April 15, 2025 • 29 mins
At some point, all business owners eventually find themselves in a metaphorical bathtub having a panic attack, wondering, "How am I going to make this business work?" Well, for Robert Norris, owner of CertaPro Painters of OKC-Edmond, this was more than just a metaphor! However, today, Robert is thriving with one of the leading painting companies in Oklahoma.
Enjoy this week's podcast, where our hosts Garrett Hammonds and Nolan Clay Rogers talk with special guest Robert Norris and explore how to plan for your business, including finances, setting goals, and taking care of your mental health.
Find Robert and CertaPro Painters of OKC-Edmond on the platforms below:
- Website: https://certapro.com/okc-edmond/
- Phone: 405-509-8018
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CertaProPaintersSouthOKC
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_02 (00:01):
Hello,
SPEAKER_01 (00:14):
hello.
We are back with the Think BizPodcast.
Good morning, everyone.
It's a happy Tuesday here inOKC, and we have a new guest
today.
SPEAKER_00 (00:25):
Good morning.
SPEAKER_01 (00:26):
We have Robert Norris here with us, who is
just...
An incredible human being andalso an incredible business
owner.
So, I mean, honestly, I think wecan just jump straight in.
Tell us about yourself, Robert.
What's going on with you?
SPEAKER_00 (00:45):
Well, first of all, thank you guys for having me.
I'm looking forward to talkingtoday.
So, my name is Robert Norris.
Whenever I...
first came to the United States.
My name was Roberto Manuel OrtizMarien.
So we're going to go with RobertNorris for today.
So yeah, so I'm the owner ofCertiPro Painters in Oklahoma
(01:08):
City.
We purchased the franchiserights for the Oklahoma City
territory in 2012.
So we've been in business sinceNovember 13th of 2012, doing
paint jobs for residential andcommercial properties.
I'm happily married, got two furbabies and live about a block
(01:29):
away where I went to high schoolat Putnam City North High
School.
Go Panthers.
So yeah, been doing this a whileand love helping other business
owners, love helping otherpainters.
And yeah, we provide servicesfor local homeowners.
Awesome.
Very cool.
SPEAKER_01 (01:47):
What really inspired you to buy the franchise in the
first place?
Was it kind of you needing tosolve your own problem, just get
into business for yourself forthe first time?
Or was it just a goodopportunity that showed itself?
SPEAKER_00 (01:57):
So it's a funny story.
We actually, my dad and I at thesame time, we both came to the
realization that we were makingother people money.
way more money than we weregetting paid for the money that
we were making them.
He was in the electric fieldselling big electric components
and I was oil and gas, but I wasjust the guy that just basically
(02:19):
traveled around and checked theimage standards and sold fuel
whenever I had an opportunity.
And we weren't quite making themoney that we wanted to make.
So he came home one day and he'slike, man, I just closed this
deal.
And this is what's going tohappen, and I'm going to get
screwed out of money.
And I had just closed the deal,and basically the exact same
(02:40):
thing.
So we were like, let's take alook and see what we can do
outside of that.
And then CertiPro has recruitersthat were trying to sell the
territory here.
So basically, I...
We went online, and they reachedout to us.
We went out to see it, and Ididn't realize this, but my
great-grandfather on my dad'sside, because I was adopted, he
(03:04):
actually was a wallpaper hangerand a painter back in the 20s.
So my dad reached out to me.
He goes, hey, we reached...
we got to reach out to my SertaPro painters.
Do you want to go back into thefamily business?
And I was like, what's thefamily business?
He's like, well, apparently backin the day we were painters.
Grandpa was a painter.
He helped him out.
So I was like, yeah, that soundsgreat.
We went out, checked it out,fell in love with the franchise,
(03:27):
purchased it and the rights towork here.
Two weeks later, my littlesister got sick.
So my dad was like, hey, I gotto go back to corporate life
because I got to provideinsurance because we didn't have
insurance at the time.
We're in a brand new business.
And I was like, well, what doesthat mean?
I was like, I've managed peoplebefore.
I've managed all that.
(03:47):
I don't know anything aboutfinancials.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So he goes, good luck.
And that's that's basically thebeginning of Serta Pro Painters.
That's
SPEAKER_01 (03:59):
awesome.
Man, what a story.
I imagine along the way you'vecome across a number of
successes and challenges as allbusinesses do.
What are some of the things thatyou've learned throughout the
process of owning your ownbusiness?
SPEAKER_00 (04:18):
Well, one thing my wife always tells me is you're
always learning.
Whether you're learning what youshould do or what you shouldn't
do, you're always learning.
So as a business owner, one ofmy biggest challenges was
learning the financial aspect ofowning a business.
That year one, margin control,that the IRS was gonna want
their money, that the insurancecompany was gonna want their
(04:39):
money, that all of the fees andlittle things that nickel and
dime you to death on that firstyear, it was difficult, but we
learned all of those things.
If I were talking to a newbusiness owner, that's one of
the things I would tell them.
I would say, hey, there's a lotof things that are gonna come up
(04:59):
randomly, Start the businesswith enough capital because we
did not have enough capital andthat capital helps.
Start with a true business plan.
What happens with whenever youdon't hit your goals?
What happens when you exceedyour goals?
And have that in mind.
And then always start a businesswith an exit strategy.
So you know, okay, once I reachthis level, I can either exit
(05:25):
the business or I need to comeup with a new business strategy
at that point because, you know,You have to know the way out
before you can know the way in.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (05:32):
That's really important because I was looking
at some economic statistics acouple weeks ago, and normally
small business growth issupposed to be a good economic
indicator, right?
Right.
The problem is, like you weresaying, ideally you do that with
enough capital up front tosurvive.
SPEAKER_00 (05:47):
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (05:48):
But at this point, a lot of people in the past few
years, and especially since2020, they're starting
businesses with no capital tobegin with.
Right.
And so unfortunately, newentrepreneurs that are just
starting out There's so manymore new businesses that just
aren't able to have that exitstrategy like you're talking
about.
They have no clue how to do thefinancial side and they just
have no buffer whatsoever.
SPEAKER_00 (06:08):
Right.
And, you know, then they'restarting to hire people.
And whenever you're hiringpeople, you really got to have
capital because at any givenmoment, you may have a slow
month.
You still got to pay theirpayroll.
And I remember one time my wifefound me having a full-on
anxiety attack in the bathtubbecause I couldn't catch my
(06:28):
breath.
And I laid down.
That was the closest place Icould lay down.
And I was like, I don't know howwe're going to make it.
And somehow we made it through.
Through the grace of God, wemade it through that.
But it was one of thosesituations where you never know
what's going to come at you.
And like you said...
the SBA and a lot of like otherplaces have offered these
(06:51):
business loans or they, youknow, back during the pandemic,
um, which seems like a centuryago, um, the government was just
handing out money.
