How FreshBooks helped The Silk Screen Machine turn a literal dream into reality

What was it like building a business that literally came to you in a dream?

Troy: I didn't have a roadmap or anything. We really didn't know what we were doing at first. We kind of were just building the playbook as we went.

I built the first truck in Denver in 2012, and it was wild. I built it as crazy as I could to meet the dream. Our very first client from that was Charles Schwab, and then Red Bull. Red Bull took us on a tour around Los Angeles for 30 days, and we printed shirts off the truck to advertise for the Red Bull Music Festival. It really just kind of shot us into this crazy place of marketing and advertising.

Ever since, we’ve been going hard on this live printing thing. We do live events all over the country with these trucks and our teams that live print and embellish people’s promotional swag. 

What does a “day in the life” look like for you?

Troy: I love spending time with my wife and dog, so we can go hiking, walking, and biking. A great day is when all of our bases are covered—when all my teams are doing what they do, and I can step away. It can be the greatest entrepreneur’s dream. 

Otherwise, it can be all over the board: From starting a new campaign in LA next week and needing to fly out tomorrow, or meeting with clients and my team in Atlanta for an event. One day, I could be doing nothing but books. Today, I’m in the shop printing shirts for Frontier. The airline is rebranding, so we’re printing samples of shirts that we’re going to do live for them next week. 

How did you find out about FreshBooks? 

Troy: In 2007 or 2008, when I still had the bricks-and-mortar shop, I was boarding a plane. Before I hopped on my flight, I got an Entrepreneur magazine. There was an article on 12 pro tips for start-ups or entrepreneurs, and someone was talking about how FreshBooks changed their business and how it keeps everything in one place. So, I was immediately eager to try it.

At the time, it was a free plan that would only allow for so many clients or customers, and I was like, “I don’t know if I’ll hit that limit.” And then we hit that limit and kept growing. As we’ve developed and matured, FreshBooks has been so great to us.

Since we’ve expanded into doing the live events, FreshBooks has become really helpful for me and my team. 

The Silk Screen Machine operates nationwide. How do you use FreshBooks to help manage your payroll? 

Troy: We have a small team of W2 employees, as well as independent contractors that we work with in every major city across the US. I loved when FreshBooks started working with preferred vendors like Gusto, [which offers online payroll services]. Now, instead of me having to spit out all these reports, Gusto and Fresh Books work hand-in-hand.

Before that, we didn't have a good payroll solution set up, and we were kind of stumbling and tripping over ourselves with that. That's when I started looking at other solutions, but when I looked at FreshBooks’ competitors, I didn’t see value for what they charged.

What other FreshBooks features do you use most often? 

Troy: I'll be honest with you, I really love the reporting tools. I love that I can easily navigate and spit out reports for my CPA. Now, we buy vehicles outright—we have about 10 trucks across the country—but we used to do loans for them. It was awesome to be able to show a bank reporting that is accurate [to get those loans].

The other thing I love about FreshBooks’ reports is that I now know how to forecast. Last year, I took some business coaching classes that prepped me to ramp up to where we need to be to hit new numbers. As of this year, the second quarter hasn’t even finished yet, and we’ve already exceeded our numbers from last year. It’s so cool and awesome.

You travel a lot for work. How does FreshBooks help you manage your business on the go?

Troy: FreshBooks is a great package for us, because we’re able to easily work on-the-fly. Like, I can be on a plane, draw up an estimate, and fire it off with the mobile app. We've been able to provide our clients and new leads with estimates and invoices quickly, which has helped us win some large contracts. 

Everything that we do in FreshBooks becomes a calendar item with all the information for where I’m staying the night and what the actual activation calls for. The second the wheels touch down on the runway, I can log into FreshBooks and update myself on what needs to happen and when it needs to happen. The time tracking tools are awesome. 

For us, it’s been so great as [a project management tool].

What advice do you have for other start-ups?

Troy: The very first thing is to have a good backbone, and when I say that, I mean have a great accounting tool that you trust that works for you—everything's in one place and you're not scatterbrained. I learned that the hard way. The first three years in business, I couldn't keep books together. My taxes were a mess. So that's huge. 

[Second], if you find your passion, never give up. I'm a very solution-based person, and I just tell people: Be solution-driven. Don't work the problem, work the solution, because there always is one.

Rapid fire questions

Morning bird or night owl: Both. I only sleep about five or six hours a night. I love staying up late and getting up early. 

What is your drink or snack of choice when you’re sitting down to manage your finances? Agua. I love the water. 

Expenses: Track as you go or upload in a batch? I do more batch reporting. 

How many unread emails are in your inbox? None that are important. It’s probably about three, but nothing important gets left behind. 

If your business had a theme song, what would it be? Free Fallin’ by Tom Petty. I’ve always liked the statement that entrepreneurs are the only people who believe in themselves enough to jump off and build the plane as they're going down. Everyone starts these things because they want to be free—free from having a boss or whatever—and sometimes you’re just in free fall and trying to figure things out.