the business, and that’s so true. We love our customers and our employees; they are like family to us. I also love being involved in the community and served on many local boards. Because we deal with such a broad variety of customers and organizations in the printing business, I was one of the people who knew everyone and so everyone would come to me. I simply loved being able to help and connect others.”
He adds, “Our customers are happy for us, and I am very impressed with our local Minuteman Press field representative Ryan McIntyre who is helping with the transition, as well as the new owners Frank and Melissa Hiti. I know the business is being left in great hands.”
Mike’s final piece of advice for others is this:
“There are three functions that have to happen in order to be successful: 1. Find the business; 2. Get the jobs out on time; 3. Get customers to pay for your products and services. When you are small and just starting out, these functions may fall to the owner. However, if you want to grow, you need to delegate responsibilities and develop a company, not a monument to the owner. Remember, it’s a team effort.”
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