A man who once served time in prison and took it upon himself to rehabilitate his life has now started a printing service.

John D. Seaman, 33, said ever since getting out of prison nine years ago he has made strides to improve his life.

Mr. Seaman has started a printing company called Personalized Printing Services, a business in the Cedarparkade that does everything from printing business cards to enlarging "Super Photos'' and making posters and t-shirts.

The business started eight months ago and has been growing steadily ever since.

"We started this company with next to nothing,'' Mr. Seaman recalled. "At the time we had around $5,000 worth of equipment.

"Instead of taking a wage we put all of the money back into the business so that it could grow. Now we have over $200,000 worth of equipment.'' The idea for the company came while working as a supervisor with a post prison programme called the Woodshop Programme, designed to make the adjustment from prison life to the outside world a smooth transition.

Roland Hill, one of the directors of the Woodshop Programme and a financial backer, pulled Mr. Seaman aside one day and told him he had the ability to start something that would bring him more financial stability.

"Mr. Hill spoke to me and said I was a very intelligent person and that he was sure I could think of something that was more financially viable,'' Mr.

Seaman said. "So I went home that night and thought about what I could do and came up with the idea of the printing service.'' While the company was new, there were no other printing companies on the Island which offered as wide a variety of printing services, he claimed. And Mr. Seaman said that was the impetus for starting the company.

"My plan was to tap into a market that was not fully tapped in Bermuda,'' he explained.

But he admitted the company had grown faster and further than he anticipated it would.

"I expect that by the end of the year the company will be completely on it's feet financially, as it starts to make itself an important part of Bermuda's business world,'' Mr. Seaman said.

Released from prison in 1988, the eager entrepreneur said he understands as an ex-inmate the difficulties involved in trying to regain employment.

He said because of his past life Personalized Printing offered training to ex-inmates and youth who show the desire to better their lives.

"Although I regretfully have a record, for the past nine years of my life I have been doing everything I could to get my life back on track and help those in a similar predicament,'' he stressed.

Cleveland Simmons, a supervisor at the Woodshop Programme and an ex-inmate himself, said Mr. Seaman was a perfect example of what an ex-inmate can do when given an opportunity to shine.

He recalled that he brought Mr. Seaman in to run the Woodshop and it was not long before his "keen business sense'' began to pay off for the programme.

But he said at the time work was not always steady at the Woodshop and he and Mr. Hill could see there was more Mr. Seaman could be doing with himself.

"He went right to work getting this business here up and running,'' Mr.

Simmons said. "One of the things planned is training of young people two to three nights a week.'' While noting that the company has had full-time employees since its inception, Mr. Seaman said he has also hired trainees who were getting paid and receiving on-the-job training. At the same time, he added, they were giving the company much needed extra hands.

"Young people today are not motivated to do constructive things with their lives,'' Mr. Seaman pointed out. "And I think that the generation before them has basically failed them.

"Some parents are so busy working two jobs to help make ends meet that children are left to figure out things for themselves, and make the best of what they see.'' Mr. Seaman said today's youth have to be given a chance to make something of their lives and that older people have to show them they can be more than just wall sitters.

"So I'm going to tell them, you don't have to be non-productive and participate in non-productive activities like drinking and smoking,'' he said.

"I find most young people I talk to have very creative minds and if they can be motivated to channel their energies in the right direction, Bermuda would have a most promising future.'' Mr. Seaman went on to say he was willing to take any young person willing to learn and teach them everything there was to know about the business.

He said he was also willing to help them develop any ideas they might have, with a long-term goal to have them own or manage their own businesses.

Personalized Printers has nearly 150 businesses and individuals who use or have used the services they offer.

In addition to the many services it offers, Personalized Printers closes later than most of its competitors. "Many of our clients stop here on their lunch hour to place an order and pick it up in the afternoon or evening which is cool because we are open nights as late as 10 p.m.,'' Mr. Seaman said. Asked if he was worried about the possibility of copy-cat competition, he added: "We are well ahead of any competitors trying to tap into this market. And we offer way too many services. Plus the quality of our work can't be beat.

People want to see you can produce good work.''