Entrepreneur turns P5K venture into thriving printing business

Rhod Stephen Cabaluna, owner of Printahanan Sugbo, shows designs for his t-shirt printing business at his work area in Cebu City. (Contributed Photo)

Printahanan Sugbo owner, weathers storm, sees more opportunities in t-shirt printing market

How did a home-based entrepreneur turn his then ailing t-shirt printing business around?

Rhod Stephen Cabaluna, 34-year-old owner of Printahanan Sugbo, said perseverance, his family’s support and faith in God helped him to get back on his feet after his printing business took a big hit from a failed partnership and mismanagement.

Cabaluna said the experience helped him to realize that in business, things that go up would always have to come down at some point in time.

He was referring to Printahanan Sugbo, a store that specializes in silkscreen printing — the result of his decade-long venture of printing t-shirts.

Cabaluna recalled how he grew his home-based business in 2006 with just a P5,000 capital into a thriving venture.

Things were on the up and up when his business took a hit in early 2016 after a partnership he entered into the year before failed miserably due to mismanagement.

With losses of over P500,000, the entrepreneur said he lost faith in himself and in others.

He faced even greater financial challenges when his wife Sharie Rose had an ectopic pregnancy, compelling him to sell his car, motorcycle and gadgets just so they can survive the ordeal.

“I even considered taking my own life just to get it over with,” he said.

But he did not give up. With his wife and three-year-old son Steven Riel as inspiration, his parents’ motivation and his faith in God, Cabaluna picked himself up and tried again.

“I am just so thankful that my parents were really supportive. They never defined me by my mistakes. My father would always say business is like that, that it is a gamble. You either win or you learn, and I choose to learn,” said Rhod.

After terminating the collaboration with his partner, Printahanan began to recover during the late part of 2016 in time for the holidays and the Sinulog festivities by January the following year.

Cabaluna said he has so far recovered around 50 percent of his losses from 2016 and hopes to be fully on his feet by 2018.

After weathering the challenges he faced in his venture, he looked back and recalled how he started the business.

How he started

He was always fond of drawing. His father Rudy also ran an offset printing business, which produced yearbooks and receipts, among others — a venture that greatly influenced Rhod while he was growing up.

The 34-year-old owner of Printahanan Sugbo, traces his love for the craft to when he joined his first printing club in high school.

“That was when I started getting interested in printing shirts,” he said in an interview with Cebu Daily News.

What started in 2006 as a solo home-based business that produced 10 to 30 printed shirts every week has grown into a thriving enterprise that releases 100 to 300 shirts each day.

Clients

From a solo venture, Cabaluna now employs four printers in his business. His existing clientele includes schools, exporters, other companies, and alumni associations from Cebu and even outside the province.

Today, Printahanan Sugbo’s services also include embroidery, sublimation printing as well as digital printing for tumblers and mugs.

An electronics and communications engineering graduate from Cebu City, Cabaluna decided to postpone taking the board exam after he graduated in 2004 and chose to work at a sports warehouse instead.

In 2009, he finally opted to resign from his job to focus on his review for the licensure examination but was told by his alma mater that they had to prioritize fresh graduates then.

“It seemed like God had other plans for me. I wasn’t able to file an application for the exam and I was jobless. It would have been embarrassing to ask my former employer to take me back,” he said.

That was when he ventured into the silkscreen printing business full time, which was an opportune time for him since it was also an election year — meaning poll candidates needed to outsource their campaign shirt requirements.

That year was also the time when local clothing brands featuring statement shirts and edgy designs took Cebu City by storm.

Workplace

He was also fortunate to have received printing pads from his former employer and a 22-square-meter space owned by his aunt along Natalio Bacalso Avenue in Barangay Basak Pardo that he was able to rent at a discounted rate.

Spending only around P5,000 as capital to buy screen printing squeegee and exposure tables, Cabaluna was able to get his business rolling.

This year, Cabaluna said he planned to introduce his own clothing line, something which he had been wanting to do since 2009.

The line, which will be called Life & Soul, will feature inspirational Gospel shirts.

He also joined the Department of Trade and Industry’s (DTI) Kapatid Mentor Me program, an initiative where he said he was able to gain many insights from including to keep on learning and to learn from one’s mistakes.