How to accidentally start a vinyl decal business...
I wish we could say that Hapa Designs was some well thought out and well planned company, but that would be too easy! I used to own a small specialty sporting goods company and we purchased a vinyl cutter in order to make camouflage stencils. Unfortunately, this is right about the time that the water printing process hit mainstream and anyone with a kiddie pool could print anything they wanted on their gear. The vinyl cutter sat unopened in the corner and I kicked myself for waiting 35 days to try and return it. Due to a 30 day return policy it was mine to keep.
A few months later my sister asked if we could make some decals for my niece's 1st birthday party. Thrilled to do something with the cutter I got to cutting vinyl like a madman. The decals were a hit at the party and people asked where they could buy them. Always the entrepreneur, I answered that I would be happy to take their order and Hapa Designs was born (actually we called ourselves J2S Vinyls but that is a different story)
All of this happened at just the right time as a month or two after we opened we saw a HUGE increase in sales of a single item, a pair of glasses that goes on your Mac laptop { Check it out here: https://goo.gl/FsxBVE ) we went from 3 to 4 orders a day to hundreds of orders a day. A call from my sister to tell me that our decal was featured on an Apple commercial for the MacBook Air blew me away. This huge volume of sales allowed us to expand the company and add custom embroidery, 3D printing, dog tags and custom banners. As of recently, dye sublimation printing, laser engraving and screen printing have been added to the rapidly growing list of ways to customize and personalize just about anything you can think of.
One thing that has stayed the same since the first day is our commitment to our customers. Our tagline, Bringing you the best products at the best prices with the best service, is not some marketing ploy, it guides us in every aspect of the business. We will never trade profits for service and quality.
I am always available to our customers, if you send an email on a Saturday night at 1:00am there is a good chance you will get a reply within minutes ( it is currently 10:52pm on a Friday night).
Please feel free to reach out if I can be of any service. We happily make donations to non profits and schools so please let us know if we can help out!
Thank you,
Jonathan and Koihana Hebel
Co-Owners
Hapa Designs
Direct Line: 707-484-4405
Toll Free: 1-844-469-HAPA
Direct email: jhebel@hapadesigns.com - koi@hapadesigns.com
General email: aloha@hapadesigns.com