Fiona McDonnell worked in her uncle’s print business as a child but it took a Minuteman Press training course in New York before she decided to commit fulltime to the Minuteman franchise in Footscray, Melbourne that she co-owns with her husband Ed McDonnell. Their clients include local AFL team The Western Bulldogs.
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| Fiona and Ed McDonnell (right) and their team with The Western Bulldogs 2016 Premiership Trophy. Minuteman Press Footscray provides The Bulldogs with design, marketing, and printing services. |
Prior to buying their business 14 years ago, Fiona gathered experience in a range of industries. “Ed, my husband and business partner, says even after 21 years together he still has trouble piecing my career together,” she says. “I've done so many fun things, often having 3 jobs at once. I've been a promotional model, worked as an Assistant Fashion Buyer, helped to manage and run a very popular Irish pub, marketed and sold everything from cosmetics to car alarms and aromatherapy. I also worked for GE, Lendlease and had two or three business partnerships.”
She and Ed met when Fiona was a partner in a sales training and marketing business. Even then, they were helping people sort out the best ways to communicate. Fiona explains, “The company trained such clients as BHP, the largest Australian mining company, to manage tele sales, training scientists to be less technical and listen to their own stories to make sure they translate to a non-technical audience.”
Fiona did not intend to become an entrepreneur, but Ed approached her with exactly that in mind. She says, “I had just returned to my first full time account management role after having our son, Scott. I was working hiring plants and maintenance services on plants into 5 Star Hotels and Corporate Offices when Ed got the idea that a Minuteman Press centre would be our future.”
For Fiona, business ownership was not going to be a full-time endeavour, until after she attended training at Minuteman Press International and became particularly enthusiastic. “I was supposed to be part-time but got so excited by the time we attended training on Long Island, New York.” She has a personal history with print and working in her uncle’s print business as a child. “I was hand-collating carbon duplicate sheets. I thought that it would be the last industry I would ever work in and yet I love it. The industry offers a lot more creativity than you can imagine looking in from the outside.”
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| Minuteman Press Footscray |
Fiona and Ed got into promotional products early in their business ownership, buying a client list from another printer as well as some equipment including a wide format press. “The ability to do pull up banners on the same day has saved many of our clients headed for a trade show or presentation from going empty handed,” says Fiona. “There is a lot of satisfaction when clients light up about being able to do all their corporate or trade clothing with us and at the same time provide some unique branded gifts to their clients. We have done everything from rulers and pens to marquees and media walls. Mouse matts and pens are an everyday item around here and we love tailoring ideas to a market or launch especially for some of our time-poor clients.”
Sometimes two passions collide as it did for Ed when his AFL team The Western Bulldogs, won the premiership in 2016 after 54 years! As Fiona says, “We are in the local community and have sponsored the ‘Doggies’ long before they were winning. They have often relied on us to pull a rabbit out of a hat and get printing, pull up banners, lectern signs etc. done in double fast time frames.”
“Ed's faith paid off and for many years The Bulldogs have been a trusted client. When they won the premiership flag our A2 ‘Woof Woof’ Posters were on every seat in the stadium,” Fiona says. The “Woof Woof” they printed adorned every window of every business and home in the western suburbs. She adds, “As the coach relayed his instructions to the players on TV our foam core mounted signage for another major sponsor was beamed into millions of homes across the country.
“As a thank you for all our help and support in that winning season, we proudly hosted the Premiership Trophy in our centre, allowing us and our team to be photographed at our leisure as part of the ‘Doggies’ Championship team.”
US-based Minuteman Press began franchising in 1975 and has grown to nearly 1,000 business franchise locations worldwide including in the US, Australia, Canada, South Africa and the UK.
https://www.minutemanpress.com.au
