October 22, 2024 • 42 mins
With over a decade of pioneering work at Heirloom Traditions Paint and my current leadership role as CEO of CamCoat, I bring a wealth of experience in product development and the creative direction of our products.
My core competencies lie in transforming spaces with a keen eye for color, interior design aesthetic, furniture placement and kitchen & bath design.
At CamCoat/Heirloom Traditions, our mission is to deliver sustainable coating solutions that aligns with my dedication to innovation and excellence in the realm of home aesthetics and paint & coatings.
By leveraging my background in design, we aim to make a positive environmental impact while enhancing the beauty and functionality of our customers living spaces using our innovative paint products.
My core competencies lie in transforming spaces with a keen eye for color, interior design aesthetic, furniture placement and kitchen & bath design.
At CamCoat/Heirloom Traditions, our mission is to deliver sustainable coating solutions that aligns with my dedication to innovation and excellence in the realm of home aesthetics and paint & coatings.
By leveraging my background in design, we aim to make a positive environmental impact while enhancing the beauty and functionality of our customers living spaces using our innovative paint products.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I am from a little town called I'm not a Tennessee,
a little small town of oh gosh, tiny little place
right on the Kentucky border, and grew up there and
moved to Louisville about thirteen years ago.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Well, I'm looking forward to talking to you about heirloom
traditions paint. And it's such an amazing story. You know,
it sounds so simple, and when our listeners and our
entrepreneurs and our future entrepreneurs hear it, I think they're
going to be kind of blown away by how cool
and simple was. But I know it was nothing but
not simple about starting a company and where you've taken
it right now. But I do want to ask you
(00:32):
about this about as a young person, about once you
wanted to do. I know you've always been very entrepreneurial
and an inventor, but as you were growing up, what
did you want to do before you came up with
this company about twelve years ago.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
Well, you know, I had an unusual upbringing. I had
a very non traditional parents. I would say both of
them entrepreneurial, but my mother especially was and she never
told me no to anything, and probably not a great
way to raise your children. But It was also very
fueling for us to realize we could dream way outside
of what we could see, and she also traveled with us.
(01:08):
She made a point to take me and my sister
on a world trip somewhere every year since I was
in the first grade. We always went to exotic places,
not beach places, but actually places we could see things
bigger than ourselves. I look back at that and go, wow,
what a small what a small town woman. My mother
was born and raised in Tennessee all over days and
(01:30):
never moved. But what are big dreamers? She was, and
she also wanted us to know she wanted us to
broaden our horizons. So that was very insightful looking back
and made me appreciate home. It also inspired me to really,
like I say, never ever look at something and say
I can't do that. I would dream about I'd say
(01:52):
crazy things to her. I remember in the fourth grade
I came home one day and said, Mom, I want
to be the president. Of course, I'd like to retract
that statement now, but yes, I did dream of crazy things.
You know. I knew I was doing something in my mind,
always different than most people. And I didn't really have
a lot of friends, a lot of great friends, but
I really didn't depend on that. I was always kind
(02:14):
of a loner, just a little bit because I was
struggling with dyslexia in school. But I was a great reader.
How could that be? That seems like such a dichotomy there,
the way I learned things, I was a visual learner,
and I wasn't really I didn't care one thing about
anything that was abstract learning. So if it was something
(02:34):
that I felt like was busy work, my mind would
not let me do it. It just would not. I
try to get through it. And I'll make this statement,
I've never read a book cover to cover in my life,
whether it be fiction or even from school. I've never
read a book. And I read all the time, and
I read different things that I'm interested in on the
(02:55):
daily like everybody else on their phone. But I have
never read any kind of a fictional story in form.
So I've done a lot of fake book reports in
my life. So I wasn't a great student. And I've
also never written a business proposal, never ever written one
of those to where I had to extrapolate out what
I thought the future looked like, and mine would be
(03:17):
probably way over the top. I remember bankers saying, hey,
well you need to make a business plan. That seemed
like such a daunting task to me to have to
lay out all of these things that were Again, they
weren't reality in my mind. So I think a lot
of people get hung up on that right there. They
think they've got to be able to put this into writing,
(03:37):
put this into this plan, anything they're dreaming of. The
Truth of the matter is, you truly don't. If you've
got to see it through this and you've got to
wherewithal and you're willing to grind, and you're willing to
sell something off the back of a truck and hustle,
you can make anything work.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
I think it's great advice.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
And yet here we are with this great, incredible company
that you have, that you started over a decade ago,
and when it comes to heirloom traditions, pain, I do
want to do this. I want to ask you in
just a few minutes about Mission Steam and of course
the products and what you do, and it's so cool, but.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
You have to tell the origin story.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
As I was reading up about you, I was just
touched by this story because I'm a paired too, and
I know what happens to be with your kitchen and
your son and maybe teaching some entrepreneur schools. Can you
take it from there? It really is truly an explorer
or explorer that our listeners have to hear.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Yes, Well, going back to my hometown, you know, I
was born in that little town, and I kind of
always said I don't want to do what my parents did,
but obviously they had a wealth of buildings and warehousing
and all those things that my sister and I ultimately
started taking over as my parents decided to retire and
step away. And in twenty thirteen, after running a furniture
store for twenty three years, the economy turned off like
(04:50):
a water faucet. Sorry. In two thousand and eight, I
took a job with a man from New York City.
He just blew in my door one day whom I
had decorated a property that he bought, so he heard
my name, and anyway, I took this job with him
and started working in Manhattan, and still was playing back
and forth, and my parents were keeping my son at
that time, and they both passed away within a year
(05:11):
of each other. So all the time that I had
decided that oh night, it was never going to be
a town I would leave all of a sudden. Now
that anker, I could leave. So I started thinking, Wow,
my son is just like me. He's a dreamer, and
he also believes he can hammer a living out here
in this town. And if I could ever do anything
(05:31):
to help him launch this arrow out of this box
we're in, time is now. He's in the eighth grade.
I just ironically went on a blind date. I was single,
you know, kind of my whole life fell apart there
when my parents died. I was in a terrible marriage
and decided to look up something. I had gone on
a blind date with a fellow from Louisville, and he
(05:52):
told me about a great school in Louisville, Kentucky, and
I thought, wow, too bad. I couldn't put my son
in that school. And I then thought about it. I've
let this home, I've built anchor me to this little town,
and my business is I'm no longer working in this city.
I'm not depending on this. So what is stopping me
my own being scared myself? You know, I was fifty
(06:13):
years old, and I thought, why not, I'd have to
sell my home. Well, there's another big question mark there
was no way I could get what I had in
this home. And then I thought, what am I willing
to lose? What am I willing to give up here?
I'm going to focus just everything on my son. Sorry,
So doing that, I thought I'm going to get online.
(06:35):
Look at this school. It was a Catholic school. I thought, so,
we're not Catholics. But I thought, let me look, and
I found out it was non denominational. I tested or
took him for a shadowing event in Louisville, and he
came out of there with fly. He passed and into
their honors program. So now I'm leaving going, wow, this
boy never cracked a book like me. This dude tested
(06:57):
into their honors program. I can't not I can't unsee this.
I've got to do this. I've got to do whatever
it takes. So anyway, I made the move against his will.
You know, this boy six foot three in the eighth grade,
he always was the man of the house. In my opinion,
he thought he was my boss. So you could imagine
what I was going through at home. At least a
(07:17):
great child never given me a day's worth of problem.
But I decided I'm going to go for this and
we moved there, and I just think, as miserable as
he is, let me start something that he and I
can kind of get on a good level. We need
to be doing some FaceTime here and talking and getting
an off on a different subject, you know. So what
can we do? So I said, let's start a business,
(07:38):
and let's start this little company. And of course, me
being a designer, all I knew was paint, and I'd
always watch my mother paint things, and paint's always been
a vehicle for me. I'd always say, if it didn't work,
we'll paint it. You know. It was always an avenue
I went toward. And a designer that you know, that's
the biggest crayon in my box is paint. So I said,
(07:59):
that's what let's do. Let's start a paint company. And
I actually wasn't starting an actual paint company. I wanted
to paint furniture because that's my other wheelhouse. I said,
let's buy furniture that's in a box that's unassembled. Let's
paint it in a la carte colors, and then we'll
put it back into the box, back into the wrappings
that it was in, and send it to people and
(08:19):
let them pick the color of the chair, of the table,
whatever it is, whatever these pieces are. They pick the colors,
and we'll show colors available on the internet and let
them choose that. That was really the original thought. So
I developed a little color card of fifty colors on
this made a beautiful little color card. And I'm not
a digital or a graphic designer, but I put this
together in a program I had for Microsoft on a
(08:40):
CD ROM and made this pretty card. Put it on Facebook.
Facebook was in its infancy and they only had images
on their no videos, nothing. So I posted that and
a girl from my hometown said, Hey, can I buy
some of that? Is that paint? So I said to
her reluctantly, I said yes. So anyway, she said, let
(09:03):
me call you. I'll call you on Tuesday. So sure enough,
she calls me and I see that Tennessee phone number
ring through on my phone. I'm thinking, oh, heavens, I
hope she says she don't want this. Why she called me?
So I'm praying that she doesn't want it, because I
don't know what to say at this point. So she
calls to say yes, I've decided I do want it.
I'd like to buy some of it. How much do
I get? And I said the opening orders twelve hundred dollars.
(09:23):
Had done little research between then and looked at other
paint companies, and she said, so twelve hundred dollars. How
much paint do I get for twelve hundred dollars? Now
this is pure trust when somebody trusts you that much.
And so anyway, she says, okay, I'll take it, and
I'm like, oh, now, I really got to do something.
