Next-gen sewers

July 1st, 2022

Antonio, one of SewLong Custom Covers’ youngest team members, hones his sewing skills on a cinch cover. Photo: Laura Kinser, Kinser Studios It’s not easy. Attracting, hiring and keeping sewers is perhaps one of the most challenging issues facing marine fabrication shops today. But the good news is that it is not an insurmountable challenge. […]

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Husband and wife teams

March 1st, 2021

Charlene Clark says she “took a leap of faith” and left her job in the hospitality industry to help Chandler Clark run Signature CanvasMakers. “We didn’t realize back then that working together and having a common focus to build a successful business would ultimately bring us closer as a couple,” says Chandler. A Juggling Act […]

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Scaling your business

March 1st, 2021

Here are the keys to achieving sustainable growth. By Charlene Clark, IFM The concept of scaling a business is not interchangeable with growing a business.  Consider this scenario: You are experiencing exponential growth, revenues are up, work is pouring in the door and you decide to hire more people. You and your team work longer […]

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Canvas repairs—turning pain into profit

March 1st, 2019

Let’s go out on a limb here and make this proclamation: Repair jobs are not the sexiest work in the marine fabrication business. Okay, maybe that’s not so much of a limb. The fact is, some fabricators try to stay away from repair work altogether or consider it something of a necessary evil. They’ve got […]

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