February 21, 2025 • 26 mins
Nick Lopez attended Arvada West High School and left Colorado as a wide-eyed first-generation college student to work on a BS in business marketing from Michigan State University. His plan was to walk on to the wrestling team, which would ultimately pay for the cost of tuition and living. The reality was that a scholarship was a couple of years away, so Nick made the tough decision to hang up his wrestling shoes for an entrepreneurial endeavor to support the cost of his education. At the age of 19, Nick founded his first painting LLC, and every summer thereafter he painted homes to help pay for tuition, books, and cost of living. By doing so, Nick developed a real passion and love for the craft of home improvement. In his third year as the owner of the company, the “light bulb” went off. He realized that those years of painting didn’t have to be his last, and that a future in the home improvement industry he had grown to love, made sense. From that point forward, Nick focused himself on building a business that would set the standard for excellence in painting and home improvement. Upon graduation, Nick and his soon-to-be wife moved back to Colorado to start their family. Soon after, Nick launched LIME Painting in Denver. He created, developed, and perfected a game-changing business model for consistently delivering exceptionally high-quality home improvement services. High-quality people were the secret to LIME’s early and ongoing success. They have been the key to making LIME the special home service company that customers have been searching for. LIME has perfected a partnership model that appeals to the most talented professional painters within a market and marries them directly to clients for exceptional craftsmanship. Through it all, Nick has retained the passion for excellence that inspired him to build LIME.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I am from Denver, Colorado, and I went to school
at Michigan State. I was an out of state student,
first generation college student, so took out a five hundred
dollars credit card and you know, you're eighteen and you're
kidding letters in the mailbox from credit card companies. And
(00:23):
for me, my parents said, hey, if you go to
school out of state, you're on your own.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
They they lived up to that.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
So I found myself as an at of state student
at Michigan State.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
I walked on to the wrestling team. I was a
preferred walk on.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
But in the meantime, I had maxed out all my
credit cards. So I was wrestling and I had a
twenty two hundred dollars tuition bill. It was pretty clear
that you know, when you don't have twenty two hundred cents,
that was a big bill. So I was going home.
(01:06):
But thankfully I had met my now wife. You know,
we've been married now for eleven years, but met back
in two thousand and eight, my freshman year. I now
have four kiddos, but she lent me twenty two hundred dollars.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
That's how I stayed in school.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
I did not continue wrestling, but I started a painting
company called Spartan College Painters. I know, creative, right, going
to Michigan State, and so I found myself.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Painting.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
You know, the bigger the home, the bigger the college bills,
it would help me pay. And so as an eighteen
year old in two thousand and eight, milll a great recession.
That was my logic, right, the bigger the home, the
bigger the college bills, it would help me pay. And
my gosh, I'm so grateful for those customers that trusted me.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
But that's how I got started.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
Well, gret Oh, I appreciate that. So let's talk about
line painting because it has been about eleven plus years
since you founded this business, and there's a lot to
talk about about what you offer in a very competitive
landscape that is painting. But I'm always curious when somebody
starts a company. It's obviously very epic thing to do.
You talked a little bit about, you know, financing starting
(02:31):
a company. There's so much behind it and it is
a competitive landscape. So when you came up with the
idea about line painting, tell tell us about the origin story,
about why you thought there was a great idea and
how you were going.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
To execute this absolutely well.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
My goodness, I think I'm in my eighteenth season here
now top of twenty twenty five.
Speaker 4 (02:54):
But I I really looked at these homes that had.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
You know that the homeowners had paid more to get
more for the restaurant they were at with friends, and
they had paid more for this giant home that they
lived in. And my gosh, they drive so many vehicles
are all high end, but yet when it comes to contracting,
(03:28):
they really struggle to find an option where they can
pay more to get more. Much like so many other
segments that fit that bill of the positioning, high price,
high quality. It's just home improvement contracting. It really hasn't
matured to a point where that maturation, that maturity in
the industry is there where consumers have a lot of options.
(03:51):
And obviously every industry matures differently. Some may start high
end and then eventually you get some local costs, low
quality options. But as I was sitting in my marketing class,
you know, my professor was teaching us about positioning, and
by this point I had been in the field for
(04:13):
a couple of years or so, and my professor's teaching
us about just this position, right, if you have two accesses,
one being priced, one being quality. If your high price
high quality, that's your lane, that's where you stay. It'd
be really confusing if you went to McDonald's low price,
low quality and you try to find something like, you know,
fifty dollars on the menu. It just wouldn't make any
(04:35):
sense operationally. And then the customer, of course, So that
is an industry that franchising standardized a long timego back
in the seventies, eighties and nineties, so you know that
that used to be mom paws and diners, right, And
so here I was in college as an eighteen year
old and people were trusting me to work on their
(04:59):
home and it's a side hustle at the time. But
I was smart enough to know that these are folks
that want quality, and so I did my due diligence.
