In this raw Coffee Conversation, Coach Jesse gets real. He opens up about the moment he hit rock bottom while building his second painting company. He had four jobs open, no reliable crews, cash pressure mounting… and a full-blown panic attack on the side of the road.
Couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think. Didn’t know how he was going to get through it.
What saved him wasn’t a new marketing tactic.
It wasn’t better estimating software.
It wasn’t hiring another salesperson.
It was a lesson he learned years earlier during a 10-day silent Vipassana meditation retreat, a mental discipline so simple it sounds almost ridiculous:
In this episode, Jesse breaks down:

• The exact moment his painting business felt like it was collapsing
• How overwhelm destroys decision-making for painting contractors
• The “10-Second Rule” that pulled him out of panic
• How he went from chaos to running 6 painting crews in a matter of weeks
• Why most painting company owners fail in the first 18 months
• And how to manufacture wins when cash flow, crews, and customers feel out of control

• Crew issues
• Subcontractor unreliability
• Production bottlenecks
• Cash flow stress
• Customer communication pressure
• Or just the silent weight of running a growing painting business

If you’re a painting contractor dealing with:
This is not a tactics episode. This is about mental resilience for entrepreneurs. This is about emotional control under pressure. This is about how to survive the hard season so you can scale. Because every serious painting company owner will face a moment where the business feels bigger than them.
The question is: will you quit or will you narrow the clock and win the next 10 seconds?
If you’re in a season of struggle, uncertainty, or personal pressure while building your painting company… this is a must-listen.
Press play.
Then go win your next 10 seconds.

What happens when your painting business grows faster than your leadership systems?

In this Brush Busters episode, Josh and Wayne break down real questions from owners running multi-million dollar painting companies who feel like they’re losing control. Jobs happening without visibility. Teams ignoring systems. High revenue with low profit. Managers burning out. Payroll crushing margins.

This is not theory. It’s practical, field-tested advice for owners who have already “made it” on paper but are drowning operationally.

You’ll learn:

• How to install structure when growth outpaces leadership

• Why systems fail without accountability and how to fix compliance

• Where large painting companies actually leak profit

• How to prevent estimator and production manager burnout

• When labor becomes too expensive and how to restructure without blowing up the company

If your business feels bigger but messier than it should, this episode will help you regain control and rebuild clarity.

Most owners think the only way to get their time back is to hire.

But hiring is slow, expensive, and it often solves the wrong problem.

In this episode, Mike breaks down a simple framework to buy back up to 10 hours per week using leverage you already have, before you add payroll.

Here’s what you’ll learn:
You’ll run a quick time audit to find where your hours are leaking. Then you’ll climb the Leverage Ladder: eliminate, automate, standardize, optimize communication, and batch your work so you can actually hit flow state again.

If you feel like you’re stuck doing everything, and your days are getting swallowed by admin, texts, and constant context switching, this will give you a clean plan for getting your life back.

Listen now, and if you want help installing this in your painting business, reach out to Painter Growth.

Ever finish a job, see solid revenue, and still wonder where the profit went?

In this episode, we break down how painting contractors lose margin during production, even when the estimate “felt right.” From prep work that quietly expands (patch turns into skim) to the classic “while you’re here” requests that bleed hours, the real problem is rarely effort. It’s the lack of a system you can trust.

Jesse Teron and Josh Eldridge walk through a practical approach to job costing that starts before the job begins. You will learn how to forecast profit to the dollar, set budgeted hours your crew can actually execute, and build production rates based on an average painter so your top performers can beat the budget and earn more.

We also hit the leadership side: how to hold firm when subs ask for more money mid-job, how to stop doing extra work for free, and how detailed proposals and clear exclusions protect you from scope creep.

Inside this episode:

• Why “trusting profit” is really about knowing your numbers

• How to move from job costing in arrears to forecasting materials and labor up front

• Production rate examples (hardy board, fascia, second-level work adjustments)

• How to communicate budgeted hours and deadlines to your crew without drama

• The breakdown that makes it easier to say no to mid-job price changes

• A simple boundary system for change orders so you stop donating labor

If you want cleaner margins, fewer surprises, and a business that scales without chaos, this is the playbook.

Submit your question for a future episode at paintergrowth.com.

If you’re building a painting company and it feels harder than it should, this episode is your shortcut.

I’m breaking down five mistakes I made the hard way, from hiring the wrong way and leading with pressure, to working nonstop, waiting too long to hire key roles, holding on to the wrong people, and not paying myself a real salary.

