Value Added Partner Stories

This month, the Value Added Partner spotlight falls on… someone you may recognise!

Tell us your story.

I’m Jim Cunliffe – founder of Print Lord, host of the Big Business Breakfast Club and a lifelong print evangelist. I began this adventure in the early 2000s, armed with a handful of flyers and a dream. Over the years, I’ve run multiple print brands, navigated a few storms, and built a community of brilliant creatives, clients and collaborators across the UK.

Print Lord was born from a desire to shake up how people see printing — less click-to-basket, more curated, crafted and confident. We’re not just printers, we’re branding allies, event enablers and trusted advisors.

The BBBC was my response to lonely breakfast networking: I wanted something loud, useful, warm, and genuinely valuable. So I built it. Today, Print Lord and the BBBC are cut from the same cloth – about trust, connection and tangible results. Real people. Real stories. And yes, a slice of bacon.

What has been your biggest business challenge to date?

I’ve been through liquidation more than once. It’s brutal, humbling, heart-wrenching, and a bloody admin nightmare. But I’ve always come back stronger. Each time, I’ve rebuilt with sharper instincts, better boundaries and a deeper respect for the people who stick with you when things go south.

What has been your greatest or proudest business achievement to date?

Launching the Big Business Breakfast Club and growing it to 100-plus attendees a month has been epic, but what makes me proudest is seeing our print on every table, in every hand and behind every brand represented. It’s proof that community and print together can build empires, one connection at a time.

What type of clients do you currently work with and who are you looking to meet?

We work with ambitious founders, creative agencies and marketeers who understand the power of print. The unicorns – those who bring us in early, collaborators who value craft, care about the details, and know that print, done right, can amplify a brand like nothing else.

Tell us a story/fact about yourself that people might not know?

I was diagnosed with work-stress-related acute colitis and had over 18 feet of intestine removed (you work it out). Three major surgeries, nine months recovery and a lot of soul-searching followed. My team pulled together, the business survived, and I came back tougher, wiser and calmer. That was 20 years ago now. That’s also why I don’t tuck my shirts in. These days, nothing phases me.

How do you define success?

For me, success isn’t about titles or turnover, it’s nearly 30 years of steering my own ship, through storms and sunshine. It’s watching apprentices become leaders, work experience kids find their calling and staff grow into stars. It’s the quiet pride of knowing I played a part in their journey and also the lifelong friendships forged along the way.