In this series titled “Mindset Matters Most” Juan Vasquez of illusions painting will be discussing his journey from being a day to day painting contractor to becoming a profitable business owner with a vision for his company. In episode one, Juan discussed his past life, how his business used to look in episode two. This episode, Juan will share the experience that opened his eyes and changed his life and what happened next in episode three, Juan will dive into all the transitions necessary for his business after his mindset changed. In episode four, Juan will open up the hood and detail what illusion’s painting looks like today.
And in episode five, the final episode, Juan will lay out his thoughts regarding lack of self-confidence and stereotypes and the initiatives he is currently conducting to help lift up other contractors. If you want to ask one questions related to anything in this podcast series, you can do so on our exclusive painter marketing mastermind podcast form on Facebook. Just search for painter marketing mastermind podcast form on Facebook and request to join the group or type in the URL facebook dot com forward slash groups forward slash painter, marketing mastermind.
Again, that URL is facebook dot com forward slash groups forward slash painter. Marketing mastermind. There you can ask Juan questions directly by tagging him with your question. So you can see how anything discussed here applies to your particular painting company. What’s up Juan? Hey, what’s up Brandon? How are you doing? We’re back, man. I’m doing well back. We’re here, man. We’re here. We’re blessed Friday. We’re almost a long weekend. Are you gonna have a long weekend? I am my man. I am. Yeah, I’m, I am looking forward to it.
Uh We are filming this one on June 30th. I think it’s probably gonna be released, man. I don’t even know. I lose track mid August, maybe early August somewhere in that vicinity. We’re getting ahead of the game. Perfect. Awesome. Love it. Love it. Love it. Yeah. No. So, uh you know, thank you here. We are again. Um I know we had a really good chat last time. So, uh now let’s uh let’s keep, well, I don’t know, man, I don’t know about spoils but uh here we are you the background you had, I know you, you try to get the, you’re gonna get it to me.
Uh You know, I was trying to get back to the office. I mean, my house is about 20 minutes away from the office. So I was trying my best. But I, we have another podcast to, you know, to do us here today. So I have to wait here at the office so I can have Jose and the crew do it with me. So, um yeah, I have to do it on my regular office. Yeah. All right. So last episode, episode one, we were talking about the past life, you know, your back story.
I appreciate you sharing everything that you did. Uh You definitely opened up a lot and then the, the insecurity is the starting of the company. What it used to look like the day to day grind the hustle, you know, maybe not quite the, the clarity and vision that you have now. And then there was a cliffhanger, right? Like boom and something happened and it changed everything and then this episode is about that, about the mindset shift. Let’s get into it. Yeah. That’s right. So, you know, a little recap for what we did, you know, talked about, you know, uh the younger Juan and uh just he knew everything, man.
Uh oh, I wish I could have him on this podcast of everything, man. I, he didn’t get nervous like I get now in days that the older Juan gets more nervous than he did when he was young, you know, you can just jump off the cliff and don’t look back right now. I’m like, I’m looking at the cliff. I’m like, I don’t know if I can jump, but I don’t know, the older one didn’t even look down. He’s just go our younger one, he was just going, he’s right.
Was a younger, like he and he became the older one. That’s awesome, man. That’s awesome. Um No, so, you know, we’re, we’re talking about that. Um Like we were just talking about when I started the business. Um You know, I was, uh I was in my twenties. Um It was 2006, 2007. Um when I started the business, uh worked for all this time and then, um like I mentioned, there was always uh this little itch, you know, like, um there’s gotta be more out there, you know, I always had the, the, the mentality of like, if I can create a group or, or there’s, there’s gotta be better ways of doing more, you know, even when I know that by myself, I couldn’t do that.
So, um my Sheron Williams and, you know, she Sherwin has, um, Sherwin has been um kind of like a AAA big influence. Well, not a big influence but a big part of where I am now and we’ll talk about the PC eight as well. Um So one thing that I always talk about and I, I is just something so big in me and the company, uh my sales rep um uh Don um super cool guy. Uh you know, he was, he wasn’t the greatest salesman but a really good friend, you know, I’m just saying sales rep, he’s not good at his job but the guy is cool guy, you know, and he was, he was with us for like 20 years in our area and, you know, but he was a friend like if you need a son, then he was there.
But if you needed some other stuff, you know, we’re not gonna get a or something, you know. Yeah, but if you needed a friend, he was there and uh love the guy to this day. I’m, I’m still, you know, Don if you ever listen to this, I love you. But um but um you know, one day he comes to me and you know how we do this uh like the Sean Williams does these uh residential repaint uh conferences and the, and the, the pro sales and pro shows.
And so he always inviting us to like do smaller events, like to go to these uh events and as regular paintings, you know, as, as painters. We’re like, no, you know, I’m busy. I don’t have time for this. And so I remember he, um, he comes to me and he’s like, hey Juan, um, and he offered me $100 and uh, and drinks and some good sandwiches. I’m like, hm, ok. To go to this. He did bribe me to go to. He is a man. He really cared dude.
I mean, honestly, if it wasn’t for him, I probably wouldn’t be here right now talking to you now change, change my life, change, change illusions, you know, and um and so, you know, in California we drove about 2.5 hours south and we had this conference. Um And so we get to this conference and I was in a hotel. Um we get there. Uh OK, let me back up a little bit. He goes, hey, one, I was like, I got a proposition for you, buddy. I’m like, yeah, it’s like um I got an event coming up.
Would you wanna go? He’s like, I’m trying to gather a couple paint uh painters and I wanna take them and I’m like, I don’t know. Don I’m, I’m busy calls me back a couple of days ago. Uh couple of days after he goes, hey man, he was like, I need you to come with me. I’m like, yeah, he’s like, I have no one, no one is going with me. And, you know, there’s all these regions so one of every one of them had to bring at least a couple of guys, you know, into this event.
And Don’s working at Sherwin. Yeah, Sherwin. Oh, no, he’s, no, he’s, he’s retired now but he was, he was working at, she, he was, yeah, he was a, a Sherwin rep. And so, so, you know, long story short, we, we ended up going to this event. Um we show up and, you know, it’s just me and uh him driving down for two hours, just talking about life in general. We get there and there’s probably about, probably about eight painters in total. So it was just something very small and they were presenting where, where was this?
Uh this, this is um San Luis Obispo and that this is um this is in California. And so they’re actually known for the sandwiches. Like they have some of the best tried to eat sandwiches in the state. So that’s what he sold me in, right? He goes like, look free beer, free food. Come on, man. And he was like, I’ll give you $100 in store credit. Like, come on how, well, you know what’s wrong with that. So I was like, all right, Dan, so Don, we, we ended up there.