I did the job right, I did right by people,
and I started getting to my business degree learning about
very basic concepts like competitive advantage. And it was clear
that just showing up doing good job answering my phone
(05:21):
was earning me so many compliments. And on the front end,
I was hearing things from customers like, hey, you're going
to run off with my check, you run off with
my deposit.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
You're going to start the.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
Job and then leave and come back and job hop
And I'm like, oh my gosh. So yeah, that the
light bulb started going off when I learned about competitive advantage,
and it really was glowing by the time I learned
about positioning, especially when I looked into national options that
were focused on this more pay more, get more option
(05:55):
and painting. And when you look at it as a
whole in home improvement, you know that client tele is
really underserved across all trades, frankly, and so as I
was looking into national options, it was clear that there
weren't any In a mentor gave me a book called
(06:18):
E Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber, and that's where I
learned about franchising. And you know, in there he talks
about creating systems and processes and duplicating a service or
a product and doing it in a way where you
work on the business, not in the business through roles,
(06:38):
of course. And what I really loved about E Myth
is that it introduced this idea of being in business
with other business owners and not being in business by yourself.
Very fundamental to franchising is so powerful, you know, and
you know there's so many different aspects of franchising, but
(06:59):
fundamentally that's what makes franchising so wonderful. And when you
have a solution in the market and you want to
take it to more markets and more customers and deliver
that value, solve problems and provide opportunities for folks and
(07:19):
impact the community, Franchising is.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
Clearly a game changing.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
A history making platform when it comes to the marketplace
and giving customers an experience that they can rely on.
Thinking back to the quick service space right in the
restaurant industry when they were mom pause and diners, it
was very similar to what I was experiencing with customers
(07:51):
and their lack of consistency, specifically in this luxury sector.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
And so, you know, the start of line.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
Really happened for me in those lecture halls as I
was working on my business degree. You know, I really
used that time as the laboratory, as I call it,
and so I spent the final three years of my
undergrad getting feedback from the market, implementing the sales degree
(08:19):
that I was working on. Obviously the marketing and business. Yeah,
so much of our success when we launched in Denver
in twenty thirteen. Our first four years we grew it
to a multi seven figure territory and we were just
proving out the unit economics and the model. You know,
Michael Gerber had talked about creating the systems that could scale,
(08:40):
and so use that time in college to do that,
and so spent five years doing that, you know, started
in eight and then launched in Denver in twenty thirteen
and started preparing to franchise in twenty sixteen. We onboarded
our first owner in twenty eighteen, first out of state
(09:02):
owner in twenty nineteen, and we had seven locations in
August of twenty twenty. By the end of twenty twenty,
we had tripled locations. Twenty twenty was the year for
us to expand, and we had done so much work
to create the infrastructure and work with our legacy owners
(09:24):
to hedge the bottlenecks and the business model before scaling.
And that was all, you know, sixteen seventeen, eighteen, nineteen twenty,
working with advisors, joining the IFA, getting my certified Franchise
executive designation, and one thing I really appreciate about under
my undergrad was the success that it produced in the business,
(09:45):
specifically around sales and technology and the customer experience.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
I knew that that was.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
From my undergrad and so through the IFA, I was
able to learn about Frank Chrising and best practices and
you know, find our path for expanding. And that all
led up to twenty twenty, and so I invested more
than I've ever invested into the business and expansion and
you name it up until that point. And you know,
(10:18):
I had experienced eight and what the business was capable of,
especially being with the auto industry, and you know, a
lot of what was going on was affecting Michigan and Detroit,
and I seen that firsthand in the neighborhoods I was
working in. Folks were you know, clients were pointing to
you know, homes like they were for sale signs, but
(10:40):
they were you know, foreclosures and whatnot.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
And very interesting time.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
And so when twenty twenty, when COVID happened, you know,
our legacy owners were all launching. We had our first
at State owner launch and so outside of our two
corporate stores, we have five locations that were launching and
you know, everybody made six figures bottom line, and you know,
(11:08):
I really lived out the resiliency of the franchise model.
We all leaned into the community, and you know, we
expressed our gratitude for the franchise model at work, even
though we were in our infancy at that time. You know,
(11:28):
everybody was very successful and we attributed a lot of
that to us being able to respond to what was
happening during twenty twenty. But at the same time, we're
also expanding to more owners, not only just launching with
our legacy owners, and so that Q four we tripled
(11:52):
our locations and here in Q one of twenty twenty five,
we're coming up on one hundred and twenty two tories.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
Well, neck, let's do this and thank you for all that.
I want to back up a little bit just so
we're clear with everybody about what you do. But before
we get into the services and then more about locations
and about franchising, if you were to tell people what
your mission statement would be for line painting, what would
that be? What's your mission?
