After more than two decades in the promo industry, it’s liberating to own a company, says Amy Bendahan, founder and CEO of Curata Merch (asi/439114) in Canada. She’s now free to make big decisions and exercise creative skills gleaned from experience at large distributorships.

But it’s also a challenge – ongoing trade tension with the U.S., economic pressures, tight budgets and, at the same time, high expectations among clients are all to be contended with.

“The friction is real and you have to hang on as tight as you can,” she said. “Cost unpredictability is the biggest issue that we’re seeing – it takes longer for us to get quotes from our supplier partners, and it takes longer for us to get quotes to our clients because we have to be aware of all the taxes, duties, customs and changes taking place on a regular basis. You have to have flexible options and a diverse supplier network.”

In this episode of Promo Insiders, Bendahan discusses the challenges – and opportunities – she sees as an experienced distributor leading a lean team.

“We can’t outsize the larger players, but we can certainly outthink them,” she said. “We’re more agile, more flexible. We don’t have layers of approval, so we can test new ideas and new channels more quickly than some of our larger competitors.”