New FSI owner harnessing the power of print

Lori Kaye Lodes

Contributor

September 14, 2026

MOSINEE – Heidi Miller said the distance between her two businesses in downtown Mosinee measures roughly 120 steps door-to-door – an advantage as she works to establish her newest venture, FSI Print & Design.

Miller, an area native whose family roots in the community reach back more than a century, said she took on her second entrepreneurial endeavor in January 2025 when she purchased the former Forms Specialists, Inc.

Located kitty-corner from her long-standing quilt shop, Created Anew Designs, Miller said the commercial print business had been situated in the same downtown storefront since 1986. 

After assuming ownership, Miller said she rebranded to FSI Print & Design, LLC – a name that both pays homage to the shop’s legacy of specialty carbon forms printing and nods to where the business is heading: comprehensive commercial design, modern production and wide-format capabilities.

Miller said her personal connection to the shop spans decades, as she grew up alongside the previous owners’ daughter, attending school with her for 12 years. 

While she did not pursue schooling for graphic design, Miller said she honed her creative eye through freelance work and roles across diverse industries – picking up technical expertise on the job. 

For 15 years, she said she assisted with design tasks for the print shop, eventually serving as its primary graphic designer for nearly nine years. 

That arrangement built a seamless routine, Miller said: the owners would bring project parameters across the street, she would execute the layout and together, they refined the finished product.

The turning point arrived in July 2023, she said, when a longtime employee at the print shop passed away unexpectedly. 

Recognizing the heavy operational strain placed on the owners as they approached retirement, Miller said she made her desire to purchase the business known. 

It was a multifaceted decision, she said, rooted in both personal interest and a sense of civic duty. 

“Another printer in the area was bought out by a larger company and then bought out again and ultimately left the area,” she said. 

A strong proponent for the downtown, Miller said she approached the owners – initiating nearly a year of planning, valuation and logistics before officially taking over Jan. 6, 2025.

“I didn’t want to lose it for the community,” she said.

Diverse customer base, comprehensive service

Running two distinct storefronts presents daily logistics challenges, yet Miller said a natural creative synergy links them. 

She said she opened her quilt shop storefront in 2016 following years of freelance work. 

Today, Miller said that operation houses two longarm quilting machines to assemble quilts, alongside a custom-pattern design arm. 

The spatial awareness, color theory, precision measuring and artistic layout required in quilting, she said, overlap directly with commercial prepress production.

Even with her familiarity with the print shop, Miller said stepping into the owner’s seat brought surprises.

Among them, she said, was learning how many community members were unaware of the business, despite its four-decade presence on Main Street.

“There were many people who admitted driving past it every day who didn’t know it was there,” she said.

Utilizing several ways to increase visibility – including placing ads, securing stories in the local paper and expanding outreach on social media – Miller said the payoff arrived pretty quickly.

“I set a goal of achieving a 5% increase in gross sales during my first year, but grew approximately 40%,” she said. 

Part of that volume came from taking on print and design work previously performed by the other printer, Miller said, but the awareness push and addition of wide-format products (such as Coroplast yard signs, banners, etc.) also contributed to the growth.

Today, she said FSI Print & Design operates with a lean crew of three. 

In-house, Miller said the shop specializes in core small-format items including flyers, business cards, multi-page brochures, direct mail and an extensive volume of envelopes, made possible by a newly installed dedicated envelope press. 

In the time since she took ownership, Miller said she has been focused on upgrading equipment along the way to eliminate bottlenecks and optimize production. 

The range of production, she said, spans work for individuals seeking holiday cards or a wedding invitation, to large-scale instructional or technical booklets for a local manufacturer. 

In addition to production, Miller said FSI also oversees on-demand warehousing and fulfillment shipping, packaging and distributing daily supply orders for its clients. 

Miller said her day typically starts early – opening FSI from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. and beginning with a review of pending jobs, prepress checks, machine maintenance, quoting and client consultations. 

Once production stabilizes, she said she walks across the street to help manage her quilt shop, which operates from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Handling invoicing, client estimates, administrative management and customer consultations across two businesses is no small feat, which Miller said she is the first to acknowledge – relying on an experienced production specialist who joined the team in March.

Still, she said she struggles to find enough time to review industry journals and attend trade expos to learn even more about new print technologies.

However, having been raised by a multi-generational agricultural family – with her great-grandfather settling in the area during the 1920s – Miller said her background shaped a philosophy that views long hours not as a burden but as standard practice.

“‘Retirement’ is not even a word in our vocabulary,” she said. “If you love what you’re doing, why stop?”

‘Print is coming back’

Diversifying her client base, Miller said, was an immediate strategic priority. 

When she acquired the business, she said one manufacturing client generated 60-70% of total company revenue. 

Through deliberate marketing of commercial collateral and custom specialty print, Miller said she successfully balanced that portfolio to an even 50-50 split – protecting the company against downturns in any single sector. 

Today, she said FSI’s reach extends throughout Marathon County and Central Wisconsin, serving clients in Merrill as well as Stevens Point and Wausau. 

And, despite its compact footprint, Miller said the shop consistently delivers standard commercial jobs within 24-48 hours.

“People don’t realize we’re here, because we’re small but mighty, but it’s amazing what we can produce and put out every week,” she said.
Miller said her team matches that with a focus on relationships and personal connections that is hard to compete with.

“If someone comes in the front door, 90% of the time, I can call them by their first name,” she said.

Local civic partnerships have reinforced those kinds of connections, Miller said, as the Mosinee Area Chamber of Commerce has been an active collaborator – providing promotional visibility while relying on FSI for internal print materials. 

She said the City of Mosinee also partners with the shop on municipal design and print projects, maintaining a relationship she built well before acquiring the business.

As the seasons shift, Miller said FSI is driving awareness for personalized holiday cards, event stationery and save-the-date packages for weddings. 

Miller said she perceives an emerging consumer shift away from generic digital templates toward tailored, tangible print products crafted by local professionals.

“More people are looking to shop and support local,” she said. 

Looking three to five years down the road, Miller said she envisions adding another employee or two to manage production growth while maintaining the shop’s signature turnaround speeds. 

Above all, she said her mission is focused on delivering high-quality print and design right on Mosinee’s Main Street.

“Print is coming back, and it’s exciting,” she said. “It’s not going away; it is just going to change.”

For more on FSI Print & Design, visit fsiprint-design.com.