Speaker 1 (12:20):
My gosh, we help folks fall in love with their
home again, that's ultimately what we do. We also change
lives through the careers and the personal development that we
offer and we changed lives through franchising, right by offering
(12:45):
the same business that I've lived for the past eighteen
seasons and the way that it's changed and impact of
my life. We've been able to open across six twenty
six states. And yeah, when you talk about the mission,
right our home office, our mission is supporting our partners
(13:07):
and their dreams and their path to entrepreneurship. And you know,
so you know we're not only serving the end consumer,
our franchise partners, but also you know, our home office.
So you know, there's several state, several different types of stakeholders.
(13:31):
Right when you talk about mission statements. That's a wonderful
thing about franchising. It's there's a lot of people involved.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
So, Nick, if we could, for the people that don't
know about Line Painting, if you could just give kind
of a thirty thousand point view about exactly what you
do and you offer your clients, what would you tell them?
Speaker 1 (13:49):
Line Painting is a values based luxury painting company. We
offer residential and commercial services and that's on exteriors and
inter your ears. We take an approach beyond painting. We
do codings. So we offer about forty different services in total.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
Let's get back to this business about painting, because you know,
first of all, it's a very hard business, and I
imagine it's a very competitive space, and you've done very
well for yourself, and we're going to talk about the franchising.
But if you were to talk to a client, if
you're pitching yourself, or somebody comes to line painting and
they're specifically talking to you, Nick, and they'd ask you, well, listen, Nick,
(14:33):
how do you differentiate yourself from all the other competitors
out there? What would you say?
Speaker 1 (14:37):
Oh, that's great. Yeah, I would first ask, if you
don't mind have a question. When you say very competitive,
why do you say that?
Speaker 3 (14:44):
Well, there's I imagine just a lot of painting companies
out there, and you know, there's houses and businesses and
hospitals and everything is painted out there. So I would
imagine and assume it's a competitive space.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
Sounds like a space with a lot of demand.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
Sure, absolutely, yeah, yeah, But people know brands and they
shoot towards brands. So once again, the question back to you,
how do you differentiate yourself from all the competition?
Speaker 2 (15:06):
That's beautiful. I love it.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
And the only reason why I ask is because I've
you know, been doing it the past eighteen seasons and
have helped a lot of people accomplish their American dream
through our business. I've been able to answer that exact
question and help folks see the opportunity that is our business,
which is a massive industry. There's a lot of there's
(15:29):
a lot of opportunity, and you know, so what I
look at is, you know, providing white collar sophistication in
a blue collar space and doing that across the branding,
the marketing, the technology, the training, the recruiting, you name it,
and having the infrastructure to adapt to the marketplace over time,
(15:53):
you know, because things are always changing, competitors always changing, regulation,
the economy, you name it. That's all normal and signs
of a healthy marketplace. And so yeah, we differentiate ourselves
by providing we're actually the only national option when it
(16:13):
comes to the top third of home values in a market.
When you look at a luxury option, Line painting is
the only national option. We are creating a space within
a massive industry is something we take a lot of
pride in. It's something that our owners are highly invested in.
(16:36):
It's a big reason why they join our community or
the Line family as we call it, we are collectively
market by market, becoming industry leaders and making history by
creating our space, you know, giving a white collar solution
to a sector in the market that show goes to
find that. You know, that's a very complicated way of
(16:59):
just community hating a.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
Very simple service that we offer.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
We're a friendly neighborhood painter that's an expert, and we
happen to be values driven and we happen to focus
specifically on custom properties.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
That's what we're experts of. That's what we're really good at.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
That's what our systems and everything about our business is
tailored to that consumer that wants to pay more to
get more outs.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
Stanning, thank you for all that. I always tell people
in this series when you're running a company that it's
not always unicorns and rainbows all the time. And you're
obviously doing very well with you your team and your franchises.
But if I were to present the question about what
kind of challenges does the industry present to you right
now and your team, what would you tell everybody.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
Challenges?
Speaker 1 (17:46):
I think there's just been so much change, right and
I think that that is consistent across all industries and
that's no different in ours. You look at the past
four years, there's been so much change and so much
growth that we've had in combination with that change. And
that's what I love about the resiliency of our business model.
It's nothing new, it's not rocket science. It's an old
(18:10):
school space. We're just bringing new, white collar sophistication to
a very underserved sector and we happen to be the
first and largest ones in the country doing it. And
because of that, we're attracting a lot of talented franchise partners.
And you know, it's been an honor to do just
(18:31):
that and help our partners grow enterprise value. But more importantly,
you know, do good and to do good through our values.
So we have a catchphrase called get limed and it's
something that anyone that joins our organization they align with
doing business in that posture. And so get line stands
(18:52):
for gratitude, enthusiasm, tenacity, love, integrity, mission, excellence, and discipline.
