After Ryan Chouinard lost his father, Dan, unexpectedly in 2023, he was left reevaluating his life. Chouinard had worked in corporate gigs, culinary, and most recently as the manager of a staffing agency, but none of that work gave him the fulfillment he was looking for.
“It was a turning moment for myself personally,” Chouinard says of his father’s death. “Life’s too short. You have to make choices that will benefit you and put a smile on your face.”
Chouinard began researching business opportunities that met four criteria: low overhead, decent profit margins, not likely to be taken over by technology, and—perhaps most importantly—“something that gets me excited to wake up and go talk to clients.”
He found that in an unexpected place: technology that prints custom murals on virtually any surface. Chouinard launched his business, Upright Images, last November in Nashua.
One of his biggest challenges has been explaining what Upright Images does. “They say, ‘ok so you print out a sticker?’” Chouinard says. “No, that’s not it at all.” Chouinard brings a custom printer to the site and prints an image directly onto the wall using ultraviolet printing technology. He can create any digital image, from a company logo to more artistic pieces, with a finish that is thinner than a single coat of paint.
Upright Images offers an alternative to wallpaper, vinyl, stickers or hand-painting, Chouinard says. It’s durable—no peeling or bubbling—but also easy to change. It simply needs to be painted over with two coats of paint. With the machine Chouinard uses, the finished product feels like part of the wall. “You don’t feel anything; it becomes part of the architecture itself,” he says.
The machine is manufactured by a company in North Carolina, where Chouinard went to train on the technology. Now, he’s the only person offering the service in New England, he says. He’s targeting commercial clients, ranging from doctors’ offices and schools to restaurants and shops.
During the first six months of business, social media ads showing the technology in action have been essential for getting the word out. “I’ve gotten much more positive feedback from those ads than I was expecting,” Chouinard says.
He has also tapped into the expertise and resources from the Small Business Development Center (SBDC), Business Network International (BNI), and Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) to grow his new venture.
Chouinard has a goal for his first year in business: print at least 10,000 square feet of images. As of May, he had completed about 4,000 square feet, and is optimistic about achieving his goal. “I’ve have had so many opportunities recently open that I had no idea were even out there,” he says.