So I was in a new relationship Craig and I,
(09:46):
who is my husband now, but he and I had
moved in together. We were trying to consolidate and save money
and all the things that you shouldn't do, but we
did anyway, and so he was kind of just getting
to know me. We've been together about five six months,
and I remember the day he walked out the door
that this call had came into me. He was working
in Seattle getting ready to leave, and for several days
(10:08):
I said, well, I have a paint line when you
come back, and he laughed like a very unknowing of me.
And when he came back, I had reached out to
an old paint manufacturer. My sister and I in our
store in Tennessee. We'd sold floor covering and paint, and
I remember paying one of the invoices to a company
in Louisville called Progress Paint. So I looked them up
(10:31):
on the internet, called the number and it said they'd
been bought out by a company in California called California Coatings.
I dialed that number. Lady on the phone was kind
and said, no, you know, we did buy the Progress
Paint company. And so she's telling me by on the phone,
and then she said, but you know what, she said,
you should call us this company that's still part of
that family business and they're in Louisville. She said they
(10:52):
made toll make paint for you, and I said sure,
and she gave me the number and I dial them
up and get them. Young man on the phone started
telling him who I was, and I said, I used
to be a retailer for your product called Gray Seal
and on out of Tennessee. He said yes. I said,
a salesman that used to call on me and call
on my store wore taps on his shoes, pretty memorable,
(11:15):
and I said his name was Charles. He said that
was my dad's best friend. So on the phone, I
already get this kind of a connection, and he said,
come down and meet us. So here I am driving
down with you know, not having a clue where I'm going, thinking,
I'm going in my mind to this stainless steel paint factory. Deal.
Pull into quite the opposite of that, more like a
(11:37):
black painted guard shah kind of a deal, kind of
the opposite. Get in there and meet those guys. Tell
them what I'm trying to do. I think, well, here's
where this will change. They're going to ask me for
some fifty thousand dollars chemical analogy or whatever. And when
I walk in, I had a can of pain in
my hand. Out from the back walks this little fellow
(11:58):
and he said, this is my dad. He's the chemistry
here and Nick Lanning, and I think, well, all right,
come on, hit me with this number. So I walk
out of here and get out of this place. And
Nick takes the lid off the paint. And this was
a competitor, competitor's brand, And I said, do you know
what chalk paint is? This kind of chalk and mineral paint.
He says, oh, that's just house paint flattened off. I said,
(12:20):
you can tell what it is? He said, oh, yeah,
you've been in business long as I can. You can
smell what's in it. And I said, oh great. So
I leave still thinking that I don't ever hear from
these guys again. In about two weeks he called to
tell me that he had the paint made up for
me and I could go out to their retail store
and his brother would tint it for me in the
colors I wanted. So they made up bases. I go
(12:42):
out and I get these colors together for this girl
that had wanted the paint on Facebook, put it in cans,
go to the label store and get Avery Labels. Print
it off. I'd already created me a little label, print
all that off, put it together, take it down to her,
and of course walk in on a Sunday morning, and
she I told her to get through four little tables together.
(13:02):
First off, I'd ask her, I said, do you paint furniture?
She said, no, I've never gotten anything but rattle can
meaning spring. So I'm just telling you all this so
you realize none of this was meant to be in
any normal form. Could you imagine putting this on the
business plan? But still yet I sit down with her,
paying out these pieces of furniture and tell her she
(13:24):
brings me twelve hundred dollars in cash. Knowing this was
about tax time, I said to Charlotte, if you can't
sell all this, I will buy this back from you.
I know this is a big jump for you. I said,
listen that this is the first bit of this I've
ever sold, and I wish you the best luck. And
she said, I'm going to put it in my booth.
So she had a ten by ten booth in my hometown,
in the little antique mall. And in about a week
(13:45):
she called me and she said, hey, I've got a reorder.
I was like, reorder, how much for two hundred and
fifty eight dollar reorder? And I said, really, who bought it?
She said, oh, they love it. They love your paint.
Down here they love it. So you know, I'm thinking
of hometown. They like it. So I go down and
take my son down to see his father and take
the paint to her, and then I think, wow, well
(14:07):
maybe it does work. And believe me, at this moment,
I've not even put a brush in this paint yet.
I've not even tried it myself. I put it on eBay,
and I think, how could I get a website really
quick to share it with people? So eBay great. Put
it up there, put every one of the colors on there,
and at the bottom on the description, I write at
the bottom at that moment, you could they weren't too
strict on this I put on there. If you're interested
(14:28):
in becoming a retailer, reach out to me at this email.
So next couple of weeks after I put it on there,
the sales were pretty brisk. My goal was to sell
one hundred dollars a day in product, just to replenish
pay my son a little money. I'd pick him up
at three in the afternoon and get him something to eat,
and we'd feel paint all day. And that was just
kind of my thoughts, that'll help me and everybody else
(14:50):
stay afload here. And all of a sudden, this was
never anything for me. This was always for him. And
the next thing you know is people are giving get
wonderful reviews on eBay and I'm like, Wow, maybe this
stuff is good. So then I start trying it and
I think, my goodness, this stuff is amazing and I
love it. And now all of a sudden, I have
(15:11):
too many orders for the USPS woman to pick up
at my house. And she says, listen, you got to
take this post office. I'm tired of filling up my truck.
You've got to have to take it. So there you go.
That was the beginning of how we transition then into
a flex space. We moved from our home then out
to a little building the Jefferson Trade Center, and rented
(15:32):
twelve hundred square feet I believe, the little offices in
the front and the warehouse in the back. And I
remember buying the first one hundred gallons of this paint
from these folks, thinking, man, oh, when I'm gonna have
some circus paint colors around here to use up all
this hundred gallons of bank, I'll never sell this pink
and orange and yellow and blue. You know, you'd have
a whole myriad of colors to have a real line.
(15:54):
Of course, white and black sell the best. Nevertheless, I
did it and just kept putting one foot in front
of the other and taking daily successes posting it on
the internet one by one. Retailer after retailer came along,
and my husband at the time, like I said, we
were just dating then he was still working out in Seattle.
He'd come home and help me put furniture in this building.
(16:16):
I didn't have tables to work on. I had a
guy build me some big wooden tables I met on Craigslist,
and that was my work table. So I'd come in
and set up that paint, and we made us all
kinds of homemade apparatuses to fill the paint to keep
from getting it onto the chimes of the can, and
all kinds of unique things we did. My son was
pretty inventive in those days. We used a plunger, like
(16:36):
an old fashioned one of those red rubber plungers that
we took the piece that screws into the end of
the wooden stick there, cut that out and use that
to protect upside down. Made a bowl that was kind
of heavy because those are pretty solid, set that down
into the court and poor paint in that so it
would not get on the external external ring. You know
how that if it gets in there, it's impossible to
(16:58):
get that out. Just little things like that, you know.
We just learned and walk the walk and kept on trucking.
In about a year's time, I had three hundred and
thirty retailers, I believe, and began to do some YouTube
and never been on a video like that, and my
husband decided he'd be the director and we'd set up
a little set and start painting things and showing people
(17:20):
how to use our paint and put it out there.
And again, never knew one thing about YouTube or any
of any of those terms, but we did it anyway
and got a little traction there. People started seeing it.
Next thing, you know, Facebook's beginning to change and doing
videos and then doing lives, and when the life proponent
came along, that was perfect for me because Live then
let me be my own QVC and I could turn
(17:43):
that camera on and tell people how to use the product,
send them to a link, show them how to get
a sample, take them to our private group on Facebook.
And you know that's began growing our business to where
it is today. So that's it, and that show you
got it all?
Speaker 3 (17:58):
Well?
Speaker 2 (17:59):
You know, the stars that had to align in so
many different areas. And then you know, we live in
a world of user reviews and early in your days,
you know word of mouth right that there's so many
businesses that say, hey, I got this great customer service,
so I got this great product and it just bubbled
up for you. It is truly incredible. So I have
so many questions, but I do want to start with
this too, so we can give kind of good grass
(18:20):
for people beside about the products that you offer. About
your mission statement, because I know everybody has one, and
some people you know, even though they know what you
do and what you offer. What is the company's mission statement, Paula.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
My mission statement has evolved to be honest with you
as I've learned what my product, what the value is
it brings to our customers. Is you know today there's
more than one avenue here because of the green aspect
of our product, because we help people keep the things
that they have that are probably better furniture and better
cabinets and they can go by. In today's world, you
(18:54):
probably have a better set of cabinets that are in
your home built out of wood versus what you might
go get something that's MVF covered over with a sticker.
And same for furniture. A lot of the old great
furniture lines out there have turned into non solid materials
as hardwoods disappear from this country and others. But my
(19:14):
mission statement is really to help anyone update their home
inside and out with one simple product, not a whole
myriad of products, not six things. You have to understand
the chemistry and what works here and what don't. Simplifying
that message, giving people the power of the brush and
letting them then be able to change and transforming update
(19:36):
surfaces that would cost some thousands otherwise. So if you
can't touch counter take out to countertops, I've got a
solution for that. One product, The All in One Paint
paints countertops, it paints a bathtub, it paints your front door,
it'll paint your cabinets, it'll paint your shutters, your front
whatever it is you need to paint. You don't have
to guess. You've got one product that does it all.
So that's kind of the mission statement, is giving people
(19:58):
that power of the brush and letting them choose to
redo anything in their home.
