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Reputation, Reliability, and Retirement Plans: A Different Kind of Painting Business with Jeremy Gunn · Epic Entrepreneurs

• 0:30
  Speaker 1: Hey there and welcome to this week's episode of Epic Entrepreneurs.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: I'm super pumped.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: I've got a friend on the line today, which is kind of cool.
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: We've known each other for a little while.
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: We were actually at a conference together.
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: But before we get to my friend, I want to tell you a little bit about and remind you we've got the Asheville Business Summit coming up September 23rd.
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: It's time to get your tickets.
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: We're past Labor Day.
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: It's time I know you're last minute people Get your tickets now.
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: It's going to be amazing.
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: We've got nine amazing speakers.
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: We're talking about how to take the events of Hurricane Aline and make it a catalyst to explode our business community here in Western North Carolina.
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: Now I'm super pumped.
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: Today I've got my friend Jeremy Gunn from JBG Painting out there in Wilmington, north Carolina.
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: So welcome.
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: Tell us a little bit about you, your business, how you got here, all that stuff.
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: Oh, I appreciate it, bill.
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: It was a nice surprise popping up and seeing you on the other side of the screen.
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: So yeah, the quick snapshot I guess the Cliff Notes version how JBG got started.
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: We've been in business about four and a half years now.
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: Started off just kind of as an experiment.
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: I didn't want to work for anybody anymore, so I started an LLC and decided to just try to go out and paint.
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: My background is in the restoration industry.
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: I started there just cleaning carpets and hanging drywall and worked my way through administrative duties and estimating and dealing with adjusters and customers on the front and forefront, so my customer service level has always been elevated.
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: I've always found satisfaction in helping others also.
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: So once we moved here we came from Michigan about 10 years ago I started to help out in a company that was based out of Fayetteville.
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: They were looking for someone to grow their coastal division and so I took that position.
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: It was a great move for us because we wanted to get out of the cold and my wife was a registered nurse at the time so she was able to pretty much relocate at any time.
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: So we tried it out for a year and decided we really want to just lay down roots in Wilmington, love Wilmington and bought a house and so stayed with that company for a few years and found that the subcontractor-based customer service in the area was not good.
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: I was no problem selling the work and handling what I had to do, but trying to find the work to get done, trying to find people to come in and do what we needed very, very difficult.
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: So the decision was made let's give it a try, let's start our own thing and see where it goes.
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: Figure, if I just answer the phone and do a good job, maybe we'll find success.
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: And so it just kind of started there.
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: Um ended up hiring somebody within a few short weeks of being open so that I could continue and, you know, get the appointments that were coming in and write estimates and do the things I need to do.
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: And I still painted for about the first year and a half of the business.
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: But um slowly have grown over the last four years to where we now have, uh, three vans, two trucks and seven people working full-time, and myself and my wife now my wife is almost full-time in the business and so all together we got nine people that function and work here at JBG.
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: So that's the.
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: We primarily focus in painting.
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: That's the high-end painting.
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: We work in people's homes.
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: All of our people are W2 employees.
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: We provide Blue Cross, blue Shield and 401k benefits.
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: We match 3%.
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: Those are things we worked for.
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: We set goals and made them happen.
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: So that's the cliff notes, the stop and start version.
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a great story.
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: I mean I know, for example, like in health benefits, I mean very few businesses with less than 10 employees are able to do that and match the 401k.
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: So well done on setting your goals in there.
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: Let me ask you a couple of things.
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: It's different working for yourself and working for someone else.
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: Uh, when you took the leap, so what would you do differently if you had to start over?
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: Uh, you know, everything I've done has got me to the to what I'm doing now.
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: Um, I think that has got me to the to what I'm doing now.
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: Um, I think that one good thing I started doing, um, right out of the gate, is actually working with a business coach.
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: Uh, we, we started off in like a group coaching format.
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: I had an opportunity to do a uh uh a session.
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: It was a 30 day called 30 X.
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: Um kind of opened my eyes a little bit, made me ask some new questions.
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: I think that the timing of that was perfect for me.
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: Um, I've always been somebody who I'm not really set in my ways.
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: I'm always open to something new.
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: So I I went to this little conference, little meeting thing to just find out what this was about because everything was still pretty new at the time and learned about this and participated in it.