Um So we’re sitting there and they’re telling us about the products and, and stuff and then, um and then Josh Josh Everson from All Bright painting down in Santa Clarita, California. He comes in, um, uh, he, he has a speech, uh, about, you know what, um, how he started his business. He’s talking about as a young guy, how he started his business. He didn’t have a clue what he was doing and then he became across, uh, the PC A and I’m more like PC A. What’s the PC A?
Yeah, I was like the PC A and I was like, what’s the PC A right now? I may know what it is but back then I was like, what? Actually back then it was the P DC A. It changed now to the PC A. There are still a lot of people who want, I think most people listening to this do know it, not everyone, but there are a lot of people who still don’t know it, which is something we, yeah, which is. So, so I’m, I’m on the marketing committee for, for PC A right now and it’s something we are very, very actively working on changing but actually shocking and alarming how many people are actually still in your, in, in the position you were in.
Oh God, I mean, I will talk about my experience with the PC A later on in our episodes and I, I can tell you a lot of what we’re doing, you know, you go myself to, to bring this up or more because it’s, uh it’s what it’s done to my company to myself, to my family on the, you’re on the board of direct now. So I’m not sure. Uh I’m an honored uh director in there and then, you know, it’s something that never in my life I would have thought, you know, but we don’t wanna, we don’t wanna shift gears and get there soon, you know, we don’t wanna spoil that every time I ruined the illusion thing last time.
So I put the tape in my mouth or something, you keep going, messing it up. We have too good of a relationship. So I, I’m like, I’m really trying, buddy, I’m gonna try not to spill the beans. And I’m like, no, and this, this guy is podcasting. No, you know, um you go stop. So, no, no, no, no, no, this is, this is awesome. No, we can talk about it. No. So listening to Josh, you know, he, he was talking about how he was a younger, you know, painter and the struggles he had in his business and how by discovering the PC A in being exposed to other painting companies.
And, and he mentioned um like the uh like the PC A um uh expos that they do every year and stuff. And I’m like, you know, I was like, I was very impressed like the whole thing that we were there for the Sharon Williams part. I don’t remember much. But the one thing I remember is when he mentioned the PC A and what he did to his company. And then after I came back and I started searching a little bit more about his business. I’m like, man, like this guy is no joke, you know.
And um it, it just, it’s opened my mind. So after the presentation, uh Don took me to get uh the famous sandwich, Trite sandwich, we had a couple of beers and I was just like, man, like, I was like, I was so lit and he’s like, he’s like, you OK, buddy. I’m like, man, I’m like, Don, I’m like, I’m gonna, I’m gonna owe you for the rest of my life. He’s like God, it’s OK, man. Like, you know, but I was, I was so like just, just something in me just turn, you know.
So by that time um uh I don’t, I don’t think I have mentioned my uh my business partner, Jose yet and, and I need to get him on one of these would definitely, I think in the next one we definitely gotta bring him in. Um uh So Jose, he’s uh he’s my business partner. He’s my brother-in-law. Uh I like the guy. I hate him sometimes. Same thing him and I, you know, like we love each other and there’s days that I can just tell him with the look like go away and he goes away and then sometimes, you know, he’ll do the same thing to me, but we have that relationship.
So we go back to it. We were two painters too busy. He couldn’t make it that day. He was like, no, I’m too busy. I can’t do that kind of stuff. And, you know, we always talked about like, he had his own business. I had my own business and we always talked about like, merging together, you know, like partnering together. So I came back and I was like, I’m like, I, you know, his name is Jose, but I always call him Joe, you know, or yeah, it’s just Joe.
It’s easier, probably more attractive, more sexy, right? I’m just saying I don’t, yeah, I’m not, I’m gonna go ahead and leave that. Go ahead, not gonna say anything. We got, we got Jose and we got Joe that, listen, I’m just gonna totally leave that, right. So I, I call him Joe, right? And so I’m like, Joe, I’m like, dude, we uh I’m like, I, I went over there and he’ll tell you how I came up to him like God, like the whole world just opened up to my eyes, right?
And uh he, I was like, you know, I heard about the PC A and uh is this the organization? And this is what they do? And he looked at me like, like, OK, and I’ve always been that kind of crazy guy that always seeking for something, you know, there’s gotta be more and so he, um he’s like, what is that. I’m like, it’s a PC A and I, I didn’t know what it was. So we’re looking at, we’re searching it and he’s like, I don’t know, man, I don’t know.
And I remember it was coming up and it was gonna be, it usually turns around what it’s like, February March when they have the early march. And so I remember it’s gonna be his birthday because his birthday is right in the beginning of March. And I’m like, hey, dude, it’s your birthday. We can probably go and, and you know, hang out. He’s like, dude, how are we gonna do this? Like we were trying to merge together and he’s like, I got no money. I’m like, I’m gonna, he’s like, I’m like, dude, I don’t care, the company will pay for it.
He looks at me and laughs like, like what the company, your company has no money. I’m like, bro, I got a credit card. It’s a good, it’s a good line though. Don’t worry about it. This one’s on the company that happens to be like, totally backed by you, but that’s OK. Yeah, exactly. You know, no big deal. But um so honest truth, we put everything on a credit card and um you know, we um we ended up going to the PC A. Um I remember showing up to this event and um you know, you’re, well, we’ll talk about more how the PC A goes.
Um But, you know, you come in and then you have this, you go into a very nice place, you know, to start with. Uh, I think before I, I started doing these trips, I might have taken a couple of trips in different States, but that was it. I was never traveling doing much. So this was one of the very few times that, you know, couple of young, you know, Mexican kids go to this fancy event and you go to these fancy um resort and uh you know, you see all these guys big companies, you know, making a few million dollars and we’re like, I’ll be honest with you, I think that year I made um because we weren’t, we weren’t business, we weren’t together in that business yet.
I think, I think I was around 400,20243. Yeah, or I think around 400,000. So I, I remember sitting down in this round table and, and, and looking at like, oh how to get to the million, how to break the million, how to get to 5 million, the 10 million. And I’m like, I’m looking around and I’m like, dude, we don’t belong here. Like, what are we doing here, Jose had a like, it was so hard to convince this guy and I’m telling you this because I know there’s a lot of people out there who are in this position.
They’re like, no, what, what business do I have being in this and believe it or not, you know, we took that chance, we took that chance, man. And um after this event passed, uh we met, uh we met a lot of people, some, I mean, we’ll get to that a little bit more, but it really changed us. It really exposed us like, like Josh said, it exposed us to a whole different level of business now. It wasn’t more about just painting. It was like, oh, how can you have strategies?
