Our Story
Painting a New Path: Steve Burnett’s Evolution from Broke Painter to Successful Business Owner to Coaching Mentor!
Transcript
ClikWiz Mike:
Welcome to the inaugural painting profits podcast. I am your host Mike Williams or ClikWiz Mike as our first guest likes to call me. I’m with ClikWiz. We do, we are, uh, all things digital marketing for painting contractors. So if you need help with your website, digital marketing, uh, just let me know or go to clikwiz.com after the show. Um, our first guest here is, uh, Steve Burnett. I met Steve and his wife April back in 2010. when I think it was about 2010, because it was shortly after I started my business and him and his wife were in the process of growing and scaling Burnett painting. And it’s been really neat to watch how quickly he scaled that business, sold it and started DYB coach and now he’s helping countless other painting contractors do the same thing that he did. And if you don’t already know Steve, I highly recommend you get to know him because he’s just full of great ideas and wisdom and just really loves to share that with others. Uh, so he has a real gift of, of teaching and, uh, and leadership. And so, um, it’s been, uh, my pleasure to be friends with him, uh, all these years. And so I really highly, highly recommend you get to know him here. And so that’s what we’re about to do here. So Steve, welcome to the show. Um, before we get into it, let’s, uh, let’s hear your story.
Steve Burnett:
Thank you, Mike. Appreciate that. And what an honor it is to be your inaugural guest when you reached out. I’m like, yeah, that’s
ClikWiz Mike:
Yeah,
Steve Burnett:
awesome. And
ClikWiz Mike:
wanted to come out swinging.
Steve Burnett:
hopefully I fulfill that. No pressure, right? Yeah, thank you. I appreciate that. The story, right? How did it all start? Well, originally I was from Michigan and started my first painting business when I was 19. Uh, but I did everything wrong. I, excuse me, worked for all the wrong people and I hired the wrong people. In short, I worked for builders and I hired skill when instead, um, I should have not worked for builders and I should have hired for character. So, uh, built up a company, uh, but I was busy and broke and, um, uh, things were really struggling after nine 11. Uh, the economy was in trouble in Michigan. And I heard about a hurricane that hit a town called Punta Gorda, Florida. I was like, that’s an interesting name. Never been to Florida before, and we were hearing more about this, and I thought, oh, let’s go down and help these folks out, because business was really slow in Michigan. Went, planned to go down for a few weeks, and fell in love with Florida. It was, I think, December, January of, oh, five. Yeah, so-called January, first of oh five. And I went down there and I looked around, and there was palm trees, and you know, beaches, and it was beautiful, it was like 75, 80 degrees in December, and I just rolled out of Southeast Michigan when it was… Four degrees and eight inches of snow and I’m like, oh wow, you know, this is great So I called my wife at time and I said hey, it’s beautiful down here. Like there’s everything needs painted The economy’s in trouble in Michigan. I said, I think you know, we should move down here and start over and She says that’s a good idea. I said really she says yes, I think you should
ClikWiz Mike:
Wow.
Steve Burnett:
I said, how do you mean you think I should she says well, you know I’m leaving you, in short. Wow, that’s wild. So she did, she left, and I did. So I went down to Florida and started over and actually got with my two kids, Stephen and Nadia. They were five and seven at the time. And I thought, okay, cool, got all this hurricane work to help all these people get their homes put back together. And I got the kids moved down, we found a condo, and painting away. I’m learning how to braid Nattie’s hair and getting them to the bus stop and then, you know, running out and, uh, and then painting these homes and trying to hire at the same time and well, about six months into it, uh, something I didn’t see on the horizon, but everybody else was painting and all the other roofers were down here and all the other, you know, siding companies and how, you know, you name it, they’re all, everybody came down to help and everything got done in six months, like Ponte Groto was like rebuilt in six months. I went, oh boy. Okay. So here we are out of all of this work that we had, but I’m already recommitted. I’m now 1,250 miles away from all of my family, friends, business contacts, and we’re there. The kids are in school and so I’m like, my goodness, I’ve got to figure this out. And I really didn’t want to go to Michigan, back to Michigan anyway, because Florida is a pretty nice place to live. And so- I started going door to door. I would have to drive like 45 minutes out of the market, you know, away from Ponta Gorda and even out of side of Port Charlotte and up north into Northern Port Charlotte or North port and maybe in a Venice and go knocking on doors. And then can paint your house. Get off the lawn. Can paint your house. Get
ClikWiz Mike:
I’m
Steve Burnett:
out
ClikWiz Mike:
going
Steve Burnett:
of here.
ClikWiz Mike:
to go to bed.
Steve Burnett:
Can paint your house. You look hot. Can I give you some water? Yes. Thank you, ma’am. Can paint your house. No.
ClikWiz Mike:
Ha ha
Steve Burnett:
And so I just, you know, I kept at it, I kept at it. I was really struggling. And there was one point where I remembered the story in the Bible about Solomon and asking for wisdom. And I just thought, well, that’s kind of wild, but what else am I going to do? Because I didn’t have any other hope. And I had to figure something out. And so I started praying for wisdom while I’m waiting for that wisdom to come. what did come was an insatiable desire to read. And this in itself could be a miracle because I’d never read before. In fact, I never read in school. Moreover, I’m a high school dropout. I dropped out of high school when I was 15 and I despised reading. I hated it. But after praying for wisdom, the passion for reading came. And I’ve just been pounding through books ever since. So anybody who knows me, they just know I just pound through books. I just can’t get enough. I don’t know if you guys remember that show in the 80s where it was like the robot Johnny five. What was it called? Short circuit. Do
ClikWiz Mike:
Mm-hmm, yep.
Steve Burnett:
you remember that? He’s wondering,
ClikWiz Mike:
Johnny
Steve Burnett:
he’s
ClikWiz Mike:
Five
Steve Burnett:
like more,
ClikWiz Mike:
is alive.
Steve Burnett:
more input, more input.
