Creative Expressions overcomes crisis

In 2003, Hydee Willis and Karianne Marcum faced the biggest crisis ever for their business, Salt Lake-based Creative Expressions.

Since Willis founded the company in 1982, she and her family, led by daughter Marcum, had built Creative Expressions into a successful business providing specialized embroidery, screen printing, advertising and promotional products.

But in 2002, a major client went bankrupt, leaving a large invoice unpaid. In 2003, it happened again when another client, a national sports licensing company, went bankrupt, leaving an even larger unpaid bill.

Willis, Marcum and their staff wondered: could the company survive? How would the company survive? Would it be easier to just give up, even after many years of success?

Of course, these entrepreneurs did not give up. Willis and Marcum instituted new, strict credit policies and tighter screening of their clients. They began requiring pre-pays and deposits. Most important, they kept going.

Now, the company has recovered. Creative Expressions continues to offer its unique "one-stop" mix of custom embroidery, screen printing, graphic art and design, and has even launched a licensed apparel line, "Outback Utah."

All of this has been done while fulfilling Creative Expressions' commitments to its own vendors and balancing the needs of a growing business that combines family and non-family members on its staff.