Painter Growth Podcast

Download your free Painter Growth training here: https://learn.paintergrowth.com/grow-v1?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=grow-v1 If you're new here, my name is Mike Gore-Hickman. I'm the founder of Painter Growth, a coaching company that helps painting contractors build real businesses instead of just running jobs. We've worked with over 1,500 painting contrac...

Eric Winegardner started Winegardner Fine Finishes and Coatings in Honesdale, Pennsylvania in 2023. People told him no one in his area would pay premium prices for high-end finishes. By 2024 he was at just under $700K in revenue. By mid-2025 he was consistently doing $100K+ months — with a project manager, a leadership team, and the freedom to shut his phone off for a week in Florida while the bus...

You're slammed all summer, crews are pumping, the phone won't stop — so why is there no money in the bank? In this episode, Coach Jesse and Coach Rich break down the real reason so many painting contractors stay busy but broke, then hand you the financial systems and busy-season tactics to fix it before the season slips away. In this episode: The #1 reason profit "disappears" eve...

Derrick did $680K in sales in 2025 and ended the year broke. Six months later, his company, Mountain Man Painting in Twin Lakes, Colorado, where most jobs are 8,000 ft and up, had $1 million booked for the year. It's the first time he'd ever hit that number, and he got there in five months. In this Painter Growth story, Derrick breaks down exactly what changed: why $680K in revenue still l...

Tanner Mullen (founder of DripJobs) returns to the Painter Growth Podcast for one of his most tactical conversations yet. Mike Workman and Tanner dig into why software is becoming commoditized, why education and service are the real moats, and how AI is reshaping what it means to run a painting business in 2025. Tanner breaks down his new product, Routimize, a route-optimization booking system tha...

Most painters don't get what they want because they never actually decide what they want. They live in the "gray zone" — surviving, reacting, putting out fires — and wonder why the business keeps hitting the same ceiling. In this live coaching episode, Coach Jesse sits down with Damon, owner of On a Roll Painting, fresh off a record month: nearly $100K in April after doing $325K all...

Most painting contractors pour everything into the business and quietly let their health fall apart — until one day they wake up as a shadow of the man they wanted to be. In this episode, Mike sits down with Sean Crane, founder of Unstoppable 365, to break down why getting your body, energy, and discipline right is the foundation everything else is built on. Sean shares the story most people never...

AI is coming for accountants, lawyers, and every desk job first — but if you run a painting business, you might be holding the biggest advantage of your career. Mike sits down with entrepreneur Jason Paris to break down what AI agents actually mean for painting contractors — and why the painters who adopt now will leave everyone else behind. Real, in-the-field use cases: a custom sales proposal bu...

She never touched a paintbrush in her life — now she runs a painting company across multiple cities in Colorado. So why does she say most business owners with money in the bank are still broke? In this episode of the Painter Growth Podcast, Mike sits down with Myrna, owner of CEO Painting Pro, for an honest conversation about what it actually takes to go from working IN your business to owning one...

Tired of paying thousands upfront for ads that don't convert, or fighting over shared leads on Angie's? In this episode, Mike sits down with Hisham, co-founder of Leads Pilot — a pay-per-lead agency built specifically for painting contractors. Hisham breaks down exactly how Leads Pilot works: exclusive leads delivered via text outreach (not ads), no monthly fees, no contracts, and no commi...

Coaches Jesse and Kit are back together for a raw, real conversation about one of the biggest silent killers in entrepreneurship — burnout. If you've ever felt like a zombie at the dinner table, dreaded picking up the phone, or wondered why growing your business feels like it's slowly breaking you, this episode is for you. Kit and Jesse dive deep into what burnout actually looks and feels...

Jason Thompson, Director of Mitsuoka & Company Recruiting, joins Mike Gore-Hickman to break down what separates great hires from costly mistakes. From in-home sales reps to project managers, Jason shares how his team takes a custom, headhunting approach to find people who are the right fit, not just for the business, but for their own life and schedule too. If you're a painting business ow...