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: So it was free.
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: It was what was so great about it?
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: I was like, well, sure, what can I, what can I lose?
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: And so I stuck with it and then got involved in the, in some group coaching, and so it gave me the ability to listen to other business owners, round table ideas and ask questions that I didn't even really know that I had, so that timing of that was great.
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: As far as what I would do different, honestly, everything I've learned has given me the tools to do what I do every day, so I'm kind of glad I've done what I've done.
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: I've made the mistakes that I've made and then learned from them, so I can't say I'd do anything different.
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: Yeah, no, I love it, by the way, he works with my friend Reggie, who is it, who is part of our Action Coach community, and so, yeah, I love that, I love it all.
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: Yeah, this was not planned.
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: This was not by design.
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: I didn't realize this was going to anything with Action Coach.
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: It was pretty cool.
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, like we, we actually were at a conference, and we'll talk about that a little bit later together.
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: I want to, I want to, I want to get your take on the conference, but yeah, um, yeah, so, speaking of which, now you have you wouldn't change anything.
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: It doesn't sound like cause you have to go through the learnings, but there have been some learnings, so what?
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: what are maybe one or two of the bigger learnings that you've gotten along the way?
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: Uh, one learnings that you've gotten along the way One of the biggest things is really qualify your customers.
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: Don't just take anything and everything that you possibly can.
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: When you get started, yeah, I mean it's almost like, oh my gosh, I got to fill my pipeline, I got to get the work, I got to find people that are going to hire me, and so you know, in the beginning, definitely there are some things that I did and took and took on that um, probably underbid myself, um, but again, all these things are learning curve.
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: You know processes, um, if you don't learn from what you do and I still learn I recently just learned a harsh lesson from a customer that I was really really tough customer.
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: I had recently that um looking for red flags and and qualifying those people that you're going to work with.
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: Um, putting your people and you know, setting them, them up for success.
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: You know the bigger we've gotten.
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: Uh, you know I got to look at these jobs as okay, who's, what components are, are going to fit right with the people that I have?
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: Who am I going to put on this job?
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: You know it's these things.
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: As you, as you continue to grow, there's, there's growing pains.
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: You get comfortable and then you got to get yourself uncomfortable again in business and they want some advice.
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: I can't just open the fire hose.
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: I got to listen to where they're at and then I might suggest some things, but a lot of times I will.
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: Two things I always suggest is get involved with your local chamber of commerce to get you around some other businesses and business owners and professionals, professionals, and get involved and tap into some business coaching.
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: You don't have to go full blast and do one-to-one coaching, but tap into it a little bit, learn about it, because that's something that you have the ability to get yourself around other people who have made mistakes that you don't know you're going to make yet, yeah, it's good, and it's also good to have that outside perspective which is out there.
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: So what are some common misconceptions about running a business?
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: Well, everybody thinks that you're just sitting on a pile of money.
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: It's so true.
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: It's the customers, it's the employees, it's the people you interact with who are employed other places.
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: They think, well, you've got a business.
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: You's the employees, it's the people you interact with who are employed other places.
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: They think, well, you've got a business, You're all set, you make all this money.
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: And kind of the common joke I might say to the right people is well, you know, I get to see a lot of money, I just don't get to have any of it.
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: I get to see it come and go.
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: But yeah, I mean, our business does a lot of volume but with that there's a ton of overhead.
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: People don't realize what that costs, what it takes to insure your vehicles, to insure your people.
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: I carry full general liability and workers' comp Numbers like that.
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: If you tell that to the typical individual who's going to work Monday through Friday, they can't even wrap their head around it.
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: So I don't even have that conversation with people.
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: But the misconception is that you know if you're billing out for a job chances, you know, and that customer is holding up money or doing something like that, that the small business owner really relies on you paying your bills and you got to.
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: They need that because they got to pay payroll.
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: They got to do that.
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: So they don't think that you're just people, just think you, just, you're all set, you got your business.
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: What's the what's the problem?
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I always say it's kind of like they forget that they actually have expenses even on their own house.
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and you know like in your daily living you have utilities, you have insurance, you have cars, you have I mean, it's all the same stuff in a business, it's just bigger.