How can you have systems in the company? How can you like, I don’t know, do more with your company. And so it just completely, I guess it changed everything. One thing I can tell you, we came back to our office and by then, um, we had, uh, Isabel working in our, in our office and we came back and say, ok, scratch everything we’ve done to today and we’re starting fresh. So 1 80 you know, we went from going right to come back and going left, right. I remember coming back and uh, we just basically said, um, just change everything we knew, you know, uh we started looking at how can we more, how can we do profits?
How can we just, just so many things. Um, you know, sitting down right now and thinking about those days is like, it’s so scary, you know, it’s like you’re, you’re like, how, how am I gonna do it? Like you look at these companies that have the systems, you look at these companies that, that have all the, the procedures already. Like, you know, we talk about like, I, that’s the first time I met Nick and man, that guy, we always talk about it. You know, that guy has, has a system, that guy, God, like that’s the, that’s the god of the painters, you know.
But yeah, you hear him, you hear him talk about how he didn’t have that stuff for so, so long. And so, um, you know, doing that really changed, really changed a lot and, and it doesn’t just change it. You know, it gives you that uh that motivation and it gives you at least a um a sense of knowing that there’s something else, you know, there’s, there’s no more. Um as Spain we talked about in the last episode, I mean, most of us painters don’t, don’t start business pain painting saying, oh, you know, I wanna start a business painting.
No, I mean, a lot of times we are painters and we become contractors because that’s our next step, right? But we are, we are being painters playing to be a contractor and some of us don’t prepare ourselves to move to that, you know, to that position in our business. Do you believe the difference between like being a, a painting owner and being, you know, a business owner? I know some people think some people argue, there’s not a difference. Some people say it’s a totally different mindset, man.
Um, it’s, it’s day and night. I mean, it’s day and night. Um, yy, you know, um, when you’re the painter that, that believe that uh, the craftsmanship, you know, the craftsman that like you, if you don’t have your hands and everything, it’s not gonna be done. Right? Um, I think that one of the, the things that really changed my way of, of seeing things and, and, and looking at the business, um, is seeing the amount of successful businesses there that, um, that never were a painter before.
So most of these homeowner, I mean, uh, business owners weren’t painters, they were not, the background would be to manage almost for them. Oh, God, it, it, it is, you know why? Because they didn’t see us painters if something’s not going right, we drop whatever we’re doing and we’ll go do it. Yeah, they can’t do it and they can’t do it. So they have to rely on people on not people but professionals who can do that better. They, they can’t, you know, better. They can. They had, I think of, of delegation because it’s, it’s their survival mechanism.
Whereas painters, their survival mechanism is go, go ahead and paint it and fix it and, you know, make it right. Go do the touch ups yourself. Well, that’s, that’s the difference between the painter and the business owner, you know, and I think that’s, that’s one of the biggest things I took out of that, you know, of like there is a way, let’s go find it and it hasn’t been easy, you know. I mean, we’re, this is now five years, we went there in 22,018 when we, um, when we went to our first PC A and, you know, I mean, you know, 2023 you know, now, uh, you know, I, my fifth year I show up there and they, you know, I was, I was honored to be, you know, be actually more part of it and, and become, you know, part a lot more part of it and doing more things to advocate.
Um And it’s because of that reason. So now I understand, I think the most thing that the better thing that you can understand in your business is that what I said is understand that in order to grow your business, you have to be a business owner, not a painter. And we’re talking about painters now because of this. But it just, that’s the big difference. If you keep being the painter, you are never gonna, it’s gonna be very hard for you to grow a business unless you hire someone to run your business.
But that, I don’t know how that I, you know, probably, probably people do it, you know, I just don’t know how, I don’t know how I would do it if that was the case. But if you have the knowledge of running a business, any type of business, then now you just create the systems and, and educate yourself and create a team and uh and create goals and create strategies and that’s what I, that’s what we, that’s what we got our eyes open to. So for the next uh year, I think that we came back and we’re like, you know what, we’re going back to, we’re going back to PC A next year.
Um And so throughout the year, um it’s easy, you know, you come back fresh from an event like this and your mind is like, it’s like blown away. Yeah, you, you have so much in your mind and you want to come and, and do so much, but you can only do so much. And so we came back and um changed a lot of the systems that, well, a lot of the stuff in our office. Uh We started creating more, um we did it, we, we, we weren’t creating systems at that point.
We were just, we were just looking and planning on how we can get away from that mentality. How can we implement some of this? And, and it wasn’t easy because a lot of times, um like we will see companies uh and we look at them and be like, oh, but they’re doing this and then you try to do it and it doesn’t work or they’re like, oh, you have to charge this much and then we’re like, what if I charge that and then I’m not gonna get the job or I was trying to hire someone to do other than, than painting.
And I didn’t even know how, you know. So it, it wasn’t like, oh my God, just something happened and the business just overturned. It, it just, it doesn’t, it doesn’t work that way. But the mind shift. But the mind, the, uh, the mindset shift and that’s what helped us grow. Um At least at that point, you know, the mind shift really, really got us to start looking in other ways. And so I think that was the best part of that, that time, you know. So um in two years, we went from uh two, yeah, it was two years that we went from 13 180,000 to close to $2 million in two years.
And to me after having operated for what, 10 plus years before that. Yeah, exactly. After 11 years, 11, 12 years. And so the ship was, was crazy. Um I gotta, I gotta share this story um after coming back from the PC A, you know, I got um you know, I understand that there was like, we were doing a lot of like uh Zoom meetings and like um not, not Zoom meetings, but what do you call those like uh uh Tom River? You met Tom River, right? Yep. Yep. So he did a uh a webinar and I remember seeing them there at, at the PC A and then he’s like, hey, you know, uh he conducts all these webinars and these trainings.
And so I signed up for one of them and um it was um it was about 44 or five of us and I was in California. This people, this was per one person I believe is in Texas and I can’t remember the other ones, but it was all over, you know, uh, five of us from all over the country and the whole conversation was about like, what’s your goal? What do you want in your business? And, uh, it’s kind of dumb now. I laugh about it because, uh, uh, he goes and asks everyone, he comes to me.
He’s like, hey, one, so what do you want in your business? Like, what do you want to see in your business? And I’m like, you know what? I wanna get to a million dollars. That was my answer. Now, I laugh, I’m like, why? And so he goes a million dollars, Tom. Ok. And you know, Tom, he’s, no, he’s, uh, he’s very straightforward. He, he’s not gonna speak his mind. Oh, yeah. Oh yeah. And so, um, complete opposite of that, of course. Um, and so, um, he was like, let me come back to you.
I think, I think I was the dumbest answer of everyone. Everyone else was like, you know, I wanna implement this. I wanna do that. And I was like, I was like, damn it, you’re, you’re dumb. Why do you even say that? He comes back to me? He’s like, all right, Juan. So let me tell you, it’s like, let me ask you, why do you want, why do you want to make a million dollars? Uh I’m like, Tom, I don’t know. I’m like, I think it just sounds cool.