Right.
And people were like, well, Icould take this and start my own
business.
What happens when the moneystarts, stops coming in or when
you got to pay it back at aninterest rate?
Like that's where a lot ofpeople make a mistake.
(07:13):
Um, and yeah, We all start withgood intentions, but just
because you're good, forexample, if I'm a good painter,
that doesn't necessarily meanI'm a good business owner,
right?
So continue to learn andcontinue to grow in the things
that are actually going to bemaking you money as well as what
you're good at.
I think that
SPEAKER_01 (07:33):
moment of...
Anxiety in the bathtub andfeeling, oh goodness, how am I
going to do this?
I think that's going to be avery relatable feeling to a lot
of people.
Mainly because the scariest partof jumping into your own
business or being a businessowner, the beginning is the
(07:54):
financial part.
piece.
It's like, how do I take thisleap?
I have this other job, you know,or, or whatever is going on, you
know, when do I, when do I takethe leap?
And so just kind of, um, justfrom your own perspective, what
is that moment where you can sayI've reduced enough risk where
it's, it's time to, to jump in?
SPEAKER_00 (08:17):
So in a business, you're either going to be
reaping or you're going to beselling.
You're either going to begrowing or you're going to be
dying, right?
So it's one of those situationswhere whenever you get into a
business and you're looking at,you know, what is my year going
to look like next year?
Am I going to try to pull morefunds for my personal wealth,
(08:39):
for my personal establishment orwhatever it is?
Or whenever you're able to makethat decision as opposed to,
hey, next year we're going tohave a growth year.
We're gonna be tilling the soil.
We're gonna be planting moreseeds.
We're gonna be spending moremoney.
There's gonna be more workthat's gonna have to be done.
Those years are gonna be theyears that you're gonna be
growing.
your capital is going to behurt, right?
(09:00):
You're not going to have thecash flow because you got to buy
seed.
You got to buy, you know, allthe tools for that.
And then there's the years whenyou're just like, hey, last year
was an exhaustive year.
We cannot do that two years in arow.
We're going to pull back, goback to basics, maintain what we
have.
We're not going to hire anybodyright now.
(09:20):
The thing I will say though, isyou have to continue to grow one
way or the other, right?
You can't just stay stagnant.
So like, let's say, You had agreat year of reaping and
reaping and trying to get morefor yourself.
You have to have, if you see theright candidate, you have to try
to pull the trigger.
You have to have a backup planfor that.
If you have a new technology,paint.
(09:42):
I own a painting company.
Paint changes daily.
There was a new paint that justcame out a couple days ago for
Sherwin-Williams, a new stain.
There's a new paint that'scoming out for Benjamin Moore.
You know, am I going to not usethat paint because I'm stuck
with what I have, even if it'sbetter.
No, you just got to continue togrow and make those changes,
(10:03):
continue to learn.
But what I would say is, youknow, that moment whenever
you're like, hey, I've made it,I'm able to like pull back.
I've been in business 13 years.
I've had one year out of 13years where I was able to go,
okay, We need to slow down.
We've made it for a little bit.
I'm able to maintain for alittle bit.
(10:25):
Every other year, start abusiness, they said.
It'll be easy.
Every other year has been one ofthose years because you have to
continue to grow your business.
Because if you don't continue togrow, somebody is at your heels.
And they're going to take yourcustomers or somebody could do
it better at any given moment.
(10:45):
There's plenty to paint inOklahoma City, but that doesn't
mean I want to not paint newhouses, right?
Right.
Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_01 (10:51):
I think it's interesting.
With so many of the customersthat I work with on the
marketing agency side, it'sfascinating to see that people
want fast growth, but they don'tnecessarily always have a plan
for how they're going to getthere.
It's just like, I want to grow,but I don't.
(11:13):
So hearing you talk aboutdifferent ways that you can
actually watch and measure thefinancial side in particular and
see how how you're makingprogress and all the different
parts of your business that tellyou whoa you know this year we
don't want to repeat this yearor you know next year we we want
(11:34):
to go harder i think that'shelpful you know for for folks
because we need measurementsalong the way
SPEAKER_00 (11:42):
right well and there's certain trigger points
and certain things that you setright um what the funny thing is
is You're in the industry, youknow.
The first thing people want topull funds from whenever they're
slowing down is marketing.
SPEAKER_02 (11:55):
And
SPEAKER_00 (11:55):
I'm like, you need more leads.
You're going to get more leadsif you don't have the marketing.
So, you know, the first placethey look at, well, do we really
need a website?
Absolutely.
Do we really need to doInstagram and Facebook?
Yes, absolutely.
Pay-per-click.
Google, you have to spend themoney.
Now there's marketing sourcesthat aren't going to have the
(12:16):
return on investment.
You know, there's difference inmarketing.
There's building a brand andgenerating leads.
Sometimes building a brandgenerates leads and sometimes
generating leads builds yourbrand.
But for example, if I'm doingpay-per-click so that I can be
at the top of Google, That's soI can generate more leads.
Right.
Right.
You have to spend the money.
(12:38):
So that's why capital is reallyimportant.
But also, it's like I send out adirect mailer piece every year.
Sorry to anybody who receivesit.
But it's one of those situationswhere, you know, you have to
build a brand alongside that.
Yeah.
So that's where that is.
And there's certain triggerpoints.
(12:58):
You know, some people are like,hey, don't hire anybody until
you spend...
$350,000 or your revenue is$350,000 per employee,$400,000,
$500,000, whatever it is in yourbusiness.
Then there's the spend 13% ofyour marketing or your revenue
on marketing.
There's seven touch points thatyou need to make sure that your
(13:19):
customers are seeing.
There's certain rules of thumbsthat you do, but the business
itself has to run with the ideathat Marketing is going to
continue.
Growth is going to continue.
Getting people in there.
Again, if you're not growing,you're dying in the business
world.
So it's just the way it is.
SPEAKER_01 (13:37):
So there's kind of a curiosity then, Robert, is we've
been talking a whole lot ofmath.
Right.
And across those 13 years ofmath that you've been doing
about, in one year of you kindof getting a step back, what's
something that you think mostbusiness owners do need to know?
Because you already understandthe need for marketing and the
branding side and that constantgrowth.
But what's something that's noton the math side?
(13:58):
that business owners really needto understand so they can have a
few more of those years in theirtime running the business?
SPEAKER_00 (14:04):
So, um, you know, I, we met yesterday and we talked a
little bit, but, um, there's a,there's a, you have to take care
of yourself, right?
You have to take care ofyourself.
There's people out there thatwill burn and turn and burn all
day long and they don't, youknow, this is outside of the
(14:24):
math, outside of all of thosethings.
Um, You should always payyourself, right?
I know the people that go hungryjust so their business can run.
The problem is that you now havelost the opportunity to grow in
the future because you've burntyourself in the present.