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: So, and sometimes it's yeah, it's, it's, it's interesting.
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: So what do?
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: you attribute your growth to?
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: Well, definitely just passion for the, the.
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: I spent my whole life working and analyzing where I would work.
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: Um, as I grew, I I I really liked to dissect the things that it took to to make it work.
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: When I was in the restoration industry, I was so fortunate to really just start from the ground up and be with a company that grew and then get involved in full general management and see numbers and really get my head around.
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: Okay, wow, so there's this much coming in and this much going out and this is what it takes.
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: And so I got an idea until I really got on the forefront and started my own thing.
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: I really truly didn't understand.
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: Until it's your own money, you really don't know.
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: But I think that the growth itself is just sort of based on always being ready to push forward.
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: When the question was posed during, I think, one of the 30X sessions, it was one of the very first ones, I think is when are you going to be finished with your business?
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: I never thought about that.
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: Um, it was a.
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: It was an amazing question to like ask myself, because at the time I was painting and I'm thinking okay, I'm earning a paycheck, I'm going to pay for my van, I'm going to do these different things I'm doing.
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: I'm going to hire somebody new.
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: But I never really planned on not doing it.
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: I always just planned on okay, I just don't have to work for somebody else.
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: When I heard that question, it kind of made me think to myself okay, well, that's a different way to look at this.
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: I'm going to build something to sell.
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: I'm going to build something to finish, to walk away from, to step away from, I think.
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: Once I heard that, I kind of changed my mindset.
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: So my growth trajectory changed.
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: I tried to figure out how to have things happen without me always having my hands on them, and so starting to build the systems and starting to do the things that I needed to do, and that's, you know, more involvement in coaching, more involvement in other businesses, looking at other businesses that are doing huge volume, have lots of employees.
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: What is it you're doing?
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: Asking the questions.
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: So constantly learning, constantly asking questions and constantly re-systemizing what you do.
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah, no, I love that, I love that.
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: So talk a little bit about balancing.
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: I mean businesses.
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: When you first go into it it's a kind of all the time thing.
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: How do you balance the personal life with the business life?
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: I'm probably an odd duck, coming from the restoration industry.
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: I spent almost 20 years in that industry where you're always on call, the money is in the after hours stuff.
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: So if you work for the right companies, you can have a very I had a very successful career, you know, financially it was phenomenal.
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: We we live very comfortably with my wife as an RN and myself in this business.
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: But it took having the phone, you know, being ready.
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: So my wife and I might be out and about getting ready to go shopping or go to dinner or go do something and my phone's going to ring and I just U-turn and go to work.
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: Um, I have a built-in sense of urgency because of doing that for so long.
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: So I'm probably different than some people.
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: I'm, I'm, I'm okay to keep more in the work side, so I pushed a lot more in it.
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: Um, uh, as far as you know the balance, I mean honestly, I get enjoyment out of going to networking events and being around other people and growing my business.
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: I'm, I'm excited about it.
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: So I spend most of my time, you know, in the, you know working on the growth of the business and what I can do for it.
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: Um, but over time and I really just have kind of dedicated my schedule to try to make sure I've always got nothing going on a Saturday, try to always make sure that my Fridays are tailored to just wrap up and come home Um.
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: Sundays I do my payroll, so it is what it is, and Sundays I do my payroll, so it is what it is.
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: But I guess it's just.
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: You know, I don't need it and luckily my wife is supportive of that.
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, well, no, I get it.
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: I mean, I've asked a couple of my clients like what do you do for fun?
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: And a couple of them have just said I work and it's okay.
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: I mean that's just who they are.
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: They.
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: I mean they still, they still enjoy their family and everything else, but they, but they really like what they do and so I think it's great, I think, but I tailor my schedule, though, through the week to do the things I want to do If I want to go work out.
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: I set that time to go work out.
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: So mean there is balance.
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: I I set my schedule, I I'm, I do it appropriately.
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: Yeah, if, if my wife needs something, if I need to change something or mo what.
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: What I've done at this point with our business is that I have gotten it so that the production pretty much goes um.
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: I'm, I'm on the front end on the sales piece and setting things up, but I have a field manager who really that's awesome and a team lead who I really don't have to worry too much about being on site.