He just laughs. I be honest. It’s true though. That, that’s true. So many things, like, hey, get to a million dollars because it is a benchmark. It does sound cool. Yeah. You know, it, it, at that moment, like, I was like, after I felt dumb but at the moment it’s like, it sounded cool. You know, me, like a million dollars. Like, if you ever make, if you not that you’re making a million dollars, but, you know, your business is, you know, made a million dollars. Like that was like the ultimate for me.
And, um, so he goes all right, buddy. I was like, let me ask you a couple of things. I was like, do you know how would you get to a million dollars? I’m like, no, it’s like, it’s like, what would you do or, or what would you do at that point when you make that million dollars? I’m like, I really don’t know. I was like, do you know how to get there? I’m like, no, he goes, I would encourage you to start thinking of strategies on how you will get to a million dollars.
He goes, um, if you start working on, on your business, go back to your business. See, you know, see your profit, see how much you’re charging. And he gave me a list of things and, uh, and he goes, he goes, the minute you hit, he goes, you’re gonna reach that million dollars. He’s like, if you do these steps, you’re gonna get, you’re gonna reach that million dollars and you’re not even gonna see it. And I was like, yeah, whatever dude, you know, I was like, I don’t think so, but honestly, I, I never saw that million dollars.
I, I never ii, I never, I think when we got to the point to that $2 million that’s when it really hit me, but I never saw that million dollars that I was hitting for. And uh and now these days I, I look back and I’m like, like, man, like that is, I, I it’s powerful because at that point that was, that was, that was my mark. I felt that if I can reach that, I reached the heavens and I’m done, you know. And so that goes to tell you there’s, there’s, there’s a mentality there, there’s our mindset.
Sometimes we’re just um we don’t, we don’t take the time to, we just think of something cool, but we’re not looking behind it and maybe I’m not making a lot of sense right now. I’m just, I’m just really, honestly, I’m really deep into like these stories, you know, because, well, they’re, they’re, they’re awesome, man. I appreciate you opening up. So I have a couple of thoughts here. So I, I think I had a similar experience, you know, as an entrepreneur, I want to get to a million.
You know, if we, if we get to a million, that’s when you made it as an entrepreneur, right? Got to a million. And I remember the, the day we got there, I was talking to my wife and, and it was like, oh, we’re, we’re at, you know, have a million dollar company. And then I was like, OK, cool. All right, what do I have to do? It? It just kind of was it, it wasn’t this firework thing that, that was sort of in my mind, but I do want to push back on your tiny bit one with you saying you saying like, oh, it was a silly thing.
I don’t think it is because I think you have to pick something at a million. You have enough revenue to, to generate true profitability, you have enough revenue to build yourself out of the business. If you do it the right way to put the team, you have luxuries that you just don’t have at 1 or 500,000, especially as a painting contract, you don’t have those luxuries. And so there’s something there is something significant to that. I do believe there’s something significant as an entrepreneur really just in life, upsetting a goal, kind of, you know, doing that.
Babe Ruth kind of point to the outfield. That’s something. But then you’re right, the next step is OK, you set that goal, you point to the outfield. Good. Hopefully you’re serious about it. Hopefully, even if you don’t believe in yourself right now, just start doing the actions and hopefully somewhere along the way you do, that’s a whole another rant for me. But hopefully somewhere along I don’t think you need to believe in yourself. I think you just need to continue to go and not stop going. But hopefully it, somewhere along the way you do get that belief in yourself.
But now you need to come up with a plan. As Tom said, it’s, it’s not just gonna happen. If you dream. If you, if you have a goal or you’re dreaming. Um, excuse me, if you basically set a goal, but you don’t have a plan, then it’s dreaming, right? So you have to, then, uh, you have the goal, you set it, you point in the outfield sounds cool. Um, the reality is it fundamentally does matter because it gives you options in your business. But now you have to go under the hood and you actually got to create a plan to get there.
You know, I, I think, I think that that has a lot, it makes a lot of sense why it was sense what you’re saying, you can have a goal but if you don’t have a plan, it’s gonna be very hard to get there. And you’re still with it though, man, like if you were sitting in that circle and you know, people are saying, well, I, I wanna, you know, I wanna get better at, at job costing, right? Or, or I want to do XY or Z, I want to be more efficient in our, our lead flow, handling whatever they’re talking about.
If you were to say that and you, your mindset had just shifted, you’re just at the 400 dials after 11 years and you’re, you’re focusing on one detail to me. That would actually be the, the stupid answer to me. The, the bigger answer is what’s the vision? That’s basically the vision. Where are you going, that what you’re trying to get to and then you gotta fill it in. I, I think so, you know, um I think, um having, having a plan is very important, you know, because it gives you a target.
But now, now how, what do you need to get there? And I think that’s, that’s kind of what I’ve got from, you know, believe it or not. I, so there, there’s, I owe so much to so many guys, you know, like Josh, um I, I’ve, I’ve had AAA couple of, you know, opportunities to talk to him. And I said, hey, man, you know, believe it or not like this is probably you’ve never, you never think of these things, but I owe you a lot. He’s like, he’s like why he’s like, man, like, you know, just listening to you.
I, it changed my mindset. Yeah, I, I am II I am moving towards where I wanna go because of what you said, you know, you probably, you know, he inspired me, you know, Tom, when I had that conversation with him, like he made me realize and you know how, you know, very straightforward he is, he made me understand that like, OK, you have, you know, wanna get there but how are you gonna get there? And so it made me kind of like create a plan. So the Robber made the road there with your inspiration.
Thank you. And I think that’s, that’s where a lot of, a lot of our, a lot of us in this painting in this industry are in that position. We want to get somewhere, but we don’t know how we have dreams and we have thoughts and, but we just, and a lot of times we don’t find those resources. We don’t take the time, we don’t take the time to go find those resources. We just feel that by being busy, we’re gonna get there and sometimes it’s actually the opposite.
The the busier. You are, the less time you have to find these opportunities to look for these opportunities, you know, and so, um really, really coming back around and, and, and putting those two together, really worked out very, very well. Don’t mistake activity for achievement just because you’re busy, doesn’t mean you’re achieving a bunch. And then the, uh, I, I actually have fallen into that trap of just working, right. The answer is always work more. If you work more, you push harder, you do more, you exert more effort, you leave it all out on the field every single day.