So you have to make sure that nomatter what, you have a
(14:48):
work-life balance of some sort.
Does that mean...
Well, I mean, does that meanthat you're going to be...
You're going to get to...
Get off work at 3 o'clock everyday and go in at 9 o'clock in
the morning.
No.
I mean, you're a business owner.
You're going to be there at 6,30 in the morning, and you're
going to be there until 7, 8o'clock at night.
But if you're going three orfour days without sleep, your
(15:09):
body literally starts shuttingdown, right?
So you have to take care ofyourself.
One of the things that I like todo is I like to work out.
The gym time for me is importantbecause even if I'm not lifting
weights, I'm there to let outsome steam.
release get some time to myselfum spend some time with my wife
(15:32):
there's times whenever my wifewe're on vacation and i'm
getting phone calls and she'slike you know and it's uh you
know i love her and she'sincredibly patient for it but
it's also one of those it's likei have to run this business yeah
so even if we're on vacation i'mgonna get phone calls one time
we were in jamaica I was gettingphone calls in Jamaica.
(15:53):
I had to get out of my room, gosend out some emails.
And she's like, she's like, sois there a shut off button?
Like, do we need to shut thisoff?
She's, I guess she's incrediblypatient with me with all that
stuff, but it's also one ofthose.
It's like, you have to have sometype of work life balance that
will help you grow longterm.
(16:13):
And there's people think thatthings are going to end
tomorrow.
There's, I own a paintingcompany.
The reason I do that is becausethey're not sticking sirens and
lights on top of my truck tomake sure that I'm not saving
people's lives, right?
If you're doing one of thosebusinesses, yeah, it's a life
and death situation.
(16:34):
If you're doing financialplanning for a customer and they
call you and it's at the end ofthe world situation and you're
in a place where you're like,hey, I can't do that right now.
I knew a guy one time, Familymember in the hospital.
Step out of the room, out of thehospital, to take a phone call.
(16:56):
Like, you can't do that.
There's things that you're goingto remember in life, and that's
one of those things that youhave to make sure that you give
yourself a little bit of time.
That's one thing I would tellbusiness owners, because it
feels overwhelming at times.
Like, take care of yourself.
Take care of your health.
When it comes to the businessitself, you know, just...
(17:16):
You just keep moving forward.
Take another step, even if it'sa baby step.
Try not to take too many backsteps.
You're going to take them, butmake a plan to come forward.
But I mean, as far as outsidethe map, you know, each business
is so different.
It's really hard.
And each person is so different.
But the one thing I've noticedis people will wear themselves
out.
SPEAKER_01 (17:35):
Yeah.
Yeah.
No, that makes perfect sense.
And honestly, you just kind ofreencapsulated your
understanding of business needsto grow all the time.
That also speaks to taking careof yourself.
It means that you need to growall the time.
So if there's not equal amountsof growth on the personal side
and the business side, that'sprobably a good indicator as
you've been talking about thatit's not going to work.
SPEAKER_00 (17:54):
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (17:55):
This isn't a good fit.
SPEAKER_00 (17:55):
Right.
And I mean, like people alwayssay, read, you know, a lot of
these podcasters and, uh, as I,as I know, a lot of people are
like, continue to read books.
UNKNOWN (18:13):
Um,
SPEAKER_00 (18:13):
Even if it's an audio book, just continue to
learn.
Whether it's on the leadershipside, continue to learn.
Because, dude, there's so muchknowledge.
There's so many people that doit better than me that you've
got to get better.
SPEAKER_01 (18:26):
He is being humble, though.
He's like the best person.
the best painter around in theseparts.
So just know that.
But no, that makes so muchsense.
And I heard a phrase one timethat I've always really liked,
that leaders are readers.
And the more that we learn andwe get to know our craft.
(18:48):
It also just shows our passionbehind what we do.
You know, if you love what youdo, you want to know more about
it.
And that's part of where thedrive comes in.
And that can even be part of theself-care.
You know, it...
You don't have to read allfiction or nonfiction.
(19:09):
You can mix things up and stillfind those moments of peace as
you go through.
And so there can be some dualthings there.
Some people can't say, if youcan't disconnect, then don't
read your economics book orsomething.
Find a nice fantasy book orsomething.
But Nolan's already like, he'slike, I have something I want to
(19:31):
say here.
Well, no, it's more thecuriosity.
because I'm, again, babybusiness owner over here.
And I already get to be part ofthis awesome community here in
OKC at 3810 with ThinkBizSolutions and with this great
network that we've curatedthanks to all of you consummate
professionals.
This is awesome.
But was that point of stress andthat anxiety that you felt
(19:54):
earlier on, like you weretalking with your wife, and if
you don't know how this is goingto work...
Would that have been preventedby having a network like this
earlier on?
SPEAKER_00 (20:02):
Oh, for sure.
I mean, and honestly, the reasonthat I was able to overcome that
was because of a network.
It wasn't necessarily just anetworking group, but I don't
know how I've made it in life.
I mean, I've been so blessedwith the friends and the
families and the people thatI've surrounded myself.
Literally some of the greatestpeople I know.
(20:24):
I mean, we're able to go, hey,man.
I remember one time I showed upat a job site, and this guy,
he's a great friend of minenamed Troy.
I'm walking in, and he's doingtile at a job site.
As I'm walking in, I can't catchmy breath.
The panic attack is still goingon, so I can't catch it.
(20:45):
I'm crying as I'm walking intothis job site.
Oh, goodness.
I'm like, okay, get it together.
Get it together.
And he was like, hey, man, it'sgoing to be okay.
God's got this.
It's going to be okay.
And just having a friend say,hey, it's going to be okay.
Surround yourself with people.
One of the benefits of thisThinkBiz where we're at, the
(21:06):
3810, is that it's businessowners.
If you're not taking advantageof that, if you're not building
relationships with those people,if you're not networking with
them, you're doing yourself agreat disservice because these
people have been doing it a longtime.
Or even if they're brand new toit, they're bringing a new fresh
set of eyes to a business thatyou've been so blinded by
(21:29):
everything that's hitting you inthe face that you're just like,
okay, this is where we need togo.
So I honestly think it's one ofthose situations where
networking and puttingyourselves around the right
people can save you.
Putting yourselves around thewrong people can drown you, can
drown you.
We talked a little bit aboutthis, but there's people that
(21:52):
do, you know, that justabsolutely drain your energy,
you know.
And if you take everythingpersonal and then you get
yourself around those people,not only is your business a bad
business, but now you're a badperson, right?
And you internalize that.
And that's a bad place to be.
SPEAKER_01 (22:08):
It's a tough pill to swallow at that stage.
SPEAKER_00 (22:10):
Yeah.
So that's where, you know, thenew businesses that are coming
in, networking is huge.
I always tell my sales guys, I'mlike, hey, you need to continue
to network.