ClikWiz Mike:
Yeah.
Steve Burnett:
So that’s kind of like me. I was like, I need more input, more input. So this passion, thanks to the prayer, the answer to prayer, the passion to read. And so I just kept reading these books and I’d implement and I’d read these books. I’d take acts and I’d read these books. I’d execute. And a lot of people say, wow, that’s amazing. Well, maybe it is, but I had two little kids to feed. I didn’t have an option. I couldn’t just say, forget it, go to the bar and drink Miss Harlow’s way. So I had to figure this out. I had to take care of these two little kids. And
ClikWiz Mike:
That’s
Steve Burnett:
so
ClikWiz Mike:
one
Steve Burnett:
just,
ClikWiz Mike:
thing that, sorry to interrupt, but that’s
Steve Burnett:
yeah,
ClikWiz Mike:
one thing
Steve Burnett:
go
ClikWiz Mike:
that
Steve Burnett:
ahead.
ClikWiz Mike:
always impressed me about you is that, you know, because I’m guilty of it when I read a book and I will put it down and forget all of it. That doesn’t
Steve Burnett:
Yeah.
ClikWiz Mike:
matter how good it is, or at least I’ll forget most of it. But you are able to really take action
Steve Burnett:
Mm-hmm.
ClikWiz Mike:
on what you read and put it into practice. And that’s always been pretty remarkable.
Steve Burnett:
Well, thank you. I’d like to say it’s just, you know, I’m just a good discipline, but the truth
ClikWiz Mike:
Mm-hmm.
Steve Burnett:
was like being poor, being broke and struggling to find a way to feed your kids, it builds that desire, you know, to like just got to get after it. And so at any point I can just like draw back. I know what those emotions feel like. You know, I think Elon Musk said, somebody asked him, what’s it like being an entrepreneur? He says, it’s like staring into the abyss, eating glass, you know. And so I can just, I always do is pull back on those feelings of all that fear and just like, Oh my goodness. And then it provides the urgency to like, all right, let’s go lean forward and get after it. Well, that and a little bit of coffee helps to, to execute. Right. Yeah. So kept, I still had to keep knock on doors, but then we started executing and some of the first lessons I learned was local networking. And so joined a B and I and. and then chamber, excuse me, and then eventually later on rotary. And I knew that, uh, I couldn’t afford it business coaching at the time, but I needed some coaching, I need some accountability. So started a local mastermind group, the Monday 20, uh, which you may remember. And
ClikWiz Mike:
Yes,
Steve Burnett:
we would
ClikWiz Mike:
I do
Steve Burnett:
meet
ClikWiz Mike:
remember that.
Steve Burnett:
Monday
ClikWiz Mike:
Those are
Steve Burnett:
mornings
ClikWiz Mike:
the days.
Steve Burnett:
at 6 AM, right? Like,
ClikWiz Mike:
Yep.
Steve Burnett:
yeah, you had to be committed. if you’re in and because
ClikWiz Mike:
Yeah.
Steve Burnett:
who’s getting who’s meeting at 6 a.m. on Monday mornings
ClikWiz Mike:
Yep, yep, and if you’re late, you had to put 20 bucks in.
Steve Burnett:
Yeah,
ClikWiz Mike:
And
Steve Burnett:
20
ClikWiz Mike:
I don’t know
Steve Burnett:
bucks
ClikWiz Mike:
if you
Steve Burnett:
if
ClikWiz Mike:
remember,
Steve Burnett:
you’re late.
ClikWiz Mike:
but I was pretty broke at the time. I remember that I would ride my bike so I could get exercise. And the
Steve Burnett:
Yeah.
ClikWiz Mike:
one time I was late and I remember I’m just hustling. I got there, I was so out of breath, but I made it.
Steve Burnett:
That’s awesome.
ClikWiz Mike:
Yep,
Steve Burnett:
That
ClikWiz Mike:
yep,
Steve Burnett:
is so awesome.
ClikWiz Mike:
those are the days.
Steve Burnett:
Well, something that I think is important too for all your listeners or viewers to realize is that we were coming through the Great Depression during these times, you know.
ClikWiz Mike:
Mm-hmm.
Steve Burnett:
So we talk about we were broke like everybody was broke and many good companies were going out of business. And so these were really hard times, you know. And so thankfully to the Monday 20, to you and the rest of the Mastermind Group, we had accountability and encouragement through these hard times. And you’re right, we had to kick those 20s in and we felt those 20s. Right?
ClikWiz Mike:
Yep.
Steve Burnett:
You know? And then also what kind of made the group magic was that the money didn’t go to any one of us. We would donate it to charities and whatnot and things that we created later on together. So. started networking and that helped. That helped a lot getting involved in networking groups because paying for leads did not work. It was such a racket, it attracted, and it still attracts the worst clients. I’m talking about paid lead services. I’ll leave
ClikWiz Mike:
Angie.
Steve Burnett:
their names
ClikWiz Mike:
Yeah.
Steve Burnett:
out of it. Yeah, okay,
ClikWiz Mike:
Ha
Steve Burnett:
there
ClikWiz Mike:
ha
Steve Burnett:
she
ClikWiz Mike:
ha.
Steve Burnett:
is. And there’s another one who claims to be an advisor for homes.
ClikWiz Mike:
Yeah.
Steve Burnett:
Okay? Don’t do it, just don’t. They’re so
ClikWiz Mike:
Yeah,
Steve Burnett:
bad, they’re so
ClikWiz Mike:
yeah,
Steve Burnett:
bad.
ClikWiz Mike:
they are.
Steve Burnett:
Yeah, there are much better ways to go about it. So networking and then finally had a couple crews going and even started leasing an executive office over there on Toledo Blade. We used to, I think we had some Monday 20 meetings there. And I remember sitting there at the office one day and things were going okay, but we weren’t setting records. We were getting by, had a couple crews going. And I come across a quote from Seth Godin. And it went something like, if the marketplace isn’t talking about you, there’s a reason. The reason is you’re boring and you’re boring on purpose because it’s safe.
