\u201cIt has to grow. Business is supposed to grow. It\u2019s like a tree\u2014it\u2019s supposed to keep on growing.\u201d<\/p>\n
At age 22, Scott Hagen, adept to his father\u2019s business tutelage on Guam, came to Saipan tasked to carry out the handiwork of putting up a new business venture that would install him as one of the youngest \u2013 yet successful \u2013 entrepreneur on-island.<\/p>\n
In just a span of four years after putting up the business, he managed to sustain the rapid growth of the Pacific Quick Print and Post, establishing a name for himself beyond the Pacific Galleries and the Pacific Pest Control companies established by his parents on Guam and on Saipan.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlways going up. Even if the other businesses are down, it seems that we have a service that everybody wants and everybody needs; and when times are slow, we work hard and spend longer hours to bring the customers back in, adding small services at no extra fee [and] better quality,\u201d Hagen said.<\/p>\n
Scion of business couple William and Terry, Hagen established the Pacific Quick Print and Post, which is mainly a copy shop and a private mailbox company, along Middle Road in Garapan in June 1998.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy father had an idea, but he needed something to put his details together. That was it,\u201d he recalled. \u201cI came here in 1998 to put all the details together [and] find out who\u2019s going to be our suppliers, and everything like that \u2013 business license, tax, and everything \u2013 and we were ready. June 1998 \u2013 we opened up the doors, starting the business.\u201d<\/p>\n
Success was not attained overnight, though. His is the entrepreneurship that was honed through the years, starting at age 14.<\/p>\n
Since his parents were so tied up with the family business on Guam, he had to stay with them at the work place after school, where he became part of the business operation.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe cut the frames, assemble the frames, put together pictures, those kind of things,\u201d he said. \u201cThere are employees working there. They taught us.\u201d<\/p>\n
A few years later, he studied college at the Seattle University in the United States mainland. While there, Hagen worked for a picture framing company, similar to the family\u2019s Pacific Galleries.<\/p>\n
\u201cI moved back to Guam and started working for pest control,\u201d he said, referring to his parent\u2019s Pacific Pest Control. When he did this in 1996, he was \u201cdoing everything from technical work up to administrative filing and all the office work.\u201d<\/p>\n
But a turning point in his business career came two years later, when he was tasked to put up a new venture \u2013 the Pacific Quick Print and Post \u2013 on Saipan, a place where his parents were not very familiar with.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a lot of services, but mainly, we\u2019re labeled as a copy shop. We do lots of high-speed of non-offset. It\u2019s all high-speed digital copying and printing… and a lot of the finishing services \u2013 binding, just quick binding and lamination,\u201d Hagen said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe do what like the other printing shops do, they do business cards, invitations, posters, [but] the only difference is we\u2019re not offset. We\u2019re all digital and we cater to those people who procrastinate. Maybe, somebody has a birthday party this weekend, they wait until Thursday to do the invitation, and so they come to us. We can have it done in 24 hours,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Basically, he said his company can do different kinds of printing jobs on paper and on banner. The company can also do graphics and logo design.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe also have postal services. We have mailboxes for rent. We accept letters and things that need to be mailed out,\u201d he added. The company maintains P.O. Box 10001, a commercial mailbox.<\/p>\n
Running a business takes a lot of patience. \u201cIt\u2019s quite confusing at first. But [things can be done] just one step at a time,\u201d he said. \u201c[The] basic concept of how to start a business, I would have to ask them [parents] or look in a book.\u201d<\/p>\n
When he just opened the business, he started the day at 6:30am, working for at least 13 hours a day. With the success his business has reached now, his schedule has become more flexible.<\/p>\n
Besides hard work, Hagen said he believes that \u201chappy employees will make happy customers.\u201d He not only exercises leniency in granting employees\u2019 requests if they do not derail the company\u2019s operations. <\/p>\n
\u201cOnce they\u2019re doing good, they get free movie tickets, free massage at Madera spa, free tickets to eat at Tony Roma\u2019s, little incentives. I don\u2019t yell at them. I\u2019m not mean to them. There\u2019s a clear, open line of communication,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome managers or some bosses, they hide behind a desk and behind a wall; you have to make an appointment to see them. They can come [and] see me anytime. They\u2019re pretty happy,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n
Hagen takes pride in the collective effort he and his employees have exerted in driving Pacific Quick Print and Post to success.<\/p>\n
As he was saying this, he could not help but recall that when the business started, it only relies on one each of black-and-white and colored copying machine, and another for blueprint.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday, we have two of the fastest colored [Xerox] machines on Saipan — and the largest; we have three black-and-white Xerox machines; we have four engineering black-and-white copying machines; we have a blueprint machine; we have four lamination machines; we have two binders; we started really small and worked hard seven days a week and just grew,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
To illustrate the company\u2019s success further, he said: \u201cIf you want to open a business… and compete with us today, you probably have to spend like $3-5 million. You have to throw that money down, and then you can open up like what we are today.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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