You need to continue to grow.
I can only provide you so manyleads.
But, you know, for example, I'mdoing, we're doing some bids on,
(22:31):
the Oklahoma City LibrarySystem, the Metropolitan Library
System.
They're a great group of people.
I would have never gotten thatif I hadn't been networking and
somebody said, hey, I hearthey're going to be doing some
painting.
There's another huge apartmentcomplex that we're working on.
I didn't even know that theywere going to be bidding out
(22:51):
until somebody reached out like,hey, did you hear that they're
going to be, do you drive thisfar out?
I got an opportunity to paint a100-year-old train.
You know, the reason that that'shappening, I think this, I mean,
literally Rob.
was just like, hey, we justpower washed all this.
They're needing a paint job.
(23:11):
Oh, awesome.
But I'm like, dude, I would loveto paint a 100-year-old train.
Now, I'm having to bring in someindustrial stripes kind of
paints and painters for this,but it's also one of those.
I'm like,
SPEAKER_02 (23:21):
how
SPEAKER_00 (23:21):
great would it be?
Oh, yeah, you got to take goodpictures of that one.
Right.
I mean, it's a massive100-year-old train in Oklahoma.
And I'm like, and they're goingto be doing a fundraising to
raise the funds for the trainand all that stuff.
But it's one of six.
One of six left.
There's only one that's inworking order.
It's an oil drain.
And then the other four are inpretty bad condition.
(23:45):
And then this one that they'rerestoring.
And I'm like...
Heck yeah, let's paint thisthing.
SPEAKER_01 (23:51):
And by the way, just for reference, Rob wasn't
referring to himself when hesaid Rob earlier.
We have
SPEAKER_00 (23:57):
two Robs.
I refer myself business.
There's
SPEAKER_01 (24:04):
three of you.
SPEAKER_00 (24:04):
Yeah, me, myself, and
SPEAKER_01 (24:06):
I.
But I mean, that's just anamazing track record for you.
Almost 13 years in business,coming up this fall, you've...
Done a lot.
You've seen a lot.
You're getting to do cool trainprojects now.
You're bidding out projects youprobably never thought you'd get
to work on from the familybusiness that you never knew
originally existed.
Exactly.
So what's the next step?
Where's SertaPro
SPEAKER_00 (24:26):
Painters going to be taking Robert?
Well, so right now we're tryingto grow our territory a little
bit.
So SertaPro is a franchise.
So it's one of those where I canwork anywhere commercially, but
I'm limited.
Basically, if you go in OklahomaCity, if you go from I-240
North, I and do most of theresidential stuff there.
But south, more Norman, that wasowned by another territory.
(24:51):
Now I'm currently servicing it,that area, so I can take care of
it.
So since I'm servicing it, we'regoing to try to grow into the
more Norman and the southernterritory.
If there's anybody that lives inthat area, we can paint your
house right now.
It's not a big deal, but we wantto purchase that territory as
well.
So that's the next step.
The other thing that I want todo is eventually we're going to
(25:13):
need to hire hire a new, youknow, some additional employees
for the office.
And then I would, you know,we're doing concrete floors now.
So we're doing for thatpolyaspartic on garage floors.
We do that.
So not only can we paint yourhouse, we'll paint your garage
floor.
So one-stop shop on that.
And then the other part is goingto be, you know, personal
(25:36):
growth.
I'm working on, I've reallystarted enjoying hunting.
Last year, I went out and wenthunting.
Well, I've been hunting before,but last year, mentally, it was
kind of a tough year again, 12years in.
So it was one of those things.
I spent a day on a blind lastyear.
(26:00):
and didn't shoot anything.
I saw like 12 doe and saw a pig.
I saw a bunch of stuff, butdidn't kill anything.
It was just one of those thingsI just sat out there and spent
time with nature.
So I realized, man, I'm reallyenjoying this nature time.
I'm really enjoying.
So as far as the personal, theself-growth, spending more time
in nature, doing more walks,doing more, you know, one-on-one
(26:23):
time with God and, you know,some more time with the wife.
And those are the things thatare growing for CertiPro and for
myself personally.
What about you guys?
SPEAKER_01 (26:34):
Man.
I
SPEAKER_00 (26:36):
feel like I've been talking the whole time.
That's
SPEAKER_01 (26:39):
why we have you on.
We talk a little bit less.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Nolan's voice is more soothingthan mine.
I'm just here as the backup.
The crazy
SPEAKER_00 (26:50):
guy.
I mean, whatever you weretalking, I thought it was ASMR.
SPEAKER_01 (26:53):
I
SPEAKER_00 (26:53):
mean,
SPEAKER_01 (26:53):
I was so sorry.
Get your crinkle paper.
That's right, Mike.
And this is actually just apromotion for my new answer.
That will...
You can subscribe to it for 50bucks a month.
It'll be great.
Man, we've enjoyed it though.
We've loved getting to talk toyou about just...
business in general and and youryour years of experience um if
(27:18):
somebody wanted to find you andconnect with you after the
podcast where would be the bestplaces for them to get a hold of
you
SPEAKER_00 (27:24):
um so we have a facebook page we have a google
page we have so uh sort of probeokc and edmund or edmund and okc
um we um on facebook you canfollow us there we post pictures
every once in a while there wehave an instagram page where
we're going to be starting toupload a lot more of our before
and after projects, which a lotof people like.
(27:44):
You can pin those to yourPinterest page.
And then, or you can just giveus a call.
We do free estimates if you havea project.
Honestly, if you have a questionas far as like a paint project
coming up and you're trying toget a budget together, or if
you're looking at something andyou're like, hey, how do we
paint the ceiling on a 26-footceiling without like...
(28:08):
You're like, hey, call aprofessional.
So 405-990-8521.
That's our office number.
So you can call and schedule afree estimate there.
Again, 405-990-8521.
Want to make sure you give thatnumber, not just my personal
cell phone number.
(28:30):
That's going to be– yeah, not
SPEAKER_01 (28:33):
mine.
And we'll make sure to includethat in the show notes too so
that way people can get a holdof it there.
SPEAKER_00 (28:38):
And, I mean, you can go on and find out a bunch of
stuff.
We're online.
We're on Google.
They've written a couple ofarticles.
So we've been in a couple ofneighborhoods.
Yeah, and if you have anyquestions or anything, let us
know.
We'd be more than happy to help.
I love helping people.
I love teaching people.
I love allowing people to grow.
So if there's anything thatanybody needs business-related
(28:59):
or this–
SPEAKER_01 (29:00):
Yeah.
Hit me up.
Awesome.
Well, do get in touch withRobert.
He's a great guy.
Runs great business.
We want to see him succeed.
SPEAKER_00 (29:09):
Thank you.
Thank you.
And then if you're a tradesmanor if you're looking for a good
place to network, the ThinkBizis a fantastic networking place.