ClikWiz Mike:
Yeah, it’s powerful.
Steve Burnett:
at the time it felt like a punch to the gut. I went, oh my gosh,
ClikWiz Mike:
Yeah.
Steve Burnett:
you know? And what it meant to me was that we were doing everything safe. Now we were polite, professional, but we never pushed any boundaries. And generally an easygoing guy, or I used to be, until I come across this quote, now I push boundaries and I want to take chances and risk. So I just said, wow. OK, so I got to thinking about this. And so the first thing I did was, I joined the Venice Chamber because I decided that I wanted to target on the city of Venice. Excuse me, out of all Southwest Florida, we were driving all over. We had driven down Naples, which was like an hour, hour and a half drive at one point. So we just said, okay, let’s just focus on Venice, Florida. And at the time, we were living in Northport. And so I joined the Venice Chamber and had this presentation I was going to give, and it was not a safe presentation. There were about 90 people there I believe and it was at one of the country clubs I forget and I remember feeling just so insignificant and I had talked myself out of it. I said forget it when the mic comes around and it’s my turn I’m gonna give the usual what right and I’m out of here. Well halfway through the crowd one of my competitors stood up and just gave a general presentation which everybody else was giving. I’m not knocking them over the presentation. but it was the same one everybody else was given. So thanks to them, I said, okay, now I’ve got to do it. I’ve got to bring it. I had a little flip cam at the time and I saw a friend there from another company. So I threw it to him. I said, hey, record this in case it works, would you? And so we did. And so that’s when I stood up and I did the swimsuit body paint commercial.
ClikWiz Mike:
I remember that one.
Steve Burnett:
It’s on YouTube now. And you know, something about swimsuit body paint. I said, you know, if you’re afraid of all about a thong, and I held out the artist brush, and then I said, or if you’re wide-bodied, and I held up an 18-inch, two-inch nap roller, you know, and I said, Carl Burnett painting, we’ve got your back. And like, everybody’s, ah, you
ClikWiz Mike:
Yeah.
Steve Burnett:
know. And those, the people, the interesting part is, the people that you think who would have been offended, it was the, I’ll just say wide-bodied, who came up to me. to tell me how hilarious that was. I don’t know if they’re going to come and smack me or whatever, but they’re
ClikWiz Mike:
Hahaha
Steve Burnett:
like, that was so funny. And so if you think about it, there was nothing safe about that. And after, what helped is that I was towards the end of, it felt like 90 people. Maybe there were 60 there. I don’t know exactly. But at the end of all these normal, all these safe presentations, I stand up and do this. this wild one right or what Seth Godin would call remarkable, remarkable because others remark about it. And so because of that feedback and everybody coming up in me and especially the wide body is like, hell is hilarious. I’m thinking, all right, well what can I do next? You know? And so that one just to fuel the next one and the next one. And so I think after that I did, I sang Sinatra, you know, fly me to networking at noon, even wore, you know, a suit with a skinny black tie and tried to sing like a few lines there. And, and you know, that worked and they love that and caught it on video and share that on video. and shared it to social and even started emailing them out to our customers. And then the one that really took off was the Hulk Hogan presentation. I said, let me tell you something, brother. And,
ClikWiz Mike:
I’m sorry.
Steve Burnett:
and again, I’m not going to go through that one right now, but I don’t have the script in front of me, but it was tons of fun and that one got a ton of shares. And that’s when we really started getting around about all these things we were doing. And so from then, we just kept expanding and creating other, you know, ABAs, if you will, you know, ads that look like anything but advertising and continue to grow the company. Some of them off the top of my head would be paying it forward 2.0. So we would put out nominations to the community to nominate. people who need their homes painted but can’t afford to do so for themselves. And then we receive the nominations, share them with the team, and they get to pick who we paint it forward to. We would let the newspaper and media know about the nominations, and then they would publish it. So we’d get all this free press as we’re looking for nominations. And then sometimes even after it was done, they would publish it again. And actually one time for a paint it forward, we made front page, top of fold. Actually, we split the fold, but it was, it was a nice, very big.
ClikWiz Mike:
Okay.
Steve Burnett:
front page article there.
ClikWiz Mike:
Yeah, yeah, that’s those ABAs. Back to the Hulk Hogan one. That one, I think you’ve been passing the costume around the DYB group,
Steve Burnett:
Oh
ClikWiz Mike:
haven’t you?
Steve Burnett:
yeah, so that thing’s
ClikWiz Mike:
And teaching
Steve Burnett:
flown
ClikWiz Mike:
other
Steve Burnett:
around
ClikWiz Mike:
people
Steve Burnett:
the country.
ClikWiz Mike:
how to do that. And it’s
Steve Burnett:
Yeah.
ClikWiz Mike:
been cool to see all of the other painting contractors in the group duplicate that. And some of them have even taken it to the next level. So it’s been
Steve Burnett:
Yeah,
ClikWiz Mike:
cool.
Steve Burnett:
they have Mark Paulus is one that comes to mind. He, uh, he,
ClikWiz Mike:
Yeah.
Steve Burnett:
he went, he, he turned right around and did like a Mr. T right after that, you know, I’m pretty a fool.
ClikWiz Mike:
Yeah. Yep.
Steve Burnett:
And it’s awesome. Uh, it reminds me of your might remember, uh, Louis from, uh, the cafe.
ClikWiz Mike:
Yeah.
Steve Burnett:
And I remember one time he’s like, Steve. So just for our listeners there, he’s like straight from New York city. He’s like New York city, Italian as you can get. Uh, and he was a good friend of ours. And he says, Steve, come here. He said, yeah, he goes. Hey, not for nothing, but people are gonna start talking about you. My good, good. That’s the whole plan.
ClikWiz Mike:
That’s the point.