One of my favorite values is mission. That's our give back.
Franchising is such a powerful growth model. It can impact
and influence communities and we've seen that firsthand. And when
(19:16):
we first structured the franchise. We wanted to leverage the
impact of franchising and that we would hopefully have by
creating a system and a process that would automate doing
good and would create a process for creating alignment with
those that join our company and how we show up
(19:36):
and serve the community. And so, you know, a big
part of that is through our m the mission. It's
how we give back and it's using the business as
a platform to do just that, to do good, to
give back. And so you know, we've done things like
partner with local nonprofits and we actually have a public
(19:59):
charity nonprofit called line Light Outreach. It's just a way
for our partners to partner and market and give give
back with local organizations.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
Specifically we focus on the youth. And we have four
pillars of knowledge, faith, family, patriotism, and prosperity. So those
are our four pillars of knowledge and we so we
like to work with organizations that somehow align with those
four pillars and work with the youth. And so in
(20:35):
our you know, when we're providing services with our customers
through our nonprofit line Light Outreach, they are able to
help us give back market by market, and so our
local ownership and their teams. UH, through line light outreach
(20:55):
partner with local organizations. You know, for example, in our
found location in Denver, we host an annual golf outing.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
This year will be our fifth. Uh.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
You know, we're very happy about the past twelve months.
We're able to raise you know, like six figures for
a local nonprofit here called Providence Network. And you know,
it's just it's being able to, yes, be in community
through a golf outing, but also you know, highlight a
(21:30):
wonderful organization like that, and again you know, doing that
market by market and choosing to show up and do
business in the posture that we that we show up
and serve outstanding.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
Well, Nick, you've mentioned it a couple of times, and
I've asked you about franchises, So I think it's a
great segue to talk about that. If somebody calls you
up or somebody in your team and says, I'm interested
in the franchise, what's the criteria? How do you take
them through the process. How's it executed? Whether they're calling
for man word domestically in the United States, how does
everything work?
Speaker 1 (22:02):
Yeah, our initial investments anywhere from one hundred and twenty
five to two hundred twenty five thousand, somewhere in that range,
and that's for a single territory. You can get in
touch with our team that helps educate folks on our opportunity. Specifically,
you know, that's our franchise development team Line Paintingfranchise dot
(22:27):
Com is a great way to connect and begin that conversation.
You can also check us out on any social platforms.
We also have a show called The Level of Show
with Nick Lopez. You can find that across any platform.
I would love to connect with you there as well.
Speaker 3 (22:47):
Standing well, let's do this Nick. We've taken in a lot.
It's very cool. It's a great story too, man coming
out of school and then starting a business, enfranchising. It's
the American dream and I think everybody's pretty excited about
what you, your team, team, your family has done. Just
want to give you some final thoughts and kind of
recap everything we talked about the floors here, sir Well.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
Entrepreneurship is certainly an exciting way to take your future
into your hands. Home improvement is currently being transformed by franchising,
and within home improvement, nobody ever has focused on the
luxury sector. That is something that We take a lot
(23:28):
of pride in making history in the home improvement sector,
and so that is exactly who we are looking for.
We're looking for folks that want to make history, that
are collaborators, team builders. We have a high performance sales culture. Yes,
our values include things like gratitude and love, but they
(23:48):
also include things like tenacity, excellence, discipline. So very much
a high performance sales organization. We have models such as
our owner operator. We also have models of our business
where you can expand across multiple territories and do that
(24:09):
with an org chart. Depending upon how big your territory is,
that orchart can vary. That's more of our empire model
route that's going to require additional capital and ability to
scale and business experience. But the wonderful thing about our
(24:30):
organization is that you know, if you come in even
as an intern knocking on doors, we've had folks work
their way all the way up into owning multiple territories,
and so that owner operator most certainly, much like Michael
Gerber talks about an e myth, is working to work
(24:52):
on the business and eventually scale across multiple territories. So
we're very much looking for empire minded folks. Collaborators, team builders,
culture builders and folks that align with our values.
Speaker 3 (25:07):
Outstanding and nick. Before we let you go, let's give
the website to everybody one more time to make sure
everybody knows. For more information, look a franchises. They want
to see your services all about line painting. What's that website?
Speaker 2 (25:20):
Linepaintingfranchise dot com.
Speaker 3 (25:22):
Outstanding and listen before I let you go. I always
like to do this in the series. You're an incredible
story on your own out of school, starting a business
and now it is flourishing. There are a lot of
future entrepreneurs that listen to this series. I understand that
your journey is very specific to what you did. But
if you were to give advice to any young people
out there that are coming out of school that want
to start their own business, whatever they do, what advice
(25:43):
would you give them?
