Paver Perfection: Building a Niche Business Empire with Garfield Jones

0:02Hi, and welcome to this week's episode of the Epic Entrepreneurs podcast where we are all about helping business owners just like you achieve success. So we don't do fancy smancy. We don't do flashing lights. We don't do a lot of things that a lot of podcasts will do. These are just real stories about real people and their entrepreneurial and business experiences. We go into their wins, their challenges, and their learnings. So we hope you enjoy it.

0:36hey there welcome to this week's episode of epic entrepreneurs i'm bill gillilland your host i am also the principal of action coach business growth partners and the asheville business summit uh i am super pumped about our guest today i can't wait to hear his story it's got to be interesting he's found a nice niche and it's working for him so i can't wait to tell you but But hey, just a reminder, the Asheville Business Summit coming up on September 23rd. It is not too late to get your tickets. Make sure you go out to WNCSummit.com and pick up your tickets today. Hey, but let's get on with our guest.

1:15I have got Garfield Jones from Paver Perfection. So welcome to the podcast, Garfield. Tell us a little bit about you and your business. Nice to meet you, man. Thanks for having me. My name is Ted Garpio. I own a company called Paver Perfection. We specialize in nothing but paver restoration. From paver stripping to paver sanding to paver sealing, that's what we do. Been in business around five years now, and I employ two full-time guys at the time. How in the world do you get into a niche like that? Get into a niche like this, let me tell you, it's not easy. It takes a lot of organic growth. People have to trust you.

2:01It is so many paver sealing companies out here. One thing that separates us from the rest is we're the only one that advertises paver stripping. So all these fly-by-night contractors that are sealing pavers and they're turning white within six months or doing terrible jobs, that's what we specialize in, man, fixing their mistakes. And in Palm Beach, man, it's like the paver capital of the world. pavers everywhere so it's a nice market man but it's all about education because at the end of the day homeowners are going to tell you hey this is nothing about the driveway you know but um you know it adds property value adds curb appeal um i definitely think paver sealing is the best yeah yeah no it's great and i mean you know not everybody gets up i mean you probably when you were a kid you probably didn't get up in the morning and say hey i want to be a paver sealer No, not at all, man.

2:53Yeah, yeah. No, it's good. We'll take it from there. So let me ask you some questions about business. So if you had to start over from square one, what would you do differently? Differently. I wouldn't change anything except for my marketing strategy. So in the beginning, I wasn't a believer in SEO. You know, I thought it was just a big high-time scam that you dumping thousands of dollars in every month and seeing nothing. So I wish I would have started SEO a lot faster than I would have had a lot more organic growth. Currently, we get plenty jobs, but they're high ticket leads. I'm currently running about 5K in advertising in magazines a month.

3:35You know, so that's money that could be in my pocket if I started SEO a long time ago. Yeah. So what advertising works best for you? Well, for us, so like I said, we're a niche place. So we have to reach customers that are looking for us. So I advertise in home fix up mags. Like one of them is local living and one of them is resource. And homeowners go in here and look for things that is going to fix up their property. And that's how we reach 90 % of our customers. On the other hand, I do a little Facebook ads. Yeah, I got it. Got it. Yeah. So the advice is get some organic marketing going as well as the paid ads.

4:22Yeah, man. People have to know you. In Palm Beach, we have a rep that says, they all say, paper perfection is very expensive, but they do great work. And I don't mind that rep. We do awesome work, and our work is not cheap. I'm actually a master certified contractor in this. Yeah. No, I love that. I love it when people say, in fact, I think that's one of the goals as a contractor is to get it. Hey, they're not the cheapest, but they're the best. Yes. That's what I want to hear. So give us some of your learnings as a business owner and employer since you started your business. My learnings. First thing and foremost, man, be the boss.

5:05Be the boss. Don't try and be friends with your employees. You know, it's all right to be cool. I learned the hard way. you know i was the guy that i was just so friendly so nice and when it looks they're taking advantage of you and it puts you in the spot to say something because oh y 'all are friends now you know so that's something i i highly speak against um keep it professional business at all times you know um that's about it man i think that's the major thing that held me back a while until i got out of that and i let everybody go man and i started over from scratch you know and uh Now we're booming back again, you know?

5:43Yeah, that's a hard move. That's well done on making that decision. That's a tough move to say, well, these guys aren't working anymore because they've done what they can and then move on. So what are some misconceptions about running a business? Everybody thinks it's easy. You know? They think it's the easiest thing, like you're made of money. you know i tell people i said you could start the week off with 40 grand in your business checking account and by the end of the week you're down to five because it's so many expenses that goes out you know but yeah it all comes back but it's a rotating door so i tell business owners when you get into business man save your money you know save your money just because you see a nice amount of checks in there you want to go buy this buy that save your money because um there is slow times in this i mean this summer for the last three months um we probably averaged seven to eight k a week which is terrible yeah which is it's a it's good to other guys you know but for a company of my size with the advertising stuff we spend that's terrible we're used to 12 to 15 a week but the summertime this is what happens every summer so you have to save money because at the end of the day, your employees depend on you.

