Meet Tucker Dunn | Entrepreneur

We had the good fortune of connecting with Tucker Dunn and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Tucker, what do you attribute your success to?
I believe that the most important factor behind my progress has been resilience, seeing things through and not giving up when it gets hard. Waking up every day ready to work just as hard as yesterday. It is important to have goals but it’s just as important to understand what it is going to take to get to your goal. Falling in love with the process and not the outcome.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
DFW Ink is a professional custom screen printing and embroidery shop here in DFW, we have unique equipment such as the Digital Squeegee that sets us apart from the vast majority of other screen printing shops. I am currently 25 years old and my journey in the screen printing industry started 7 years ago when I was 18. Long story short, I had an interest in the industry in high school and worked with a small shop in my home town. Once I came to college at The University of Texas at Arlington, I became responsible for my fraternity’s merchandise. This is where my path was crossed with my business partner, Jack Sheth. He had started a Greek Apparel company 2 years prior, SS Printing, and he wanted my business. As I had an interest in the industry, I told him we would buy shirts through him, but I wanted to come work for him. Spring of ’18 I was an employee of SS Printing, the only employee. Over the course of my college career, I stayed at SS Printing helping Jack build this company into something bigger. Soon we were fulfilling 10-20 orders a day and we needed more help. By the time I was ready to graduate in December of ’21 we had built a team of 6 employees to help with the growth. By this time, I had proven myself as a worthy business partner and Jack made me an official offer to become part owner.
The following spring we were presented with the opportunity to purchase DFW Ink, the company we outsourced our printing to. Without hesitation, I was all for it. This was the next step for our growth. We dove head first into this acquisition and after many months, we finally closed on DFW Ink in October of 2022.
Since then Jack and I have been learning the in’s and out’s, dialing in processes, managing employees, and ultimately trying to grow and take this business to the next level.

Looking back, I would have never guessed I would be where I am now, I ultimately never had this in mind. I never thought to myself “I want to own DFW Ink”. I really just put my head down and worked with what I had and made myself as valuable as I could to the people around me.

In regards to difficulties, one of the most difficult things that I never considered when getting myself into this, is managing a large team of employees and keeping everyone happy. This has been challenging but through reading leadership books, implementing processes to hold people accountable, and really just showing everyone my dedication to this company has made things easier!

I really just want the world to know that most things don’t happen over night. Beneath all the “Success” you see, there are countless hours of relentless work.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
There are so many great spots in DFW, but if I had a friend visiting I would take them to Trinity Trail in Fort Worth or Katy Trail Dallas to start. Both trails are very scenic and have a variety of shops and bars! Regarding food, there is this crazy good burger spot in Arlington called Jimmys Big Burgers. It is kind of a hole in the wall, but man some of the best burgers I have ever had. The stock yards in Fortworth is always a classic too.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
First I would like to thank my parents, for instilling hard work and dedication in me. For not letting me skip a day of school, even when I “didn’t feel good”. My parents have shaped me into who I am today and I could not be more grateful for that. Secondly, I would like to thank my business partner. We work phenomenally as a team and he has taught me many things. I would not be in the position I am now if we had not crossed paths and started working together.

Website: dfw.ink

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