Husband-Wife Team Creates Terrific Business

July 3, 2008

Ten years ago, Terrie Wierciak turned her love of appliqué into an embroidery business, Terrific Originals of Ottawa, Ill. After she mastered a professional embroidery machine, Terrie and husband Larry expanded the business to include image transfers, glass etching, sublimation and direct-to-garment printing.

“We started with a home embroidery machine,” says Terrie. “After I burned out two of those, I went commercial.” She currently has a one-head Toyota machine, in addition to glass etching, sublimation and DTG equipment. After Larry took an early retirement to work solely with Terrific Originals, he attended classes to learn glass carving and glass etching, now a substantial portion of the business.

The couple does everything in-house, including digitizing. “We don’t get any orders for screen printing,” says Terrie. “If we do, I talk them into transfers or direct-to-garment printing.” One of their more unique offerings is a tile mural, which can be framed or installed as flooring for a business’s entrance. 

Most of Terrific Originals’ orders come from word of mouth, although they often send direct-mail postcards to new, local businesses. “There are only about 20,000 people in our town, and lots of local businesses,” she says. “We also get a lot of repeat business.”

The Wierciaks work out of their house, but have an online store at terrificoriginals.com. They pride themselves on being able to create small quantities when needed, and they offer products for babies, the office and even pets, giving them a terrific variety for customers. — Liz Aull

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