Jon Bottorff: Crafting Community Through the Art of Black Dog Printing
Jan 18, 2024
Kevin Shook
Ever wondered how a one-time troublemaker can transform into a beacon of creativity in his hometown? Sit back and let Alfredo Diamond, your host, unravel the remarkable tale of Jon Bottorff, the mastermind behind Black Dog Printing. This isn't just any success story; it's a heartfelt narrative of grit, determination, and the magnetic charm of Richmond that lured John back to his roots. As we chat, you'll be drawn into the world of Black Dog Printing, where screen printing meets tattoo artistry, and a community of 'art nerds and weirdos' finds its sanctuary. Jon's candid recollection of the trials and triumphs of entrepreneurship will leave you both inspired and moved, while his favorite local hotspot might just become your next weekend escape.
Get ready to be part of a larger conversation about the heartbeat of our city—its local businesses. This episode isn't just talk; it's a celebration of the spirit and tenacity of small business owners like John who are pivotal to the economic resurgence of downtown Richmond. We shine a light on how businesses, such as the delightful Susie's Pizza on east main street, are more than just places to grab a bite; they're cornerstones of growth and community revival. Let this narrative embolden you to support those who pour their hearts into our local economy, because when they thrive, we all do. Don't miss this invigorating exchange that promises to rekindle your love for hometown heroes and the places they're transforming.
Ever wondered how a one-time troublemaker can transform into a beacon of creativity in his hometown? Sit back and let Alfredo Diamond, your host, unravel the remarkable tale of Jon Bottorff, the mastermind behind Black Dog Printing. This isn't just any success story; it's a heartfelt narrative of grit, determination, and the magnetic charm of Richmond that lured John back to his roots. As we chat, you'll be drawn into the world of Black Dog Printing, where screen printing meets tattoo artistry, and a community of 'art nerds and weirdos' finds its sanctuary. Jon's candid recollection of the trials and triumphs of entrepreneurship will leave you both inspired and moved, while his favorite local hotspot might just become your next weekend escape.
Get ready to be part of a larger conversation about the heartbeat of our city—its local businesses. This episode isn't just talk; it's a celebration of the spirit and tenacity of small business owners like John who are pivotal to the economic resurgence of downtown Richmond. We shine a light on how businesses, such as the delightful Susie's Pizza on east main street, are more than just places to grab a bite; they're cornerstones of growth and community revival. Let this narrative embolden you to support those who pour their hearts into our local economy, because when they thrive, we all do. Don't miss this invigorating exchange that promises to rekindle your love for hometown heroes and the places they're transforming.
Welcome back to another episode of our community. I'm your host, alfredo diamond, local real estate agent entrepreneur. I'm here with a special guest. I'm very excited to meet and hear more about his story, mr John Bottorf from Black Dog printing.
Speaker 2:
Welcome, john, thank you for being here. Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1:
John, just jump right into it. Just tell us a little bit about yourself, where you from, and then how you got to where you are now.
Speaker 2:
I was born in Richmond and I was a troublemaker. You were like absolutely, and then uh yeah, it was kind of like coming back and starting the black dog thing and doing all that. So growing up here there are so many things to complain about, and then being here as an adult is totally different and there's a bit more obligation, to kind of you can't just complain about things and then trying to fix it.
Speaker 2:
We wanted to do something that was cool for kids, someplace that was cool, someplace that was safe, and kind of a community for all the art nerds Okay, the weirdos.
Speaker 1:
Tell me about that. So what kind of what would you put together ultimately?
Speaker 2:
A tattoo studio with a screen print shop attached to it. Pretty much we get. My favorite is like we have high school teachers who would call us up and be like I have this, this kid who's really weird and all they do is draw all day. Do you want to meet him? We're like absolutely Wow. And then I want to our favorites. That was one of their stories. Now at Purdue for graphic design. So, it's cool to watch.
Speaker 1:
It's a great success story. What took you? You know your path, you know you were a part. You were born here, you're live here in Richmond, relocated. What ultimately brought you back here. And then what was the second part is what made you realize there was a, there was some disconnect there and there was an opportunity for you to provide a solution.
Speaker 2:
We came back because we had a kid and my wife's family is like all women and we had no idea how to raise a kid Like we should go to where their support systems yeah. So that brought us back here. And then I worked for another shop, and just every time I'd kind of get frustrated or overworked.
Speaker 2:
I'd go home and put a little more effort into my own thing and it got to the point where I was printing so many shirts out of my basement and that my boss just had the talk of like you know, you're spending a lot of time doing your thing and less spending less time doing our thing here so. I should probably make a choice, so I did I quit my job.
Speaker 1:
So okay, I won't talk about that, but so like. So I heard you say tattoo shop, you're working tattooing.
Speaker 2:
I don't, I don't. My wife is a tattoo artist.
Speaker 1:
Okay, okay. So then how did you bridge the two together to do the screen printing shirts and then?
Speaker 2:
because we're both constantly drawing and creating. Okay, like the two fields go in at hand really well, because if something she comes up with, a design, and nobody wants to buy it or tattoo it or painting or something like that, you know, he's put on his t shirt and sell it. It's easier to sell a t shirt for $20 than a canvas painting for, like you know, $200.