I highly recommend you guys comeup here.
Not only are they great, theyalso have a podcast.
What?
UNKNOWN (29:30):
No way.
SPEAKER_01 (29:30):
Well, our sign-off here that we do is stay sharp,
think biz.
Would you do us the honor ofsaying the think biz part today?
Yeah.
All right.
Stay sharp.
Think biz.
Hello,
SPEAKER_01 (00:14):
hello.
We are back with the Think BizPodcast.
Good morning, everyone.
It's a happy Tuesday here inOKC, and we have a new guest
today.
SPEAKER_00 (00:25):
Good morning.
SPEAKER_01 (00:26):
We have Robert Norris here with us, who is
just...
An incredible human being andalso an incredible business
owner.
So, I mean, honestly, I think wecan just jump straight in.
Tell us about yourself, Robert.
What's going on with you?
SPEAKER_00 (00:45):
Well, first of all, thank you guys for having me.
I'm looking forward to talkingtoday.
So, my name is Robert Norris.
Whenever I...
first came to the United States.
My name was Roberto Manuel OrtizMarien.
So we're going to go with RobertNorris for today.
So yeah, so I'm the owner ofCertiPro Painters in Oklahoma
(01:08):
City.
We purchased the franchiserights for the Oklahoma City
territory in 2012.
So we've been in business sinceNovember 13th of 2012, doing
paint jobs for residential andcommercial properties.
I'm happily married, got two furbabies and live about a block
(01:29):
away where I went to high schoolat Putnam City North High
School.
Go Panthers.
So yeah, been doing this a whileand love helping other business
owners, love helping otherpainters.
And yeah, we provide servicesfor local homeowners.
Awesome.
Very cool.
SPEAKER_01 (01:47):
What really inspired you to buy the franchise in the
first place?
Was it kind of you needing tosolve your own problem, just get
into business for yourself forthe first time?
Or was it just a goodopportunity that showed itself?
SPEAKER_00 (01:57):
So it's a funny story.
We actually, my dad and I at thesame time, we both came to the
realization that we were makingother people money.
way more money than we weregetting paid for the money that
we were making them.
He was in the electric fieldselling big electric components
and I was oil and gas, but I wasjust the guy that just basically
(02:19):
traveled around and checked theimage standards and sold fuel
whenever I had an opportunity.
And we weren't quite making themoney that we wanted to make.
So he came home one day and he'slike, man, I just closed this
deal.
And this is what's going tohappen, and I'm going to get
screwed out of money.
And I had just closed the deal,and basically the exact same
(02:40):
thing.
So we were like, let's take alook and see what we can do
outside of that.
And then CertiPro has recruitersthat were trying to sell the
territory here.
So basically, I...
We went online, and they reachedout to us.
We went out to see it, and Ididn't realize this, but my
great-grandfather on my dad'sside, because I was adopted, he
(03:04):
actually was a wallpaper hangerand a painter back in the 20s.
So my dad reached out to me.
He goes, hey, we reached...
we got to reach out to my SertaPro painters.
Do you want to go back into thefamily business?
And I was like, what's thefamily business?
He's like, well, apparently backin the day we were painters.
Grandpa was a painter.
He helped him out.
So I was like, yeah, that soundsgreat.
We went out, checked it out,fell in love with the franchise,
(03:27):
purchased it and the rights towork here.
Two weeks later, my littlesister got sick.
So my dad was like, hey, I gotto go back to corporate life
because I got to provideinsurance because we didn't have
insurance at the time.
We're in a brand new business.
And I was like, well, what doesthat mean?
I was like, I've managed peoplebefore.
I've managed all that.
(03:47):
I don't know anything aboutfinancials.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So he goes, good luck.
And that's that's basically thebeginning of Serta Pro Painters.
That's
SPEAKER_01 (03:59):
awesome.
Man, what a story.
I imagine along the way you'vecome across a number of
successes and challenges as allbusinesses do.
What are some of the things thatyou've learned throughout the
process of owning your ownbusiness?
SPEAKER_00 (04:18):
Well, one thing my wife always tells me is you're
always learning.
Whether you're learning what youshould do or what you shouldn't
do, you're always learning.
So as a business owner, one ofmy biggest challenges was
learning the financial aspect ofowning a business.
That year one, margin control,that the IRS was gonna want
their money, that the insurancecompany was gonna want their
(04:39):
money, that all of the fees andlittle things that nickel and
dime you to death on that firstyear, it was difficult, but we
learned all of those things.
If I were talking to a newbusiness owner, that's one of
the things I would tell them.
I would say, hey, there's a lotof things that are gonna come up
(04:59):
randomly, Start the businesswith enough capital because we
did not have enough capital andthat capital helps.
Start with a true business plan.
What happens with whenever youdon't hit your goals?
What happens when you exceedyour goals?
And have that in mind.
And then always start a businesswith an exit strategy.
So you know, okay, once I reachthis level, I can either exit
(05:25):
the business or I need to comeup with a new business strategy
at that point because, you know,You have to know the way out
before you can know the way in.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (05:32):
That's really important because I was looking
at some economic statistics acouple weeks ago, and normally
small business growth issupposed to be a good economic
indicator, right?
Right.
The problem is, like you weresaying, ideally you do that with
enough capital up front tosurvive.
SPEAKER_00 (05:47):
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (05:48):
But at this point, a lot of people in the past few
years, and especially since2020, they're starting
businesses with no capital tobegin with.
Right.
And so unfortunately, newentrepreneurs that are just
starting out There's so manymore new businesses that just
aren't able to have that exitstrategy like you're talking
about.
They have no clue how to do thefinancial side and they just
have no buffer whatsoever.
SPEAKER_00 (06:08):
Right.
And, you know, then they'restarting to hire people.
And whenever you're hiringpeople, you really got to have
capital because at any givenmoment, you may have a slow
month.
You still got to pay theirpayroll.
And I remember one time my wifefound me having a full-on
anxiety attack in the bathtubbecause I couldn't catch my
(06:28):
breath.
And I laid down.
That was the closest place Icould lay down.
And I was like, I don't know howwe're going to make it.
And somehow we made it through.
Through the grace of God, wemade it through that.
But it was one of thosesituations where you never know
what's going to come at you.
And like you said...
the SBA and a lot of like otherplaces have offered these
(06:51):
business loans or they, youknow, back during the pandemic,
um, which seems like a centuryago, um, the government was just
handing out money.
Right.
And people were like, well, Icould take this and start my own
business.
What happens when the moneystarts, stops coming in or when
you got to pay it back at aninterest rate?
Like that's where a lot ofpeople make a mistake.
(07:13):
Um, and yeah, We all start withgood intentions, but just
because you're good, forexample, if I'm a good painter,
that doesn't necessarily meanI'm a good business owner,
right?
So continue to learn andcontinue to grow in the things
that are actually going to bemaking you money as well as what
you're good at.
I think that
SPEAKER_01 (07:33):
moment of...
Anxiety in the bathtub andfeeling, oh goodness, how am I
going to do this?
I think that's going to be avery relatable feeling to a lot
of people.
Mainly because the scariest partof jumping into your own
business or being a businessowner, the beginning is the
(07:54):
financial part.
piece.
It's like, how do I take thisleap?
I have this other job, you know,or, or whatever is going on, you
know, when do I, when do I takethe leap?
And so just kind of, um, justfrom your own perspective, what
is that moment where you can sayI've reduced enough risk where
it's, it's time to, to jump in?
SPEAKER_00 (08:17):
So in a business, you're either going to be
reaping or you're going to beselling.
You're either going to begrowing or you're going to be
dying, right?
So it's one of those situationswhere whenever you get into a
business and you're looking at,you know, what is my year going
to look like next year?
Am I going to try to pull morefunds for my personal wealth,
(08:39):
for my personal establishment orwhatever it is?
Or whenever you're able to makethat decision as opposed to,
hey, next year we're going tohave a growth year.
We're gonna be tilling the soil.
We're gonna be planting moreseeds.
We're gonna be spending moremoney.
There's gonna be more workthat's gonna have to be done.
Those years are gonna be theyears that you're gonna be
growing.
your capital is going to behurt, right?
(09:00):
You're not going to have thecash flow because you got to buy
seed.
You got to buy, you know, allthe tools for that.
And then there's the years whenyou're just like, hey, last year
was an exhaustive year.
We cannot do that two years in arow.
We're going to pull back, goback to basics, maintain what we
have.
We're not going to hire anybodyright now.
(09:20):
The thing I will say though, isyou have to continue to grow one
way or the other, right?
You can't just stay stagnant.
So like, let's say, You had agreat year of reaping and
reaping and trying to get morefor yourself.
You have to have, if you see theright candidate, you have to try
to pull the trigger.
You have to have a backup planfor that.
If you have a new technology,paint.
(09:42):
I own a painting company.
Paint changes daily.
There was a new paint that justcame out a couple days ago for
Sherwin-Williams, a new stain.
There's a new paint that'scoming out for Benjamin Moore.
You know, am I going to not usethat paint because I'm stuck
with what I have, even if it'sbetter.
No, you just got to continue togrow and make those changes,
(10:03):
continue to learn.
But what I would say is, youknow, that moment whenever
you're like, hey, I've made it,I'm able to like pull back.
I've been in business 13 years.
I've had one year out of 13years where I was able to go,
okay, We need to slow down.
We've made it for a little bit.
I'm able to maintain for alittle bit.
(10:25):
Every other year, start abusiness, they said.
It'll be easy.
Every other year has been one ofthose years because you have to
continue to grow your business.
Because if you don't continue togrow, somebody is at your heels.
And they're going to take yourcustomers or somebody could do
it better at any given moment.
(10:45):
There's plenty to paint inOklahoma City, but that doesn't
mean I want to not paint newhouses, right?
Right.
Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_01 (10:51):
I think it's interesting.
With so many of the customersthat I work with on the
marketing agency side, it'sfascinating to see that people
want fast growth, but they don'tnecessarily always have a plan
for how they're going to getthere.
It's just like, I want to grow,but I don't.
(11:13):
So hearing you talk aboutdifferent ways that you can
actually watch and measure thefinancial side in particular and
see how how you're makingprogress and all the different
parts of your business that tellyou whoa you know this year we
don't want to repeat this yearor you know next year we we want
(11:34):
to go harder i think that'shelpful you know for for folks
because we need measurementsalong the way
SPEAKER_00 (11:42):
right well and there's certain trigger points
and certain things that you setright um what the funny thing is
is You're in the industry, youknow.
The first thing people want topull funds from whenever they're
slowing down is marketing.
SPEAKER_02 (11:55):
And
SPEAKER_00 (11:55):
I'm like, you need more leads.
You're going to get more leadsif you don't have the marketing.
So, you know, the first placethey look at, well, do we really
need a website?
Absolutely.
Do we really need to doInstagram and Facebook?
Yes, absolutely.
Pay-per-click.
Google, you have to spend themoney.
Now there's marketing sourcesthat aren't going to have the
(12:16):
return on investment.
You know, there's difference inmarketing.
There's building a brand andgenerating leads.
Sometimes building a brandgenerates leads and sometimes
generating leads builds yourbrand.
But for example, if I'm doingpay-per-click so that I can be
at the top of Google, That's soI can generate more leads.
Right.
Right.
You have to spend the money.
(12:38):
So that's why capital is reallyimportant.
But also, it's like I send out adirect mailer piece every year.
Sorry to anybody who receivesit.
But it's one of those situationswhere, you know, you have to
build a brand alongside that.
Yeah.
So that's where that is.
And there's certain triggerpoints.
(12:58):
You know, some people are like,hey, don't hire anybody until
you spend...
$350,000 or your revenue is$350,000 per employee,$400,000,
$500,000, whatever it is in yourbusiness.
Then there's the spend 13% ofyour marketing or your revenue
on marketing.
There's seven touch points thatyou need to make sure that your
(13:19):
customers are seeing.
There's certain rules of thumbsthat you do, but the business
itself has to run with the ideathat Marketing is going to
continue.
Growth is going to continue.
Getting people in there.
Again, if you're not growing,you're dying in the business
world.
So it's just the way it is.
SPEAKER_01 (13:37):
So there's kind of a curiosity then, Robert, is we've
been talking a whole lot ofmath.
Right.
And across those 13 years ofmath that you've been doing
about, in one year of you kindof getting a step back, what's
something that you think mostbusiness owners do need to know?
Because you already understandthe need for marketing and the
branding side and that constantgrowth.
But what's something that's noton the math side?
(13:58):
that business owners really needto understand so they can have a
few more of those years in theirtime running the business?
SPEAKER_00 (14:04):
So, um, you know, I, we met yesterday and we talked a
little bit, but, um, there's a,there's a, you have to take care
of yourself, right?
You have to take care ofyourself.
There's people out there thatwill burn and turn and burn all
day long and they don't, youknow, this is outside of the
(14:24):
math, outside of all of thosethings.
Um, You should always payyourself, right?
I know the people that go hungryjust so their business can run.
The problem is that you now havelost the opportunity to grow in
the future because you've burntyourself in the present.
So you have to make sure that nomatter what, you have a
(14:48):
work-life balance of some sort.
Does that mean...
Well, I mean, does that meanthat you're going to be...
You're going to get to...
Get off work at 3 o'clock everyday and go in at 9 o'clock in
the morning.
No.
I mean, you're a business owner.
You're going to be there at 6,30 in the morning, and you're
going to be there until 7, 8o'clock at night.