Well, then you’re gonna move forward as fast as you can. And then one thing I learned, which was very counter intuitive to me is actually if you, if you leave a little less out on the field, if you force yourself to carve out a day and, and just spend it with family or, or vacation, all of a sudden, your mind starts to open up and you come up with all these ideas and these thoughts and the ways to basically apply leverage to your company because you do something more intelligently than you’ve been doing it historically and essentially leapfrog the, the former version of yourself, which is just based on the Hampshire.
We are running, running faster and faster and faster as the company grows. It really is. Um I, I was just uh I, I read this caption where it says that the busier you are the less you’re moving. And I, I really believe that because, you know, sometimes, you know, when you’re too busy, you don’t have time to be strategic to have a strategy. Um, the moment you sit down and, and really, and, and just sit back and analyze things, you know, when we’re in the rat race, we’re like, we’re just running, you know, we’re just taking all our energy goes into like working running and then just, just, it’s not productive.
And I think that’s, um, that’s, that’s very big for us to understand in this, in this industry. Like, take your time to if, if so I’ve had conversations with people and that’s something uh with other painters. And this is something that I didn’t see before. Everyone that I’ve talked to uh recently. Um, they come to me and they say, oh no. Um I don’t wanna have a big business. Oh, I don’t wanna have this and that’s fine. You don’t have to have a big business. We need to have a profitable business.
We wanna have systems in our business. Um So one of the things that I’ve, I’ve, uh one of the things that I got from the PC A from going on PC A was uh reading, well, reading is more like listening to books. I uh I’ve never been a big reader. I just not for me, but I’ve learned to listen to books. And so now, and you know, us, you know, in, in the trade, we drive a lot from one job to another. And so we always, I was always, like, listening to the radio or music, whatever. Right.
So, now it’s like, it became a thing of like, oh, I can listen to a book, I can listen to a podcast. I, I can listen to all these things and learn something and believe it or not, it changed, it changes a lot up here, uh, remembers your brain. It literally, there’s research on it. It literally changes like the, the synapses or whatever, every brain to actually be a bit different. That’s it. Oh God. Huh. Well, that’s what it did to me. And so, you know, we’re sitting there and, and we heard about uh they gave us the first book and this is through PC A just reading and listening to them.
It was Michael Gerbert. Um em, em myth, right? That’s the iconic book. The, the girl who is at the bagel shop like her, her passion was the, was making bagels, I think or maybe it was some, just some other kind of bagel and then she’s just crying basically rocking. Yes. Yes. You remember, you know that, that hotel, the hotel that he, you know, he drove by and it was like, it’s the most expensive hotel, but they knew my name and all these things. But you know what I’ve got from that book is that he, the, the, the one thing I, I really, to this day I, I really follow from that book is to create a, um, franchise prototype of your business.
No, you, you don’t wanna be, you don’t want to have a franchise. You don’t want to be a franchise. No, it’s a prototype. Like, have your business. The mcdonald, like Jason Phillips calls it the Easy Oven. Right. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, that’s right. And so, um, that was kind of like that was the model. I think that that’s the, that’s the one thing that, to this day really sticks out, you know. Um, how can you create a business that is gonna run on its own? Um, I remember hearing it like, you don’t see, you know, the mcdonald’s owner serving you the burger, you know, like he owns it but he’s somewhere else, you know, you don’t see them needing, needing, there’s nothing wrong with, you know, the team members there but they don’t, it’s not the most demanding.
They don’t need just the absolute best. They only hire one out of 30 people. It’s not quite that demanding because their processes can take reasonably competent applicants and turn them into productive members in the restaurant. Correct? Uh, I mean, that inspired me to watch the movie. I don’t know if you watched the movie. Yeah. The, uh, the, the founder. Yeah, that’s a great movie, man. God, you mix the mixers in the beginning. He was like, yeah. Right. Yeah. And this guy, I mean, what’s his name? Uh, Crockery?
Yeah. Um, he’s in late forties, like, he’s the guy who’s, like, pretty much tired and done with everything that he’s doing and his wife was not super supportive in that movie. You never really know exactly how, how exactly are depicted. But, yeah, his life seemed less than desirable to me in that movie. But, you know, it’s like, uh, and I think the, the one thing that I really picked is, do you remember in that, um, in one episode where they’re setting up the kitchen, like the way he’s setting up the here, he’s like mapping it out and he’s obsessed and he’s like, like three pickles, not two pickles.
And he’s like every little thing that, that reminds me of Jason. Yeah, it’s so Jason’s like conveyor belt and I think that people have this misconception of, well, if it’s, then it’s gonna be shoddy quality. No, it’ll actually be better quality. It’s not that you turn it, turn it into a mcdonald’s when you want it to be a nice steakhouse or, or something nicer. It’s that you have the efficiency of a mcdonald’s, the efficiency, the consistency. It’s always the same. And see in our business when we are in the business, what happens is what happened to me at that, you know, in those days was that like, you wanna do everything like we were just talking earlier, you wanna, you’re wearing so many hats that you can’t cover everything.
You know, you just can’t. So you create this system where like now if you create that system and, and you implement it, everybody knows their precision. Oh You gotta make sure that, that or you know, that, that just follows one after another and that’s how you create the system back then. I didn’t know that, you know, and it’s, and it’s amazing how you can get this kind of information. You’re not gonna find this information, you know, painting or rolling a wall. No, you’re gonna find this information getting out of your comfort zone.
And that’s what we did at that point. You know, um, you know, having to bring Jose along with me and having him to be like, like, really understand why we were there. That was the tough part because I would, I would jump off a cliff. Jose was like, no, no, I’ll wait for you. You go down there and come back and tell me how it went right? Younger, Jose thought a little, uh, a little bit differently from younger. You know, it’s kind of funny because it goes, it goes opposite.
I think it was before I would jump first and question later. Uh Jose will not jump and, and, and question why right now we’re the opposite. I think Jose has taken the role of like, you know, I’ll probably be a little more cautious and I’ll watch people jump and I’m like, I’ve done that before and he’s like, we gotta jump now you’ve created a monster, man, you pulled him into it, created a monster. I love it. I love it. I love it. So, um, no, I think we both, we both learned a lot, you know.
And so we go back to those days where, um, you know, there’s a lot of nights, there’s a lot of, there’s a lot of, um, I remember when we were, at that point, we, when we finally merged, um, and I think that was after the second, uh, PC A, we went to, um, that’s the, when we finally merged and I remember talking to a couple of the, um, you know, the coaches and a, uh, like, uh, Annie Newton, she’s awesome. By the way, I don’t know if you met her and, uh, I remember, uh, I have not met Annie.