Speaker 1:
Okay, okay, so so you quit your job. So what? What took you up to that point? When do you say Okay, you know, I want to do my own thing. What brought you to that point? Probably fighting with my boss.
Speaker 2:
Mm, hmm, getting fed up Now that I had faith myself. I know I could do it. And you know worst case scenarios I fail. I just go back and get my old job back.
Speaker 1:
How long have you been in business for yourself now Seven years, maybe Seven years Getting started. What was that like? Terrifying. Yeah, what'd you go?
Speaker 2:
through. You don't know if you're gonna get paid or if you're gonna pay your bills, if you're gonna pay your rent, all that. It's still like that To some extent.
Speaker 1:
When was it?
Speaker 2:
with having staff now and I have to worry about them.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, when was it when? When you realized okay, I've kind of, I've got something here. When did that like. Bob go off.
Speaker 2:
There were laws passed. This was before the Roe v Wade, but there are a lot of laws being passed to restrict reproductive care towards women and we kind of jumped on it and came up with a sticker and it sold like well over 10,000 in a week and we used that money to buy a better press and everything we've ever made has gone back into it. Okay, when we saw those kind of numbers, we're like we can do this. Mm-hmm, figured out.
Speaker 1:
So you've been back here about seven years now in total.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, my daughter's eight, so I've been here nine years.
Speaker 1:
Okay, okay. So what motivates you to kind of you know I know you said it earlier on that there was kind of Opportunities for you know things to improve and especially for you know certain kids and things like that what, what keeps you here in our community?
Speaker 2:
I've traveled all over and I've lived in a bunch of places, and this is the only place that's ever felt like home, like when I think of my friends. They're here, bread into me, yeah, yeah, this is part of me.
Speaker 1:
So I've got this segment here that I call hot and ready, cold and steady Roses itty, hot and ready, cold and steady, and it's just a segment we have a little bit of fun. I'm going to blur it out a few different examples or topics, locations or restaurants, and you say you know what comes to mind. It's have a little fun with that. Okay, I'm good. Yeah, all right, rock on. Okay, all right, we've got several parks in our, in our area. What is your?
Speaker 2:
favorite part, glenn Miller, because that's where I went when I was little and I love taking my daughter there. Now I'm saying hurry, get to do the things that I used to do.
Speaker 1:
What's your favorite thing? Top two things that Glenn Miller. The ducks and the playground okay okay, all right, if you have change, if I know you're really got very busy guy, if you have time to get dinner, what? Where would you? Where would you go?
Speaker 2:
We hit a lot of Susie's pizza now, okay, so it's really good. I live with vegetarians so, and I'm not, so it's really a struggle. Yeah, yeah, try to figure out how to feed everyone.
Speaker 1:
How does that work? Not well, yeah, yeah. What's your favorite thing at Susie's pizza? The people, okay.
Speaker 2:
Troy and Suzanne are awesome. They do cool stuff right on, right on.
Speaker 1:
You know we've got several universities here, college ties here in our area. You know, between Erlum Ivy Tech, iue, what comes of mine I use. That's where I went. Yeah, we're alumni, here we go.
Speaker 2:
I went there and then I ended up in Bloomington.
Speaker 1:
Okay, what was your focus?
Speaker 2:
General art. I wasn't good at school really. Yeah, yeah, my thing. I wanted to be outside and Running wild.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, at the time yeah so talk about that, so that you kind of had a juggle that. So I mean, deep down, you know you're in school, you're in college and you're at major university, how you, how you Bloomington down there, and but you really want to be, you know, doing your own thing out, not in class. Like, how do you manage that? I joined a band and went and lived in a van two other guys.
Speaker 2:
What was that like awful? Yeah, yeah, yeah, smell. It was fun. I wouldn't trade for anything to tour and like playing a band and just yeah, young and dumb, yeah what I needed at the time.
Speaker 1:
And then so did that kind of help you stay focused on school because you wanted to stay down every part of the band. I mean, how did I dropped out? You did drop out, okay, okay all right cool and not so much cool.
Speaker 2:
It's something I've always thought about going back to finish, and then I just keep getting older.
Speaker 1:
Well, I think what's cool is where you are right now you know, being self-employed having your own business, successful business, and you know that. You just realized that it worked out. Maybe, in your way at a time, you know, yeah, yeah, I think things worked out the way they were, way they did for a reason.
Speaker 2:
It just all kind of all the past is kind of lined up to put me where I'm at. With your experience, you know if you see something as younger or someone that's.
Speaker 1:
Maybe aspiring to have their own business or open a tattoo shop or screen printing business, and knowing the path that you've, that you've taken and things you've gone through in your obstacles, what advice would you share With someone if you can help them out? You're going to fail.
Speaker 2:
You're going to fail and you're going to fail a lot and you have to learn how to work around that and to pick yourself up and move forward. Like I've failed more times and a lot of people have even tried, I would guess Just not afraid to fail. Can you talk about? You know an example?
Speaker 1:
You know like putting your job before you make enough money to pay your rent is a gamble, mm-hmm.