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: I pop in, make sure it's good.
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: Right, work on the business.
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: Yeah, no, I love that, I love that, and that's a natural progression.
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: So what qualities do you look for in employees like this?
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: Ops manager.
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: So what we do is different than probably most of the painting companies that are out there.
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: I don't touch apartments and we don't do new construction, really for that matter.
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: We do some reconstruction, we'll do some renovation type stuff, but we're primarily in the higher end market.
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: So I need people who are absolutely reliable, can make sure they are at my facility prior to our start time, which is 8 am.
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: People they'll work in like a subcontracted or a 1099 format where you're told to show up at a job.
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: They become pretty complacent.
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: They kind of show up and come and go as they need to.
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: I can't have that because I work for people.
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: We work in their homes while they're there, um, you know.
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: So I need people that understand that.
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: I need people that understand the front end, that it's sometimes you don't just go in and blow out all the ceilings and do all the things you're going to do on a typical paint job that you might have to tailor the job around their schedule.
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: They might have a home office that they work in certain days of the week.
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: So you know we got to make sure they're able to use their kitchen at night and sleep in their beds week.
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: So you know we got to make sure they're able to use their kitchen at night and sleep in their beds.
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: So I look for people that understand that, that have a little more organizational skills, not just painting skills, not just you know, mud work skills and things like that.
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: You you have.
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: You have to have some some good coordinating people skills and team teamwork skills.
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: Those are those are primarily what I look for.
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: I love that.
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and they're out there.
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: I mean, a lot of times we'll hear it's hard to find good help, but they're out there.
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: You got to work, you got to look for them.
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: Well, we got to stack value for those people.
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: The people that have those qualities aren't necessarily just looking for a wage.
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: They are looking for a place where they've got maybe a retirement option or definitely the insurance benefits.
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: You know people that have families and homes and things that are they're not just working for their beer money.
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: You know people that that have some some real things going on in their lives.
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: Those are the people that come to JBG and they stay Um and we have employee retention.
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: I've got I've got employees I got four right now that um, one of them has been with me three years.
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: One of them has been with me over two and then two of them one of them's like a year and a half and another one's a year Um, and we've only been open for four and a half years.
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: So this year in fact, 2025, as soon as we started the Blue Cross, blue Shield, um, I have only had two people turn over.
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah, no, you're all doing the right thing, Pretty solid yeah.
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, you got to have retention of employees in this business.
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: I mean, I like what you're doing, Since you're high end.
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: You got to be high end, yeah you got to be consistent.
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah, all the end.
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: Hey, I've got a little bit of a.
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: You know my tagline's be epic and it's an acronym and so um it it.
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: I'm going to just ask you for a couple of thoughts like quick, quick, sort of a quick fire round on on the on the five things.
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: So the B part of it's bring the energy, and I know you're an energetic guy, so tell me what your thoughts are on bringing energy.
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: I got to lead by example.
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: You know I get excited about the opportunities and I share those opportunities with our people.
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: We get an opportunity.
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: We got very fortunate to be able to paint an iconic building here in Wilmington the Bellamy Mansion, and getting our team excited about that that.
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: Hey look, you're going to touch something that is historic.
• 20:21
  Speaker 2: You're going to, you're going to change the face of something that people come and see every single day in Wilmington.
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: The right people get excited about that too.
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: Our team members are excited about that.
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I love that because I mean, yeah, it's, it's cool, one of the cool things.
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: I mean you don't think about like painting as being something like that, but hey look, I painted that building.
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: I you know, I you know.
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: I painted that house.
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: I you know, that's a.
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a.
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: I had an architecture client the same way, like I designed that thing.
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: You know it was.
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: You know it's something that's going to last a long time and be out there for a while.
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: All right.
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: The E stands for education.
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: What are your thoughts on education?
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: Oh, you got to constantly be learning, always have something in the pipeline, be reading something or listening to something or be a part of something.
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: You know, for me, the business coaching thing is such an important piece.
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: Business coaching thing is such an important piece, um, the the ability to.
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: That's why we, that's why I ramped up into the one-to-one coaching, because I I got, I think, a year under my belt of group coaching and I needed more.
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: Um, I wanted more, I felt there was more.
