Jason Waldron is the owner of Cartridge World, a printer toner supplier in Maple Grove.
For Waldron, becoming a business owner was simple.
Well, sort of.
First he had to buy the already-profitable Cartridge World from his then-employer.
“My boss and I, we sat down and went over the numbers, covered things like how much volume the store was doing, and how much I could expect to make, and it all made sense,” Waldron says.
“But I needed to finance the purchase somehow.”
To facilitate the deal, Waldron turned to Bob, an associate he knew through his local BNI chapter.
After creating a business plan and navigating six months of legalese, endless paperwork, plus personal anguish and uncertainty, Waldron became the owner of Cartridge World in Maple Grove.
At the time of purchase, back in 2017, business printing needs were steady despite the transformation of online business.
Therefore, Cartridge World quickly turned into a profitable endeavor for Waldron, who today, along with his wife, is supplying ink to anywhere between 800-1,000 Twin Cities companies every year.
“We focus primarily on servicing business owners,” Waldron mentions.
“90% of our customers have never seen our office, and they don’t care where we are located, so long as we can get them ink for their printers.”
Unlike hourly employees at big-box chains like Staples or OfficeMax, Waldron is a certified expert in his field, having undergone countless hours of training to complement his fifteen years of industry experience.
“If you go into an OfficeMax, chances are the person there doesn’t know anything about printers,” quips Waldron, who has constructed Cartridge World in a way where the company routinely exhibits three crucial pillars:
Quality products.
Fair prices.
Great customer service.
To date, these foundational principles have convinced local business owners to lease out desktop printers through Cartridge World.
For context, when a Twin Cities business leases out a printer from Waldron, there is no upfront cost, but that business does have to ink an agreement stipulating that all their supplies will be ordered through Cartridge World.
“Essentially, businesses get the printer at no cost because they are buying all their supplies through us,” Waldron affirms.
His client base is wide, with industries such as manufacturing, car dealerships, counseling centers, dental offices, and alternative medicine clinics accounting for a significant percentage of his revenue.
“Really though, anyone who needs to print work orders and invoices, that’s who we can help,” says Waldron, who right now is offering 10% off Cartridge World cartridges to clients who mention this article (*valid once per customer; no expiration date).
“Believe it or not, those things are still being printed and they haven’t gone fully digital yet.”
In an economy where price sometimes trumps customer experience, Waldron has found a niche in the printing space, edging out some of his behemoth competitors due to his straightforward approach, and immense knowledge of products that most people inadvertently overlook.
“I probably know more about desktop printers than anyone in the Twin Cities,” Waldron claims, albeit humbly.
“Luckily, I’m not in the dating market because that’s not an impressive base of knowledge, but I’ve been doing this since 2009, so I have a good idea of what I’m doing.”
But it’s not just what Waldron knows about the mechanics of a printer that ingratiates him to his customer base.
He also consults his clients on the types of products that would best suit their business, and this is where he differentiates himself from the corporate experience one might get at a chain superstore.
“Just like with cars, there are myriad options for printers,” Waldron says.
“In the same way that a roofing contractor would look silly if they decided to haul shingles to a job site in a Prius, most businesses would not function correctly if they didn’t have the proper printing mechanisms in place to ensure that things are running smoothly.”
Working off that, Waldron admits there are times when a customer’s end goal doesn’t most effectively align with what Cartridge World can offer.
“If someone wanted to print out 10,000 flyers for an upcoming concert at their brewery, sure, I could in theory help them, but they would have to go through a lot of ink to create 10,000 flyers,” Waldron begins.
“More importantly though, I could introduce them to Bill Gleason [owner of Gleason Printing], who is much more suited to print those in a cost effective manner. I bring this up to say that what I do isn’t just about giving someone a printer, but instead it’s about matching someone up with a product and service that is right for their business.”
In that sense, Randy, who just got done stocking shelves in aisle eight at a big-box store, probably isn’t the best resource for someone looking for guidance on how to maximize their office printing.
Worse, the hypothetical Randy may be incentivized to sell specific products in order to meet sales quotas, which could jeopardize a business owner’s productivity.
“I am brand agnostic,” Waldron points out.
“I have my personal opinion on different printer brands, but my main priority is giving my customers something that works for them, as opposed to just giving them a name brand product because they’ve seen it advertised on TV or online.”
Waldron also goes one step further once he has outfitted a client with a printer.
He will then go to that client’s workspace, if necessary, and configure the new printer so that everyone can benefit from the new addition.
“It’s always gratifying to help a business set up their printer because often we’re making that process more expedited and efficient,” the bespectacled and thickly-bearded Waldron says, before then emphasizing how forgoing a setup process can cause later issues.
“Printers are kind of a necessary evil, in the sense that most people never think about them until they break or don’t work, and then all of a sudden, mayhem ensues, so I want to be there to make sure that clients are as protected on the front end as they can possibly be, and from there we can deal with whatever problems that they may have arise.”
Looking ahead, Cartridge World will continue to operate similarly to how they have been, but Waldron has also been tinkering with the idea of offering more leasing options to clients.
His ambitions, if realized, would be a major boon to the business, and also serve as an enticing value proposition to any prospective buyers in the future.
Not that Waldron is in a hurry to exit a business and an industry that has taught him so much.
“The future is the future, meaning I can’t possibly know what’s going to happen or control much of anything,” he says, “but what I can do is continue to effectively service our customer base and maintain the relationships that we have developed to this point.” QS
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