Speaker 3 (20:03):
I love that. I love that.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
That's all I thought out and simple but makes a
lot of sense. I did want to ask you about
the name of the company. You know, when I see
a name of a company that attracts me and say,
well that's interesting, I wonder where that came from. So
where did the name of the company come from.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
Well, whenever I started this, of course, never dreaming it
was going to be anything that people would have to
remember or choose to the word heirloom came into play,
thinking most people have some great furniture pieces in their home,
and they've even got their grandmother's china cabinet, or they've
got something beautiful she's given them, but they really don't
want to display it because it doesn't fit their aesthetic today,
(20:40):
and they've probably pushed that in the garage or in
the basement er, what have you. So I want people
to realize that that heirloom that they gave them can
be reused simply by putting on a code of paint,
changing the hardware. A cabinet is a cabinet, a dresser
is a dresser. There's just so many shapes of furniture
that people want to live with. So our minds tell us, oh,
(21:01):
that's outdated. Well, truly, it's maybe just the leg that's outdated.
It's just a box with drawers within that kind of thing.
So once we start seeing it in that way, that
nothing is not usable today. So that heirloom and that
tradition of that both of those words were in my
mind when I name this company, how to help people
realize the furniture they have is really something they should
(21:22):
hang on to. So I wanted that name to convey
that that long.
Speaker 3 (21:25):
Yeah, No, I think it's cool.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
It's different, it's unique, and obviously you put a lot
of thought behind it, and I'm sure that people notice
that and ask, like I do, Hey, what's what the
company names?
Speaker 3 (21:34):
So I think that's very cool.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
Well, I did want to ask you this because, without assuming,
I have a feeling that it's a very competitive field
of what you do and what you offer with that set,
how would you say that you differentiate yourself from any
kind of competition that does what you do out there?
Speaker 1 (21:51):
Well, I think I do one great thing and something
touched on just a moment ago. I give people a
free sample of my product. I don't want them to
believe me. I want them to trust me after they
try it. So I say, hey, so much that I
believe in this so much, I'm going to put this
eight ounce sample in your hand. All you do is
pay the shipping. It's a sixteen dollars ninety nine cent
(22:11):
sample and also comes with our sprad on color card.
So that way you can shop from home once you
do like it, if you'll try it that way, you know,
and if it didn't work, then we would be underwater
overnight because I'm paying for you to receive that sample.
Sixty nine nine doesn't pay the shipping alone in most states,
and now occasionally it'll pay it if we're local or close,
(22:31):
but most of the time I'm out money, and plus
I had to run an ad for you to see it.
So the customer acquisition costs there are pretty high. But
fifty five percent of those people come back in our
long term users of our products. And I believe there's
another good thirty percent of them that haven't even opened
the jar yet. I believe they're sitting there going well,
eventually I'll open, you know, that kind of mindset. So
(22:52):
if those others would use it, I believe that number
would be much greater.
Speaker 3 (22:55):
Right.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
I want to ask you about COVID because a lot
of businesses either shut down and some prosper. Now for me,
like everybody else, besides doing yourself and becoming a really
good cook, even though I was okay beforehand, and all
the other things that I did during the pandemic, I imagine
and once Again, I don't want to assume, but I'm
hoping that business continued.
Speaker 3 (23:17):
Did it prosper or did you have to ship shift your.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
Dynamic of what you were doing And how was business
during and after the pandemic.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
Well, this is kind of a really pivotal moment for us,
and not just because of COVID, but as COVID having
no idea it was on the horizon. We had just
really started feeling the momentum in our business and decided
to go down in an industrial park and purchase a building.
And it was ten thousand square feet and I'd also
(23:49):
purchased a filling line that would fill our cans in
an automation process. So that was coming in, this big
piece of equipment, a big purchase for us, and all
of that happening, and we moved into this remodeled building
in February about the same time that was happening, embracing
ourselves for this growth that we were feeling. All of
(24:09):
a sudden, we start hearing that the world is beginning
to shut down in China and moving this way, and
I was like, Oh, that'll never happen here, blah blah blah.
You know, I kept telling myself. This wasn't going to
impact us like we felt, and it would be over
and surely, the goodness this was just a passing fad.
But lo and behold, it did happen, and pretty quickly
it ramped up. From there. We got deemed essential simply
because we were helping people stay centered and on track
(24:33):
and trying to keep give people something to do with
their you know, the idle hands moment is not good
for any of us, so giving people something to do,
the governor deemed essential during that time, so we never
shut down a day. We had all kinds of catastrophic
things happening to them to getting goods, getting our containers. Obviously,
(24:53):
containers were being sent to people who wanted to put
hand sanitizer in them, taking them away from people like
us who were buying them on truckload. And now all
of a sudden, those people were allocating that to something essential,
which it was you that had to be. But all
that said, everything was breaking, from our shipping channels to
ups usps. They were inundated FedEx. They just had boxes
(25:16):
piled up and they couldn't even move them. That were
so crushed by everybody buying everything on the Internet. So
we'd always been on the Internet, but now all of
a sudden, everybody's on the Internet. So that kind of
crumbled and fell. When I went down and moved into
this building, I had one person in customer service one
Our business was very small, thinking it was growing, it
(25:39):
had it had really quadrupled in just a very short time.
But moving in there, we had one customer service agent.
At one point, this girl had ten thousand unopened emails.
I sat down to try to help her, and I realized,
there's just absolutely we didn't have it pulling into one
place to where if you emailed ten times, it would
be in one place. It was just coming to have
(26:00):
I'd see ten open emails from you. So we hadn't
gotten all of those things. Even in order that none
of those things had we had in place. And of
course now we have all of that to filter some
of those things, and we have several people in customer service.
But that was a really rough time for us, but
the business grew exponential during that time. It was just
straight up for us. And we also used Facebook as
(26:23):
a way to encourage people. We gave money away, we
did fun things, we talked, we chatted a lot, and
we did it for the right reasons, and I think
we did it for wanting to help people, give them
something to think about other than the ugly news out
there and worrying, and just made it a point to
get online and really encourage people and say, hey, do
something fun, get out and do this, let's give money away.
(26:43):
We wore crazy hats, glasses, anything we could do to
keep people kind of keeping their mind off of the
ugly that was around us that we couldn't change. So
for all that, just putting that in good out there,
I believe it just came back a one hundredfold. And
I didn't do it for those reasons. But today I
(27:03):
look at that and I go, you know it is
you report you?
Speaker 2 (27:06):
So yeah, yeah, so you know, speaking of sayings, my
wife imparted one on me a long time ago that
we've given to our daughter. And you've done it several
times about turning a scar into a star, and you
certainly have done that many many times, including through the pandemic.
I didn't want to ask you this because I know
things are going well and the company is ascending, and
(27:26):
it's really truly a remarkable start in a marketing story
and starting from nothing into where it is now. You know,
I'm curious because I always tell our entrepreneurs, especially the
young ones coming up and starting businesses, and it's not
always unicorns and rainbows all the time.
Speaker 3 (27:42):
When you have a business, there are challenges.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
Are there currently any challenges in your business right now?
Speaker 1 (27:48):
Daily challenges? I think people have this placebo to think that, oh,
you're the CEO, you don't know of any bad and
they roll out of red carpet for me every day
and all that. The truth of the matter is there's
none of that. That's truth. The only thing you get
at my level is all the things that are unsolvable
by the people underneath you. And or it's not all bad.
(28:09):
I shouldn't act like it's horrible, but I certainly enjoy
my job. But you have to be a problem solver
by nature, and if you're not, you can't be in
this role. But if problems bring you down and makes
you want to crawl in a hole, this is not
your role. This trust me, you'll never make it as
an entrepreneur. There's no guarantee of a paycheck on this
side of the fence. So I have to get up
every day and figure out how do we make this
thing work? And if we do have a challenge, how
(28:32):
do we get around it? What is of all the
bad we see, what is the next step forward? And
you can't get paralyzed by negative because it's coming at
you in every direction. Competition's coming at you in every direction.
You just have to always be able to kind of
get above it. I always say I like to operate
my business from the trees, not on boots on the ground.
(28:52):
Get hung up in the daily grind of all the
employees and the gossip and the this and that. You know,
that's a churn that never So you have to remove
yourself at this level and look back down on the
business and see what you bring to the business to
help me out in front of the business, not down
in the daily grind of the business. Because if you
are trying to run your business and do both, you
(29:15):
will never grow the business the right direction. So I'm
up here trying to make connections, reach out to the
people that are helping us move forward and helping us
take the next steps. There is no book out there
to tell you how to run your business. There you know,
I think I'm sure you're going to touch on this
but I will already because the EY award, the Ernstein
(29:37):
Young Entrepreneur Award. During the interviews to this, one of
the questions they asked that was so amazing actually is
they asked me, had I ever read a book on
other entrepreneurs that maybe that I follow And my answer
to that was no, I never have. And she has
smiled when I said no. And they were tape recording this,
and then she came back after it was over. She said, ironically,
(29:59):
we asked that question to all entrepreneurs and most of
them say no. And she said, can I ask you
why you say no? And I said, the reason I
don't read books. First of all, I don't think that's
my experience. My experience is an evolution on every single
day as a build, don't I couldn't read someone's book
to tell me what to do in their journey, because
(30:20):
that's not in my journey. My journey is impacted by
things that happened to us every single day, and no
one's journey is going to help me figure that out.
It's just something I have to be open and in
tune with and listening and watching every single thing, from
the economy to people that I do idolize and look
at and who are those figures? You know, what would
(30:42):
they do in these situations. Martha Stewart's always been a
great beacon for me, even though there's things she'd done
I would never do, But I do like to look
at her because she's been able to iterate and change
and make herself important and no matter what has taken
place in her own world, from all the ugly in
her world, that she manages to evolve. And you know,
(31:04):
she's a Madonna of entrepreneurialism. In my world, she's pretty amazing.
And I watch her and, like I said, not everything
she does is what I would do, but I like
to watch what she does because she's super smart and
she's been able to figure it out for her and
as an aging female doing business, she's an icon.
Speaker 2 (31:22):
But yeah, she has a lot of good advice in there.
You know, I kind of take her. You know, in
my industry, I did play by play sports for a
long time, and as I was trying to invent myself,
I was listening to all these different people do their
style of broadcasting. I took that in, but I made
everything my own. That's kind of what you've done as
(31:43):
you look at people too, And I think that's really
good advice for a lot of entrepreneurs out there.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
Take it in. But there is like I said, there's
no Bible, there's no book, there's no anything you're going
to say, here's exactly what you need to do, and
everybody's writing one today. I've noticed that everybody's right in
and here's how you do it book. And I promise
you that will not be your journey no matter what
it is you're doing, if you're doing, even if it
was exactly what the person did, it will not be
how yours will unfold and learn from it. Like you said,
take all that in. Listen to all these talking heads
(32:09):
and listen. Listen, keep your ear to the your nose
to the grounds on your ear. Listening out here to
figure out what's getting ready to take place. Look at
people that are evolving in the landscape. Look at the
Amazons and the Walmarts of the world. See where retail
is headed. Is that something you want to be on?
You want to be on that soul crushing ride, or
you want to get over here and join the Amazon folks.
(32:30):
Well I'm going to join the Amazon folks anyway, right,
that's kind.
Speaker 3 (32:35):
Of how that's good advice. It's very good advice. You know.
Speaker 2 (32:37):
You mentioned Ernstin Young, and I know that when I
talk to most founder, CEOs and entrepreneurs at awards or
awards and I'm busy working and I'm trying to make
my company. You send and I'm grinding out there. But
this one's a special one. And I've talked to a
few other people in this series that have been recognized
by Ernstein Young, and I know that's pretty special to you.
Can you elaborate for us why it is so special?
Speaker 1 (32:58):
Oh? Sure, Like you said, Glass Awards or a Diamodizen,
there's everybody trying to give you an award and charge
you for it and join their group so you can
get another Glass award. And that's an ego stroke. And
if you need glass awards to put on a bookshelf,
go for it. But the truth of the matter is
there's very few awards that really wanted anything to do.
(33:18):
After you've gotten the award and paid the money to
get the award, that'll be the last you hear of them.
They make a post on LinkedIn and social media and
it's gone. So but the Arnstin Young Award is a
little bit different than that because they are a global
network of people. They're highly recognized. People know them and
other businesses either use them for their services or they
are looking at their pages and the financial pages of
(33:41):
the world and wherever they may find them. But Ernst
and Young definitely vets out anyone who is in this competition.
So what that means is if you have you have
to have audited books, and third party audits have to
happen to your books, So we're not going to come
in an audit for you. If you have an audited
set of books and you get accepted into the Entrepreneurial
(34:04):
Program to win this award, they will come to you
and do interviews with you. They brought actually five people
to my office and sit down and they had our
books already, but they actually did live interviews with me
and made sure I was what I had represented on paper.
And then from there went on to another long series.
I had to go up to Cleveland and go through
(34:27):
another I think there was twelve different interviews there, personal
one on one interviews, and all of it's very real.
So when you win this award, it's a different level.
It's not just a piece of glass. It's actually something
I said this to you before we came live, just
because I think it's important for folks to know if
(34:47):
you get to that level, this is something always I
would recommend if you can enter into this, if you've
done something spectacular in your business, you've got great growth,
you've got profits, you have even to enter in because
it will bring to the table, flesh out the people
you are hoping to flesh out. So it will bring
big spotlights to you and your business, whatever that goal
(35:10):
might be. If you're looking to maybe sell your business
in the future, whatever those goals are that you have
set for yourself and your business, you will find those
They will come to the table after this award.
Speaker 3 (35:20):
Yeah, well said.
Speaker 2 (35:21):
And I see why it's a big deal because the
recognition is a big deal in the industry. So I'm
very happy for you, and I know that I can
tell between your passion the company and excited about that
that kind of recognition is a really big deal. So
thanks so that we only have a couple of minutes left,
but I did want to talk to you and just
put a pin in the company just for a second.
But I have a feeling it's going to be part
(35:41):
of the company. When it comes to philanthropic and charity work,
when you do have time, and I know how busy
you are, is there anything philanthropic you like to be
a part of.
Speaker 1 (35:51):
Well, absolutely, I like to help people as much as
we can, and I like to help people that I
can get to see their face and those kind of things,
And I know there's a lot of big things out
there that you can work toward. Of course, Habitat for Humanity.
I was their keynote speaker this year, and we want
to become a national sponsor with Habitat. There's some other
paint companies in the channel at this moment, but when
(36:12):
that is available, we'll certainly be doing that. But I
like to help my folks right here at home. You know.
I'm in a rural community in Kentucky. And in twenty
twenty one we became an ESOP where I gave forty
nine percent of the company to the people who work
for us. And it's nothing that costs them any money.
If you know anything about ESOPs, It is crewed by
(36:33):
how much of their salary that they make, and it
goes into an account that will give them something to
fall back on. And so many people working here in
this environment don't have that, and this it just gives
them a reason to want to see the business successful.
It's a win win for everybody, and of course change ownership.
(36:54):
They all get paid and looking at our age, my
husband and myself, that's a good that's a great one
for them. If they start thinking about that in the
terms of her age, they go eventually she's gonna sell
this sing or die one of the other. It's a
pretty good idea to hang on here. So I guess
that's how they look at it. Every day they're checking
my health.
Speaker 2 (37:13):
Yeah no, but I think that's huge of you, and
you're kind of paying it forward to to the community.
Not a lot of people do that, especially in rural
communities and where you live. I think it's wonderful that
you're doing that and very generous too. I know you're
also looking out for yourself, you know, to take care
of your family and to create a business. But in
this series, i've there's one big common theme besides being
(37:35):
passionate for what you do, is that they surround themselves
with great people, and they talk about their team members.
They're not just staff, you know, their family, and they
mean a lot to them, and I know they.
Speaker 3 (37:45):
Do for you too.
Speaker 2 (37:46):
I did want to finish up with one final thing
and get some final thoughts from you and also maybe
some advice. In this series, there's a lot of you know,
CEOs that listen to it because it's a great listen.
But there's a lot of future entrepreneurs and people that
would like to run their own company, whether it's woman
owned or anybody that wants to start a company. But
You've been fortuitous at the time, a single woman with
(38:08):
a son starting this company in your kitchen, and it's
truly an incredible story and I'm glad that you shared
it with us. But I just want to give the
floor to you for some final thoughts and maybe a
little advice for our future entrepreneurs out there on this series.
Speaker 3 (38:20):
The floor is yours, Paul, go ahead.
Speaker 1 (38:24):
I'd like to just leave you with one overarching thought here,
and that I believe would encourage anyone that's an entrepreneur
out there. No matter who or what or how much money, education,
none of those factors truly matter. Again, I started this
business at fifty tons of failures, as most people would
view them under my belt, but I look at those
all those failures as just little stepping stones to help
(38:47):
me not make those same mistakes again. And I've ran
a lot of successful businesses, but I'd close them all.
And a lot of people see closure as a way
as a negative, but in truth, I was just ready
for the next step in my life. So you have
to look at things like that. Don't deem all those
things in your past as failures. Take all that information
and all that knowledge you've learned, and in today's world,
(39:08):
that's something let's pause there for a minute. In this environment,
there's no better time to be in business. I could
not have done a single piece of what I have
done in this business if it was a traditional way
of having to start a business and advertise and put
a magazine add together for one hundred grand and do
all the things that would have had to have normally
been done in a business years ago. It was only
(39:30):
in this timing that I was able to launch this
business on a shoe stream, take what money I was making,
and keep reinvesting it back into the business. There's no
way I could have done it without it being in
today's environment. Being able to use my phone, nobody was
going to prevent me from using my phone to teach
people about my products. And you have the same exact
organic ability to do that. You can turn that phone
(39:51):
on and drive people to your products. Just went out
to Amazon Accelerate, and this is something I want to
be sure and tell you guys, because if you did
attend that event, you know this. But they highlighted a
lot of businesses similar to mine. And they talked about
a lady who had started a dog food company, dog
and cat food company that she called the products organic
and she vetted all that out and put that on
(40:11):
the stickers and so people know they're feeding their animals
something that's tried and tested and all the things. And
the lady had grown her business to one hundred million
dollars in sales on Amazon. Started in her kitchen too.
She was much younger than I, of course. But again,
those things can happen in today's world simply because of
companies like Amazon and like building your own website and
(40:32):
all those things. But I would definitely say to you
today I started mind building my own website and using
Facebook as a way to drive traffic to my website.
Those things don't even need to happen. You just need
to go straight to Amazon and learn Amazon. Because today,
if you're like me and everyone else in the world,
you're turning your phone on, there's only one place you
go other than probably social media, and that's Amazon. And
(40:54):
Amazon has already has your eyeballs and you're already going
right there to purchase something. So if I brought you
got into that far, you're already on there. There's no
point in me spending money to try to drive you
from a Facebook ad to a website, and then you've
got to trust that and do all the things. Just
go to put your put your mindset focus on Amazon,
and you can build anything you want right there.
Speaker 2 (41:15):
Great advice, great advice. Well, I know a lot of
our savaging listeners have already googled your your ur L
and your website, but let's give it to everybody so
they can see about all the incredible products that you have.
Speaker 1 (41:26):
What is that it's all in one paint dot Com
all in one paint. Just go there and get yourself
that free sample I talked about.
Speaker 2 (41:34):
Outstanding, Paul, this is truly an incredible story. I'm so
happy for you and your family, and I think it's
a great testament about there's no age that you can't
start your own business and succeed. Grind it out, be passionate,
and you know, roll the dice and see how you
do out there. But it's it's such a neat story.
I'm so happy for you and your your team members
(41:56):
and of course all your clients too that are so
happy with your product.
Speaker 3 (42:00):
Appreciate your time.
Speaker 2 (42:00):
Thank you so much, continued success, and thank you so
much for joining us on CEOs.
Speaker 1 (42:04):
You should know I certainly appreciate it. Thank you, Dennis,
I am from a little town called I'm not a Tennessee,
a little small town of oh gosh, tiny little place
right on the Kentucky border, and grew up there and
moved to Louisville about thirteen years ago.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Well, I'm looking forward to talking to you about heirloom
traditions paint. And it's such an amazing story. You know,
it sounds so simple, and when our listeners and our
entrepreneurs and our future entrepreneurs hear it, I think they're
going to be kind of blown away by how cool
and simple was. But I know it was nothing but
not simple about starting a company and where you've taken
it right now. But I do want to ask you
(00:32):
about this about as a young person, about once you
wanted to do. I know you've always been very entrepreneurial
and an inventor, but as you were growing up, what
did you want to do before you came up with
this company about twelve years ago.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
Well, you know, I had an unusual upbringing. I had
a very non traditional parents. I would say both of
them entrepreneurial, but my mother especially was and she never
told me no to anything, and probably not a great
way to raise your children. But It was also very
fueling for us to realize we could dream way outside
of what we could see, and she also traveled with us.
(01:08):
She made a point to take me and my sister
on a world trip somewhere every year since I was
in the first grade. We always went to exotic places,
not beach places, but actually places we could see things
bigger than ourselves. I look back at that and go, wow,
what a small what a small town woman. My mother
was born and raised in Tennessee all over days and
(01:30):
never moved. But what are big dreamers? She was, and
she also wanted us to know she wanted us to
broaden our horizons. So that was very insightful looking back
and made me appreciate home. It also inspired me to really,
like I say, never ever look at something and say
I can't do that. I would dream about I'd say
(01:52):
crazy things to her. I remember in the fourth grade
I came home one day and said, Mom, I want
to be the president. Of course, I'd like to retract
that statement now, but yes, I did dream of crazy things.
You know. I knew I was doing something in my mind,
always different than most people. And I didn't really have
a lot of friends, a lot of great friends, but
I really didn't depend on that. I was always kind
(02:14):
of a loner, just a little bit because I was
struggling with dyslexia in school. But I was a great reader.
How could that be? That seems like such a dichotomy there,
the way I learned things, I was a visual learner,
and I wasn't really I didn't care one thing about
anything that was abstract learning. So if it was something
(02:34):
that I felt like was busy work, my mind would
not let me do it. It just would not. I
try to get through it. And I'll make this statement,
I've never read a book cover to cover in my life,
whether it be fiction or even from school. I've never
read a book. And I read all the time, and
I read different things that I'm interested in on the
(02:55):
daily like everybody else on their phone. But I have
never read any kind of a fictional story in form.
So I've done a lot of fake book reports in
my life. So I wasn't a great student. And I've
also never written a business proposal, never ever written one
of those to where I had to extrapolate out what
I thought the future looked like, and mine would be
(03:17):
probably way over the top. I remember bankers saying, hey,
well you need to make a business plan. That seemed
like such a daunting task to me to have to
lay out all of these things that were Again, they
weren't reality in my mind. So I think a lot
of people get hung up on that right there. They
think they've got to be able to put this into writing,
(03:37):
put this into this plan, anything they're dreaming of. The
Truth of the matter is, you truly don't. If you've
got to see it through this and you've got to
wherewithal and you're willing to grind, and you're willing to
sell something off the back of a truck and hustle,
you can make anything work.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
I think it's great advice.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
And yet here we are with this great, incredible company
that you have, that you started over a decade ago,
and when it comes to heirloom traditions, pain, I do
want to do this. I want to ask you in
just a few minutes about Mission Steam and of course
the products and what you do, and it's so cool, but.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
You have to tell the origin story.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
As I was reading up about you, I was just
touched by this story because I'm a paired too, and
I know what happens to be with your kitchen and
your son and maybe teaching some entrepreneur schools. Can you
take it from there? It really is truly an explorer
or explorer that our listeners have to hear.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Yes, Well, going back to my hometown, you know, I
was born in that little town, and I kind of
always said I don't want to do what my parents did,
but obviously they had a wealth of buildings and warehousing
and all those things that my sister and I ultimately
started taking over as my parents decided to retire and
step away. And in twenty thirteen, after running a furniture
store for twenty three years, the economy turned off like
(04:50):
a water faucet. Sorry. In two thousand and eight, I
took a job with a man from New York City.
He just blew in my door one day whom I
had decorated a property that he bought, so he heard
my name, and anyway, I took this job with him
and started working in Manhattan, and still was playing back
and forth, and my parents were keeping my son at
that time, and they both passed away within a year
(05:11):
of each other. So all the time that I had
decided that oh night, it was never going to be
a town I would leave all of a sudden. Now
that anker, I could leave. So I started thinking, Wow,
my son is just like me. He's a dreamer, and
he also believes he can hammer a living out here
in this town. And if I could ever do anything
(05:31):
to help him launch this arrow out of this box
we're in, time is now. He's in the eighth grade.
I just ironically went on a blind date. I was single,
you know, kind of my whole life fell apart there
when my parents died. I was in a terrible marriage
and decided to look up something. I had gone on
a blind date with a fellow from Louisville, and he
(05:52):
told me about a great school in Louisville, Kentucky, and
I thought, wow, too bad. I couldn't put my son
in that school. And I then thought about it. I've
let this home, I've built anchor me to this little town,
and my business is I'm no longer working in this city.
I'm not depending on this. So what is stopping me
my own being scared myself? You know, I was fifty
(06:13):
years old, and I thought, why not, I'd have to
sell my home. Well, there's another big question mark there
was no way I could get what I had in
this home. And then I thought, what am I willing
to lose? What am I willing to give up here?
I'm going to focus just everything on my son. Sorry,
So doing that, I thought I'm going to get online.
(06:35):
Look at this school. It was a Catholic school. I thought, so,
we're not Catholics. But I thought, let me look, and
I found out it was non denominational. I tested or
took him for a shadowing event in Louisville, and he
came out of there with fly. He passed and into
their honors program. So now I'm leaving going, wow, this
boy never cracked a book like me. This dude tested
(06:57):
into their honors program. I can't not I can't unsee this.
I've got to do this. I've got to do whatever
it takes. So anyway, I made the move against his will.
You know, this boy six foot three in the eighth grade,
he always was the man of the house. In my opinion,
he thought he was my boss. So you could imagine
what I was going through at home. At least a
(07:17):
great child never given me a day's worth of problem.
But I decided I'm going to go for this and
we moved there, and I just think, as miserable as
he is, let me start something that he and I
can kind of get on a good level. We need
to be doing some FaceTime here and talking and getting
an off on a different subject, you know. So what
can we do? So I said, let's start a business,
(07:38):
and let's start this little company. And of course, me
being a designer, all I knew was paint, and I'd
always watch my mother paint things, and paint's always been
a vehicle for me. I'd always say, if it didn't work,
we'll paint it. You know. It was always an avenue
I went toward. And a designer that you know, that's
the biggest crayon in my box is paint. So I said,
(07:59):
that's what let's do. Let's start a paint company. And
I actually wasn't starting an actual paint company. I wanted
to paint furniture because that's my other wheelhouse. I said,
let's buy furniture that's in a box that's unassembled. Let's
paint it in a la carte colors, and then we'll
put it back into the box, back into the wrappings
that it was in, and send it to people and
(08:19):
let them pick the color of the chair, of the table,
whatever it is, whatever these pieces are. They pick the colors,
and we'll show colors available on the internet and let
them choose that. That was really the original thought. So
I developed a little color card of fifty colors on
this made a beautiful little color card. And I'm not
a digital or a graphic designer, but I put this
together in a program I had for Microsoft on a
(08:40):
CD ROM and made this pretty card. Put it on Facebook.
Facebook was in its infancy and they only had images
on their no videos, nothing. So I posted that and
a girl from my hometown said, Hey, can I buy
some of that? Is that paint? So I said to
her reluctantly, I said yes. So anyway, she said, let
(09:03):
me call you. I'll call you on Tuesday. So sure enough,
she calls me and I see that Tennessee phone number
ring through on my phone. I'm thinking, oh, heavens, I
hope she says she don't want this. Why she called me?
So I'm praying that she doesn't want it, because I
don't know what to say at this point. So she
calls to say yes, I've decided I do want it.
I'd like to buy some of it. How much do
I get? And I said the opening orders twelve hundred dollars.
(09:23):
Had done little research between then and looked at other
paint companies, and she said, so twelve hundred dollars. How
much paint do I get for twelve hundred dollars? Now
this is pure trust when somebody trusts you that much.
And so anyway, she says, okay, I'll take it, and
I'm like, oh, now, I really got to do something.
So I was in a new relationship Craig and I,
(09:46):
who is my husband now, but he and I had
moved in together. We were trying to consolidate and save money
and all the things that you shouldn't do, but we
did anyway, and so he was kind of just getting
to know me. We've been together about five six months,
and I remember the day he walked out the door
that this call had came into me. He was working
in Seattle getting ready to leave, and for several days
(10:08):
I said, well, I have a paint line when you
come back, and he laughed like a very unknowing of me.
And when he came back, I had reached out to
an old paint manufacturer. My sister and I in our
store in Tennessee. We'd sold floor covering and paint, and
I remember paying one of the invoices to a company
in Louisville called Progress Paint. So I looked them up
(10:31):
on the internet, called the number and it said they'd
been bought out by a company in California called California Coatings.
I dialed that number. Lady on the phone was kind
and said, no, you know, we did buy the Progress
Paint company. And so she's telling me by on the phone,
and then she said, but you know what, she said,
you should call us this company that's still part of
that family business and they're in Louisville. She said they
(10:52):
made toll make paint for you, and I said sure,
and she gave me the number and I dial them
up and get them. Young man on the phone started
telling him who I was, and I said, I used
to be a retailer for your product called Gray Seal
and on out of Tennessee. He said yes. I said,
a salesman that used to call on me and call
on my store wore taps on his shoes, pretty memorable,
(11:15):
and I said his name was Charles. He said that
was my dad's best friend. So on the phone, I
already get this kind of a connection, and he said,
come down and meet us. So here I am driving
down with you know, not having a clue where I'm going, thinking,
I'm going in my mind to this stainless steel paint factory. Deal.
Pull into quite the opposite of that, more like a
(11:37):
black painted guard shah kind of a deal, kind of
the opposite. Get in there and meet those guys. Tell
them what I'm trying to do. I think, well, here's
where this will change. They're going to ask me for
some fifty thousand dollars chemical analogy or whatever. And when
I walk in, I had a can of pain in
my hand. Out from the back walks this little fellow
(11:58):
and he said, this is my dad. He's the chemistry
here and Nick Lanning, and I think, well, all right,
come on, hit me with this number. So I walk
out of here and get out of this place. And
Nick takes the lid off the paint. And this was
a competitor, competitor's brand, And I said, do you know
what chalk paint is? This kind of chalk and mineral paint.
He says, oh, that's just house paint flattened off. I said,
(12:20):
you can tell what it is? He said, oh, yeah,
you've been in business long as I can. You can
smell what's in it. And I said, oh great. So
I leave still thinking that I don't ever hear from
these guys again. In about two weeks he called to
tell me that he had the paint made up for
me and I could go out to their retail store
and his brother would tint it for me in the
colors I wanted. So they made up bases. I go
(12:42):
out and I get these colors together for this girl
that had wanted the paint on Facebook, put it in cans,
go to the label store and get Avery Labels. Print
it off. I'd already created me a little label, print
all that off, put it together, take it down to her,
and of course walk in on a Sunday morning, and
she I told her to get through four little tables together.
(13:02):
First off, I'd ask her, I said, do you paint furniture?
She said, no, I've never gotten anything but rattle can
meaning spring. So I'm just telling you all this so
you realize none of this was meant to be in
any normal form. Could you imagine putting this on the
business plan? But still yet I sit down with her,
paying out these pieces of furniture and tell her she
(13:24):
brings me twelve hundred dollars in cash. Knowing this was
about tax time, I said to Charlotte, if you can't
sell all this, I will buy this back from you.
I know this is a big jump for you. I said,
listen that this is the first bit of this I've
ever sold, and I wish you the best luck. And
she said, I'm going to put it in my booth.
So she had a ten by ten booth in my hometown,
in the little antique mall. And in about a week
(13:45):
she called me and she said, hey, I've got a reorder.
I was like, reorder, how much for two hundred and
fifty eight dollar reorder? And I said, really, who bought it?
She said, oh, they love it. They love your paint.
Down here they love it. So you know, I'm thinking
of hometown. They like it. So I go down and
take my son down to see his father and take
the paint to her, and then I think, wow, well
(14:07):
maybe it does work. And believe me, at this moment,
I've not even put a brush in this paint yet.
I've not even tried it myself. I put it on eBay,
and I think, how could I get a website really
quick to share it with people? So eBay great. Put
it up there, put every one of the colors on there,
and at the bottom on the description, I write at
the bottom at that moment, you could they weren't too
strict on this I put on there. If you're interested
(14:28):
in becoming a retailer, reach out to me at this email.
So next couple of weeks after I put it on there,
the sales were pretty brisk. My goal was to sell
one hundred dollars a day in product, just to replenish
pay my son a little money. I'd pick him up
at three in the afternoon and get him something to eat,
and we'd feel paint all day. And that was just
kind of my thoughts, that'll help me and everybody else
(14:50):
stay afload here. And all of a sudden, this was
never anything for me. This was always for him. And
the next thing you know is people are giving get
wonderful reviews on eBay and I'm like, Wow, maybe this
stuff is good. So then I start trying it and
I think, my goodness, this stuff is amazing and I
love it. And now all of a sudden, I have
(15:11):
too many orders for the USPS woman to pick up
at my house. And she says, listen, you got to
take this post office. I'm tired of filling up my truck.
You've got to have to take it. So there you go.
That was the beginning of how we transition then into
a flex space. We moved from our home then out
to a little building the Jefferson Trade Center, and rented
(15:32):
twelve hundred square feet I believe, the little offices in
the front and the warehouse in the back. And I
remember buying the first one hundred gallons of this paint
from these folks, thinking, man, oh, when I'm gonna have
some circus paint colors around here to use up all
this hundred gallons of bank, I'll never sell this pink
and orange and yellow and blue. You know, you'd have
a whole myriad of colors to have a real line.
(15:54):
Of course, white and black sell the best. Nevertheless, I
did it and just kept putting one foot in front
of the other and taking daily successes posting it on
the internet one by one. Retailer after retailer came along,
and my husband at the time, like I said, we
were just dating then he was still working out in Seattle.
He'd come home and help me put furniture in this building.
(16:16):
I didn't have tables to work on. I had a
guy build me some big wooden tables I met on Craigslist,
and that was my work table. So I'd come in
and set up that paint, and we made us all
kinds of homemade apparatuses to fill the paint to keep
from getting it onto the chimes of the can, and
all kinds of unique things we did. My son was
pretty inventive in those days. We used a plunger, like
(16:36):
an old fashioned one of those red rubber plungers that
we took the piece that screws into the end of
the wooden stick there, cut that out and use that
to protect upside down. Made a bowl that was kind
of heavy because those are pretty solid, set that down
into the court and poor paint in that so it
would not get on the external external ring. You know
how that if it gets in there, it's impossible to
(16:58):
get that out. Just little things like that, you know.
We just learned and walk the walk and kept on trucking.
In about a year's time, I had three hundred and
thirty retailers, I believe, and began to do some YouTube
and never been on a video like that, and my
husband decided he'd be the director and we'd set up
a little set and start painting things and showing people
(17:20):
how to use our paint and put it out there.
And again, never knew one thing about YouTube or any
of any of those terms, but we did it anyway
and got a little traction there. People started seeing it.
Next thing, you know, Facebook's beginning to change and doing
videos and then doing lives, and when the life proponent
came along, that was perfect for me because Live then
let me be my own QVC and I could turn
(17:43):
that camera on and tell people how to use the product,
send them to a link, show them how to get
a sample, take them to our private group on Facebook.
And you know that's began growing our business to where
it is today. So that's it, and that show you
got it all?
Speaker 3 (17:58):
Well?
Speaker 2 (17:59):
You know, the stars that had to align in so
many different areas. And then you know, we live in
a world of user reviews and early in your days,
you know word of mouth right that there's so many
businesses that say, hey, I got this great customer service,
so I got this great product and it just bubbled
up for you. It is truly incredible. So I have
so many questions, but I do want to start with
this too, so we can give kind of good grass
(18:20):
for people beside about the products that you offer. About
your mission statement, because I know everybody has one, and
some people you know, even though they know what you
do and what you offer. What is the company's mission statement, Paula.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
My mission statement has evolved to be honest with you
as I've learned what my product, what the value is
it brings to our customers. Is you know today there's
more than one avenue here because of the green aspect
of our product, because we help people keep the things
that they have that are probably better furniture and better
cabinets and they can go by. In today's world, you
(18:54):
probably have a better set of cabinets that are in
your home built out of wood versus what you might
go get something that's MVF covered over with a sticker.
And same for furniture. A lot of the old great
furniture lines out there have turned into non solid materials
as hardwoods disappear from this country and others. But my
(19:14):
mission statement is really to help anyone update their home
inside and out with one simple product, not a whole
myriad of products, not six things. You have to understand
the chemistry and what works here and what don't. Simplifying
that message, giving people the power of the brush and
letting them then be able to change and transforming update
(19:36):
surfaces that would cost some thousands otherwise. So if you
can't touch counter take out to countertops, I've got a
solution for that. One product, The All in One Paint
paints countertops, it paints a bathtub, it paints your front door,
it'll paint your cabinets, it'll paint your shutters, your front
whatever it is you need to paint. You don't have
to guess. You've got one product that does it all.
So that's kind of the mission statement, is giving people
(19:58):
that power of the brush and letting them choose to
redo anything in their home.
Speaker 3 (20:03):
I love that. I love that.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
That's all I thought out and simple but makes a
lot of sense. I did want to ask you about
the name of the company. You know, when I see
a name of a company that attracts me and say,
well that's interesting, I wonder where that came from. So
where did the name of the company come from.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
Well, whenever I started this, of course, never dreaming it
was going to be anything that people would have to
remember or choose to the word heirloom came into play,
thinking most people have some great furniture pieces in their home,
and they've even got their grandmother's china cabinet, or they've
got something beautiful she's given them, but they really don't
want to display it because it doesn't fit their aesthetic today,
(20:40):
and they've probably pushed that in the garage or in
the basement er, what have you. So I want people
to realize that that heirloom that they gave them can
be reused simply by putting on a code of paint,
changing the hardware. A cabinet is a cabinet, a dresser
is a dresser. There's just so many shapes of furniture
that people want to live with. So our minds tell us, oh,
(21:01):
that's outdated. Well, truly, it's maybe just the leg that's outdated.
