Meet Eric Solomon: Owner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Eric Solomon and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Eric, what is the most important factor behind your success?
Night Owls has only been successful because we align ourselves with clients and customers whose growth we are invested in. We aren’t interested in one-and-done types of relationships. Our success is our customer’s success, and that’s been a really important factor in the growth of our company. We truly do strive to engage on a more personal level with the people and companies we work with.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Night Owls is a merchandise logistics company, based in Houston, TX. We started this company much like many of our peers, in a bedroom and a garage, and organically grew it from connection and friendship. As our interest in this industry grew over the years, we were super lucky that our connections and friends also grew in their careers; allowing us to scale slowly, but always growing and reaching. One of the hardest things I’m still learning to this day, is learning how to be a boss. I can be the visionary for the company, but without solid people working with me, it’s nothing but daydreaming. Building a business is easy, but building a team who share your goals and your vision (when you don’t even know what that is), is hard work!!! And it doesn’t come easy. We’ve done our fair share of messing up, but it’s all growing pains, and we are actively striving to be a company that people can be proud to work for.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
One of my favorite things about Houston, is how diverse and immersed specific areas of the city can be. Anytime friends are in town, our first go-to is usually one of Houston’s amazing coffee spots. Boomtown, A 2nd Cup, Fix, Southside Espresso, Antidote, and on and on and on. Any of these are a slam dunk. As for food, there is a never ending supply of amazing local, and creative places. Most of our clients are in touring bands, so when they come through, we usually try and bring them to a place like Velvet Taco. It’s a place where all diets can eat. If diet restrictions aren’t super strict, we love bringing people to City Acre, or FlipNPatties. If we have folks in town for an extended amount of time, we love going down to Asia Town in southwest Houston, and taking them to places like Quan Yin, or Chef Kenny’s. I think Houston’s cuisine is one of the most exciting things about it. And with more and more vegan restaurants opening, it’s super exciting. For bars, places like Grand Prize, or Monkey’s Tail are a must!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I’ve been extremely fortunate throughout my career, of having a group of extraordinary people helping and looking out for us. The screen printing industry, particularly any of it that’s involved with the music or entertainment industry is vast. There are so many folks that we consider mentors and peers that live all over the world. However, we’ve found that generally most folks in this industry are open and interested in helping out their colleagues. It’s an extremely open and collaborative industry, and we definitely try to perpetuate that. In the past two years, we’ve been influenced greatly by Lean Manufacturing, specifically a book by Paul Akers called 2 Second Lean. It’s a great and easy read about how to make your business more efficient. I also think any and all business owners should read Profit First by Mike Michalowicz.

Website: www.nightowlsprint.com
Instagram: @nightowlsprint
Twitter: @nightowlsprint
Facebook: @nightowlsprint