Mark ran NerdieTech Systems for years. IT consulting. Infrastructure, systems, small-business tech in the Central Valley. He was the guy people called when something broke or when they needed to build something that actually worked. The job taught him one thing above everything else: if you understand the problem better than anyone in the room, you can build the solution.
The idea for The Family Press Co. didn't come from a market report. It came from his phone. Friends. NerdieTech clients. People who'd trusted him for years with their IT problems started asking where they could get custom gear. Team hoodies. Spirit wear. Warmup sets before the season. Not because he was in apparel. Because they trusted him. Every time he referred them out, he watched someone else do exactly what he could do. The demand was there. The trust was already his. He just had to stop looking past it.
So he did what any former IT consultant would do: he spent weeks on it. Nights, weekends, spreadsheets open on the kitchen table. Vetting suppliers, modeling margins, mapping the workflow. But the more he researched, the more he kept coming back to one question: Why build this alone?
Enter: Jack Attack
Jackson - "Jack Attack" to anyone who's watched him play - just finished fifth grade. He's 11 years old, 5'8", and has been playing competitive basketball since 2023. Right now he's not attached to any team - just putting in the work on his own, training, grinding, and building his game one rep at a time.
Jackson wants to be a Division I athlete. That's not a kid's daydream. It's a plan. You can follow his journey at jackonthecourt.com, where he documents his progress under the motto: "Follow along as he chases D1."
Competitive basketball, for the uninitiated, is not cheap. Tournaments. Travel. Hotel rooms. Entry fees. Gear. It adds up fast - and that's before factoring in the fact that the kid keeps growing out of his shoes. (5'8" at age 11. Just saying.)
"Instead of running this solo, I thought: let me bring Jackson in. Let him see how a real business gets built. He doesn't have to love printing. He just has to learn the grind."
Mark, Founder & Dad
So Mark sat Jackson down and proposed it: they'd build a DTF printing business together. Jackson would help, learn, and eventually take on more as he got older. The business would fund the basketball, sure. But more importantly, it would teach him something no court could: how to build.
Jackson's response when asked about starting a company with his dad?
"…"
Jackson, age 11. He didn't say much. He's 11.
The Long Game
The Family Press Co. isn't a side hustle or a fundraiser. It's a generational business built intentionally, from day one, to be something worth handing down. A paycheck is income. A business is an asset: something you own, something that works for you, something you can hand to your kids with the keys still in it. Mark is doing the heavy lifting now. Jackson is learning. In a few years, Jackson will take on more. Eventually, this is his to run.
That's the play. Not "open a print shop." Not "make some extra cash." Build something real, build it with your son, and make sure he walks away with skills that last longer than any tournament trophy.
The press is running. Jackson is back on the court. And the work continues: one order, one lesson at a time.
Chasing D1. The Family Press Co.