Is your painting business AI-ready — or at risk of being left behind? In this episode of the Painter Growth Podcast, Jesse and Gavin break down exactly how painting contractors can start using AI right now to do more with less. From writing SOPs in minutes, to building a $100K+ partner outreach list, to automating your recruiting funnel, this episode is packed with real, actionable workflows you c...

In this raw and insightful episode of Brush Busters , coaches Jesse and Gavin dive deep into some of the most pressing (and personal) challenges painting business owners face today: 🎯 How to filter out ghost leads without killing conversions 🧠 The power of personal performance, fasting, biohacking, and recovery ⚒️ Turning production chaos into SOP clarity (using AI to build systems faster than e...

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....

In this solo episode, I share the raw lessons I wish I’d known when I started running my painting business. This episode is about the truths that no one tells you when you start a painting business, the mistakes that cost me time, money, and even my sanity. I open up about the challenges that forced me to rethink what it means to run a business, step into true leadership, and create systems that s...

Christian Manhard didn't set out to become a social media influencer. He just started filming his work. Seventeen years in the painting trade, a personal Instagram account, and a camera phone. That's how it started. No strategy, no editor, no plan, just a guy who loved documenting process the same way he used to film his buddies snowboarding. But somewhere between the before-and-afters and...

Brooke runs a painting business that did $370K last year. He wants to do $750K this year. And he's doing it all while managing chronic migraines, a team that needs leading, and a schedule that barely gives him room to breathe. This episode is a raw coaching conversation about what it actually looks like to be stuck between operator and owner — and how to make the leap. Brooke is off the tools,...

Most contractors are using AI like it's a search engine. Here's what they're missing. I sat down with Arwin, founder of Rebolt HQ, an AI-powered operating system built for service businesses, and we got into what's actually working right now for painting contractors who are serious about running a better business. We talk about websites that get built in minutes, calls that turn in...

What happens when you 5X your revenue in a single year — and still can't let yourself win? In this raw, unfiltered live coaching call, Jesse sits down with James Mitchell, a painting contractor who went from $179K to nearly $1M in revenue in 2025. By every external measure, he's crushing it. But internally? He's been drowning — falling out of integrity, losing his routines, and quietly...

Logan Platt started Clean Cut Painters in Bozeman, Montana with zero business background, just a neuroscience degree, a paintbrush, and a crew of independent contractors. For years, his company survived on one or two builder relationships. When that dried up, the clock started ticking. In this episode, Logan shares how he went from anxiety-inducing hand-to-mouth revenue to $150K sales weeks, a ful...

In this episode of Brush Busters , coaches Lucas and Chris tackle real letters from painting business owners and share their no-nonsense solutions. From Marcus in Calgary dealing with chunky paint batches to strategies for keeping customers happy while holding suppliers accountable, this episode dives deep into the real-world challenges painters face every day. Whether it’s quality control, client...

Hiring a sales rep can help you grow faster. It can also create a mess if you do it too early or without the right systems in place. In this episode, we break down what painting business owners need to get right before bringing on a sales rep: when the timing makes sense, what responsibilities the role should actually own, how to structure compensation, and why your first rep should be more than j...

In this episode, Jesse sits down with Isaac from White Oak Painting and his new field marketing manager for a live coaching session focused on one of the biggest opportunities in a painting business: generating more leads from the neighborhoods you’re already working in. They talk through what the field marketing manager role should actually look like, how to use job site marketing more intentiona...

What does it really take to stop living paycheck to paycheck when you own a trades business? In this episode, Jesse Teron sits down with Kedma Ough, the financial genius behind Iron Books, to unpack the practical and psychological tools that help contractors, painters, and tradespeople finally get a grip on their money. Jesse opens up about a painful personal low: selling his car just to cover ren...