Meet Bonnie Klehm of Mother Cutter Design in Parker

Today we’d like to introduce you to Bonnie Klehm.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I was a stay at home mom to my daughter and two sons for many years. I took photography and graphic design in college and have always had an artistic side. I love working on crafts with my kids, painting something or doing photography to satisfy my creative drive.

I started working with a friend who did screen printing in her basement and eventually bought a vinyl cutter where I could work out of my home. For some time, Mother Cutter was simply a vinyl cutting company that over the course of a couple of years was slowly growing.

After several years, I decided to take a leap and open my own Screen Printing shop.

My husband Dan has spent 32 years in restaurant executive roles and he helped with site selection and set up. We opened on June 30, 2018, on Parker Road next to the Vitamin Cottage. Things started slowly at first, I always remained committed to treating my clients like family and putting out a great product every time. I think one of the defining reasons for our growth has been our willingness to really sit down with a client and understand their vision before beginning a project.

Long story short, my husband left his COO job and joined me in the shop. A few months later, my son Daniel graduated from CU Boulder with a degree in Operations Management and Marketing, as well as a certificate in Technology, Arts and Media. Currently all three of us work in the shop together. I maintain creative direction. My husband Dan runs the screen print shop and Daniel supports me in Design and acts as our Director of Marketing. We have been so fortunate to have the support of the Colorado community.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
When I started out working from home, we had two foster children with special needs. It was very challenging building our business and being the best mom I could to our blended family.

When you start a business, there are always challenges you cannot foresee. Once my husband joined, we gave up his income and were definitely taking a leap of faith. We believe in our core that if we run a business that is committed to a great product and we stay involved in our community people will support us.

It took several months of building our clientele, many mistakes, and missteps but our business is growing at a fantastic rate now.

We have a vision for how we can impact our community as we grow. We give 10% off to all 501c3 charities and schools. We are working on a unique way for local non-profits to use our business as a strong fundraising arm. Every event we have, we donate all proceeds to a child based charity. Wherever possible, we want our business to impact children in need in our communities.

Mother Cutter Design – what should we know? What do you do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
The diversity in our backgrounds has really proven to be our strengths. I am the subject matter expert on all things printing, design, and vinyl. My son Daniel brings incredible design skills, marketing, social media as well as a millennial perspective that can be helpful for some of our clients. My husband has 32 years of building brands and running business operations. Together, these skill sets allow us to guide our clients in many areas of their business.

We offer Art Design, Marketing support, Social Media Support, Operations consulting, Screen Printing, and Vinyl (both apparel and signage). We like to say we can be your one-stop-shop for all things promotional for your business, event, team, etc.

What is “success” or “successful” for you?
Like everyone in business, we would like to see our growth continue. Ultimately, we think this business has a much bigger potential to make money and perhaps even franchise. We measure our success today with our ability to help others in the business. It is very satisfying to help a new business owner to be successful in their dreams. There is so much work that goes into running your own small business, we want to make it easier.

Overall, our goals are focused on building a strong business that will allow us to truly impact our communities. We have a strong passion for several children’s causes; the foster system, special needs children, teens who need help correcting their path.

We love the creative process and we love to grow in the art and products we create. We always want to be better than yesterday.

Pricing:

 

• We currently offer 12 shirts with a 1 color print, 1 location for 99$

 

• We offer logo design and branding assistance at 50$ an hour

Contact Info:

• Address: 19519 Parker Square Dr.
  Parker, CO 80134
• Website: mothercutterdesign.com
• Phone: 303-840-7146
• Email: mothercutterdesign@gmail.com
• Instagram: @mother_cutter
• Facebook: facebook.com/mothercutterdesign

Image Credit:
Megan Anderson

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