Steve Burnett:
Yeah. That’s yeah. Um, uh, for sure. That’s it. And so, yeah, we just kept building on ABAs. Uh, you know, gourmet cookies, we would do the gourmet cookies in a can. And, um, They were delicious and we’d give those away. We would give them away as Facebook contest. It was a really easy, we would just say, caption this with some silly photo. And so we went to Canada where we’re growing our cookies. And everybody loved this because the cookies were delicious. Now, if the cookies were from like off the grocery shelf, then it would have been a gimmick, but
ClikWiz Mike:
Mm-hmm.
Steve Burnett:
it wasn’t. It’s a hit and it’s still a hit because the cookies are delicious. And so we’d give them away as door prizes too at networking events. And They used to save the wine for last, but then when we brought our cookies, they would save our cookies, the gourmet cookies for last, which was an awesome promotion, right,
ClikWiz Mike:
Yeah,
Steve Burnett:
to be featured
ClikWiz Mike:
everybody was
Steve Burnett:
as
ClikWiz Mike:
fighting
Steve Burnett:
the
ClikWiz Mike:
over
Steve Burnett:
last
ClikWiz Mike:
those, huh?
Steve Burnett:
giveaway. Yeah, they’re like, you can take the hooch. We want the cookies, you know? Yeah. A few other things we did is we would interview other companies and services in the community. We call them community spotlights. And so by doing this, we’re giving value to them and sharing them with our network. And… We would record a video, you know, five, 10 minutes long, just asking them about their business or I would, I say we, uh, and kept it real low key to issues of foam and then take that video and share it with our network, uh, email it to our customer list, another way to easily stay top of mind and, um, customers, you know, email and say, I don’t know if you’re in the market for, uh, a roofer or for a mechanic or for insurance agent, but I just interviewed John who, uh, I know and trust and you can check it out here, you know, forward it onto a friend. And many customers would respond back and say, thank you. That was very helpful. Appreciate that. Then you take that video, give it to the person you interviewed, and let them know they can share it with their network, and then it introduces their network to you. And all for 10, 15 minutes of time. Really easy to do.
ClikWiz Mike:
Yeah.
Steve Burnett:
Especially come out of the recession. A lot of people say, Steve, you’re so creative. I’m like, we didn’t have any money. We had to be creative coming out of the great recession. Right?
ClikWiz Mike:
Yeah, we have a couple of clients that are in the DYB group that are implementing that. And it’s a great way to develop content, unique content for your website as well, because then you can get those videos transcribed. And then you can send them to the person they interviewed and have them link back to your site. So there’s a lot of ways you can chop up those videos and reuse them and get a lot more value for your marketing bank buck.
Steve Burnett:
Yeah,
ClikWiz Mike:
So.
Steve Burnett:
right on. See, I forget about all that additional things that you can do now with all your click-wiz magic there.
ClikWiz Mike:
Yeah,
Steve Burnett:
That’s awesome.
ClikWiz Mike:
yeah.
Steve Burnett:
What were some other ones? One was,
ClikWiz Mike:
CLEARS
Steve Burnett:
yes,
ClikWiz Mike:
THROAT
Steve Burnett:
remember yes, Young Entrepreneur Scholarship. So this
ClikWiz Mike:
Yes.
Steve Burnett:
one we did as a mastermind group. And because we’re pulling together all our money from being
ClikWiz Mike:
I’m out.
Steve Burnett:
late, not doing what we promised we were gonna do, not getting our things done,
ClikWiz Mike:
Yeah.
Steve Burnett:
there’s many, usually I’d show up all caffeinated and I’d say, all right, I’m gonna get these seven projects done this week. And then show up, and I’m like, I’m not showing up caffeinated anymore. I’m too optimistic.
ClikWiz Mike:
Yeah, we set some pretty high goals there and that’s what happens.
Steve Burnett:
Yeah. Uh, but you know, so we pull up some money after, after awhile and, uh, we created the young entrepreneur scholarship. And so kind of like the pain of forward, we put out nominations to the community of, uh, young entrepreneurs who either had a business or an idea for a business. They would submit their. business or business idea and then we would invite those who qualify to come in and present their idea to us and then we would award them the money for their business and that was a lot of fun. Yeah, you remember that one?
ClikWiz Mike:
Yeah, yeah, I think the one time we bought this kid a new lawnmower, and I think we made the front page of the paper on that one too, didn’t we?
Steve Burnett:
Yeah, we did. We did. And here was a lesson I learned from that. It’s always going alone. Norm from Home Depot, he kicked in a leaf blower. So I was like, Norm, why don’t you come stand with us in the picture? Because the newspaper was coming by. He’s like, all right. So he’s standing out there in his apron and the story, the paper got the story right. But because everybody saw that great big brand, Home Depot, everybody said, hey, how’s the nice thing you guys did with Home Depot? Excuse me?
ClikWiz Mike:
Oh yeah.
Steve Burnett:
We did all the work. What are you talking about? We let Norm sit in the picture because they kicked in a leaf blower.
ClikWiz Mike:
Yeah.
Steve Burnett:
So anytime you do one of these, just go it alone. Just go it alone.
ClikWiz Mike:
Yeah,
Steve Burnett:
You’re
ClikWiz Mike:
yeah.
Steve Burnett:
doing all the work. Just go it alone.
ClikWiz Mike:
Yeah, take the
Steve Burnett:
Yeah.
ClikWiz Mike:
picture somewhere else.
