Latest / Epic Entrepreneurs / Scaling A Painting Company Starts Behind The Scenes with Daniel Creft, R7 Painting Service

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Scaling A Painting Company Starts Behind The Scenes with Daniel Creft, R7 Painting Service · Epic Entrepreneurs

• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: All right everyone, welcome to this week's episode of Epic Entrepreneurs.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: I am Cliff McCray with Action Coach Business Growth Partners, where we work with local business owners to turn big ideas into real scalable growth.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: Today I'm excited to be joined by Daniel Creft with R7 Painting Service.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: Daniel, how are you doing today?
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_01: So far, so good.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for asking, Cliff.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_01: How are you?
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just trying to stay dry out there.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: It's you know, we're getting this in a downpour rain.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: So uh just happy to have you here.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: And so if you don't mind, let's go ahead and jump right into things.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_01: All righty.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: So for those of you who may not know it yet, you know, what is R7 Painting Service and what do you provide for the community?
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_01: Well, R7 Painting Services, it's my company.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_02: We offer interior, exterior painting, drywall repair, and wallpaper removal, wallpaper application, popcorn ceiling removal, and a bunch of other painting-related services, home painting specifically.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, we do some commercial stuff.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_02: It's mostly residential repainting and deck staining, etc.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, and who is Daniel Kraft as a person?
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: What do you have what do you have going on personally?
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_02: I am a father of four.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_02: I've been I'm born and raised in North Carolina.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_02: I grew up in High Point.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_02: I've been in Asheville since 2007.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and I guess my you know, my main interests are just like hiking and I don't do a lot.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_02: As I said, I'm a father, I'm a father of four, so that's most of my energy is just, you know, providing for my family.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, just my main intention is just to be a good employer, offer a good service to the community, and just you know, bring out the best in myself and those around me.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_02: Nice.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: Nice, nice.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: Now, you know, let's go ahead and get right into the business side of things, you know.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: What would you say is something about running your business that people think is amazing when it's actually not?
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_02: Uh let's see.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_02: Well, not amazing.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: He's like, man, which one should I pick?
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean it's it's business itself is just really challenging.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_02: It it's we you know, people see a finished product, and it really takes a lot for us to coordinate everything and to keep jobs coming in and you know, get ourselves there and do everything that we do.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_02: But, you know, which part is not amazing?
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_02: I guess it's just the behind the scenes part of it.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's it's it's it's like it's very necessary.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_02: It's not so fun, not so cool, but it has to be done because that's what you know the wheels are turning to make it, you know, what everybody sees.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_02: It's like that's the presentation, but this the things that go on behind the scenes are really the the hardest part.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: So you're saying kind of the the operational side?
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yeah.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: Not just the actual painting itself, right?
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: The operational side of business.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, the the the painting part is I won't say the least of it, but it's like, you know, it's it's like the easiest part.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_02: It takes the technical skill, but the the harder part is really just you know, marketing and hiring and you know, doing the outreach and keeping everything, uh keeping track of everything and all that kind of stuff.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_02: That's that's really the challenging and more difficult part.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_02: I guess it just depends on your personality type.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_02: But for a person like me, that's the least glamorous part of it because I started out as a painter.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_02: I didn't start out as a business person.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_02: I just, you know, got into the construction industry and then eventually ended up owning my own business.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_02: And yeah, so I transitioned from being like a laborer to being a business owner.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_02: So the labor part is easy, but the admin part is really more difficult.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: Now, Danny, what would you say was the exact moment where you realized, you know, this business could either really work or it could completely blow up in your face and you lose everything?
