All I wanted was a little bit of black dust for one of our monastery printers. In my search for a toner cartridge, I was suddenly struck with how incredibly expensive this black dust and a few squirts of ink were. "There must be a better way," I said to myself.And so began my foray into the world of imaging supplies. What I discovered was a revelation. Simply stated, the mark-up on ink supplies is sinfully high, reaching in some instances into the 1,000-2,000 % levels. I also discovered that there were many companies that manufactured either new compatible cartridges or remanufactured cartridges at a fraction of the cost of the big name brands. My thoughts starting racing. Imagine the money we could save schools, churches, and other organizations if we could negotiate some deals with the manufacturers directly and cut out the middlemen.

LaserMonks.com was born.

The results have been beyond anything we could imagine. Our first year we dipped our feet in the waters and learned more about the industry. We only sold about $2,000 gross the whole year. But then through a college friend of mine, in PR who runs Walker and Associates Strategic Communications, I connected with another PR company in California, K-COMM, who liked us immediately, saw our potential, and took us on as a special project. The two firms worked together to prepare press releases and offers to various media outlets.The train took off down the mountain. One story led to another, to another, to radio shows and speaking engagements, and it hasn't stopped yet.Our sales have soared. From our modest sales in the first year, our sales mulitpied 700% in 2003. We conservatively project doubling or tripling this year. Our customers typically save 30% - 60% through LaserMonks. At only 40% savings, LaserMonks saved our customers over $200,000 last year.

That's a lot of money to use for better things.

So here we were, scrambling to keep up with the growth, trying to arrange for phone coverage for customer service, continuing to negotiate with suppliers, processing orders between our times of prayer. Things were becoming unmanageable.And then the Angels appeared. Out of the blue, I received an e-mail from two ladies in Colorado who had a website selling ink cartridges. For various reasons they had decided to move on to other projects. We had received their offer along with many other online printer supply companies, to sell us their online business. I wrote them back and explained who we were and what we were trying to do. To make a long story short, not only were they delighted to discover us, they offered to come up here to Wisconsin to help us for a few weeks to get our business organized and running well - at no charge.That was in July of 2003. The "angels" and the monks got along so well, and our various gifts and abilities complemented one another so well, that we decided to make the arrangement permanent. Our MonkHelper Angels reside in one of the Abbey houses on the corner of the Abbey property. MonkHelper Marketing, Inc. now handles the management of LaserMonks.com, from business development, technology and website management, all vendor relations, corporate accounts and bid processes, graphics and branding of the LaserMonks name, search engine and technology marketing, marketing and PR, and have built the entire customer service center from the ground up. This leaves the monks free to be monks, first and foremost, along with focusing on developing the business, media relations, advertising, speaking, and even more importantly, finding creative ways to use LaserMonks income to help others.

For media or other inquiries, MonkHelper Marketing, Inc. can be reached at info@monkhelpermarketing.com

• We try to make e-commerce more human through personal and truly caring customer service, that reflects our 900-year tradition of hospitality.
• The LaserMonks website offers an invitation for Prayer Requests.
• Thoughtful phrases and quotations are provided that encourage a moment of reflection and growth in the midst of a busy day.
• Our weblog provides reflections on both monastic and business topics of interest.
• Laughter is good for the soul. Luxor & Ludwig, a feature cartoon produced by Fr. Robert, our superior, provides a humorous view of the monks' life through the eyes of the Abbey mascots, our Egyptian Pharoah Hound and Doberman Pinscher.
• Our charitable works page highlights the various ways that LaserMonks and the monks of the Abbey endeavor to help others throughout the world.
• The LaserMonks Newsletter is a monthly e-newsletter that provides useful articles and hints relating to efficient management of printing and printers. This newsletter also provides an interest feature on the monks, which shares a little of our life with our LaserMonks customers.
• Handwritten notes of thanks and encouragement from the monks are included in some of our shipments and in occasional correspondence with our customers.
• Our telephone service and auto-attendant are designed to be cheerful, encouraging and thankful, even including our own Cistercian Gregorian Chant for any moments that one must be on Hold.

LaserMonks save our customers money, lots of money. They can use these savings for all sorts of good works. But there's even more good news to the story. By purchasing printing supplies from LaserMonks, our customers not only save money, they support the monks' modest life of prayer and our good works. By helping you save money, we can help others throughout the world. Everyone wins with LaserMonks. Isn't that the way business should be?The monks and the MonkHelpers thank you for your interest in LaserMonks, our products, and our efforts to help others through your support. We hope you will share our story, our savings, and our good works with your friends and acquaintances.

May you be abundantly blessed with prosperity of soul.