Steve Burnett:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. We, there was one time we were asked to, I think it was Dallas and I. Dallas Frohsons was another member of our Monday 20. We were asked if we would volunteer and help out at one of the senior services in town with tech. They were having a tech meeting. And so we both showed up and, and he helped with one phone and I helped with the other one. And we would just walk them through. And that’s when we realized that there was a big need in the community for seniors who don’t know how to operate their smartphones. And so we decided to launch. eventually became iClass and approached the Venice Library and I said, hey, if you’re willing, I’d be offering to give a class on how to operate iPads and iPhones. And they looked at me like, I’m like, what? Did I say something wrong? They’re like, Steve, you don’t understand. People come in with these things still in the box, unopened, asked them, asked to help them. Like, oh, okay. So I’ll help them. And so we did and we called it iClass and it would, it took a… month or two to get going. And then again, it got some press. And before you know it, we had standing room only. I think they put out 80 chairs. And even at the back of the room, there’d be people standing up for the whole hour, hour and a half of the iClass while I’m presenting up front, running everybody through. Now, if somebody wants to do this, the tip is that you don’t have to be an expert. Really, all I did was walk them through the basics. They just need to know the basics, how to move apps around, where is the app store, how to adjust their settings. They loved it. So that went on for a long time. I created an app because the library is, I mean, it’s a public, so I couldn’t advertise. Now I probably had a branded shirt on, and my shirt was my, you know, one of our cars were parked out front or something. But generally you couldn’t advertise. I’d introduce myself and what I did, but went right into just serving them. But what I did was I found a service that created an app. I think the app was like $30 a month. and the app would allow like five buttons in the bottom. And so the first button, I would have the calendar. No, excuse me, I would have videos. So I made videos for them. And so I would say in the class, say, listen, if you want more help, I made videos for you. You can watch them, you can go to YouTube, or you can download this app. Also on the app is a schedule, because everybody wanted to know when’s the next high class. So here’s the schedule. And I’m gonna walk them through the app on the big screen behind me. And then, excuse me, then I would say, Also, if you’re interested about what we do, the third button would be testimonials. So I’d have all of our video testimonials there. The fourth button would be our story. How April and I got together and built Brinette painting. And then the fifth one was to schedule an estimate.
ClikWiz Mike:
Nice.
Steve Burnett:
And so that generated some business for us as well. But again, it was just give it value. Give it value.
ClikWiz Mike:
Yeah, because in the Venice area, it’s all retirees, right? And so that’s your market.
Steve Burnett:
Mm-hmm.
ClikWiz Mike:
So getting them all in one place,
Steve Burnett:
Yeah.
ClikWiz Mike:
you’ve got a captive audience. You don’t even have to
Steve Burnett:
Mm-hmm.
ClikWiz Mike:
market to them. You just
Steve Burnett:
Yeah, they’re all
ClikWiz Mike:
generate
Steve Burnett:
there. Mm-hmm.
ClikWiz Mike:
some goodwill, and they’re yours. So that’s great.
Steve Burnett:
Yeah, I’d say that along with networking was huge. You know, didn’t have money to hire clickwiz at the time, right, to invest in some of your strategies. But those ABAs along with networking at B&I Chamber and especially ROTY were huge. And then continuing to learn leadership skills to develop and build a team, one that can operate without you, and then researching the latest tech in the apps to streamline operations to operate without you. And then studying sales so that you can close most of the jobs you go on, and get back the rest of, get back your time and cashflow handsomely.
ClikWiz Mike:
Yeah, that’s awesome.
Steve Burnett:
So word about that got around, I think it was the Hawkehogan one that really tipped and then the trade, a trade association at the time was PDCA. It’s now PCA and they reached out to me and asked if I would come and share our story. Cause again, we did this through the great recession, you know, while many good businesses were going out of business, we were blessed to grow and to succeed. So I said, sure. Cause I love to help and love to share. Ended up being, I think it was 2014. February, Reno, and it was like the keynote stage. I was like, oh my goodness. So I got up there scared to death and just shared everything we were doing. And afterwards guys come up and said, hey, do you coach, do you consult? And I was like, well, not really. I’ve got a paying company to run, but I learned it paid. So I said, okay. Started helping some guys, but I wanted to get the process out of my head. And I needed to some kind of put it rapid around a framework. So from February to October is when I wrote the book. out of W business and that was published October 14. And then after that was published, the phone really started blowing up. So April said, listen, you go help these guys and I’ll run the painting business. I said, okay, cool, I’ll do that. So I started flying around giving workshops, seminars, and then coaching. Well, after about two months, April, she said, I miss you. I said, I miss you too, because we hadn’t really seen each other, but yet we had built up Burnett painting together. And I said, you know what? I said, Let’s sell the painting company and you can help me do this. Now, you know, we could have promoted somebody, a general manager to run it, but there were so many people who needed help because again, these were really hard times that were coming out of that. I felt like I didn’t want to take the time to put a general manager in place and let’s just go ahead and sell this and then go all in and help as many people that we can across the country, Canada, even Australia now. And that was how new RB coach got launched. And that was, what was it about eight years ago?
ClikWiz Mike:
Yeah. Yeah, and that’s been really neat to see how many painting companies and contractors that you’ve helped along that journey.
Steve Burnett:
Hmm.
ClikWiz Mike:
And you kind of brought me in. It was just been kind of a natural progression as you started that and started referring some of the painting contractors to us. And so that’s why.
Steve Burnett:
Well, let me interrupt you here, Mike. This is important. Pardon me. Uh, in, I think I’ve shared this. I know I’ve shared it in DYB, but the online space, the ad space, the website build space is it’s kind of like the muffler shops, the mechanics of the eighties, okay, you would not send your wife to a mechanic in the eighties because they couldn’t be trusted. And unfortunately the online, so that’s what the online space is today. And the reason why I brought you in and the reason why I refer you hands down is because point blank, you’re honest. You’re not just good at what you do, but you’re honest. So here’s, here’s an example of Seth peak out in California. We were working together. He said, uh, he says, Hey, I’m thinking about some SEO. And I said, okay, here, reach out to Mike and, um, and he’ll get you set up. It says great. So he reached out to you and, um, you said, okay, well, let me take a look at what you’ve got going on there or, you know, whatever it was. And you emailed them back, hey, Seth, so I checked out your website. I looked at your market as much as I love your business. You don’t need SEO. I don’t know of another agency who would tell somebody that, you know, so that’s why we brought you in. That’s why you’re the only web builder. You’re the only SEO. You’re the only Google ads service that we trust in that we refer. So thank you for that. And I believe you’ve built over
ClikWiz Mike:
I
Steve Burnett:
a
ClikWiz Mike:
appreciate
Steve Burnett:
hundred
ClikWiz Mike:
that.