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I'm still still have those moments every every so often, to be honest.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, I would say 2024 was, you know, I like I said, I've been on my own pretty much since 2018.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_02: I've had a helper here and there.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_02: But there was a period where like I decided to join a painting business owner community, which offers coaching and, you know, other services to help us on the business side of things.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_02: And that year, 2024 had been the busiest year for me to date, uh, you know, working on my own.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_02: And I came across this community and said, hey, they had a pretty good guarantee.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_02: It was like, you know, if they don't deliver a certain amount of dollars per, you know, the first three months or something like that, then you get your money back.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_02: So I was like, well, hey, if it's money back guarantee, then I got really nothing to lose and everything to gain.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_02: And so I joined it, and business really for it was the summer, it was like July, maybe June, July, and that usually is the busiest time for me.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_02: But that year I had like a really lull, a really slow period in the busiest part of the year, and it was kind of scary.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_02: So I joined this community anyway, and yeah, yeah, I learned, you know, a lot in a short amount of time as far as what the potential is, you know, because at at that point in my my history as a business owner, I had been the business, didn't really like have workers and stuff like that.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_02: It was just everything is done by me.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, learning what I learned in that short space of time when I joined the community, it was an eye-opener that, yeah, I could be, I don't have to be on job sites all day, every day, and I can have workers doing this for me, and I can hire as many crews as I can manage and make a lot more money.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, it just seemed a lot more appealing than what I had been used to, which was having a pretty low ceiling because as a painter, there's only so many houses you can paint in a week, in a month, in a year, and there's only so much you can charge to do that.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_02: So it really opened my eyes to the fact that, yeah, there's a lot more out there for me.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_02: And at the same time, I'm having this, you know, revelation.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_02: It's like the busy the slowest month of the year in the busy season, and it was really scary.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_02: So it was kind of like a make or break thing.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_02: And a little time passed, things picked back up.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_02: You know, eventually we had the hurricane that year, hurricane Helene, and that was a pretty crushing blow to the community.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_02: But for a painter, for anybody in the construction industry, it was kind of like gold rush in a kind of way.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, and you know, obviously we're not like it wasn't like a happy period, and everybody's like, yeah, let's get this money.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_02: But we did have to come to the rescue for the community and you know, do the things that we had to do to help everybody recover, but just so happens we had to get paid for it.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, it's like that was when my business took off and and propelled me to the next level.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_02: Eventually I shortly after hired, you know, my first full-time employees, and within a couple of months, I was no longer painting and and have been kind of more on the business owner side of it since then.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_02: So I I think that open that answers your question, maybe.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: No, it does.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: It does really well.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: Appreciate that.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_00: So do you do you still currently use that business coaching company?
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_01: I do.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's called Painter Growth.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_02: And I am I've been a member of it s well, funny enough, that time when I joined in the middle of the summer, because it was so slow, I wasn't able to stay in the community because the price they, the way they had the payment plan at that point was a bit harder.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_02: And I wasn't able to keep up with it because it kind of was a rough period for me financially.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_02: But then later on that year in like December, which is you know after the hurricane, after I've already like gotten some much bigger projects, like, you know, full interior repaints because people's houses had been crushed by trees.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_02: So it would have these are jobs that would have taken me like a lot a lot longer to do than probably is really reasonable for a company.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_02: So I had to hire and I got back into the the community and at that point, and that's that's when I stayed in.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_02: The first the first go round I was maybe like six weeks, but then when I joined in December, I've been in there since so December of 2024 until now I'm still currently in there.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and it's really that's been the that's been what's helped me to achieve uh, you know, what I've achieved since then.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_02: I still have a long way to go, in my opinion, but I've come a long way since then for sure.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: So now, Daniel, if you could wave a magic wand and instantly fix one part of your business tomorrow, what would that part of your business be?
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: Magic wand, let's see.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: Hmm.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_02: Kind of where's your weakness, would you say?
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I guess it would just be I would like to have a little bit more help on the management side, like a production manager.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_02: I'm I'm working towards that, but if we're waving magic wands and making things happen immediately, that would be it because I recently hired a salesperson who, you know, from like for the past year and a half, that's the main thing I've been doing in the business is estimating to keep everybody busy and to keep, you know, the income stri you know coming in.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_02: And yeah, so this the salesperson is gonna take that off my plate and free up a lot of my time.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_02: And when that happens, I'm gonna focus more on, you know, managing the actual painting more.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_02: As I mean, I've been managing it over the year, the past couple of like, you know, year and a half.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_02: I've been managing it, but it's you know, only so much time in a day, and I can only spread myself so thin.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_02: So it's kind of been like my attention has been focused on the estimating.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_02: So a production manager would be able to, you know, be more dedicated to the job sites and making sure that the company's standards are upheld, uh, you know, and and also like, you know, monitoring the behavior of the workers and stuff like that, which we don't really have too many problems, but it, you know, obviously you could have a lot more control if you have someone there specifically for managing the job side.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, so yeah, that would be that would take us to the next level.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_02: Someone who's just there to manage jobs and and make sure materials and tools are in place and you know everybody showing up on time and you know staying on code while they're there.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that would be that would be a gig a game changer for us.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_00: Now, what do you think is currently preventing you from getting that solved?
