We are so proud of our client Rifle Paper Co. who has been recognized again, this time by the Orlando Business Journal! Read today's story below:

How this young man and his wife turned $10,000 into $12.5M

By James Diana, Orlando Business journal

Behind the quaint 5,350-square-foot storefront of stylish stationary products in Winter Park's Hannibal Square district, you'll find dozens of casually dressed employees, most in their twenties, working diligently.
Some are seated, designing products on Mac computers, while others are in an art studio-like production room assembling orders.

This is Rifle Paper Co., which generated $12.5 million in sales in 2014 by selling more than 2.6 million greeting cards. The firm also has a 3,600-square-foot shipping facility about a half-mile away from the store. And driving this effort is co-founder and President Nathan Bond, a 29-year-old ex-musician and University of Central Florida drop-out, who earlier this year was recognized by Forbes magazine's 2015 30 Under 30 list of "today's greatest gathering of young game changers, movers and makers."

The firm also was No. 353 on Inc. magazine's Inc. 500 list of the fastest-growing privately held firms in the U.S., with revenue of $8.3 million in 2013, up 1,333 percent from $578,571 in 2010.
"We really believed we had something appealing to a lot of people that didn't exist in the marketplace," said Bond.

Besides greeting cards, the firm makes stationery, journals, iPhone cases and more, and its newest product coming up is a 17-month agenda, which will be available this summer.

In addition, last month it launched a collaborative effort with Lauren Conrad's clothing line, Paper Crown, which features clothing with Rifle Paper artwork and patterns, as well as stationery with Paper Crown designs.

Bond and his wife, Anna — the creative director who designs Rifle Paper's collection and oversees marketing, business strategy and product development — started the company in 2009 from their garage apartment for less than $10,000. His wife already was a prominent local artist/designer, and they found that a lot of people were interested in wedding stationery, so they went for it, building the company around her artwork.

While Bond plays a stronger role in the business procedures, his wife is the driving artistic force, he said.

In early 2009, they began with custom wedding stationery for clients, generating $86,610 in sales and moving into their first office space later that year. They grew their business by taking baby steps, one project paid for the next, from custom wedding stationery to a production line and now international sales. Still expanding, they are in the market for a new space, preferably close to their current location.

The name Rifle came from the desire to have a one-word name, and the couple liked the way it sounded, so it stuck, Bond said.
Some of the most difficult things for Bond during the startup of Rifle Paper were, as he puts it, some of the most basic: shipping, hiring, storing inventory. "When we launched, there were an endless amount of challenges we weren't prepared for."
If he could do it all again, he said he'd try to get a mentor or consultant with "direct experience in launching a grand of this nature to help us through the process." However, Bond added that "by going through these challenges the way we did, we learned how to manage them in a deeper way than we would have had we had more help."

Starting a new business at a young age can be a great advantage, too, said Jerry Ross, executive director at the National Entrepreneur Center in Orlando. "When you're trying it young, you don't have much to lose. The experience that you gain, if you get it that young, you use it throughout your career."

Bond's prior music career as singer/guitarist for Band Marino, an Orlando-based group, also taught him a valuable lesson, he said: "Don't be afraid to fail and go after opportunities when you see them, as they may not be around forever. Those were mistakes I made earlier in my life, sort of making safe choices sometimes, instead of just going for it."

So when Rifle Paper products started gaining popularity early on, Bond's reaction was decisive. "People like our stuff, there's an opportunity, let's go for it. Done."

Next on his agenda: "To push Rifle into more of a lifestyle brand and continue to expand our product assortment."

We celebrate our client, Rifle Paper Co.!