Painter Growth Podcast

In this solo Coffee Conversation, Jesse reflects on his personal journey through 2025 and the business framework that has guided him for years.

He shares how thinking in quarters changed the way he ran his painting business and why each season of the year has a different role to play. From driving massive activity early, to optimizing production, to enjoying the payoff, and finally slowing down to reflect and plan.

This episode is about patterns, clarity, and building a business that works on paper before you work yourself into the ground.

If you want a more intentional way to plan your year and avoid repeating the same mistakes, this conversation will give you a simple framework to start with.

What if the secret to scaling your painting business isn't expanding to more cities, but dominating smaller pockets within your current market?

Jesse Tarrin sits down with Wayne Scherger, co-founder of CertaPro Painters and 45-year painting industry veteran, to discuss the counterintuitive strategies that built the world's largest painting company—and how independent painting contractors can use these same principles today.

Wayne shares how he went from painting 550 houses in a 2,800-home territory to scaling to $2M+ in revenue in just one year using territory managers (without traditional franchising).

Key Topics:

• The "territory manager" model and how to implement it in your business
• Why targeting smaller geographic areas makes marketing, sales, AND production easier
• The ROTOR framework: A proven system for recruiting, onboarding, training, and retaining top talent
• How to break into light commercial work (condos, HOAs) for recurring revenue
• Time management and batching strategies that eliminate wasted drive time
• What to look for when hiring leaders vs. painters
• The Community Association Institute (CAI) strategy for landing commercial accounts

Whether you're a solo operator looking to hire your first employee or a $2M+ business ready to scale to the next level, Wayne's hard-won wisdom from building businesses in both the pre-digital and modern era will give you a clear roadmap forward.

About Wayne Scherger:Wayne is a dual US-Canadian citizen who started with College Pro Painters in 1981, co-founded CertaPro Painters in the early 1990s (now the world's largest painting franchise), and currently coaches painting business owners on leadership, scaling, and operations.

🎧 Subscribe to the Painter Growth Podcast for more strategies to grow your painting business!

Most painting contractors can't answer in one sentence: What's your revenue goal, profit goal, and crew count for December 2026? If you wait until January to start planning, you're already behind the eight ball. In this episode, Michael Hickman breaks down the exact business planning framework used at Painter Growth to help painting contractors scale from $300K to $1M+ in revenue. Learn how to analyze your 2025 data, build a profit-first business plan, calculate your production capacity, create week-by-week marketing targets, and climb the pathways from painter to CEO. Plus, discover how to join the Painting

Contractor to CEO Challenge on December 10th for just $47, get 3 hours of hands-on coaching to build your complete 2026 business plan with all the tools and spreadsheets included. Stop hustling without a plan. Start engineering your success from the ground up.

🎯 Join the December 10th Challenge: https://go.paintergrowth.com/1-day-coaching-challenge

Winter is hitting hard for painting businesses. In this episode, Coach Gavin and Coach Chris tackle four real letters from struggling painters facing zero leads, tanking close rates, and the tough question: "Should I just shut down until spring?"

You'll Learn:

• Proven tactics to generate leads when your phone stops ringing
• Why your close rate might have dropped to zero overnight (and how to fix it)
• Smart marketing strategies that don't require discounting
• The truth about turning off marketing during slow season
• Creative partnership ideas (the cleaning company strategy is genius)
• When it's OK to embrace seasonality vs. when to fight it

Whether you're staring at an empty calendar or burning through ad spend with nothing to show for it, this episode delivers actionable strategies you can implement TODAY.

Featured Topics: Lead generation, sales process optimization, strategic partnerships, marketing consistency, winter survival strategies, seasonal business planning

In this episode, Mike breaks down one of the most important skills for any painting business owner who wants to grow: taking bigger swings in business. Most painting contractors stay stuck because they’re afraid to invest, afraid to hire, or afraid to make decisions that could move their painting company forward. Mike explains why playing small is one of the biggest reasons painting businesses fail to scale past 300K, 500K, or even 1M per year.

You’ll learn why comfort destroys growth, how fear limits your ability to get painting leads, and why you can’t build a profitable painting business by staying in maintenance mode. Mike shares the real mindset shift that helped transform Painter Growth, including how to make better business decisions, how to think like a CEO instead of a painter, and how to confidently invest in marketing, hiring, and systems that create long-term success.

If you want to scale a painting business, get more painting leads, improve your systems, hire great painters, or take your painting company to the next level, this episode will help you break out of survival mode and finally start making moves that lead to real growth.

From $179K to $820K in One Year: The Transformation You Didn't See Coming

James Mitchell was on the verge of giving up. Despite working harder than ever, his painting business had hit $179,000 in revenue last year, and he wasn't taking home any profit. Today? He's on track to hit $1 million, a 400%+ increase, and everything has changed.

But this isn't your typical business growth story.

In this profound episode, Jesse Tarrin (Head Coach & COO at Painter Growth) sits down with James to explore the hidden dimension of business success that nobody talks about: the inner work that creates outer transformation.