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: Getting that production manager.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, well, I wouldn't say anything's really preventing.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_02: It's just it it takes time, I guess, to like, you know, I I just hired a salesperson, he started on Monday of the last week, and I'm training him.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_02: So if I couldn't hire a production manager at the same time because I wouldn't be able to train him or her properly.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_02: So it's just a matter of getting this salesperson good, like where I can, you know, let him go and do his own thing, and then I would have time to focus on production, then I can eventually hire the production manager.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_02: So it's not really anything.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_02: The only thing I guess the only bottleneck is just my time.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_02: If I was if I had a clone that could train the production manager at the same time, then we'd be good to go.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, gotcha, gotcha.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_00: Now, is there anything about you personally that had to change in order for your business to grow and scale?
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_02: Oh yeah.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_02: Oh yeah.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_02: Well, the level of organization and just my understanding of business in general.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I didn't go to school for business management or anything like that.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_02: I like I said, I I started out as like a laborer in the construction industry.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_02: I started out working for my best friend who owns uh now it's he his company is builds custom homes and does, you know, remodels and stuff like that.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_02: But when I first started working for him, we were doing a lot of shop work, like carpentry.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_02: So I was, you know, coming on an entry level doing a lot of sanding and staining wood and sealing wood and stuff like that.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_02: Minimal carpentry.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_02: So I've, you know, that's where I got started in like finishing, which, you know, is similar to painting, staining, and it's all kind of in the same line of, you know, work.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_02: But over the years it div developed into a building company, and I got to kind of see construction sites and understand the flow of, you know, building a house from foundation to completed.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, I did a lot of different types of tasks while I was there.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, eventually I quit working for him, and that's when I became a painter.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I did some painting for him as well towards the latter part of the time I was working for him.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, once I quit working for him, it's like I was I owned a job, so to speak.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_02: Like I wasn't like an entrepreneur in a sense of having like workers taking care of this and delegating responsibility.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_02: It was all on me.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_02: And it was that it was that way for the first, you know, five years of my existence.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_02: Five, yeah.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, uh, like I said, I had a helper or two, but that's not exactly the same as like having a crew who does all of the work and I'm out doing something else.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, I didn't really know the business side at all.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_02: And so the me, the change in me has been transitioning from being a like a painter to a painting business owner, which that entails a whole lot of, you know, like learning how to recruit, how to how to interview, you know, how to find the right people, you know, like becoming more, I've become more professional as far as like my presentation.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_02: I used to just do quotes, like, you know, I'd go look at the job and then I'd tell them, hey, I'll send you a quote later, and then I would just text message them a price.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, it's like now I have a CRM that, you know, keeps all my contacts and I send a professional proposal with the full scope of work.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, I am able to delegate tasks.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_02: It's not like it's all on me.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_02: I have to be a lot more organized, you know, to because it's like again, it's it's not just me anymore where everything is just in my head and all I have to be responsible for is myself.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_02: It's like I have to think about every person within my business.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_02: Do they have what they need and do they have direction?
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, have I given them instruction?
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_02: Are they clear on their objectives for the day, for the week, for the month, for the quarter, whatever?
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_02: So it just requires a lot more thinking, you know, about others and being uh, you know, I'm a lot more responsible, I guess, you know, in a in that sense that these people are dependent on me for their their their their living expenses and you know their their daily work.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_02: So it just requires me to be a lot sharper and a lot more goal-oriented.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_02: And yeah, I mean, everything about me changed when it comes to work.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_02: It's like I completely did a, you know, total turnaround from, you know, just painting to keeping people employed and and you know, being a good employer.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_00: Now, uh Daniel, let you know, let's say if someone shadowed you, you know, kind of followed you around and shadowed you for a full day or let's say even a full week, what would you say would surprise them the most about how you operate your company?
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_02: Uh let's see.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_02: That's a good question.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know because I don't know how other people do it, but surprise.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_02: Well, let's see.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe it might be surprising how how I do my estimates, how I, you know, show up.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_02: We, you know, we we create we we contact them once we get their info because we have door-to-door marketers who go out in in town and knock on on you know doors and neighborhoods to generate estimates, and we s we get in touch with them, get a little information, then I show up, and while I'm there, we do a walk around and they show me everything.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_02: And then I take just a few minutes and put the proposal together right there for them on site, and then I come and knock on the door and present it, as opposed to like taking, you know, a couple of days or a week or something like that, and then sending them something randomly.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_02: I do it all on site, and that way, you know, as a salesperson, I can get hopefully a yes or no answer at that point and and possibly book the job and get them on the schedule, which, you know, I don't know if everybody does it like that.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_02: I think most people just, you know, by based on my communication with clients, when a lot of times when they say they're getting multiple quotes, they're like, well, we're waiting on the guy to send over this quote, so you know, I I don't have that love period.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, it's for me, I think that way is a lot more streamlined because it's like rather than me, you know, taking however long to get back to the person and they possibly finding someone else in the meantime, I give them I give them a definite price right then and there with a full scope of work.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_02: And yeah, it's just it takes a bit more time, you know, but it's a lot more worthwhile because it's it allows for question and answer, it allows them to give me feedback, as you know, get, you know, I can sort everything out right there on the spot as opposed to going back and forth in emails over a span of weeks, and you know, yeah.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_02: So I don't know if that would be surprising.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_02: It's hard for me to say because I don't know how other people operate their painting companies.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_02: I've never worked for anyone else's, but I know for from my from my own experience, the way I used to do things was definitely like I'll see it and then I'll give you a quote in in a little as soon as possible kind of thing.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that makes sense.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_00: Now, what would you say is one thing you're c you're doing with your company today that's giving you kind of an unfair advantage over your competitors?
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_01: Probably the door-to-door marketing, honestly.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not Yeah, that is pretty big.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_00: I haven't heard that one yet, the door-to-door marketing.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_00: Not not in uh, you know, at least in this day and age.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_00: I think I've heard that, you know, maybe 10 years ago, 20 years ago, but not so much now.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_00: Do they have a lot of success with door-to-door marketing?
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_02: They are the you know, the main driving force business.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_02: Most of our most of our jobs come from door-to-door marketers.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, we do Instagram and Facebook ads and a few other different types of marketing techniques, but the door-to-door definitely leads in the amount of estimates that it it provides for us.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_02: And so, you know, most companies, well, I don't know.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know about most companies.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_02: I know a lot of people rely on word of mouth.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_02: So that's really unreliable, though, you know, because not always are people talking about painters or, you know, that's how I operated for the first period of my, you know, ownership of the business is just waiting on people to call me.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_02: But now I have more, a more assertive approach.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_02: Whereas instead of me waiting passively when I'm sending people out, they're going out, you know, just about every day of the week and you know, looking for the leads and and scheduling the estimates for us.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and that uh, like I said, I don't think many companies do that anymore.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_02: And uh yeah, I think that that may give us a a good advantage over others and helps me to keep my team busy.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_02: Nice, nice.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_00: Now, Daniel, what would you say is the hardest, you know, leadership lesson you've learned while grow while trying to grow your team?