Speaker 1 (25:43):
I would say, join the International Franchise Association. At least
look into the International Franchise Association. They are the go
to experts in the world of franchising. You'll find best practices,
all the resources and at working that one can look for.
The world of franchising is tremendous and there's not a
(26:07):
lot of information on it, but my goodness, once you
enter the world of franchising, specifically through somewhere like the
I f A, you'll find a path.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
That I bet you become hooked with.
Speaker 1 (26:22):
It's a wonderful space and I'm.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
Just very grateful to be a part of it.
Speaker 3 (26:29):
Outs standing. Hey, Nick, I can tell you how much
I appreciate your valuable time. Thank you for this continue success,
and we really appreciate you joining us on CEOs. You
should know.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
Thank you.
I am from Denver, Colorado, and I went to school
at Michigan State. I was an out of state student,
first generation college student, so took out a five hundred
dollars credit card and you know, you're eighteen and you're
kidding letters in the mailbox from credit card companies. And
(00:23):
for me, my parents said, hey, if you go to
school out of state, you're on your own.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
They they lived up to that.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
So I found myself as an at of state student
at Michigan State.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
I walked on to the wrestling team. I was a
preferred walk on.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
But in the meantime, I had maxed out all my
credit cards. So I was wrestling and I had a
twenty two hundred dollars tuition bill. It was pretty clear
that you know, when you don't have twenty two hundred cents,
that was a big bill. So I was going home.
(01:06):
But thankfully I had met my now wife. You know,
we've been married now for eleven years, but met back
in two thousand and eight, my freshman year. I now
have four kiddos, but she lent me twenty two hundred dollars.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
That's how I stayed in school.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
I did not continue wrestling, but I started a painting
company called Spartan College Painters. I know, creative, right, going
to Michigan State, and so I found myself.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Painting.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
You know, the bigger the home, the bigger the college bills,
it would help me pay. And so as an eighteen
year old in two thousand and eight, milll a great recession.
That was my logic, right, the bigger the home, the
bigger the college bills, it would help me pay. And
my gosh, I'm so grateful for those customers that trusted me.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
But that's how I got started.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
Well, gret Oh, I appreciate that. So let's talk about
line painting because it has been about eleven plus years
since you founded this business, and there's a lot to
talk about about what you offer in a very competitive
landscape that is painting. But I'm always curious when somebody
starts a company. It's obviously very epic thing to do.
You talked a little bit about, you know, financing starting
(02:31):
a company. There's so much behind it and it is
a competitive landscape. So when you came up with the
idea about line painting, tell tell us about the origin story,
about why you thought there was a great idea and
how you were going.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
To execute this absolutely well.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
My goodness, I think I'm in my eighteenth season here
now top of twenty twenty five.
Speaker 4 (02:54):
But I I really looked at these homes that had.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
You know that the homeowners had paid more to get
more for the restaurant they were at with friends, and
they had paid more for this giant home that they
lived in. And my gosh, they drive so many vehicles
are all high end, but yet when it comes to contracting,
(03:28):
they really struggle to find an option where they can
pay more to get more. Much like so many other
segments that fit that bill of the positioning, high price,
high quality. It's just home improvement contracting. It really hasn't
matured to a point where that maturation, that maturity in
the industry is there where consumers have a lot of options.
(03:51):
And obviously every industry matures differently. Some may start high
end and then eventually you get some local costs, low
quality options. But as I was sitting in my marketing class,
you know, my professor was teaching us about positioning, and
by this point I had been in the field for
(04:13):
a couple of years or so, and my professor's teaching
us about just this position, right, if you have two accesses,
one being priced, one being quality. If your high price
high quality, that's your lane, that's where you stay. It'd
be really confusing if you went to McDonald's low price,
low quality and you try to find something like, you know,
fifty dollars on the menu. It just wouldn't make any
(04:35):
sense operationally. And then the customer, of course, So that
is an industry that franchising standardized a long timego back
in the seventies, eighties and nineties, so you know that
that used to be mom paws and diners, right, And
so here I was in college as an eighteen year
old and people were trusting me to work on their
(04:59):
home and it's a side hustle at the time. But
I was smart enough to know that these are folks
that want quality, and so I did my due diligence.
I did the job right, I did right by people,
and I started getting to my business degree learning about
very basic concepts like competitive advantage. And it was clear
that just showing up doing good job answering my phone
(05:21):
was earning me so many compliments. And on the front end,
I was hearing things from customers like, hey, you're going
to run off with my check, you run off with
my deposit.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
You're going to start the.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
Job and then leave and come back and job hop
And I'm like, oh my gosh. So yeah, that the
light bulb started going off when I learned about competitive advantage,
and it really was glowing by the time I learned
about positioning, especially when I looked into national options that
were focused on this more pay more, get more option
(05:55):
and painting. And when you look at it as a
whole in home improvement, you know that client tele is
really underserved across all trades, frankly, and so as I
was looking into national options, it was clear that there
weren't any In a mentor gave me a book called
(06:18):
E Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber, and that's where I
learned about franchising. And you know, in there he talks
about creating systems and processes and duplicating a service or
a product and doing it in a way where you
work on the business, not in the business through roles,
(06:38):
of course. And what I really loved about E Myth
is that it introduced this idea of being in business
with other business owners and not being in business by yourself.
