Estimating, Marketing, Hiring, Business Coach

DYB Podcast EP79: Ben Campbell – From Surviving off of Caribou to a Successful, Streamlined Painting Company

SUMMARY:

DYB Podcast EP79 brings Ben Campbell of Campbell Painting and Drywall in Anchorage, Alaska to the show. From the very beginning, his family started a couple of paint retail stores in the 1950’s in Alaska. Then Ben started his company in 2006 with his brother and went solo in 2009. He shares his very relatable early mistakes to his current successful company with 15+ employees, on track for $1,000,000 revenue for 2020.

Ben shares how overcoming huge adversity helped build his drive and grit. Though he wouldn’t want to go through the obstacles again, he looks for the positive and what he can learn from each situation to learn and grow and not give up. He also shares his strategy for hiring and keeping a great team.

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN:

  • How Ben uses his individual USP (Unique Selling Proposition) to set him apart and grow his clientele
  • Ben’s strategy for hiring painters and keeping a great team
  • How technology helps Ben streamline his business
  • Ben’s organizational strategy for crew leaders
  • How to empower a team to do their best work
  • How to avoid and overcome the negativity around you
  • Lastly, an encouragement to those who are working “in the bucket” and want to get “out of the bucket” to run a streamlined business

LISTEN HERE:

QUOTES:

04:39 “(When you started) How did you generate your leads? Word of mouth was basically it at the beginning. We had yard signs and did some networking at church, but it was mostly word of mouth.”

21:01 “Keep grinding, you know, that’s all I wanted to say. Just keep grinding and it will get better, but learn from your mistakes. You know, if you did something wrong once, don’t do it again. If I’m bidding a job and I didn’t make money on it, well then why didn’t I make money? Ask that question.”

09:02 “Why don’t you do much new construction? There are a lot of great builders, but the bottom line is, painting is an expense to them. They want to keep their expenses down, so they don’t use the highest quality paint that we do or want to spend time making the job perfect, like we do.”

21:28 “There’s good money in what we do.”

LINKS & RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

TSheets GPS Time Tracker

Quickbooks Online

Compound Effect by Darren Hardy

Ben Campbell

ADDITIONAL FREE RESOURCES:

 

Thank you very much for joining us today! If you received value, would you take a quick few seconds and leave us a review on iTunes, please?

About the Author

As many of you know, my journey has been one of grit, grace, and transformation. At 19, I was a high school dropout, single father, and struggling paint contractor in Michigan. I later moved to Florida, where I faced both personal and professional hardships. With nothing left to lose, I turned to prayer—and was blessed with a relentless hunger to learn. I devoured books, attended seminars, and discovered better ways to streamline and grow my business—even through the Great Recession (and yes, I did hit the wife lottery along the way!). In 2014, I published How To Double Your Business and later sold the painting business, launching a new chapter: coaching others to grow their businesses. For the past 10 years, I’ve dedicated myself to helping business owners scale through the DYB System, while also drawing from frameworks like EOS, Scaling Up, and The Four Disciplines of Execution. Yet something was still missing—something more adaptive, integrated, and complete. Then I found Pinnacle. After months of research and interviews with other Guides, I joined Pinnacle. Their tools and strategies have exceeded every expectation. Now, as a Pinnacle Business Guide, I help leadership teams implement a custom-tailored operating system that draws from the best in the industry—but flexes with your unique business. It’s a dynamic, proven approach to achieve clarity, momentum, and lasting growth. I’m no longer taking on any more 1:1 coaching clients… Instead, I now specialize in working with visionary business owners who are ready to get their leadership teams aligned—around a clear vision, a focused strategy, and an actionable execution plan. With the tools and process I now have as a Pinnacle Business Guide, I help turn alignment into momentum, and momentum into results. If your business is growing—but your leadership team isn’t fully rowing in the same direction—let’s talk.

←Previous post Next post→