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_02: Leadership lesson.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_02: Well one thing I've learned about being a business owner is that sometimes, you know, in the first periods of your business, it may not be.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_02: For everybody, yeah, but I'm sure I know a lot of other business owners go through this is that you you haven't figured out how to be profitable yet fully and your workers still have to get paid.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_02: So as a leader, you will pay everybody else and sometimes not take home anything for yourself because you care so much about making, you know, good on your promise to your team that you're willing to, you know, do with without so that they can have.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, as a father, it's just kind of the same thing.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_02: You you'll if if your children needed something from you and you had it to give, even if it meant you not having, you would give it to them.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, I mean, I guess it just shows that when you really are dedicated to your business and and the people that you have working for you, you will stop at nothing to make sure that you provide, you know, whatever it is that you agree to provide for them.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_02: So if on my end, it's I I in hiring you take on the responsibility of making sure you're busy and making sure that you get paid.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_02: Even if that means I have to work lots of hours and and and still not make a dollar for the week or whatever, it's like, yeah, you you'll do that if you really are dedicated to, you know, providing what you agreed to provide and you know, making good on your promise.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_00: Love that.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I know.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_00: That that shows that you actually you care about the people that you hire and and you just don't want to hire people and not have any work for them or have to, you know, make a tough call like, hey, I can't give you the work this week, I gotta let you go home, and then you can't pay your bills and all that good stuff, right?
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely, yeah.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_00: Now, all right, perfect.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_00: I uh now we're gonna head into what's called the quick fire round.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_00: So how this works is I'm going to give you one word, and I just want you to give me the first or tell me the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear each word in regards to running your business, and then and then yeah, kind of give me a little blurb after you, you know, kind of choose your word, two or three sentences or a small paragraph on why you chose that.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_00: Does that make sense?
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_02: You're gonna you're gonna say a statement, I'm gonna give you a word and then a short explanation.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_02: All right, you got it.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_02: All right.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_02: First word is success.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_02: Self-defined.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_02: And what I mean by that is what success looks like to you is definitely different than what success looks like to somebody else, and and your definition is sufficient.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_00: Failure.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_02: Letting yourself down.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, while you may let other people down in life, the biggest failure is when you're not happy with yourself because you have to live with yourself.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_00: Like that.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_02: Burnout Entrepreneurship.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_02: Sometimes sometimes that you just that's what it requires.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_02: You have to do what you have to do and you push yourself to the limit and beyond.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_00: Scaling.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_02: Painful.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's scaling comes with a lot of lessons, sometimes really hard lessons, but yeah, it's it's worth it.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_00: Hiring.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_02: Mystery.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_02: You never know.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_02: You never know, like, you know, people interview well, but you never know what they're actually gonna do until they get out there.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_02: And and yeah, sometimes you're really surprised at the the stark difference.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_00: No, I always say, man, I mean, you you can't read somebody off a resume, right?
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_00: All the words on the screen look great, but uh you get them in there and then they can't do the job or they they don't do it as well.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_00: They say they could, right?
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_00: Next word is competition.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_02: Yourself, you know, you you're you should I I won't say you should, but I am my own competition.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_02: I'm just trying to be better every day, every week, every month than I was the last period.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, you know, just continuous improvement.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_00: And the last word is freedom.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, freedom work.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_02: You have to work in this day and age, you have to work to establish and maintain freedom.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, okay.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_00: All right, perfect.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_00: I appreciate you getting through that quick fire around there.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, with all of this talk of AI and self-automation, you know, where do you think your industry is going?
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_00: Where do you think your industry will be 10, maybe even 15 years from now?
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_02: Fifteen years with AI, chances are there'll be a lot more robot painting machines.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_02: Like, you know, right now there's a lot of AI that you can use to automate processes in your business.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_02: The only thing that really is not automated and robot done is the painting part.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_02: But I mean, I've seen videos of robots that do just about everything.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm sure at some point there will be robot house painters and and maybe less human labor force.
• 28:11
  unknown: Okay.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_00: So you do think we'll get to a point where the robots are just do it all, pretty much automated.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_02: It's possible.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know how much people or humans are willing to allow.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_02: But, you know, even if it's just on like a man like a large-scale manufacturing level, I'm sure robots will take over, you know, a lot of the process.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_02: But as far as like going to actual homes and painting, maybe people will not allow that to be robot-dominated aspect of the industry.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_02: But I don't know.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, yeah, it will, you know, robots can do certain things a bit more precisely, so yeah, and more, you know, cost effectively.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, it's possible.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_02: I wouldn't put it past us.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, okay.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_00: Now, what do you think your particular business or franchise will be by 2030?