Very fundamental to franchising is so powerful, you know, and
you know there's so many different aspects of franchising, but
(06:59):
fundamentally that's what makes franchising so wonderful. And when you
have a solution in the market and you want to
take it to more markets and more customers and deliver
that value, solve problems and provide opportunities for folks and
(07:19):
impact the community, Franchising is.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
Clearly a game changing.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
A history making platform when it comes to the marketplace
and giving customers an experience that they can rely on.
Thinking back to the quick service space right in the
restaurant industry when they were mom pause and diners, it
was very similar to what I was experiencing with customers
(07:51):
and their lack of consistency, specifically in this luxury sector.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
And so, you know, the start of line.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
Really happened for me in those lecture halls as I
was working on my business degree. You know, I really
used that time as the laboratory, as I call it,
and so I spent the final three years of my
undergrad getting feedback from the market, implementing the sales degree
(08:19):
that I was working on. Obviously the marketing and business. Yeah,
so much of our success when we launched in Denver
in twenty thirteen. Our first four years we grew it
to a multi seven figure territory and we were just
proving out the unit economics and the model. You know,
Michael Gerber had talked about creating the systems that could scale,
(08:40):
and so use that time in college to do that,
and so spent five years doing that, you know, started
in eight and then launched in Denver in twenty thirteen
and started preparing to franchise in twenty sixteen. We onboarded
our first owner in twenty eighteen, first out of state
(09:02):
owner in twenty nineteen, and we had seven locations in
August of twenty twenty. By the end of twenty twenty,
we had tripled locations. Twenty twenty was the year for
us to expand, and we had done so much work
to create the infrastructure and work with our legacy owners
(09:24):
to hedge the bottlenecks and the business model before scaling.
And that was all, you know, sixteen seventeen, eighteen, nineteen twenty,
working with advisors, joining the IFA, getting my certified Franchise
executive designation, and one thing I really appreciate about under
my undergrad was the success that it produced in the business,
(09:45):
specifically around sales and technology and the customer experience.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
I knew that that was.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
From my undergrad and so through the IFA, I was
able to learn about Frank Chrising and best practices and
you know, find our path for expanding. And that all
led up to twenty twenty, and so I invested more
than I've ever invested into the business and expansion and
you name it up until that point. And you know,
(10:18):
I had experienced eight and what the business was capable of,
especially being with the auto industry, and you know, a
lot of what was going on was affecting Michigan and Detroit,
and I seen that firsthand in the neighborhoods I was
working in. Folks were you know, clients were pointing to
you know, homes like they were for sale signs, but
(10:40):
they were you know, foreclosures and whatnot.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
And very interesting time.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
And so when twenty twenty, when COVID happened, you know,
our legacy owners were all launching. We had our first
at State owner launch and so outside of our two
corporate stores, we have five locations that were launching and
you know, everybody made six figures bottom line, and you know,
(11:08):
I really lived out the resiliency of the franchise model.
We all leaned into the community, and you know, we
expressed our gratitude for the franchise model at work, even
though we were in our infancy at that time. You know,
(11:28):
everybody was very successful and we attributed a lot of
that to us being able to respond to what was
happening during twenty twenty. But at the same time, we're
also expanding to more owners, not only just launching with
our legacy owners, and so that Q four we tripled
(11:52):
our locations and here in Q one of twenty twenty five,
we're coming up on one hundred and twenty two tories.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
Well, neck, let's do this and thank you for all that.
I want to back up a little bit just so
we're clear with everybody about what you do. But before
we get into the services and then more about locations
and about franchising, if you were to tell people what
your mission statement would be for line painting, what would
that be? What's your mission?
Speaker 1 (12:20):
My gosh, we help folks fall in love with their
home again, that's ultimately what we do. We also change
lives through the careers and the personal development that we
offer and we changed lives through franchising, right by offering
(12:45):
the same business that I've lived for the past eighteen
seasons and the way that it's changed and impact of
my life. We've been able to open across six twenty
six states. And yeah, when you talk about the mission,
right our home office, our mission is supporting our partners
(13:07):
and their dreams and their path to entrepreneurship. And you know,
so you know we're not only serving the end consumer,
our franchise partners, but also you know, our home office.
So you know, there's several state, several different types of stakeholders.
(13:31):
Right when you talk about mission statements. That's a wonderful
thing about franchising. It's there's a lot of people involved.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
So, Nick, if we could, for the people that don't
know about Line Painting, if you could just give kind
of a thirty thousand point view about exactly what you
do and you offer your clients, what would you tell them?
Speaker 1 (13:49):
Line Painting is a values based luxury painting company. We
offer residential and commercial services and that's on exteriors and
inter your ears. We take an approach beyond painting. We
do codings. So we offer about forty different services in total.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
Let's get back to this business about painting, because you know,
first of all, it's a very hard business, and I
imagine it's a very competitive space, and you've done very
well for yourself, and we're going to talk about the franchising.
But if you were to talk to a client, if
you're pitching yourself, or somebody comes to line painting and
they're specifically talking to you, Nick, and they'd ask you, well, listen, Nick,
(14:33):
how do you differentiate yourself from all the other competitors
out there? What would you say?
Speaker 1 (14:37):
Oh, that's great. Yeah, I would first ask, if you
don't mind have a question. When you say very competitive,
why do you say that?
Speaker 3 (14:44):
Well, there's I imagine just a lot of painting companies
out there, and you know, there's houses and businesses and
hospitals and everything is painted out there. So I would
imagine and assume it's a competitive space.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
Sounds like a space with a lot of demand.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
Sure, absolutely, yeah, yeah, But people know brands and they
shoot towards brands. So once again, the question back to you,
how do you differentiate yourself from all the competition?
Speaker 2 (15:06):
That's beautiful. I love it.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
And the only reason why I ask is because I've
you know, been doing it the past eighteen seasons and
have helped a lot of people accomplish their American dream
through our business. I've been able to answer that exact
question and help folks see the opportunity that is our business,
which is a massive industry. There's a lot of there's
(15:29):
a lot of opportunity, and you know, so what I
look at is, you know, providing white collar sophistication in
a blue collar space and doing that across the branding,
the marketing, the technology, the training, the recruiting, you name it,
and having the infrastructure to adapt to the marketplace over time,
(15:53):
you know, because things are always changing, competitors always changing, regulation,
the economy, you name it. That's all normal and signs
of a healthy marketplace. And so yeah, we differentiate ourselves
by providing we're actually the only national option when it
(16:13):
comes to the top third of home values in a market.
When you look at a luxury option, Line painting is
the only national option. We are creating a space within
a massive industry is something we take a lot of
pride in. It's something that our owners are highly invested in.
(16:36):
It's a big reason why they join our community or
the Line family as we call it, we are collectively
market by market, becoming industry leaders and making history by
creating our space, you know, giving a white collar solution
to a sector in the market that show goes to
find that. You know, that's a very complicated way of
(16:59):
just community hating a.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
Very simple service that we offer.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
We're a friendly neighborhood painter that's an expert, and we
happen to be values driven and we happen to focus
specifically on custom properties.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
That's what we're experts of. That's what we're really good at.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
That's what our systems and everything about our business is
tailored to that consumer that wants to pay more to
get more outs.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
Stanning, thank you for all that. I always tell people
in this series when you're running a company that it's
not always unicorns and rainbows all the time. And you're
obviously doing very well with you your team and your franchises.
But if I were to present the question about what
kind of challenges does the industry present to you right
now and your team, what would you tell everybody.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
Challenges?
Speaker 1 (17:46):
I think there's just been so much change, right and
I think that that is consistent across all industries and
that's no different in ours. You look at the past
four years, there's been so much change and so much
growth that we've had in combination with that change. And
that's what I love about the resiliency of our business model.
It's nothing new, it's not rocket science. It's an old
(18:10):
school space. We're just bringing new, white collar sophistication to
a very underserved sector and we happen to be the
first and largest ones in the country doing it. And
because of that, we're attracting a lot of talented franchise partners.
And you know, it's been an honor to do just
(18:31):
that and help our partners grow enterprise value. But more importantly,
you know, do good and to do good through our values.
So we have a catchphrase called get limed and it's
something that anyone that joins our organization they align with
doing business in that posture. And so get line stands
(18:52):
for gratitude, enthusiasm, tenacity, love, integrity, mission, excellence, and discipline.
One of my favorite values is mission. That's our give back.
Franchising is such a powerful growth model. It can impact
and influence communities and we've seen that firsthand. And when
(19:16):
we first structured the franchise. We wanted to leverage the
impact of franchising and that we would hopefully have by
creating a system and a process that would automate doing
good and would create a process for creating alignment with
those that join our company and how we show up
(19:36):
and serve the community. And so, you know, a big
part of that is through our m the mission. It's
how we give back and it's using the business as
a platform to do just that, to do good, to
give back. And so you know, we've done things like
partner with local nonprofits and we actually have a public
(19:59):
charity nonprofit called line Light Outreach. It's just a way
for our partners to partner and market and give give
back with local organizations.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
Specifically we focus on the youth. And we have four
pillars of knowledge, faith, family, patriotism, and prosperity. So those
are our four pillars of knowledge and we so we
like to work with organizations that somehow align with those
four pillars and work with the youth. And so in
(20:35):
our you know, when we're providing services with our customers
through our nonprofit line Light Outreach, they are able to
help us give back market by market, and so our
local ownership and their teams. UH, through line light outreach
(20:55):
partner with local organizations. You know, for example, in our
found location in Denver, we host an annual golf outing.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
This year will be our fifth. Uh.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
You know, we're very happy about the past twelve months.
We're able to raise you know, like six figures for
a local nonprofit here called Providence Network. And you know,
it's just it's being able to, yes, be in community
through a golf outing, but also you know, highlight a
(21:30):
wonderful organization like that, and again you know, doing that
market by market and choosing to show up and do
business in the posture that we that we show up
and serve outstanding.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
Well, Nick, you've mentioned it a couple of times, and
I've asked you about franchises, So I think it's a
great segue to talk about that. If somebody calls you
up or somebody in your team and says, I'm interested
in the franchise, what's the criteria? How do you take
them through the process. How's it executed? Whether they're calling
for man word domestically in the United States, how does
everything work?
Speaker 1 (22:02):
Yeah, our initial investments anywhere from one hundred and twenty
five to two hundred twenty five thousand, somewhere in that range,
and that's for a single territory. You can get in
touch with our team that helps educate folks on our opportunity. Specifically,
you know, that's our franchise development team Line Paintingfranchise dot
(22:27):
Com is a great way to connect and begin that conversation.
You can also check us out on any social platforms.
We also have a show called The Level of Show
with Nick Lopez. You can find that across any platform.
I would love to connect with you there as well.
Speaker 3 (22:47):
Standing well, let's do this Nick. We've taken in a lot.
It's very cool. It's a great story too, man coming
out of school and then starting a business, enfranchising. It's
the American dream and I think everybody's pretty excited about
what you, your team, team, your family has done. Just
want to give you some final thoughts and kind of
recap everything we talked about the floors here, sir Well.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
Entrepreneurship is certainly an exciting way to take your future
into your hands. Home improvement is currently being transformed by franchising,
and within home improvement, nobody ever has focused on the
luxury sector. That is something that We take a lot
(23:28):
of pride in making history in the home improvement sector,
and so that is exactly who we are looking for.
We're looking for folks that want to make history, that
are collaborators, team builders. We have a high performance sales culture. Yes,
our values include things like gratitude and love, but they
(23:48):
also include things like tenacity, excellence, discipline. So very much
a high performance sales organization. We have models such as
our owner operator. We also have models of our business
where you can expand across multiple territories and do that
(24:09):
with an org chart. Depending upon how big your territory is,
that orchart can vary. That's more of our empire model
route that's going to require additional capital and ability to
scale and business experience. But the wonderful thing about our
(24:30):
organization is that you know, if you come in even
as an intern knocking on doors, we've had folks work
their way all the way up into owning multiple territories,
and so that owner operator most certainly, much like Michael
Gerber talks about an e myth, is working to work
(24:52):
on the business and eventually scale across multiple territories. So
we're very much looking for empire minded folks. Collaborators, team builders,
culture builders and folks that align with our values.
Speaker 3 (25:07):
Outstanding and nick. Before we let you go, let's give
the website to everybody one more time to make sure
everybody knows. For more information, look a franchises. They want
to see your services all about line painting. What's that website?
Speaker 2 (25:20):
Linepaintingfranchise dot com.
Speaker 3 (25:22):
Outstanding and listen before I let you go. I always
like to do this in the series. You're an incredible
story on your own out of school, starting a business
and now it is flourishing. There are a lot of
future entrepreneurs that listen to this series. I understand that
your journey is very specific to what you did. But
if you were to give advice to any young people
out there that are coming out of school that want
to start their own business, whatever they do, what advice
(25:43):
would you give them?
Speaker 1 (25:43):
I would say, join the International Franchise Association. At least
look into the International Franchise Association. They are the go
to experts in the world of franchising. You'll find best practices,
all the resources and at working that one can look for.
The world of franchising is tremendous and there's not a
(26:07):
lot of information on it, but my goodness, once you
enter the world of franchising, specifically through somewhere like the
I f A, you'll find a path.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
That I bet you become hooked with.
Speaker 1 (26:22):
It's a wonderful space and I'm.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
Just very grateful to be a part of it.
Speaker 3 (26:29):
Outs standing. Hey, Nick, I can tell you how much
I appreciate your valuable time. Thank you for this continue success,
and we really appreciate you joining us on CEOs. You
should know.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
Thank you.
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