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: So, um, you have to constantly take ownership of everything you're doing, and so learning and getting educated on those things.
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, you got to, and everybody if you, if you, life's congruent right, so you got to be.
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: You got to be educated if you're going to want your people to be learning and getting better too.
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: So the P stands for planning.
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: I know you got to plan.
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: Well, what's your thoughts on planning?
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: Well, yeah, that's great.
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: That's a good question.
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: Um, sometimes you can plan and it doesn't all go according to plan Um, the, the, the, the plan, the general plan, um, overall.
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: Uh, I have a certain level of revenue that I need to be bringing in each each month in order to consider hiring another employee.
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: I also have a certain number of jobs in a pipeline.
• 22:23
  Speaker 2: Um, I kind of set those standards, um, so that I can help you know, gauge a decision when I'm ready to make that next level of.
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: You know, okay, we're going to jump, we need more people.
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: Okay, this is what we need to do.
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: Um, general planning, it's, it's.
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: It's good to have your consistent meetings with your team.
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: Um, I have a always a Friday meeting.
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: We have our daily huddles.
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: Um, those things are important because it helps the, the consistency through the, through the rest of the organization with that planning.
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: My wife and I, on Fridays, after the team meeting, she and I then go through our whole CRM and update that, because I'm terrible with that, but she's great, so I sit down and I let her do it.
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: That's the important stuff.
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: I love that.
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: I stands for inspiration.
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: So what are your thoughts on either finding inspiration or being an inspiration, or just in general?
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: I get that from a couple of different areas.
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: I get it from the um opportunities to be around the other business professionals and listen to the people that I, that I, that I feel inspired by that, I, I, I listened to, like, wow, you know they, they've done these things and they've had the same problems, and that makes me feel human when it, when it's in a situation like that, to hear those things, but yet maybe they're running a 10 or a 20 or a hundred million dollar business and and and listening to the things that they've done, it's like I'm doing those things Cool, um.
• 23:54
  Speaker 2: But when it comes to giving inspiration, nothing inspires me more than a new young person, business owner, whatever, coming up to me and saying how did you do what you've done?
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: Or coming to I'm a heavy hitter in the chamber of commerce.
• 24:12
  Speaker 2: I run a 60 plus person meeting twice a month.
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: Um, I run it really, really tight and everybody gets their opportunity.
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: But like having having people continue to come to that and want to be a part of that, um, that's incredibly inspiring to see those people come in.
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: Everybody wants to shake your hand, everyone wants to say hi, um, that's, it's cool.
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: It feels great to be a part of that community.
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: I love that.
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: Other things like that, rotary, those those types of things yeah.
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah, no, I love it.
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: Love it, get involved, be involved, show that energy.
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: It is an inspiration.
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: So the last one, c is, stands for commitment.
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: So my level of commitment is, first and foremost, to the any promises, anything that I make um on a daily basis.
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: Um, I'm uh, I'm sober, I'm uh, I am coming up on six years of.
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: Ah, congrats, that's awesome.
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: Yep, I drank every day of my life.
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: I was, I drank daily Um, I I cut it out of my life entirely.
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: So that's the first one Every day.
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: I'm committed to that and I'm an advocate for it.
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: If somebody needs it, I'm here for them.
• 25:26
  Speaker 2: I don't shove it down their throat.
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: But if somebody wants some help, I'm here for it.
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: But commitment to you know, if I make a promise or if I do something for my employees, I say I'm going to do something I try to push for know if I make a promise or if I do something for my employees, I say I'm going to do something, I try to push for a goal or something like that, I, I stay, I stick with it.
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: But I'm also transparent.
• 25:43
  Speaker 2: If something's you know, something's not right, I mean I'm committed to making sure people you know I'm truthful and and and and people understand if there's something we need to make a change with Um, if there's something we need to make a change with In general, just committed to doing the right, making the right decisions when it comes time to it and thinking it through.
• 26:02
  Speaker 2: No knee-jerk reactions.
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: You know, really, really do the right thing.
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: Yeah, no, I love it.
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: Before I ask you the last question, jeremy and I were lucky enough to hang out for three or four days in England.
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: He made an investment to go to BizX, which there's one in Houston this year, coming up in October.