These lessons didn’t just save my sanity. They helped me create structure fast, including the shift that led to a production manager running three crews in 10 weeks and the business producing $20,000 to $25,000 per week.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• How to communicate expectations so your team doesn’t quit or drift

• The boundary rule that keeps entrepreneurship from wrecking your health and relationships

• The hiring order that stabilizes leads first, then sales, then production

• When to fire faster (especially in leadership roles)

• Why paying yourself a salary makes you a better operator

If you want a company that grows without owning your life, this one’s for you.

Description: Most painting business owners say they want freedom.
But the way they run their week guarantees the opposite.
In this Brush Busters episode, Coach Jesse and Coach Chris break down a simple truth that changes everything: rules create freedom. The owners who feel calm, profitable, and in control are not the ones with the most flexibility. They are the ones with the clearest boundaries.
You’ll hear why “winging it” turns into chaos, why your phone is quietly stealing your focus, and how one small habit before you walk into an estimate can instantly raise your presence and your close rate. Then they take it deeper into leadership, culture, and hiring: how to define non negotiables, set core values your team actually follows, and stop carrying fear around as the default setting.
This is not mindset fluff. It’s structure that gives you your life back.
In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why flexibility without structure creates burnout
• The “leave it in the car” rule that changes your estimates
• How to protect your attention at work and at home
• The boundaries that stop your schedule from owning you
• How to build core values and non negotiables your team can live by
• A simple way to replace fear with clarity and confidence

If you’ve been trying to grow while feeling stretched thin, this episode will give you the reset.

Are you trapped in your business? If you can't step away for a week without everything falling apart, you don't have a business—you have a job. In this episode, Michael Reitman shares exactly how he's preparing to take a 7-day vacation completely offline, and the framework you need to do the same.

Michael breaks down the "vacation test"—a proven method to identify operational weaknesses, reduce owner dependency, and build systems that run without you. You'll learn the step-by-step process including the game-changing 15-minute time study that reveals where you're wasting your most valuable asset: time.

In This Episode:

• Why you need to do this even before you're "ready"
• The 15-minute time study that will change your business (most won't do it)
• How to categorize your activities: delegate, dump, or hire
• Setting expectations with your team before you leave
• What to do when things break while you're away (and why that's actually good)
• How this increases your business valuation if you ever want to sell

Whether you're aiming for a weekend off or a two-week vacation, this episode gives you the roadmap to build a business that doesn't need you for every decision.

Start small. Book the trip. Trust the process.

What if Elon Musk had to scale a painting business from scratch?

In this episode, Mike breaks down a 5-step scaling framework inspired by how Musk builds and simplifies massive companies. The goal is simple: grow faster, cut the chaos, and stop optimizing work that should not exist in the first place.

You’ll learn how to:

• Question every requirement so your business stops accumulating “busywork”

• Delete low-value processes, meetings, and services that steal profit and time

• Simplify your offer and operations so scaling gets easier, not harder

• Build urgency into your team so cycle times shrink and momentum compounds

• Automate systems and leverage talent so you are not the bottleneck

If you are stuck in the loop of inconsistent leads, inefficient crews, and doing everything yourself, this episode is your reset.

Does being physically fit make you a better leader?

In the painting business, leadership is not just what you say. It is what you model. In this episode, I break down why fitness is often correlated with high performance, how your habits impact employee respect and customer trust, and how working out can sharpen your decision-making and emotional control.

If you have not trained in years, do not overcomplicate it. Start simple, build consistency, and let the discipline carry over into your business.

What you will learn:

• Why fitness can raise your leadership “credibility”

• How training builds discipline you can reuse in business

• Why working out early helps you make better food choices

• A beginner-friendly way to restart your fitness routine

• Simple nutrition and meal prep habits that support your goals

If you want a series on nutrition, meal prep, supplements, or how to train effectively, comment what you want next.

Painter Growth resources: paintergrowth.com
Subscribe for more: Painting business growth, leadership, systems, and owner mindset.

Most painting business owners hit the same ceiling for the same reason.

Not leads.
Not ads.
Not pricing.

It’s leverage.

In this solo episode, Mike breaks down the one unlock that actually changes your capacity to grow in 2026: moving from “I delegate tasks” to “I delegate outcomes.”

Because hiring another painter does not buy your freedom.
Hiring a crew leader does.

You’ll hear:

• Why “helpers” keep you trapped, even when you are busy

• The real job of a crew leader and what you must hand them (and what you must keep)

• How to stop being the bottleneck without sacrificing quality

• The simple system that makes delegation work: standards, training, and checks and balances

• How to answer the fear every owner has: “Am I really getting ROI from my team?”

If your business can’t run without you, it isn’t a business yet. It’s a job you own.

This episode shows you the shift that changes that.

Want help building your 2026 plan? Mike is running a one day business growth challenge: three hours of coaching for $47.

Details are here:

https://go.paintergrowth.com/1-day-coaching-challenge