What You'll Discover:

• How James went from struggling with 5-minute meditations to doing 65-minute sessions that literally changed his reality
• The "Intuition Accelerator" method (HAPP: Heal, Align, Power, Prosperity) and how it unlocks exponential growth
• Why James had 20 estimates per week "magically" appear once he started this practice
• The difference between running your business from ego vs. intuition (and why it matters more than your marketing strategy)
• How addressing subconscious wounds from the inside out transformed his relationships, team culture, and bottom line
• The breathwork session that helped James release generational trauma and self-sabotage patterns
• Why meditation isn't about stopping thoughts—and what it actually does for your business
• How being present and "slowing down" time creates competitive advantages others can't replicate

The Vulnerable Truth:

James shares the darkest moments, the three days he almost walked away from everything, the struggles with profitability while paying his team well, and how the support of the Intuitive Advantage community pulled him through.

This Episode Is For You If:

• You're working incredibly hard but not seeing the financial results you deserve
• You feel stuck at a revenue ceiling and don't know why
• You're curious about the connection between personal development and business growth
• You're a "personal development junkie" who consumes content but struggles with implementation
• You want to understand how successful entrepreneurs are using meditation, breathwork, and intuitive practices to scale

Key Themes Explored:

• Meditation as a business tool, not just a wellness practice
• The concept of "higher selfishness"—serving your higher self to serve others better
• Running your business from love instead of fear
• The universal law of "as above, so below"—how your internal state creates your external reality
• Why the present moment is the only place miracles happen
• Building a team culture when you're in alignment with yourself

Fair Warning:

This episode goes deep. We're talking about subconscious healing, spiritual development, divine flow, and concepts that might sound "woo woo" to traditional business owners. But the results speak for themselves: 400% revenue growth, stronger relationships, better team culture, and a founder who's no longer on the edge of burnout.

If you've been doing all the "right" business things but still feel like something's missing, this conversation might change everything.

About the Intuitive Advantage:

The program James completed combines business strategy with deep subconscious work, including guided meditation, breathwork, trauma healing, and intuitive coaching. It's designed for entrepreneurs ready to break through invisible ceilings by doing the inner work that creates outer transformation.

Resources Mentioned:

• Intuitive Advantage Program
• HAPP Method (Heal, Align, Power, Prosperity)
• 65-Minute Meditation Practice
• Breathwork Sessions

Are you working harder than ever but not seeing the profit or freedom you deserve? In this episode, Mike Gore Hickman breaks down the five critical habits that are keeping painting contractors stuck and broke, and more importantly, how to break them.

Drawing from nearly 10,000 one-on-one coaching calls with over 1,000 painting business owners, Mike reveals the exact patterns that separate six-figure hustlers from seven-figure CEOs.

In this episode, you'll discover:

• Why painting is the WORST thing you can do as a painting business owner (and what to focus on instead)
• The critical difference between delegating and abdicating, and why it's costing you thousands
• How to shift from revenue-focused to profit-focused (and the three financial statements you need to master)
• The piece rate system that incentivizes painters to work faster while maintaining quality
• How your beliefs about the economy, seasonality, and your business are creating your reality

Special announcement: The Painter Growth Podcast is now going twice weekly—every Tuesday and Friday—to help you grow your painting business consistently.

Free Resource: Download Mike's Piece Rate Calculator mentioned in this episode paintergrowth.com/piecerate-podcast

Whether you're still on the tools or scaling to seven figures, this episode will challenge your thinking and give you actionable steps to break through your current plateau.

Rob Peterson didn’t start in the trades. He wasn’t a painter. He wasn’t even planning on running a business.
He was selling Toyotas in Philadelphia… until one conversation changed the entire trajectory of his life.

In this episode, Rob shares how a chance meeting with the president of CertaPro pushed him into the painting world, how he went from managing 15 crews across the East Coast to launching Paint Denver, and how he scaled it to a 4 million dollar per year operation.

We dig into:

• The hidden challenges behind fast-growth operations
• Why managing people is the real skill of scaling
• How hailstorms (yes, hailstorms) turned into a major revenue engine
• Why hiring A-players changes everything
• The art of separating sales from project management
• How to build systems early so growth doesn’t break your business
• What it realistically takes to move from 500k to 5M and beyond

If you're in the painting industry or any local service business, Rob’s journey is a masterclass in operational grit, leadership, and long-term thinking.

In this solo episode, Jesse Teron, COO and Head Coach at Painter Growth, dives into one of the most emotional topics for painting business owners: money.
Why do certain numbers, like $100K, $1M, or $10M—carry so much emotional weight? And how can shifting your mindset about money completely change your life and your business?

Jesse breaks down the mental stories we attach to dollar amounts, how to reach “Baseline 1” (the income level where both your business and personal needs are covered), and the practical financial habits every painting entrepreneur should master.

You’ll learn:

• Why money is just a tool, and how that perspective frees you.

• How to calculate your true financial baseline.

• The margins and systems that keep your business sustainable.

This episode blends mindset, math, and real-world experience to help you build a healthier, wealthier relationship with money.

When Rachel realized her first painting company made zero profit after a full year of work, it crushed her.
She was exhausted, in debt, and ready to give up.

But instead of quitting, she started over, with a plan.

Today, Rachel runs XPaint in Cleveland, Ohio, a six-figure business on track for $1M next year.
She’s built systems, a team she trusts, and a level of financial security she never thought possible.

In this episode, she opens up about:
🎯 Hitting rock bottom and rebuilding with confidence
💡 How she turned chaos into clarity by learning her numbers
🧘‍♀️ The mindset and energy work that unlocked her next level

If you’ve ever felt like your business was running you — this conversation will change how you see what’s possible.

🎙️ Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube.