Michigan Natives Open Minuteman Press Franchise

Hometown natives Samantha and Robin Hilliker are the new owners of the Minuteman Press franchise in Grand Blanc, Michigan.

In conjunction with opening their brand new location in August of 2024, Samantha and Robin acquired the 25-year business Kendall Printing from Scot Brown. On Oct. 16, Samantha and Robin also held their grand opening sponsored by the Grand Blanc Chamber of Commerce. Minuteman Press in Grand Blanc is located at 4501 E. Hill Road.

Samantha shared, “Opening and owning a business in our hometown of Grand Blanc means the world to me! It’s wonderful to get all of the positive feedback about how excited everyone is that we are here. Word is starting to spread now that we are open and business is growing steadily. Getting out into the community to see how we can help other businesses promote themselves through print, direct mail campaigns and promotion is exciting.”

On selling the business, Scot Brown remarked, “Samantha and Robin Hilliker are great people and I know that our printing business and our clients are being left in capable hands. Minuteman Press International Regional VP Rich DeRosa was thorough and attentive throughout the process of getting the deal done. He helped keep things on track and has a keen ability to read people and their characters. It was perfect timing for me to sell the business and retire. I give high marks to Minuteman Press.”

Meet ‘mompreneur’ Samantha Hilliker

Prior to Minuteman Press in Grand Blanc, Samantha was a stay-at-home mom to help raise her four children. At the same time, she always wanted to own her own business.

She stated, “My college degree is in business administration and Robin’s degree is in marketing. Before Starbucks was on every corner, I wrote a business plan to open a coffee shop and have never forgotten the feeling of letting a great opportunity go past me. I have dreamed of opening a business ever since.”

Samantha continued, “I also dreamed of raising a family and once our first child arrived we decided I would be the stay-at-home parent. It has been my job and my priority for the better part of 21 years now. It has been, and will always be, my greatest accomplishment ever to raise my children.”

At the same time, Samantha said, “While I was a stay-at-home mom, I used my seamstress skills (passed down from my mom and grandmother) to build a name for myself in our community offering alterations, making one-of-a-kind items, and dance costumes. That’s why my social media channels were all ‘SeeSamSew’ and now they are ‘SeeSamPrintandPromoteYOU!’”

“Studying business; running a household of six (now seven since my father-in-law moved in with us a few years back); managing kids sports, dance, and personal schedules; running a sewing business; and homeschooling our children for the past five years have all been a great training ground for now opening this business. I guess you could say I’m good at balancing many things at once. Two of our children are adults now and our youngest children are old enough to do most of their studies on their own so we felt like the time to jump on this opportunity was finally right.”

-Samantha Hilliker, owner, Minuteman Press Grand Blanc

Timing leads to Minuteman Press

Right at the time Samantha and Robin were looking for a sign to point them in the right direction, they received a fortuitous message. Samantha recalled, “Robin and I had been talking about opening a business for a couple of years. We had recently started to feel pulled towards opening a franchise but didn’t think we would ever be able to. One day out of the blue we were contacted by Rich DeRosa about a Minuteman Press franchise opportunity. No one knew except us that we were looking for a business and the timing of the message was perfect.”

She added, “I think we waited a couple of weeks before reaching out to Rich. I hadn’t even considered a ‘print shop’ in my list of potential business opportunities. Life had other plans and we decided to do a Zoom call with Rich. Robin did the Zoom as I sat in the room off-screen and just listened while taking notes. As the call went on and I learned about Minuteman Press, I started to lean in closer to the screen. Learning the history of the franchise and the family-friendly appeal of the business really drew me in.”

From there, Samantha and Robin did their due diligence and decided to go with Minuteman Press. Samantha shared her top 4 reasons for making that decision:

1. “Joining a franchise that I would actually get to know and meet their president (Nick Titus) was appealing to me.”
2. “I wanted a franchise that is open during normal business hours and offers nights and weekends to still be with family.”
3. “After meeting other Minuteman Press franchise owners and seeing how happy they were with their choice to own this franchise, we were ready to sign.”
4. “A printing and marketing business that offers a much-needed service to our community and not just the next trendy thing was also appealing to me.”

Training & support

Following the decision to open Minuteman Press in Grand Blanc, Samantha completed the comprehensive two-week training program and then received on-site support during the setup of her franchise location. She said, “The training program is very thorough! After training, our local field rep Nick joined me in the actual setup of the shop and has been right here every step of the way. Nick helped me with everything from setting up computers to going on marketing calls with me and then stayed to help with the transition following the acquisition.”

Samantha added, “When something does come up and I have a specific question, Nick and Rich are very quick to help find answers or make suggestions. The support from Minuteman Press International is incredible. When I reach out to anyone at MPIHQ, I am met with tons of support and encouragement.”

Acquisition of Kendall Printing

Scot Brown had been in the printing industry since 1981. He shared, “From 1981 to 1984, I spent three years working for people who really taught me the industry. In 1984, I decided to work for Bank of America selling traveler’s checks all over Michigan. As they phased out their road sales team, I went back into printing with a business called Central Printing. I worked on several GM accounts including the Buick Motor Division, which included the Buick Open.”

Brown continued, “On one Monday, I decided to go in and give my notice. I started the business that became Kendall Printing working out of my house for the first six months. I got myself in front of GM buyers and they primarily wanted to order printing. After six months, I rented my first office, and then later I hired my first employee, a typesetter. I was brokering a lot of printing services, and it evolved to the point where I bought my own camera and press.”

Over the next 25 years, the business continued to evolve and grow. Flash forward to today, and it was time for Brown to retire and sell the business. He said, “I was ready to slow down as I was tired of ‘herding cats’ — I am a salesman turned into a business owner and it was time to retire. I always relied on my employees and trusted them as I did not want to micromanage them. For me, it was time to move on and let new owners carry the business forward.”

Selling the business at the right time

When Regional VP Rich DeRosa knocked on the door of Kendall Printing, his timing couldn’t have been more perfect. Brown shared, “I am 65 years old and I have been trying to sell the business so I could retire. I first offered to sell to our employees but they didn’t want to buy. I then thought I had an agreement to sell privately to an individual who tried it for a few months. This fell through as he wasn’t up to the challenge.”

Brown continued, “I had just got back from Florida to clean things up from the transaction that fell through when Rich DeRosa knocked on our door. Rich was very thorough and kudos to him for knocking on doors and seeing if we were looking to sell. He informed me that he had potential buyers in Samantha and Robin Hilliker. Within one month, I signed an LOI to sell through Minuteman Press. Well within 6 months, we reached an agreement to sell the printing business and have Samantha and Robin bring our clients over to Minuteman Press. Being able to sell the business and retire while knowing my clients are being taken care of creates a win-win situation all around.”

From his perspective, DeRosa shared, “The timing was fortuitous when I walked into Kendall Printing. I sat down in Scot’s office and we started talking about his previous deal that just fell through. Fortunately, we were able to turn that negative into a positive and I am glad that clients of Kendall Printing will remain in great hands with Samantha and Robin at Minuteman Press in Grand Blanc.”

Samantha added, “Scot and his former employees that came over to join me have been amazing. I could not have taken over the business without their experience and expertise.”

She concluded, “Rich DeRosa has been wonderful helping us every step of the way throughout the process of opening our Minuteman Press franchise in Grand Blanc to acquiring Kendall Printing. We could never have imagined doing all of that on our own. Rich is a force in negotiating and yet has been very patient with me as I questioned every aspect of what was happening along the way. I am excited for the future and I just want to thank Rich and everyone at Minuteman Press for the support!”