It's just a box with drawers within that kind of thing.
So once we start seeing it in that way, that
nothing is not usable today. So that heirloom and that
tradition of that both of those words were in my
mind when I name this company, how to help people
realize the furniture they have is really something they should
(21:22):
hang on to. So I wanted that name to convey
that that long.
Speaker 3 (21:25):
Yeah, No, I think it's cool.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
It's different, it's unique, and obviously you put a lot
of thought behind it, and I'm sure that people notice
that and ask, like I do, Hey, what's what the
company names?
Speaker 3 (21:34):
So I think that's very cool.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
Well, I did want to ask you this because, without assuming,
I have a feeling that it's a very competitive field
of what you do and what you offer with that set,
how would you say that you differentiate yourself from any
kind of competition that does what you do out there?
Speaker 1 (21:51):
Well, I think I do one great thing and something
touched on just a moment ago. I give people a
free sample of my product. I don't want them to
believe me. I want them to trust me after they
try it. So I say, hey, so much that I
believe in this so much, I'm going to put this
eight ounce sample in your hand. All you do is
pay the shipping. It's a sixteen dollars ninety nine cent
(22:11):
sample and also comes with our sprad on color card.
So that way you can shop from home once you
do like it, if you'll try it that way, you know,
and if it didn't work, then we would be underwater
overnight because I'm paying for you to receive that sample.
Sixty nine nine doesn't pay the shipping alone in most states,
and now occasionally it'll pay it if we're local or close,
(22:31):
but most of the time I'm out money, and plus
I had to run an ad for you to see it.
So the customer acquisition costs there are pretty high. But
fifty five percent of those people come back in our
long term users of our products. And I believe there's
another good thirty percent of them that haven't even opened
the jar yet. I believe they're sitting there going well,
eventually I'll open, you know, that kind of mindset. So
(22:52):
if those others would use it, I believe that number
would be much greater.
Speaker 3 (22:55):
Right.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
I want to ask you about COVID because a lot
of businesses either shut down and some prosper. Now for me,
like everybody else, besides doing yourself and becoming a really
good cook, even though I was okay beforehand, and all
the other things that I did during the pandemic, I imagine
and once Again, I don't want to assume, but I'm
hoping that business continued.
Speaker 3 (23:17):
Did it prosper or did you have to ship shift your.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
Dynamic of what you were doing And how was business
during and after the pandemic.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
Well, this is kind of a really pivotal moment for us,
and not just because of COVID, but as COVID having
no idea it was on the horizon. We had just
really started feeling the momentum in our business and decided
to go down in an industrial park and purchase a building.
And it was ten thousand square feet and I'd also
(23:49):
purchased a filling line that would fill our cans in
an automation process. So that was coming in, this big
piece of equipment, a big purchase for us, and all
of that happening, and we moved into this remodeled building
in February about the same time that was happening, embracing
ourselves for this growth that we were feeling. All of
(24:09):
a sudden, we start hearing that the world is beginning
to shut down in China and moving this way, and
I was like, Oh, that'll never happen here, blah blah blah.
You know, I kept telling myself. This wasn't going to
impact us like we felt, and it would be over
and surely, the goodness this was just a passing fad.
But lo and behold, it did happen, and pretty quickly
it ramped up. From there. We got deemed essential simply
because we were helping people stay centered and on track
(24:33):
and trying to keep give people something to do with
their you know, the idle hands moment is not good
for any of us, so giving people something to do,
the governor deemed essential during that time, so we never
shut down a day. We had all kinds of catastrophic
things happening to them to getting goods, getting our containers. Obviously,
(24:53):
containers were being sent to people who wanted to put
hand sanitizer in them, taking them away from people like
us who were buying them on truckload. And now all
of a sudden, those people were allocating that to something essential,
which it was you that had to be. But all
that said, everything was breaking, from our shipping channels to
ups usps. They were inundated FedEx. They just had boxes
(25:16):
piled up and they couldn't even move them. That were
so crushed by everybody buying everything on the Internet. So
we'd always been on the Internet, but now all of
a sudden, everybody's on the Internet. So that kind of
crumbled and fell. When I went down and moved into
this building, I had one person in customer service one
Our business was very small, thinking it was growing, it
(25:39):
had it had really quadrupled in just a very short time.
But moving in there, we had one customer service agent.
At one point, this girl had ten thousand unopened emails.
I sat down to try to help her, and I realized,
there's just absolutely we didn't have it pulling into one
place to where if you emailed ten times, it would
be in one place. It was just coming to have
(26:00):
I'd see ten open emails from you. So we hadn't
gotten all of those things. Even in order that none
of those things had we had in place. And of
course now we have all of that to filter some
of those things, and we have several people in customer service.
But that was a really rough time for us, but
the business grew exponential during that time. It was just
straight up for us. And we also used Facebook as
(26:23):
a way to encourage people. We gave money away, we
did fun things, we talked, we chatted a lot, and
we did it for the right reasons, and I think
we did it for wanting to help people, give them
something to think about other than the ugly news out
there and worrying, and just made it a point to
get online and really encourage people and say, hey, do
something fun, get out and do this, let's give money away.
(26:43):
We wore crazy hats, glasses, anything we could do to
keep people kind of keeping their mind off of the
ugly that was around us that we couldn't change. So
for all that, just putting that in good out there,
I believe it just came back a one hundredfold. And
I didn't do it for those reasons. But today I
(27:03):
look at that and I go, you know it is
you report you?
Speaker 2 (27:06):
So yeah, yeah, so you know, speaking of sayings, my
wife imparted one on me a long time ago that
we've given to our daughter. And you've done it several
times about turning a scar into a star, and you
certainly have done that many many times, including through the pandemic.
I didn't want to ask you this because I know
things are going well and the company is ascending, and
(27:26):
it's really truly a remarkable start in a marketing story
and starting from nothing into where it is now. You know,
I'm curious because I always tell our entrepreneurs, especially the
young ones coming up and starting businesses, and it's not
always unicorns and rainbows all the time.
Speaker 3 (27:42):
When you have a business, there are challenges.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
Are there currently any challenges in your business right now?
Speaker 1 (27:48):
Daily challenges? I think people have this placebo to think that, oh,
you're the CEO, you don't know of any bad and
they roll out of red carpet for me every day
and all that. The truth of the matter is there's
none of that. That's truth. The only thing you get
at my level is all the things that are unsolvable
by the people underneath you. And or it's not all bad.
(28:09):
I shouldn't act like it's horrible, but I certainly enjoy
my job. But you have to be a problem solver
by nature, and if you're not, you can't be in
this role. But if problems bring you down and makes
you want to crawl in a hole, this is not
your role. This trust me, you'll never make it as
an entrepreneur. There's no guarantee of a paycheck on this
side of the fence. So I have to get up
every day and figure out how do we make this
thing work? And if we do have a challenge, how
(28:32):
do we get around it? What is of all the
bad we see, what is the next step forward? And
you can't get paralyzed by negative because it's coming at
you in every direction. Competition's coming at you in every direction.
You just have to always be able to kind of
get above it. I always say I like to operate
my business from the trees, not on boots on the ground.
(28:52):
Get hung up in the daily grind of all the
employees and the gossip and the this and that. You know,
that's a churn that never So you have to remove
yourself at this level and look back down on the
business and see what you bring to the business to
help me out in front of the business, not down
in the daily grind of the business. Because if you
are trying to run your business and do both, you
(29:15):
will never grow the business the right direction. So I'm
up here trying to make connections, reach out to the
people that are helping us move forward and helping us
take the next steps. There is no book out there
to tell you how to run your business. There you know,
I think I'm sure you're going to touch on this
but I will already because the EY award, the Ernstein
(29:37):
Young Entrepreneur Award. During the interviews to this, one of
the questions they asked that was so amazing actually is
they asked me, had I ever read a book on
other entrepreneurs that maybe that I follow And my answer
to that was no, I never have. And she has
smiled when I said no. And they were tape recording this,
and then she came back after it was over. She said, ironically,
(29:59):
we asked that question to all entrepreneurs and most of
them say no. And she said, can I ask you
why you say no? And I said, the reason I
don't read books. First of all, I don't think that's
my experience. My experience is an evolution on every single
day as a build, don't I couldn't read someone's book
to tell me what to do in their journey, because
(30:20):
that's not in my journey. My journey is impacted by
things that happened to us every single day, and no
one's journey is going to help me figure that out.
It's just something I have to be open and in
tune with and listening and watching every single thing, from
the economy to people that I do idolize and look
at and who are those figures? You know, what would
(30:42):
they do in these situations. Martha Stewart's always been a
great beacon for me, even though there's things she'd done
I would never do, But I do like to look
at her because she's been able to iterate and change
and make herself important and no matter what has taken
place in her own world, from all the ugly in
her world, that she manages to evolve. And you know,
(31:04):
she's a Madonna of entrepreneurialism. In my world, she's pretty amazing.
And I watch her and, like I said, not everything
she does is what I would do, but I like
to watch what she does because she's super smart and
she's been able to figure it out for her and
as an aging female doing business, she's an icon.
Speaker 2 (31:22):
But yeah, she has a lot of good advice in there.