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_00: By 2030?
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_02: Let's see, 2026 now.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, well, by that point, we should be a pretty well-oiled machine, you know, with all of our systems in place, you know, sufficient management and you know, a well-known name in the in the community, as far as, you know, who to call when you need painting done.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_02: We should have, you know, plenty of good relationships with builders and a really good relationship with, you know, common people in the community.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, just be a really good employer, you know, a company that people know they're gonna work and make a at least a living, a decent living wage.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_02: And and, you know, homeowners will know that this is a company that does good work, they stand by their work and treat their, you know, the customers really well.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_02: So ultimately, you know, internally, I just want to make sure that everyone that works for R7 Painting has a good experience, and that the on the other end, the homeowners have a really good experience as well.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, I don't know how big we will grow.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_02: I don't necessarily like size of the business isn't really the biggest thing for me.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_02: More so is just efficiency and profitability and quality.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_02: That's those are the things that I think are the most important.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_02: So as long as the quality of our work is, you know, consistent and consistently really good and we're efficient in our operation, we know when we have the right system so that we don't have to work extra hard to do simple things.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_02: And yeah, the quality, the quality of our craftsmanship is always at a high standard.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_02: And our workers are, you know, proud and happy to work for R7.
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_02: They know, you know, they know they're not being exploited and they're appreciated and they belong to a company that values them and and you know, looks out for them and is there for them when they're in need.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_02: Or yeah, like a really human-friendly company.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, okay.
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_00: I like that.
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_00: I like that.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_00: Now, and Daniel, this is kind of, you know, I want you to be as candid as you can to the answer in this line, one of these last questions here.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_00: But, you know, let's say a small business owner, small entrepreneur is listening to the podcast episode with you today, and let's say they're just feeling stuck or overwhelmed, they're not profitable so far in 2026.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we're always almost halfway through the year now.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_00: What's a piece of advice you'd want them to hear from you today?
• 32:00
  SPEAKER_02: Well, get look look seek out mentorship.
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_02: You know, you don't have to figure everything out on your own.
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_02: Get a coach or, you know, join some kind of program or something that can help you overcome a lot of the obstacles that you find yourself struggling with because there are people who have gone through the exact same thing as you are going through right now.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_02: And yeah, you could figure it out on your own, but at what cost, you know, like for myself, like I said, I joined the painter growth community and it really allowed me to speed up the process of, you know, going from painter to business owner, entrepreneur.
• 32:45
  SPEAKER_02: So that would be my biggest advice because that's been the biggest, you know, game changer for me is getting someone who knows exactly what I'm going through and can point me in the direction that, you know, it's not like they're gonna tell you everything that you need to know so you never experience a rough day or a slow period or, you know, losses and pain and all that stuff, but they're there to support you when you go through those things because they've probably been through similar stuff themselves.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_02: And yeah, just kind of having that support makes it um a lot more, you you're a lot more hopeful.
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_02: Because when you if you if you didn't have that help and you're going through something like a period where you're just not profiting job after job, you might close your business because you don't know how you're gonna get out of it or how you're gonna change that cycle.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, having someone who knows better than you do can they can tell you, hey, if you just change this and do this differently than you know, in a couple of weeks or a month or however long, you'll start seeing profit and you just keep doing that and you'll be profitable going forward.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_02: So, yeah, I would say look look for look for assistance, look for help, look for guidance, read books and and podcasts and just as much information as possible to help you get to the next skill set level.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, okay.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_00: No, I appreciate that advice.
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_00: Now, Daniel, what's next for R7 Painting Service?
• 34:17
  SPEAKER_00: What should people be excited about coming up in the near future?
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_02: Well, let's see.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_02: We're just what what's next is us continuing to scale.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_02: And with in scaling, we will, you know, our in-house team will get a lot more efficient and more effective, deliver better quality work more consistently.
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, we've been we've been good so far.