Speaker 2:
See you next week in. It paid off for me and I want for everybody.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, yeah. Have you had any setback since? Absolutely constantly. What's the key to getting over those, those setbacks?
Speaker 2:
Resilience, I would say I don't want to. I don't want to go back to my old job Like this is it. This is what I'm gonna do.
Speaker 1:
Yeah.
Speaker 2:
I'm gonna fight. Yeah, that's what I'm good at.
Speaker 1:
Is there one person or business that you haven't had a chance to work with or collaborate with that you would like to that? You said, man, I got this idea. I think together we can make this happen. Who?
Speaker 2:
would that be? It was tabletop, but Thanks to work out that way. And now Retro rush. We do a lot of sponsors for their Super Smash Brawls and whatnot, and that's always very cool. Okay okay, we get to work with amigos, we get to work with so many cool people that I Don't, I don't think.
Speaker 1:
There's a business that I haven't really gotten to do. It I'd like to with them.
Speaker 2:
That's awesome.
Speaker 1:
That's awesome, so Can you share a memorable moment? Something positive that sticks out in your mind of your involvement within a community. You know, like earlier you mentioned, you know working with students and high school teachers and things like that. What's something that you're really, it's a really proud of raising ten thousand dollars for the small businesses during COVID Mm-hmm, that was cool.
Speaker 2:
And then all we do is take the logo put on a t-shirt, sold them for like 20 bucks and gave 10 bucks to each business.
Speaker 1:
How did, how did you get the word out that you, that you, you had these stickers? And I mean, how did that? I don't know just kind of word of mouth is kind of.
Speaker 2:
Lightning struck. Yeah, it's just red, I don't know. Yeah, I just kind of took off. And the beginning, when we sold like the 10,000 stickers during, you know, a lot of the abortion stuff going on in the world, that was awful. That was kind of like going semi viral, I would guess, and like it lasted two weeks and people were finding like our personal phone numbers and emails and Rassing us and oh, there was a lot of threats and stuff like that for being pro-choice, being loud about it, oh wow. But you know, after two weeks something else happens and people move on and forget.
Speaker 1:
That's interesting. Are there any upcoming projects or Events that you want to promote that you'd like to share with us today?
Speaker 2:
I think I'm gonna say it's May 6, but I'm not positive on that. I Think we never had a formal grand like housewarming or opening or anything like that. So I think we may do that this year and get like what the truck to station you know, set up outside and Probably like elevated tease a couple other businesses Are you?
Speaker 1:
are you a member of the Chamber of Commerce? No, I'm not, you're not Okay, I might need to talk to you about that. You know they do a good job going around and making sure that Businesses local business to get their proper exposure. You know they didn't have grand openings. Yeah, our reintroductions, you know things like that. So it might be some benefit there to talk about that with you. So I'm a member of the Chamber. Is there any particular organization or Customer-client staff member that you'd like to give a shout out to today?
Speaker 2:
And my shout out would go to crystal, who works with us. Jesus, the powerhouse of the business. When we get orders from Reed for like 1200 church, she'll knock them out in four days. She's just a monster when it comes to her work ethic, that's.
Speaker 1:
It's quite incredible shout out crystal, crystal, right. Shout out to you crystal.
Speaker 2:
Great job You've been broke my whole teams great.
Speaker 1:
You have a staff of three roughly yeah okay, shout out to the staff of black dog printing.
Speaker 2:
Yeah.
Speaker 1:
Um, so you got. You've been in our community, you know kind of grew up here, you transition away. You came back. You've been here a while now. You see things that are going on in our community. See the moopers and shakers. You see things are happening. You see, you know the downtown funds that we were receiving, things like that. You're hearing about that stuff. What letter grade a through f Would you give our community from your perspective as far as, like the effort and everything and a you know there are people trying from the.
Speaker 2:
Hillards to retro rush to Susie's pizza coming down here we. You know, we did our time on the promenade. We want to see this succeed and we're in the corner to help make that happen. We want to see where it's gonna do better and the downtown get some life brought back to it. I don't know, I'd like to see the city spend last time like the depots, cool and all. We focus so much on that, less on the downtown.
Speaker 1:
The main strip, main strip could definitely use some love to Exactly it is like siting around and buzz around that Shout out yourself, man, you know your path you're taking and the obstacles you overcome. I mean, that's a very interesting story and deserves a round of applause for that. So so hats off to you. Thank you. I have a lot of respect for local entrepreneurs and small business owners. So where's your location at though?
Speaker 2:
We are at South 7-eleven South 9th Street, kind of north of the Dairy Queen on the south side, and the buildings like we painted it all black. You can't miss it, can't name a big enough to see it from across the town.
Speaker 1:
7-0-9, 7-11 7-11 South 9th.
Speaker 2:
Street. Sorry, I remember it as a gas station.
Speaker 1:
Richmond, Indiana.
Speaker 2:
All right, what's up?
Speaker 1:
Indiana All right. Well, john, it's been a pleasure, I think you for your time and joining me today. And For your printing needs, make sure you hit John up here. Tattoos also get down up, so keep us in mind here. Thanks, have a great day. Thank you.