No, not yet. And, uh, you know, she’s a really great person and gave me a lot of good feedback and say, you know, you gotta be careful, partnerships are very tough. Um, and they are, you know, it’s just like a marriage, I think, you know, we really got to trust each other. We gotta really give each other, you know, support sometimes. Um, you know, when we were, at that point, we had eight, I think we had eight, employees and, um, we were trying to build the business, we were trying to rebuild the business, actually, not build, but rebuild the business.
And at the same time still working every day. You know, he’s praying I’m doing finishes, you know, it’s Saturday night, it’s Sunday night and you’re working, you know. And, uh, and then we’re flying here, we’re going to, we ended up going to some of the, um, uh, residential repaint, uh, firms. So we got to travel and it was hard, it was so hard to leave the business unattended because we will be on the phone constantly. Like, oh, this didn’t happen. We still had to order pain. We were uh calling the clients, like most of our guys didn’t speak English at the moment, you know, when we were the most of our cleaners.
So we would have to call the clients and you know, these guys showing up and this is what’s going on. So, so you had to do all that. So that gave us like we’re like, man, are we ever gonna be able to get out of this? Have someone who can take care of this? And um it seemed like an eternity. Let me tell you it, it was um it was very stressful to do so, but we had a plan, you know, and little by little that plan kept evolving and, and, and growing and so it doesn’t happen overnight, you know, so a lot of people I think they want results quick and it, it just doesn’t work that way.
You have to put in the work. Um The great thing is is, there’s so many resources and at that point we found them and we keep going back to the PC A. You know, it’s, there’s all these resources. What did it for you? Uh, uh, you know, for me it took advantage of it. Yeah, exactly. So, yeah. Yeah, there’s so many good points you’ve made here, man. So, the, one of the things that, that I always say, my wife, I say obviously when you, when you run a business or start a business, you’re, you’re in it, right?
Whether your wife works in it or not, you’re both in that business. That’s just how it is and especially when you have kids. So, um yeah, so the uh we always say it takes, it always takes longer than you want it to or than you think it’s going to and you, and, and I think the most important thing to do because sometimes we talked about it last, last episode where you can start to question yourself, you know, or, or is what I’m doing the right thing, especially if you’re focused on longer term things.
And let’s say you go to P A Expo, you learn the stuff, your mind is expands and changes. And then a couple months later, you haven’t noticed a huge impact. Um and you can kind of start to question yourself. But one of the things I urge everyone to do is just do the right thing every day, wake up and do the right thing, wake up and do the right thing. Do what you think you need to be doing for your business, which is what we’re talking about right now.
And if you do that enough days in a row you’re gonna get there. Almost certainly. It’s almost statistically impossible for you not to get there. You know? And, and the thing is like, um, there’s, there, there’s, there’s, we always seem to know we, we, we know what we want sometimes in our business, right? But as we take this venture into our business, things change, you know, um our, our business has changed quite a bit from what we wanted in those years, you know, from 2020 18 to now, it has shifted quite a bit.
We had a goal and we are going towards that goal, but things have changed, they have evolved, they have, you know, turned into something that we thought that maybe so we’re, we, at that point, we were all, we’ve been a company that we want to create something unique. We wanna, we like a challenge. We want to stand out in our, in our demographic, right? We want to be the guys to go to. Some people do it in high end residential, like we do some people do in commercial, some doing repaint.
But, um you know, have a focus, I think that really helped us at that moment to really define what we were going for. You’re, you’re saying basically a niche like a, a service that you offer focus, don’t over, don’t offer too many different kinds of services. It sometimes it’s very tough when you want to do that because then now you need more, you know, you need more hands, you need more strategies. And so when, when you focus on one thing, then you kind of start focusing on, on that.
Um So in those years, so we’re talking about, you know, those years for us at that time, um, our goal was to get to these high end homes in our area. That’s kind of like what we have more here and we wanted to dominate that, that, that in that, that nature of the industry. And, um, you know, it, it’s not like you’re just gonna go up there and, and do it because, uh, you gotta prove yourself. Um, there was a point where, uh, we wanted to do things but the people don’t have enough trust in you.
You haven’t built that trust and now you’re flying to a different state to learn something. Now you’re driving to go do a training and, and, and some of the contractors in our area will look at you and be like, what are you doing? Like, why don’t you just work? I’m like, no, because I wanna learn. And so, um, at that point, it was very tough. Um, we started doing, uh, uh, more social media that’s kind of where we got our eyes exposed to social media, like in 2018, 2019.
And uh it was so weird for us to grab a phone and like record or, I don’t know, I know a lot of guys, this is very funny because, and we used to pull our phone and we were like, like very like, discreet, take a picture and like, OK, put it away because they looked at you kind of funny, you know, like, what are you doing? Like? And so especially when we try to do like a life, I was like, we’re very timid, like, how would we do it?
Um And a lot of people will see us like, weird, like, what are you doing like this, you know, just work like, you know, why do you wanna be online? And so, um throughout the years that has changed, you know, uh social media has done your pioneer wonders in, in that area. I believe that, that the, the, you know, that we are, you know, uh we’ve learned at that moment to um start uh creating a brand that was very important. So, um you know, we talk about like branding, I think is, is one of the most important things in our business and the sooner we can do that in our business, it’s really gonna pay us big.
Um you know, at that time, um in our area, uh you know, I, since day one, I put a big old wrap in my truck on my truck and then, um, I would drive around every day so everybody got to know like, oh, yeah. You know, I, I seen your truck all over the, all over town. Would you, would you? So not just between projects or estimates you would just drive it to drive it like a bill. That was my, well, you know, that was my only truck.
So I will go to the farmers’ market, I’ll go to the gym. I will go to everywhere. It was just my, it was my only uh source of uh transportation. So it will be everywhere. And then, um but then, then now now being with the PC A now II I kind of were more exposed to like all the, all the other uh companies saying like, oh yeah, you know, Brandy and Brandy and Brandy and I was like, well, I didn’t see it this way. So now we started putting more into it, more into it.
And so now, um that’s really helped us around that time is it’s, it’s having a, you don’t have to have 1 trucks. If you have one truck that drives around all day, that’s, that’s a moving billboard. You know, that’s a mobile billboard. I mean, everyone is gonna see it. And if you have, if you live in a small town, then you put your name out there and that’s one of the cheapest advertisement. Uh ways you can do and, and we did that at that time. So I guess it’s, it’s, it’s sitting down and, and, and understanding all these different points of the business, you know, the branding, the systems, the, the creating the business image and, and creating a backbone in your business, not just the painting that really helped us around that time.
Um And like I said, we go back to uh PC A has really done that number and I think God, we’re creating a whole PC eight segment here. Yeah. Well, I mean, that, that’s what, right we talked about this, that’s what actually did it for you. I think, uh I mean, some of the things you said here, so I want to circle way back to something because it’s, it’s just so important is you said, if you’re in the rat race or you’re, you’re stuck doing this stuff, then you don’t have the time to think or really plan or, or innovate in your business.
And if you think about how important that is, right? If you’re thinking about your business from a business perspective, somebody needs to have a vision, somebody needs to be planning innovating, finding opportunity, like you said, maybe defining a niche very more narrowly and, and something that’s gonna be profitable and that you guys can, can really create that mcdonald’s model of efficiency and, and effectiveness for and consistency. And if you’re not doing it, there’s a really good chance that nobody’s doing it. So now you basically have AAA ship if you will just essentially drifting around, you know, it goes wherever’s go because nobody, the captain is not man in that thing.
That thing is just kind of drifting and that’s where a lot of people live with their businesses and then they wonder why they’re working for years and they’re not where they wanna be because somebody needs to be steering that thing. You know. Um, we were talking about in the last, uh, in the last episode about how, uh, my main thing of leaving the company where I used to work for was that I didn’t want to be 60 pushing a brush, you know. And, um, and then at the same time, um, uh, I think that at that time, um, then, you know, around those years I saw a lot of the older painters, um, they were exiting the business, you know, I’m talking about people who hire me and Jose back in the days and they were in the late, you know, sixties and they, they have a business, you know, they, in, in our area probably there’s over 100 and 50 painting companies.
You know, it’s a small area but there’s a lot, lot of painting companies. The problem is that no one really ha there’s not a lot of people, there’s probably a God, I will say if a 10% is a high percentage of the companies that really have a business that has a strategy that, that can probably survive generations. Most of them are the guy who carries 23 guys around in his truck and, and they paint. But one thing that I saw is that I see these guys, you know, trying to exit their business, but they don’t have an exiting plan.
There’s no, there’s no, there’s no business behind it. All they have is probably uh a, a set of tools uh maybe a couple clients that they know and their own skills can you sell that? You’re just selling a job? Exactly. And so I guess that motivation really helped us at the moment and say, you know what? Um and that’s the, the PC exposed us to do that because I’m like, this guy can actually build a business five years from now if you have a system that can duplicate and I have a network of clients and, and all these things involved, I can sell this.
Um I remember hearing, you know, from um Gerber again, you know, the image, it was like you build this baby and you create this baby and then you can sell this baby or you can even buy it back, you know, and I was like, man, I, that is so true. Thinking about thinking about it as a separate entity too. The business is not just you, it’s not just your grind like this is, it’s like a machine, it’s a separate thing from you and no matter how emotionally attached you are to it because it’s your baby.
But it’s a separate thing that you are building that needs to stand on its own two legs. It has to. And I think that if you, if you’re gonna start a business right now, think of that from the beginning, the name, you know, you go back to, you know, I’ve been asked why our business called illusions, you know, and um believe it or not, it took a long time for me to get like come up with the name because my first initial was like Vasquez painting. I’m like, dude, like, do you know what their painting company?
Something like that? That would have been a first, right? And then like, like, like we have a lot of in our area is their last name is their name or it’s, it’s just something but it’s, it’s very um personal. And so when we create, when I actually started this, I wanted something that we go back and let me, let me rephrase this. Um being Juan Vasquez in, in uh in, in my area, I didn’t wanna, I wanna stand out. Um I wanted to be, I wanted illusions to, to be its own identity.
And I didn’t want that to follow like, say, oh I’m Juan Vasquez painting. I’m like, no, because then now it kind of relates to me. So when we created illusions painting there was many times that I will show up to jobs and they’ll be like, hey, you know, I, I’ve, I’ve been seeing you here for quite some time and am I ever gonna meet your boss or have your boss come quite? I swear there was a few times to those and I’ll just be like, ah, you know, he’s, he’s too busy.
But I, he’s like, oh, no, no, no, we love you. You know, you’re awesome. And, but, and I would, I wouldn’t say anything. A few of them found out through my guys or to someone else and they were so embarrassed. They’re like, oh, I’m so, so sorry. I mean, because they don’t see Juan Vasquez running the business, you know, they, they, they see, they saw illusions and I, you know, and they were like, they thought of something different and when I saw Juan Vasquez then they’re like, oh, ok.
When is your boss coming? It’s like, no, he’s not coming. Yeah. So, I, I want to, uh, I wanna say for anyone listening, who, who does have the name, you know, last name or for, or what I last name. Company. Painting, um, it, so you can still sell it, right? You can still create an entity. It’s kind of more of a mindset thing that’s not. And you, if you’re listening, you’re like, dang it, you know, like I, I actually care which by the way, you don’t have to care but if you actually care, uh, you can always do a DB A. So, exactly.
I, and I did that for many years, you know. So II, I had a DB A so I did, uh, I did a, but it was D VA, you know, doing business as. Right. Well, I did that for many years. I wanna ask you something sort of off topic but it’s, it’s an important point because I see so much misunderstanding around this. You, what’s the population roughly in your service area? Hoof. Oh, so it’s a, it’s a bit, a little bit of a smaller area. You know what I’m gonna have to, I’m gonna have to come back and tell you that I’m not so big into. Yeah.
What’s your, uh, what’s your address? Where are you? So, so we’re in Monterey, California. Monterey California. Ok. So you have 30,000 people in there in there. But then we have like Pebble Beach, which honestly, they’re, they’re actually smaller communities but they’re very, um, so we live in an area that basically people come here to buy homes from all over the country. Uh, wow, 4000 in Pebble Beach maybe. Uh, I mean, this is what I’m seeing. Wow, that’s very small. So we’re gonna say we’re, we’re gonna say maybe, I mean, this is maybe have 50,103 if you, um, I think, I, I mean, if you add up everything, you’re over 100,000.
Ok, because we, we serve over 100,226. Most, most companies have access to it. I mean, some are, are really out there and you don’t. But most, if you en encapsulate the service area where you drive, maybe you’re willing to go 21 minutes. You know, you’re willing to go an hour there. By far, most places are gonna hit that kind of population. You have a, let’s say, 22024 and 21 companies in that area. What’s your revenue now? Roughly our revenue, how much our business is doing? Yeah. Um, I actually, so right now we think we’re about 226 mil.
Ok. So you’re, so I, I just want to bring this up, Juan, because I see, I see people in these areas, you know, running these companies who, who maybe are at 226,103 or something like 210,210 or maybe it is 2100,000. They’re, they’re at like a half, half a million and they’re like, I think I’ve, I’ve topped the market, you know, there’s just no one else here and it’s just, it’s mind boggling to me. And so I wanna say it because I think we, we put these glass ceilings on ourselves or we kind of call it too soon or we think we’ve maxed out and that’s when people start to be like, well, I’ll, I’ll go into, you know, I had another service offering or, you know, we’ll do XY or Z we’ll expand because we’ve tapped this market.
But if you actually sit down, do the math, if you actually look at people like Juan and, and see what they’ve done in areas that have a lot of other painting companies, the market’s there. So don’t sell yourself short on your opportunity. No, you know, um you, you gotta study the market. So one of the things we’ve been doing probably the last couple of years is um building. um, we had a lot of, um, you know, I think, and talk about this today, but we’ve, we had a lot of like, we take some ventures and we’re like, we want to do this and then it doesn’t work and you gotta be able to, you know, step back and, and reevaluate because not everything you’re gonna do, it’s gonna, it’s gonna work.
It shouldn’t. No. If it does, then you’re not trying enough things. Exactly. So, our goal right now is, um, the way we’re building our business is to be, uh, uh, like a, a one stop shop. So this, uh, so this month we’re moving into a bigger shop. So we’ll talk about this. But our projection is to hit, you know, the, the seven, the 10 million in the next, hopefully the next two years. And we feel very, very, very, uh sure about that. And it’s weird because you only have around 100,000 people.
It’s impossible. Juan, uh There’s, there’s areas, well, there’s, well, there’s, I’m just kidding. I’m just kidding. Just there’s a, there’s areas. So if we drive, uh there’s, there’s, there’s a lot of money in this area. It’s just, we’re limited to ourselves. We’re, we limit our, our own capacity to do this. So you cannot. Uh So back then if you tell me five years ago, Juan, um there’s like you said, there’s no way you can do this amount of money here. I will be like, yeah, you’re right.
There’s too much, too much competition. One thing that we’ve been able to do what we did throughout these years is separate ourselves from the competition and set our standards and our price. And that’s a very, very tough thing to do in this business. And I want to interject when everyone was saying, hey, Juan, what are you doing? Get back to work. Why are you doing that? That doesn’t make any sense. Well, guess what? Now you’ve separated yourself from all of them. That’s exactly right. That’s exactly right.
And so i it’s, you gotta take those steps, you gotta really believe in yourself. You really, I mean, if you’re gonna sell a product, you gotta be able to sell it to yourself first. If you cannot sell it to yourself, you are never gonna sell it to anyone. I see right through it. Right. And I, I’m a very big believer of that. And then on top of that, then you have your systems and, and everything else to back it up. But if you cannot sell it to yourself, you won’t sell it to anyone else.
And I think that was a big thing for us to really understand and you gotta invest in your business. You know, we’ve been investing for the last, you know, I see it this way to me, I’m not in a hurry. You know, we’re not in a hurry in our business. It took us, you know, I’ve been in business for 25 years. It took us from 11, 103 years to get to a place where we feel that we can move forward. It’s taking us five years to get where we are right now.
And I feel that it’s gonna take us another, probably, I feel that it’s gonna take us another 5 to 10 years to where I’m completely like out, you know, like I feel that in my fifties I can do as I please. Of course I’m gonna work because we’re never gonna stop, but it’s gonna take us there entrepreneurs, you know? Right. But it’s, but it’s, but we take those steps and the thing is like, we don’t want to take those steps. Sometimes we want the, we’re scared like the unknown scares us and, and, and especially in this business in any kind of business, the comfort, you know, get, you get into the comfort zone where you’re like, you know, what, why, why even do it?
Like I’m good right now. I can pay my bills. I can do these things. But then what about your dreams? You know, what about creating something you need, creating that? The one business in your area? So one last thing that I, I, at that point I’ve learned from uh God, I can’t remember his name right now. I’ll go back to him. Basically. This is what I heard. Um I, after my second year at the PC eight, I was like, oh, OK, maybe I can go up in a, like a, a new shop in like, I don’t know, Texas or you know, somewhere else and expand myself.
And I, and then I, oh Nick Nick Mace. Nick Mace goes like, OK, he was like, why would you wanna do that? I’m like, uh I mean, because that’s the way I’m gonna grow. He’s like, no, that’s not the way you’re gonna overs understand yourself and you are not gonna be able to keep up. And he was like, what you do is like, you become the number one person that, that the, the business to go to in your area, you become the, the best, best in your area.
Once you complete that, then you can expand and expand everywhere else. I’m so happy that I’ve, I heard that at that time because because of that, we were able to just concentrate all of our energy into what we’re doing there. Now, we can do that if we like to. But I don’t feel that we’re ready, but it was great to hear that. Um, hear that from him at that time, you know, let’s be the best in your area. Yeah, that’s great advice. Invest in your business, invest in yourself.
Your business is an extension of you as you’re building it separately. I wanna wanna wrap this up. We’re a little bit over, over the hour. I’m gonna plug the PC A, um, go to PC A paint ed PC A painted dot org to check it out. If you’re not a member, you can feel free to email me directly if you have any questions. Brandon at painter marketing pros dot com. Um And then also there is the Expo as Juan has been talking about, it’s coming up in 2024.
Is that the, the Swan Dolphin resort in Orlando February? Was it February 26th to March 1st 2024. It ends on March 1st. I’m pretty sure February 26 is the first three days, three days. Yeah. So I might be, I think February 26 might be the, if they do the paint it forward, I think they’ll probably do that again. So it’s probably, oh God, that was, we’re gonna talk about that, but that was that, that was so cool man. That was, that was a very interesting Josh Abramson, you know, created that.
So, yeah, you know, and, and uh we have um uh God, I can’t remember his name right now uh from New York that we did the um uh to help the uh first responders. Um, Ray Ray from New York. Uh you, you, you know, Ray, right? I can’t remember his last name but um yeah, he might be thinking about another ray. Yeah. Yeah. Well, we, he started the, the, a little side thing from the, from painting forward around the um uh uh when COVID hit. So, uh we, he made it like a national thing and uh we help uh 10 different people from uh just uh in our area, from nurses to first responders.
And so we gave out um uh 10 different paint jobs, uh just a small room for 10 different people. And that was awesome, man. We were part of that, that, that was pretty, pretty cool. So now for anyone that, that doesn’t, you know, doesn’t know about the PC A that, that wants to know about the PC A and there is, there is so much resources, you know, you become part of a AAA community that is just, uh it’s not for everyone. I know that some people will be like, you know, it’s not for me and that’s completely fine.
But if it’s something for you, it will take your business and yourself to a different level and that um personally, um can, can uh speak for that 100%. Yeah. At least, at least do yourself a favor and at least take a look at it. Yeah, why not? Thank you, brother. Thank you, my man. I think we really got into business. I think it’s always a pleasure, man. My man. Thank you so much. Always a pleasure. I’ll see you for episode three. Appreciate you, man. You make my, you make my life easy brother.
Thank you. Thank you.