But if you're going three orfour days without sleep, your
(15:09):
body literally starts shuttingdown, right?
So you have to take care ofyourself.
One of the things that I like todo is I like to work out.
The gym time for me is importantbecause even if I'm not lifting
weights, I'm there to let outsome steam.
release get some time to myselfum spend some time with my wife
(15:32):
there's times whenever my wifewe're on vacation and i'm
getting phone calls and she'slike you know and it's uh you
know i love her and she'sincredibly patient for it but
it's also one of those it's likei have to run this business yeah
so even if we're on vacation i'mgonna get phone calls one time
we were in jamaica I was gettingphone calls in Jamaica.
(15:53):
I had to get out of my room, gosend out some emails.
And she's like, she's like, sois there a shut off button?
Like, do we need to shut thisoff?
She's, I guess she's incrediblypatient with me with all that
stuff, but it's also one ofthose.
It's like, you have to have sometype of work life balance that
will help you grow longterm.
(16:13):
And there's people think thatthings are going to end
tomorrow.
There's, I own a paintingcompany.
The reason I do that is becausethey're not sticking sirens and
lights on top of my truck tomake sure that I'm not saving
people's lives, right?
If you're doing one of thosebusinesses, yeah, it's a life
and death situation.
(16:34):
If you're doing financialplanning for a customer and they
call you and it's at the end ofthe world situation and you're
in a place where you're like,hey, I can't do that right now.
I knew a guy one time, Familymember in the hospital.
Step out of the room, out of thehospital, to take a phone call.
(16:56):
Like, you can't do that.
There's things that you're goingto remember in life, and that's
one of those things that youhave to make sure that you give
yourself a little bit of time.
That's one thing I would tellbusiness owners, because it
feels overwhelming at times.
Like, take care of yourself.
Take care of your health.
When it comes to the businessitself, you know, just...
(17:16):
You just keep moving forward.
Take another step, even if it'sa baby step.
Try not to take too many backsteps.
You're going to take them, butmake a plan to come forward.
But I mean, as far as outsidethe map, you know, each business
is so different.
It's really hard.
And each person is so different.
But the one thing I've noticedis people will wear themselves
out.
SPEAKER_01 (17:35):
Yeah.
Yeah.
No, that makes perfect sense.
And honestly, you just kind ofreencapsulated your
understanding of business needsto grow all the time.
That also speaks to taking careof yourself.
It means that you need to growall the time.
So if there's not equal amountsof growth on the personal side
and the business side, that'sprobably a good indicator as
you've been talking about thatit's not going to work.
SPEAKER_00 (17:54):
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (17:55):
This isn't a good fit.
SPEAKER_00 (17:55):
Right.
And I mean, like people alwayssay, read, you know, a lot of
these podcasters and, uh, as I,as I know, a lot of people are
like, continue to read books.
UNKNOWN (18:13):
Um,
SPEAKER_00 (18:13):
Even if it's an audio book, just continue to
learn.
Whether it's on the leadershipside, continue to learn.
Because, dude, there's so muchknowledge.
There's so many people that doit better than me that you've
got to get better.
SPEAKER_01 (18:26):
He is being humble, though.
He's like the best person.
the best painter around in theseparts.
So just know that.
But no, that makes so muchsense.
And I heard a phrase one timethat I've always really liked,
that leaders are readers.
And the more that we learn andwe get to know our craft.
(18:48):
It also just shows our passionbehind what we do.
You know, if you love what youdo, you want to know more about
it.
And that's part of where thedrive comes in.
And that can even be part of theself-care.
You know, it...
You don't have to read allfiction or nonfiction.
(19:09):
You can mix things up and stillfind those moments of peace as
you go through.
And so there can be some dualthings there.
Some people can't say, if youcan't disconnect, then don't
read your economics book orsomething.
Find a nice fantasy book orsomething.
But Nolan's already like, he'slike, I have something I want to
(19:31):
say here.
Well, no, it's more thecuriosity.
because I'm, again, babybusiness owner over here.
And I already get to be part ofthis awesome community here in
OKC at 3810 with ThinkBizSolutions and with this great
network that we've curatedthanks to all of you consummate
professionals.
This is awesome.
But was that point of stress andthat anxiety that you felt
(19:54):
earlier on, like you weretalking with your wife, and if
you don't know how this is goingto work...
Would that have been preventedby having a network like this
earlier on?
SPEAKER_00 (20:02):
Oh, for sure.
I mean, and honestly, the reasonthat I was able to overcome that
was because of a network.
It wasn't necessarily just anetworking group, but I don't
know how I've made it in life.
I mean, I've been so blessedwith the friends and the
families and the people thatI've surrounded myself.
Literally some of the greatestpeople I know.
(20:24):
I mean, we're able to go, hey,man.
I remember one time I showed upat a job site, and this guy,
he's a great friend of minenamed Troy.
I'm walking in, and he's doingtile at a job site.
As I'm walking in, I can't catchmy breath.
The panic attack is still goingon, so I can't catch it.
(20:45):
I'm crying as I'm walking intothis job site.
Oh, goodness.
I'm like, okay, get it together.
Get it together.
And he was like, hey, man, it'sgoing to be okay.
God's got this.
It's going to be okay.
And just having a friend say,hey, it's going to be okay.
Surround yourself with people.
One of the benefits of thisThinkBiz where we're at, the
(21:06):
3810, is that it's businessowners.
If you're not taking advantageof that, if you're not building
relationships with those people,if you're not networking with
them, you're doing yourself agreat disservice because these
people have been doing it a longtime.
Or even if they're brand new toit, they're bringing a new fresh
set of eyes to a business thatyou've been so blinded by
(21:29):
everything that's hitting you inthe face that you're just like,
okay, this is where we need togo.
So I honestly think it's one ofthose situations where
networking and puttingyourselves around the right
people can save you.
Putting yourselves around thewrong people can drown you, can
drown you.
We talked a little bit aboutthis, but there's people that
(21:52):
do, you know, that justabsolutely drain your energy,
you know.
And if you take everythingpersonal and then you get
yourself around those people,not only is your business a bad
business, but now you're a badperson, right?
And you internalize that.
And that's a bad place to be.
SPEAKER_01 (22:08):
It's a tough pill to swallow at that stage.
SPEAKER_00 (22:10):
Yeah.
So that's where, you know, thenew businesses that are coming
in, networking is huge.
I always tell my sales guys, I'mlike, hey, you need to continue
to network.
You need to continue to grow.
I can only provide you so manyleads.
But, you know, for example, I'mdoing, we're doing some bids on,
(22:31):
the Oklahoma City LibrarySystem, the Metropolitan Library
System.
They're a great group of people.
I would have never gotten thatif I hadn't been networking and
somebody said, hey, I hearthey're going to be doing some
painting.