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: But yeah, tell us a little bit about your decision to make that investment and how was it.
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: Tell us about it.
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: Well, just to make the decision to go.
• 26:38
  Speaker 2: I mean, I have developed a very good relationship with my coach, reggie.
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Reggie's awesome.
• 26:48
  Speaker 2: He's really someone in my life who I I trust and lean on.
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: Um, I consider him a friend.
• 26:57
  Speaker 2: We joke, we shoot texts back and forth through the week.
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: It's not just a.
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: We meet and we talk about business.
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: He's he.
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: We've gotten, I think, pretty close and I look at him as a mentor.
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: He said I don't ask too many people for advice.
• 27:10
  Speaker 2: Um, I, I generally can't.
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: I kind of function at a little different level than the majority of the population.
• 27:16
  Speaker 2: I hate to say that it may sound arrogant, but he's someone who I man.
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: He can beat the crap out of me.
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: I need it.
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: So when he said you should go to this.
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: I didn't question it.
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: I said, okay, what do we got to do?
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: Let's plan for it.
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: Let me see what it costs, let me go ahead, buy the ticket, let me start the process.
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: Um, and then, okay, cool, and uh, it didn't take him convincing me Um other than just the fact that he just said you, there's nothing like being there in person and seeing it.
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: I, you just have to experience it.
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: Okay, that was, that was all it took, because I trust him that much.
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: Um, so when we went, um, just the general atmosphere, um, I, I can't, it's like kind of the way he explained it.
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: You have to be there to experience it.
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: You have to see these people stand up on stage and and how they tell their stories and and where they've come from and where they've gone and what's to come.
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: Um, the big, a lot of the big topic there this year was the ai technology, and it's interesting how much they pushed that and then how much they are have already been right um with you know, because I immediately tried to get myself more involved with it after we left the conference.
• 28:35
  Speaker 2: But now, seeing exactly what they're saying is exactly what's happening and it's the trajectory of these people, what they know, um, there's just nothing like it.
• 28:44
  Speaker 2: And then just to be around such a great, inspiring people of all levels, people that have one or two employees or they're just in business to themselves, and people that have got 500 employees or just something, and they can be sitting at the same table with you and you are in the same sort of category.
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: You're all there to do the same thing.
• 29:04
  Speaker 2: You're there to get something out of this conference and to try to pull from it.
• 29:08
  Speaker 2: That's the only way I can really describe it.
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's, it's really, it really is hard.
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: I mean, all I would tell people is what you just said buy the ticket, buy the ticket.
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Just buy the ticket.
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: Start the process.
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: If you buy the ticket, you spend some money.
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: It's like taking a vacation.
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: If you don't buy the ticket or rent a place, you're never going to go.
• 29:33
  Speaker 2: Yeah, start the, the process, plan for it, put it into your, put it.
• 29:34
  Speaker 2: Don't just try to wait till the last minute, I mean, just do it like you do, yeah, you won't do it, yeah invest in it.
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: You know, take the time and figure it out yeah, it is an investment in yourself.
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: I mean, I, we had a, yeah, I learned, I learned a ton.
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: We had a great time and it was fun.
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: It was fun and we learned a ton.
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: And you know, we, we put a lot in things.
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: So, yeah, thanks for hanging out with us for a long time.
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: I had a great time, Really I got to hang out with y'all because it was, I mean, you know, for those of you, if you're in the Wilmington area you want to get with Reggie Shropshire in Action Coach, and if you're up here in Western North Carolina or anywhere else you know, you want to get with us.
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: So yeah, it's, yeah, so, but anyway that's awesome stuff.
• 30:21
  Speaker 2: So hey, last question what advice would you give to other business owners who are looking to grow, always the two things I mean.
• 30:25
  Speaker 2: I always say get involved in a chamber of commerce.
• 30:27
  Speaker 2: The chamber of commerce has been, for me, pivotal.
• 30:31
  Speaker 2: It was right out of the gate for me, because there's generally you've got to look into the location of where you are and if they've got some sort of a business network meeting that they do which they should they should have ribbon cutting.
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: They all have it, they all have stuff.
• 30:46
  Speaker 2: So find those things.
• 30:47
  Speaker 2: Find those things because it's going to put you around the like-minded people.