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_02: We have a lot of good reviews and we have had a lot of good experiences with homeowners and business owners, you know, but in scaling, we want to do that same thing that we've done on a micro level, on a larger level, a larger scale.
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_02: So to be able to serve more of the community and provide them with, you know, family-friendly experience and you know, just so more of the same, but just a lot more of it.
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_02: Uh and and I mean it's gonna get we'll get better and better, you know, as we continue along.
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_02: And yeah, so you know, if they hire us, they can they can expect only the best.
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we you know, I don't we don't really have any events or anything like that.
• 35:35
  SPEAKER_02: We just uh, you know, we're gonna continue delivering what we deliver to more people.
• 35:41
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 35:42
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 35:42
  SPEAKER_00: I did hear that you are you you're possibly looking for a new tech.
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_02: We are currently interviewing for the lead painter position.
• 35:52
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, I'm looking to hire two good lead painters and then train them.
• 35:58
  SPEAKER_02: And once they're trained and familiar with our standards and you know procedures, then to hire a team for each lead painter.
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_02: So right now we're looking for two, but shortly we'll be looking for two or three more, just you know, painters, not necessarily team leads, but people who either have the painting skill already or are looking to learn a new trade.
• 36:23
  SPEAKER_02: We don't want people who are just, you know, filling out applications and taking whichever job and don't really have any interest in learning the trade.
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_02: I'm looking for people who really want to, you know, be a painter and and you know, invest in themselves to have a trade that they can use anywhere they go.
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, okay.
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_00: And where should somebody reach out to you in case they're interested in or to learn more about what you all do?
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_02: Well, our job listing is on Indeed.
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_02: But, you know, by all means, if you're not an Indeed savvy person, a lot of the best people I've found have reached out to me through Facebook or Instagram, response to our ads, or going on our website and filling out the form for an estimate and just saying they're looking for work.
• 37:11
  SPEAKER_02: So anyway, you know, any way that you can get in contact with us, you know, our phone number is 828-747-9293.
• 37:19
  SPEAKER_02: You can reach me, text or call, and you know, we will we'll accept you.
• 37:25
  SPEAKER_02: We'll we'll, you know, of course we have to vet and all that stuff, but if indeed isn't your thing, then you can reach us any whatever way is best for you.
• 37:33
  SPEAKER_00: All right, perfect, perfect.
• 37:35
  SPEAKER_00: You said Facebook.
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_00: Do you have any other social media besides Facebook?
• 37:38
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we have an Instagram account, R7 Painting Service.
• 37:43
  SPEAKER_02: We are on TikTok as well.
• 37:46
  SPEAKER_02: I'm pretty sure it's just R7 Painting Service there as well.
• 37:49
  SPEAKER_02: So, yeah, we're on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.
• 37:53
  SPEAKER_02: I'm on LinkedIn, just as myself, not the company.
• 37:59
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, great.
• 38:00
  SPEAKER_02: That's it.
• 38:00
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, great, great.
• 38:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, well, Daniel, this has been fantastic.
• 38:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, thank you for coming on and sharing your story and your perspective on your behind the scenes of building your business.
• 38:09
  SPEAKER_00: Any last words for the audience before we sign off?
• 38:11
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I mean, you know, I hope that something I said is helpful to someone who, you know, is is a business owner and is looking to, you know, grow their business and scale.
• 38:23
  SPEAKER_02: And and, you know, I you know, I just hope that something I said inspires them or helps them to the next step in their journey.
• 38:31
  SPEAKER_02: And the sky is really the limit.
• 38:33
  SPEAKER_02: You can go as high as you want to, and and you just gotta keep investing in yourself and and you know, learning and imp implementing new new ways to do things and just getting sharp sharper and smarter.
• 38:47
  SPEAKER_02: And yeah, you can accomplish anything you want to.
• 38:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, no, and I I definitely agree with that.
• 38:53
  SPEAKER_00: So, Daniel, I appreciate you coming on.
• 38:55
  SPEAKER_00: Have a great day, and thank you for everything you do for the community.
• 38:58
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you, Bill.
• 38:59
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks for having me.
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_02: All right.