Steve Burnett:
websites for our clients now. Is that right?
ClikWiz Mike:
Yep, yep.
Steve Burnett:
Yeah. Yep.
ClikWiz Mike:
Yeah,
Steve Burnett:
Complete
ClikWiz Mike:
so that’s why
Steve Burnett:
with
ClikWiz Mike:
a few
Steve Burnett:
the
ClikWiz Mike:
years ago
Steve Burnett:
conversion funnel, sorry.
ClikWiz Mike:
we went all in on the painting industry and so now that’s our total focus is just helping painting contractors because we’ve learned so much about the industry that we really feel like if we just focus on that, there’s plenty of people we can help. So
Steve Burnett:
Yeah,
ClikWiz Mike:
that’s.
Steve Burnett:
yeah, the other is a couple hundred thousand at least.
ClikWiz Mike:
Yeah.
Steve Burnett:
Mm hmm. Yes, sir.
ClikWiz Mike:
Cool, yeah, so on that note, like what, you know, the digital world has changed quite a bit since you ran Burnout
Steve Burnett:
Mm-hmm.
ClikWiz Mike:
Painting. You know, obviously, you know, I’m immersed in that, but what do you see as far as changes in digital marketing for painting contractors?
Steve Burnett:
As far as changes, so yeah, a few distinctions. One is it’s still hard known to like Angie’s leads and home advisors. And I’ve gone on
ClikWiz Mike:
Mm-hmm.
Steve Burnett:
record saying that they are a racket. I’ll just explain that real quick and then we’ll get to the other avenues. But I just want to make these clarifications because some will confuse them for online marketing. So they are a racket because when you pay them, not only do they give you junk leads, but when you pay them. you are essentially funding their SEO, bumping them up to the top of Google. If you pay them, bump them up, you are paying them to push you down the SERPs. And that’s really bad. So again, that aside, the opportunities are still SEO. And then we know that Google ads are working in some markets, now it’s not every market. And then what’s the new… Google.
ClikWiz Mike:
Local service ads.
Steve Burnett:
Yes, thank you.
ClikWiz Mike:
Yeah.
Steve Burnett:
Yeah. And then we’re hearing more about those. Some guys are having some success with those as well. And so that’s good. And then it’s key too to make sure that you have a robust website. It’s key and I believe this since the beginning. We’ve got a framework we call the DYB website conversion. DYB conversion website. And it’s powerful because it will detour unqualified. leads and it will pretty much pre-sell qualified leads. And what we’ve done is we’ve incorporated a lot of the marketing psychology in there. A lot of it we’ve learned from Dr. Cialdini. He’s the author of the book, Influence, and which makes that powerful. So that’s really important as well.
ClikWiz Mike:
Yeah, we’ve heard from several of our clients who just built a website with us and didn’t do any other SEO or pay-per-click ads or anything. And they say immediately after launching the new DYB conversion funnel website,
Steve Burnett:
Hmm.
ClikWiz Mike:
they see not just more leads, but better quality leads. So it serves that dual purpose of generating higher conversions or leads, but also pre-qualifying them to to get better quality leads.
Steve Burnett:
That’s awesome. I’m glad to hear that. And again, I ever, you know, I only recommend you to build those out one, cause we trust you to here’s something else that’s unique about Mike is that he gets things done. So many other web designers will say, all right, here’s a laundry list. Uh, you know, send them over to us and then you won’t hear from them for, you know, months on end or whatever, cause they piled you up where Mike’s like, no, here’s a list. Let’s get it. Come on. And, uh, he’ll turn sites around. What about four weeks? I think you’ve turned one around in three weeks.
ClikWiz Mike:
Yeah, typically it’s about four weeks. There’s certain things that we can’t do for the customer, like writing their story for them. And so most of the time when there’s a delay in the site build, it’s because we’re waiting on that.
Steve Burnett:
Mm-hmm.
ClikWiz Mike:
But for the most part, if we have everything we need, two or three weeks is about the time it takes us to build and launch the site.
Steve Burnett:
Yeah, right on. You know, that and then the classic content. Keep creating content. Keep publishing
ClikWiz Mike:
Yeah.
Steve Burnett:
articles, right? And crush it online. So.
ClikWiz Mike:
Yeah. Since we’re in the digital conversation here, one of the biggest things that I see that really sets some painting contractors apart is how well they use tech in their business.
Steve Burnett:
Hmm.
ClikWiz Mike:
So what are you seeing as some of the best apps and technology that painting contractors are using these days?
Steve Burnett:
Yeah, great question, Mike. Thank you. This is something I’m passionate about because the one thing we want for everybody is to make profits and get their time back so that they can spend time with their family, make an impact in their community. Um, it’s, you know, it’s, it’s what’s it, you can, you can build million, multimillion dollar business, but if you’re not making profits or you don’t have your time, what’s for what, you know, just say you have that. And it sounds like a nightmare to me. So instead you want to build a profitable businesses, uh, with, uh, streamlined, streamline your operation, your time back. So tech is very important to us. And so now I’m trying to pull up, while I’m on the spot here, our flow chart or our tech stack that we recommend. And so it would start with a booking calendar on your website conversion funnel. And that can be either you can book me or Acuity to the popular ones. I believe with Acuity, you’re obviously the expert here. You’ve got Google Analytics that can track the Acuity leads for you. Back in my day, we didn’t have a Q&A, we had a use you can work me.
ClikWiz Mike:
You can book me has gotten better about that recently too. Well, since Google Analytics 4 has come out, it’s actually made acuity more difficult to
Steve Burnett:
Mm-hmm.
ClikWiz Mike:
track properly. So they’re both pretty similar now.