• 30:51
  Speaker 2: It's going to put you around the like-minded people.
• 30:52
  Speaker 2: It's going to put you in the place.
• 30:53
  Speaker 2: If you own a business or you're starting a business, you don't have many.
• 30:56
  Speaker 2: You can't just talk to your neighbors, you can't just talk to your family.
• 31:00
  Speaker 2: You're in a very, very small percentage of people.
• 31:02
  Speaker 2: So you have to seek out the people that are doing the same thing you're trying to accomplish.
• 31:08
  Speaker 2: And then you know, just tap into some business coaching, action coaches, amazing start off programs that'll get you asking the questions Um, that is for me, that's, that's, that's.
• 31:21
  Speaker 2: All it took is is being a part of 30 X and and just changing, just just kind of retooling, giving me something to think about, cause when you start a business, you kind of you know, I don't know, everybody's probably at different levels.
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: but my deal was I just didn't want to work for anybody else anymore and I wanted to make more money.
• 31:38
  Speaker 2: You know that's, that's it.
• 31:38
  Speaker 2: You just you think you think you can make, cause that's the kind of we said in the very beginning.
• 31:42
  Speaker 2: The misconception is you get to have all the money.
• 31:45
  Speaker 2: Well, that's not really it.
• 31:47
  Speaker 2: You learned that very quickly.
• 31:48
  Speaker 2: But there's so many directions that you can go.
• 31:54
  Speaker 2: You just got to have some guidance of what those directions even are, and and and.
• 31:59
  Speaker 2: Having a business coach can start that path for you.
• 32:02
  Speaker 2: You learn things that you just wouldn't ever even learn unless you.
• 32:07
  Speaker 2: You have that, that individual guiding you through a little bit.
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: Yeah no, I love it.
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: I love it.
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: Well.
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: I do have one more question.
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: I lied it.
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: Well, I do have one more question.
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: I lied it's not.
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: This is the last question.
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: So if people want to get ahold of you or JBG painting, how did they get ahold of?
• 32:21
  Speaker 2: you.
• 32:22
  Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, we got a lot of places you can find us.
• 32:24
  Speaker 2: Of course, we're on Facebook and Instagram.
• 32:27
  Speaker 2: Jbg Services LLC is our Facebook name.
• 32:32
  Speaker 2: I think it's the same for Instagram.
• 32:34
  Speaker 2: Um, we have a Facebook, or, I'm sorry, we have a website, um, that's wwwjbgpaintingcom, which is about to be completely revamped.
• 32:44
  Speaker 2: It's very exciting.
• 32:45
  Speaker 2: We're going to have quizzes on there to take that sweet like be able to give you some ideas.
• 32:49
  Speaker 2: Are you ready for this type of paint job?
• 32:51
  Speaker 2: Do you have a historic home?
• 32:52
  Speaker 2: We're going to have a place you can play with colors.
• 32:54
  Speaker 2: It's awesome.
• 32:56
  Speaker 2: We're really excited.
• 32:57
  Speaker 2: We have somebody who's also involved in Action Coach, who does Story Brand, and our website's going to be completely revamped so big things to come there.
• 33:07
  Speaker 2: Of course, my phone number, our business number, is 910-515-0806.
• 33:15
  Speaker 2: You can call, you can text, you know any way you can communicate through the website.
• 33:21
  Speaker 2: We're very easy to get ahold of.
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's awesome, that's awesome, hey look.
• 33:26
  Speaker 2: Jeremy, see our trucks, look for our trucks on the road.
• 33:28
  Speaker 2: You see a big black van with a yellow roller, honk and wave.
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: Hey, thanks.
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: Hey, listen, I really appreciate you being on here and it's good to catch up and I'm glad that things are going well for you and you're growing, and I appreciate all the kind words about uh, Reggie and action coach and it's just awesome.
• 33:47
  Speaker 2: So thank you, Hi it's all it wasn't well.
• 33:50
  Speaker 2: Like I said, this wasn't by design.
• 33:51
  Speaker 2: No, I know.
• 33:53
  Speaker 2: It's 100% true.
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: I looked up and I was like I know, Jeremy.
• 33:57
  Speaker 2: That's pretty cool.
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: Hey, and until next week, all the best.