There's another huge apartmentcomplex that we're working on.
I didn't even know that theywere going to be bidding out
(22:51):
until somebody reached out like,hey, did you hear that they're
going to be, do you drive thisfar out?
I got an opportunity to paint a100-year-old train.
You know, the reason that that'shappening, I think this, I mean,
literally Rob.
was just like, hey, we justpower washed all this.
They're needing a paint job.
(23:11):
Oh, awesome.
But I'm like, dude, I would loveto paint a 100-year-old train.
Now, I'm having to bring in someindustrial stripes kind of
paints and painters for this,but it's also one of those.
I'm like,
SPEAKER_02 (23:21):
how
SPEAKER_00 (23:21):
great would it be?
Oh, yeah, you got to take goodpictures of that one.
Right.
I mean, it's a massive100-year-old train in Oklahoma.
And I'm like, and they're goingto be doing a fundraising to
raise the funds for the trainand all that stuff.
But it's one of six.
One of six left.
There's only one that's inworking order.
It's an oil drain.
And then the other four are inpretty bad condition.
(23:45):
And then this one that they'rerestoring.
And I'm like...
Heck yeah, let's paint thisthing.
SPEAKER_01 (23:51):
And by the way, just for reference, Rob wasn't
referring to himself when hesaid Rob earlier.
We have
SPEAKER_00 (23:57):
two Robs.
I refer myself business.
There's
SPEAKER_01 (24:04):
three of you.
SPEAKER_00 (24:04):
Yeah, me, myself, and
SPEAKER_01 (24:06):
I.
But I mean, that's just anamazing track record for you.
Almost 13 years in business,coming up this fall, you've...
Done a lot.
You've seen a lot.
You're getting to do cool trainprojects now.
You're bidding out projects youprobably never thought you'd get
to work on from the familybusiness that you never knew
originally existed.
Exactly.
So what's the next step?
Where's SertaPro
SPEAKER_00 (24:26):
Painters going to be taking Robert?
Well, so right now we're tryingto grow our territory a little
bit.
So SertaPro is a franchise.
So it's one of those where I canwork anywhere commercially, but
I'm limited.
Basically, if you go in OklahomaCity, if you go from I-240
North, I and do most of theresidential stuff there.
But south, more Norman, that wasowned by another territory.
(24:51):
Now I'm currently servicing it,that area, so I can take care of
it.
So since I'm servicing it, we'regoing to try to grow into the
more Norman and the southernterritory.
If there's anybody that lives inthat area, we can paint your
house right now.
It's not a big deal, but we wantto purchase that territory as
well.
So that's the next step.
The other thing that I want todo is eventually we're going to
(25:13):
need to hire hire a new, youknow, some additional employees
for the office.
And then I would, you know,we're doing concrete floors now.
So we're doing for thatpolyaspartic on garage floors.
We do that.
So not only can we paint yourhouse, we'll paint your garage
floor.
So one-stop shop on that.
And then the other part is goingto be, you know, personal
(25:36):
growth.
I'm working on, I've reallystarted enjoying hunting.
Last year, I went out and wenthunting.
Well, I've been hunting before,but last year, mentally, it was
kind of a tough year again, 12years in.
So it was one of those things.
I spent a day on a blind lastyear.
(26:00):
and didn't shoot anything.
I saw like 12 doe and saw a pig.
I saw a bunch of stuff, butdidn't kill anything.
It was just one of those thingsI just sat out there and spent
time with nature.
So I realized, man, I'm reallyenjoying this nature time.
I'm really enjoying.
So as far as the personal, theself-growth, spending more time
in nature, doing more walks,doing more, you know, one-on-one
(26:23):
time with God and, you know,some more time with the wife.
And those are the things thatare growing for CertiPro and for
myself personally.
What about you guys?
SPEAKER_01 (26:34):
Man.
I
SPEAKER_00 (26:36):
feel like I've been talking the whole time.
That's
SPEAKER_01 (26:39):
why we have you on.
We talk a little bit less.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Nolan's voice is more soothingthan mine.
I'm just here as the backup.
The crazy
SPEAKER_00 (26:50):
guy.
I mean, whatever you weretalking, I thought it was ASMR.
SPEAKER_01 (26:53):
I
SPEAKER_00 (26:53):
mean,
SPEAKER_01 (26:53):
I was so sorry.
Get your crinkle paper.
That's right, Mike.
And this is actually just apromotion for my new answer.
That will...
You can subscribe to it for 50bucks a month.
It'll be great.
Man, we've enjoyed it though.
We've loved getting to talk toyou about just...
business in general and and youryour years of experience um if
(27:18):
somebody wanted to find you andconnect with you after the
podcast where would be the bestplaces for them to get a hold of
you
SPEAKER_00 (27:24):
um so we have a facebook page we have a google
page we have so uh sort of probeokc and edmund or edmund and okc
um we um on facebook you canfollow us there we post pictures
every once in a while there wehave an instagram page where
we're going to be starting toupload a lot more of our before
and after projects, which a lotof people like.
(27:44):
You can pin those to yourPinterest page.
And then, or you can just giveus a call.
We do free estimates if you havea project.
Honestly, if you have a questionas far as like a paint project
coming up and you're trying toget a budget together, or if
you're looking at something andyou're like, hey, how do we
paint the ceiling on a 26-footceiling without like...
(28:08):
You're like, hey, call aprofessional.
So 405-990-8521.
That's our office number.
So you can call and schedule afree estimate there.
Again, 405-990-8521.
Want to make sure you give thatnumber, not just my personal
cell phone number.
(28:30):
That's going to be– yeah, not
SPEAKER_01 (28:33):
mine.
And we'll make sure to includethat in the show notes too so
that way people can get a holdof it there.
SPEAKER_00 (28:38):
And, I mean, you can go on and find out a bunch of
stuff.
We're online.
We're on Google.
They've written a couple ofarticles.
So we've been in a couple ofneighborhoods.
Yeah, and if you have anyquestions or anything, let us
know.
We'd be more than happy to help.
I love helping people.
I love teaching people.
I love allowing people to grow.
So if there's anything thatanybody needs business-related
(28:59):
or this–
SPEAKER_01 (29:00):
Yeah.
Hit me up.
Awesome.
Well, do get in touch withRobert.
He's a great guy.
Runs great business.
We want to see him succeed.
SPEAKER_00 (29:09):
Thank you.
Thank you.
And then if you're a tradesmanor if you're looking for a good
place to network, the ThinkBizis a fantastic networking place.
I highly recommend you guys comeup here.
Not only are they great, theyalso have a podcast.
What?
UNKNOWN (29:30):
No way.
SPEAKER_01 (29:30):
Well, our sign-off here that we do is stay sharp,
think biz.
Would you do us the honor ofsaying the think biz part today?
Yeah.
All right.
Stay sharp.
Think biz.
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