Steve Burnett:
go. From there, you’re going to go into, OK, well, I don’t know if I remember the whole flow chart. So actually, April, my wife, she leads this area. I should really pull her in, honey.
ClikWiz Mike:
Mm-hmm. Yes.
Steve Burnett:
She handles this area of our business, and that is hooking up all these apps together with Zapier. And she’s got a team. But so if we go through the life of a lead, from the booking calendar, always and a Google spreadsheet just so you have a home base for your customer list is very important because chances of apps come and go, but Google so far is not going anywhere. So you can always sync to it to pull those customers. And then from there, you wanna go into an estimating app. There are two that are leading the field right now. One that I’m really excited about, it’s the latest one, DripJobs, Tanner Mullen. great guy. He’s actually, he came through DYB. He’s, uh, he’s up there just north of Tampa actually, you know, Kala.
ClikWiz Mike:
Oh yeah.
Steve Burnett:
Um, and he’s got an awesome pipeline Sierra and built in to it and, uh, just to release production rates as well. And then the other one is a paint scout. Uh, it’s another estimated app. That’s a fantastic. From there you want a project manager, uh, app, and we recommend Monday. It’s awesome because it’d give you two things. You can not only zap all your projects into it. but you can also see a timeline. And having a timeline is helpful if you’re visual, and also it’s helpful for showing your customers. Well, I heard you say you’d like to get this done in three weeks, as you can see, we have an opening right now. However, we book first come first serve, and I meet with nice people like you all day, day in and day out. Could we go ahead and get this locked in for you? And a lot of times that’ll help you close the job on the spot so that you don’t have to worry about following up later on. And then from Monday, let’s see, Monday the project manager, QuickBooks online for finance, and then seems like a missing one, so. Yeah, that’s off the top of my head. That’s it. Again, this isn’t my area of implementing though. I could probably pull it up on the computer real quick. But, you know.
ClikWiz Mike:
Yeah. There’s so many, so many apps out there that, that can help, you know, streamline your operations and your marketing. So it’s, it’s really important to, to stay on top of that. So, um,
Steve Burnett:
It is.
ClikWiz Mike:
you know, speaking of, uh, April, your wife,
Steve Burnett:
Mm-hmm.
ClikWiz Mike:
uh, you guys have been, uh, a real, uh, dynamic team, um,
Steve Burnett:
Hmm.
ClikWiz Mike:
not just in Burnett painting, but especially in DIY coach and, uh, DIY digital now. with what she’s running. Share some tips with us to how you guys make that work, working together side by side, and just for other business owners. Because for most of us, having our wives involved in the business, it makes sense. But sometimes it can be challenging. So
Steve Burnett:
Hmm.
ClikWiz Mike:
share some tips with us on how you guys make that work.
Steve Burnett:
Okay, well, full disclosure, it’s not always sunshine and rainbows. But really it comes back to biblical principles, you know, love is patient, love is kind, which is much easier said than done. For me, what do I do? I choose to only focus on what I appreciate because being there, our spouse, we can never fire them. Right. Uh, and we are going to frustrate each other and I have to realize that I probably frustrate her more. then I feel like she might frustrate me. But it does work well. So one is I just remain grateful for her strengths and for everything she does. And we have different personalities. I’m the analytical, the one where she’s the spontaneous and loves that fun. She’s the life of the party, right? And so she loves bouncing around and new things and whatnot, which is cool. you know, I research the best strategies and then she will execute them or delegate them to the team to get them executed. Uh, the, you know, the other is, um, it’s, it’s a lot of patience, you have patience, understanding like how else it really comes back to those biblical principles of love and, uh, and forgiveness and it, yeah, for me, it’s just being grateful for, um, I did, I only focus on, on her, um, her strengths, you know, and that keeps me, that keeps me grateful. And, um, and we talk about it too. So we have some tools, uh, for when things aren’t going well and one is, you know, empty the jug and she’ll say, Hey, I need to empty the jug. And what that means is we just haven’t connected and she just needs me to listen and which is hard for us as men, we want to fix things, but in this, the right thing for us to do at this point is just to listen. And so she shares everything that’s on her heart. And then at the end, When I think it’s at the end, I’ll just say, you know, what, if there could be one more thing, what would it be? And a lot of times like the real issue will then come up because then she feels like she can trust me enough to share it and I won’t flip out. Um, and then the other one is, uh, you know, not interrupting each other. That’s a tough one because you know, as I’m running things and I’m responsible for, you know, the, the direction of the business and for everything going, like, I feel like I have the right to go and interrupt her. That’s not okay. Instead, if we need to interrupt each other, we’ll just say, hey, is this a good time? And we know what that means. We know that it means I’ve got something I really need to tell you, but is it a good time? And sometimes it’s still not, even knowing that it’s not. Say, no, but in 30 minutes it will be, or in 15 minutes it will be. So not interrupting each other is a big one too. And then the third tool is when we would like one of us to change the way we’re doing something, okay, is we would approach it with, I have a problem that I need help with. And when you do X, I feel Y. Could you help me with my problem, please? And so we’re taking ownership of it, but it helps them to understand that like, we have issue with it, could you work with us on this? So I’ll just throw out like a silly, this one’s not real. But like I have a problem when you come in late. I feel like you know, you don’t take Work or business seriously is this something that you could help me out with, you know, and then your spouse is gonna be more receptive to Helping you right? This is something because we all have like these perks and these things about us And so if we understand that we have these irks and these things that were usually created from our childhood or something silly Then we know it’s not personal. It’s just whatever and we’re working through it, we’re trying to deal with it, but we want the twitches to go away, so I have this twitch I need help with, you know, and so those are really the three big tools, empty the jug, is this a good time, and I have a problem that I need help with.
ClikWiz Mike:
Yeah, that last one is powerful. That’s one that I struggle with because my wife does our bookkeeping and all the financial stuff and when I want to change things, it
Steve Burnett:
Mm-hmm.
ClikWiz Mike:
drives her crazy. You
Steve Burnett:
Yeah,
ClikWiz Mike:
know,
Steve Burnett:
oh yeah, oh
ClikWiz Mike:
and
Steve Burnett:
yeah.
ClikWiz Mike:
so that creates a lot of conflict in our business. But yeah, just approaching that from the, hey, I need help with this
Steve Burnett:
Mm-hmm.
ClikWiz Mike:
perspective. I think that really. would help a lot and bring her walls down, you know,
Steve Burnett:
Mm-hmm.
ClikWiz Mike:
and put her in a mindset of helping versus, oh crap, he’s gonna wreck everything now because he’s changing something again.
Steve Burnett:
Yeah, yeah, because we’re the entrepreneurs. We’re risk averse. Like, ah, let’s go for it. Where they need
ClikWiz Mike:
Yeah.
Steve Burnett:
that security. They’re like, no, change is not security, you know? So
ClikWiz Mike:
She doesn’t like it. Yeah.
Steve Burnett:
yeah. And then we did, so this reminds me, actually, April and I did a podcast on how to work with your spouse. I forget, it might be like number 75-ish in the 70s maybe on the DYB podcast. And so if somebody want a deeper dive on that, we both like share some stories and the tools that we use if they’re interested.
ClikWiz Mike:
Yeah, I actually was thinking we should have you both on the podcast and have you talk a little bit more about that dynamic and she can tell us a little bit more about the DYB digital and
Steve Burnett:
There we go.
ClikWiz Mike:
all the cool things that they’re doing over there.
Steve Burnett:
Yeah, that’d be great.
ClikWiz Mike:
Cool. Let’s see, do we have time for one more? Yeah, real quick. One of the biggest challenges to running a painting company is managing a team.
Steve Burnett:
Hmm
ClikWiz Mike:
What kind of tips can you give us for hiring and keeping A players on
Steve Burnett:
Yeah,
ClikWiz Mike:
your team?
Steve Burnett:
great question. So it starts from the hiring ad. You have to make sure you use a language that attracts people of high character. Generally, we use language attracting skill. Instead, you want to use language that attracts high character, because it is much easier to teach somebody with great character how to paint than it is to teach a painter. great customer experience or how to show up on time or how to tuck your shirt in or how to be polite or how to be a people person, you know. So it starts right with a hiring ad, use language to hire for character. And then from there you want to use, actually we have 11 interview questions. If you just search the YB coach, 11 interview questions, you can, uh, Google should pop them up. I’m sure Mike got those SEO for us and be able to download those, but those questions are powerful because they will help. to reveal the character of the person. A lot of times too, when you’re asking them, it doesn’t even realize, you don’t even realize that they’re revealing their true character. And so if there’s some red flags, they’ll fly out right then, or they’ll let you know they’re an all-star just by the response. Once you hire them, you bring them on. Orientation’s very important, so don’t just throw them in the fire. Walk them through the business, show them your vision, your mission statement, introduce them to the team, and then… make sure you put them with, we always had one of our crew leads was a great coach himself and he’s just had a big heart and loved also loved helping people. And so we would always put them with him. He always got the new people and work with them for a couple of weeks. And he said, okay, yeah, this, uh, you know, Joe’s good to go. And he’s going to be an all star. Let’s, uh, let’s, let’s put them over here on this team. And, uh, and then from there, you want to cultivate your culture. And, uh, this is a whole nother episode, but it’s really important to take care of the culture of your team. I remember a friend invited me to breakfast down in Naples to meet a special friend. So I get down there and it was Peter Schmitz. He’s a former CEO of Porsche. I’m like, Oh my goodness, you know? Yeah. And then so for two hours he regaled us with his stories of working at Porsche and then we’re standing outside and he says, you like sports cars, Steven? I said, yeah, you know, man doesn’t, right? And he goes, where’s yours? And I said, Oh, it’s It’s that white GMC pickup over there. You know?
ClikWiz Mike:
Hehehehe
Steve Burnett:
And so, back in the early days, and he looked at me and he says, remember this, he says, you are the curator of your culture. And I kinda let it sink in a little bit. Now, at first I thought, I’m just a painting contractor. We’re just painters. We don’t have culture. I was dead wrong, dead, dead wrong. And it took me a while to understand that. Once I understood that, wow. You hire for character. You cultivate your culture. and your company will take care of itself.
ClikWiz Mike:
Yeah, that’s important because your team, they’re the ones that are in the customer’s home doing the job.
Steve Burnett:
Mm-hmm.
ClikWiz Mike:
And so having those A players in there doing that can make all the difference. Cool. Well, Steve, I think we’re about out of time here. So you’ve really brought a lot of value to this episode. And I really thank you for. making our first episode such a great one. So I hope everybody enjoys it. But yeah, so if, like I said before, if you don’t already know Steve, you need to get to know him, you can learn more about him at dybcoach.com and check out all of the, he’s got some great content on there and he’s got the DYB Cafe. So I don’t know what he’s charging for it these days, but it’s pretty cheap to sign up for that. And that gives you access to what the Facebook group. tons of courses
Steve Burnett:
uses.
ClikWiz Mike:
that teach how to do everything we talked about today and a lot more in there too as well.
Steve Burnett:
And then for your audience, I’ll give them a free copy of the book, just cover the 695 shipping and handling.
ClikWiz Mike:
Sweet, great deal.
Steve Burnett:
Awesome. Thank you for click away is Mike. Thank you for having me on. It’s been an honor and a pleasure to learn and grow together, but to be your first guest. Appreciate that very
ClikWiz Mike:
Yeah.
Steve Burnett:
much.
ClikWiz Mike:
Thanks again, Steve. And thanks, everyone, for tuning into the first Painting Profits podcast. If you have any questions, just go to clickwiz.com. That’s C-L-I-K-W-I-Z dot com and send us a message or give us a call. Thanks.