You know, I kind of take her. You know, in
my industry, I did play by play sports for a
long time, and as I was trying to invent myself,
I was listening to all these different people do their
style of broadcasting. I took that in, but I made
everything my own. That's kind of what you've done as
(31:43):
you look at people too, And I think that's really
good advice for a lot of entrepreneurs out there.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
Take it in. But there is like I said, there's
no Bible, there's no book, there's no anything you're going
to say, here's exactly what you need to do, and
everybody's writing one today. I've noticed that everybody's right in
and here's how you do it book. And I promise
you that will not be your journey no matter what
it is you're doing, if you're doing, even if it
was exactly what the person did, it will not be
how yours will unfold and learn from it. Like you said,
take all that in. Listen to all these talking heads
(32:09):
and listen. Listen, keep your ear to the your nose
to the grounds on your ear. Listening out here to
figure out what's getting ready to take place. Look at
people that are evolving in the landscape. Look at the
Amazons and the Walmarts of the world. See where retail
is headed. Is that something you want to be on?
You want to be on that soul crushing ride, or
you want to get over here and join the Amazon folks.
(32:30):
Well I'm going to join the Amazon folks anyway, right,
that's kind.
Speaker 3 (32:35):
Of how that's good advice. It's very good advice. You know.
Speaker 2 (32:37):
You mentioned Ernstin Young, and I know that when I
talk to most founder, CEOs and entrepreneurs at awards or
awards and I'm busy working and I'm trying to make
my company. You send and I'm grinding out there. But
this one's a special one. And I've talked to a
few other people in this series that have been recognized
by Ernstein Young, and I know that's pretty special to you.
Can you elaborate for us why it is so special?
Speaker 1 (32:58):
Oh? Sure, Like you said, Glass Awards or a Diamodizen,
there's everybody trying to give you an award and charge
you for it and join their group so you can
get another Glass award. And that's an ego stroke. And
if you need glass awards to put on a bookshelf,
go for it. But the truth of the matter is
there's very few awards that really wanted anything to do.
(33:18):
After you've gotten the award and paid the money to
get the award, that'll be the last you hear of them.
They make a post on LinkedIn and social media and
it's gone. So but the Arnstin Young Award is a
little bit different than that because they are a global
network of people. They're highly recognized. People know them and
other businesses either use them for their services or they
are looking at their pages and the financial pages of
(33:41):
the world and wherever they may find them. But Ernst
and Young definitely vets out anyone who is in this competition.
So what that means is if you have you have
to have audited books, and third party audits have to
happen to your books, So we're not going to come
in an audit for you. If you have an audited
set of books and you get accepted into the Entrepreneurial
(34:04):
Program to win this award, they will come to you
and do interviews with you. They brought actually five people
to my office and sit down and they had our
books already, but they actually did live interviews with me
and made sure I was what I had represented on paper.
And then from there went on to another long series.
I had to go up to Cleveland and go through
(34:27):
another I think there was twelve different interviews there, personal
one on one interviews, and all of it's very real.
So when you win this award, it's a different level.
It's not just a piece of glass. It's actually something
I said this to you before we came live, just
because I think it's important for folks to know if
(34:47):
you get to that level, this is something always I
would recommend if you can enter into this, if you've
done something spectacular in your business, you've got great growth,
you've got profits, you have even to enter in because
it will bring to the table, flesh out the people
you are hoping to flesh out. So it will bring
big spotlights to you and your business, whatever that goal
(35:10):
might be. If you're looking to maybe sell your business
in the future, whatever those goals are that you have
set for yourself and your business, you will find those
They will come to the table after this award.
Speaker 3 (35:20):
Yeah, well said.
Speaker 2 (35:21):
And I see why it's a big deal because the
recognition is a big deal in the industry. So I'm
very happy for you, and I know that I can
tell between your passion the company and excited about that
that kind of recognition is a really big deal. So
thanks so that we only have a couple of minutes left,
but I did want to talk to you and just
put a pin in the company just for a second.
But I have a feeling it's going to be part
(35:41):
of the company. When it comes to philanthropic and charity work,
when you do have time, and I know how busy
you are, is there anything philanthropic you like to be
a part of.
Speaker 1 (35:51):
Well, absolutely, I like to help people as much as
we can, and I like to help people that I
can get to see their face and those kind of things,
And I know there's a lot of big things out
there that you can work toward. Of course, Habitat for Humanity.
I was their keynote speaker this year, and we want
to become a national sponsor with Habitat. There's some other
paint companies in the channel at this moment, but when
(36:12):
that is available, we'll certainly be doing that. But I
like to help my folks right here at home. You know.
I'm in a rural community in Kentucky. And in twenty
twenty one we became an ESOP where I gave forty
nine percent of the company to the people who work
for us. And it's nothing that costs them any money.
If you know anything about ESOPs, It is crewed by
(36:33):
how much of their salary that they make, and it
goes into an account that will give them something to
fall back on. And so many people working here in
this environment don't have that, and this it just gives
them a reason to want to see the business successful.
It's a win win for everybody, and of course change ownership.
(36:54):
They all get paid and looking at our age, my
husband and myself, that's a good that's a great one
for them. If they start thinking about that in the
terms of her age, they go eventually she's gonna sell
this sing or die one of the other. It's a
pretty good idea to hang on here. So I guess
that's how they look at it. Every day they're checking
my health.
Speaker 2 (37:13):
Yeah no, but I think that's huge of you, and
you're kind of paying it forward to to the community.
Not a lot of people do that, especially in rural
communities and where you live. I think it's wonderful that
you're doing that and very generous too. I know you're
also looking out for yourself, you know, to take care
of your family and to create a business. But in
this series, i've there's one big common theme besides being
(37:35):
passionate for what you do, is that they surround themselves
with great people, and they talk about their team members.
They're not just staff, you know, their family, and they
mean a lot to them, and I know they.
Speaker 3 (37:45):
Do for you too.
Speaker 2 (37:46):
I did want to finish up with one final thing
and get some final thoughts from you and also maybe
some advice. In this series, there's a lot of you know,
CEOs that listen to it because it's a great listen.
But there's a lot of future entrepreneurs and people that
would like to run their own company, whether it's woman
owned or anybody that wants to start a company. But
You've been fortuitous at the time, a single woman with
(38:08):
a son starting this company in your kitchen, and it's
truly an incredible story and I'm glad that you shared
it with us. But I just want to give the
floor to you for some final thoughts and maybe a
little advice for our future entrepreneurs out there on this series.
Speaker 3 (38:20):
The floor is yours, Paul, go ahead.
Speaker 1 (38:24):
I'd like to just leave you with one overarching thought here,
and that I believe would encourage anyone that's an entrepreneur
out there. No matter who or what or how much money, education,
none of those factors truly matter. Again, I started this
business at fifty tons of failures, as most people would
view them under my belt, but I look at those
all those failures as just little stepping stones to help
(38:47):
me not make those same mistakes again. And I've ran
a lot of successful businesses, but I'd close them all.
And a lot of people see closure as a way
as a negative, but in truth, I was just ready
for the next step in my life. So you have
to look at things like that. Don't deem all those
things in your past as failures. Take all that information
and all that knowledge you've learned, and in today's world,
(39:08):
that's something let's pause there for a minute. In this environment,
there's no better time to be in business. I could
not have done a single piece of what I have
done in this business if it was a traditional way
of having to start a business and advertise and put
a magazine add together for one hundred grand and do
all the things that would have had to have normally
been done in a business years ago. It was only
(39:30):
in this timing that I was able to launch this
business on a shoe stream, take what money I was making,
and keep reinvesting it back into the business. There's no
way I could have done it without it being in
today's environment. Being able to use my phone, nobody was
going to prevent me from using my phone to teach
people about my products. And you have the same exact
organic ability to do that. You can turn that phone
(39:51):
on and drive people to your products. Just went out
to Amazon Accelerate, and this is something I want to
be sure and tell you guys, because if you did
attend that event, you know this. But they highlighted a
lot of businesses similar to mine. And they talked about
a lady who had started a dog food company, dog
and cat food company that she called the products organic
and she vetted all that out and put that on
(40:11):
the stickers and so people know they're feeding their animals
something that's tried and tested and all the things. And
the lady had grown her business to one hundred million
dollars in sales on Amazon. Started in her kitchen too.
She was much younger than I, of course. But again,
those things can happen in today's world simply because of
companies like Amazon and like building your own website and
(40:32):
all those things. But I would definitely say to you
today I started mind building my own website and using
Facebook as a way to drive traffic to my website.
Those things don't even need to happen. You just need
to go straight to Amazon and learn Amazon. Because today,
if you're like me and everyone else in the world,
you're turning your phone on, there's only one place you
go other than probably social media, and that's Amazon. And
(40:54):
Amazon has already has your eyeballs and you're already going
right there to purchase something. So if I brought you
got into that far, you're already on there. There's no
point in me spending money to try to drive you
from a Facebook ad to a website, and then you've
got to trust that and do all the things. Just
go to put your put your mindset focus on Amazon,
and you can build anything you want right there.
Speaker 2 (41:15):
Great advice, great advice. Well, I know a lot of
our savaging listeners have already googled your your ur L
and your website, but let's give it to everybody so
they can see about all the incredible products that you have.
Speaker 1 (41:26):
What is that it's all in one paint dot Com
all in one paint. Just go there and get yourself
that free sample I talked about.
Speaker 2 (41:34):
Outstanding, Paul, this is truly an incredible story. I'm so
happy for you and your family, and I think it's
a great testament about there's no age that you can't
start your own business and succeed. Grind it out, be passionate,
and you know, roll the dice and see how you
do out there. But it's it's such a neat story.
I'm so happy for you and your your team members
(41:56):
and of course all your clients too that are so
happy with your product.
Speaker 3 (42:00):
Appreciate your time.
Speaker 2 (42:00):
Thank you so much, continued success, and thank you so
much for joining us on CEOs.
Speaker 1 (42:04):
You should know I certainly appreciate it. Thank you, Dennis,
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