7:05And I'm very passionate about that. I don't call my guys and say, hey, we don't have no work today. So everybody's staying home. No, everybody come to work. We're going to find something to do because at the end of the day, you've got a family to feed too, you know? So you need a paycheck. So that's how I feel about that. Yeah, I know. I love it. What do you attribute your growth to? Attribute my growth to, man, is to wanting better for my family, man. You know, um i i didn't grow up rich man i kind of grew up kind of poor you know but um i strived and um i'm here busting my butt because i i want my kids to have the house in the backyard and you know all the stuff that i didn't have growing up so i grind man i wake up every morning six o 'clock you know and i don't come home sometimes till after six you know because i'm out there grinding so i love that yeah you got a good why yeah you got a good reason to get out there yeah i love that so speaking of which is your why is your personal your family what what is how do you balance that the personal life with the business oh man there is no balance man it's uh every everybody's part of the business man you know it's just what what it is um my wife is my full-time I'm admin, you know, she takes all the calls, does all the scheduling.

8:30My daughter, she takes care of the tools, you know, she charges all the batteries every day that needs to be charged, you know, and everybody know when daddy come home, he still has to do estimates. He still has to do this, but I'm definitely going to make time for them and they understand, you know. So that's how I kind of balance it. I mean, it's not really a balance, but it's the best I could do right now, you know. And they understand because, like I said, we're in grind mode, man. We're looking to buy a house within the next month, actually. We're going through closing and stuff right now.

9:03Congratulations. Yeah, man. We didn't just get here by just getting up and doing a couple of jobs here and there. No, we got here by dedication and getting it done. Right. You got to do what you got to do until you can. Yeah, I see great futures for you. What qualities do you look for in employees? I mean, you talked about what you didn't look for. Yeah. Let's talk about what you do look for. Yeah. Number one quality. And I say, without this, I won't hire you. I don't want you to have experience because everybody I've hired experience, they don't do it my way. So I have to retrain them. You know, one thing I look for is that you got to be teachable.

9:44You know, you can't be the hothead coming here and think you know everything. you got to be teachable and you got to learn how to listen man and take constructive criticism you know um other than that you'll go far you know if i could teach you and tell you hey bro you're doing doing this wrong this is how you're supposed to do it and then you could learn then there's plenty room for you here to grow i mean i have a i have uh my lead tech right now i think he makes 275 a day you know and um he's killing it you know i'm probably gonna give him a raise within in the next two, three months. And I think I'm going to put him at$300 a day because he's worth it, you know, because he gets on the job, no complaining, and he gets stuff done, you know?

10:27Yeah, I love that. I love that. Hey, look, you know, my tagline is Be Epic. So we have some – it's an acronym. So I'm going to give you what the letter stands for, and then I want to get like a sentence or two about each letter. Just a quick – we call it a quickfire round. Okay. So the B stands for bring the energy. You've obviously got a lot of energy. Tell me about your thoughts on energy. Oh, man. Listen, if you are fired up in the morning, it don't matter what size the job is. I mean, we do a lot of big ticket jobs. And cleaning 20 ,000 square foot of pavers is very intimidating if you're not primed and amped up to do it.

11:07So my guys, breakfast is important. We get breakfast. We make sure we are ready to go. and everybody's ready. No, no dead weight, man. You know, if I'm fired up, then I usually fire up everybody else and I'm always ready to go, you know, because everybody looks at you. You know, everybody's like, okay, the boss is ready. So that means they're going to be ready. I love it. I love it. So the E in Epic stands for education. Okay. Education. I think that's why I win a lot of estimates. Um, When I first started this business, funny story, a lot of guys told me I wasn't going to make it in Palm Beach because Palm Beach is predominantly white and I'm a black guy, a big black guy at that scary big black guy, they call me.

11:57But the funny thing is that I do more numbers than these same guys that told me I wouldn't make it. And the reason is why is because of education. I don't go on an estimate to close the estimate. Yeah, I want the job. I go on there to educate you. And when I leave you, I tell you, I said, you don't have to choose me, but here is why you should. And this is why you should look for when you're getting your, your pavers sealed. And I educate them about the different stuff that's going on. And I leave them with knowledge of what they need to look for. And nine times out of 10, man, they get other estimates, but they call me back and tell me you are higher than these other guys, but we like you, you know, and that's how, and I close them, bro.

12:37Yeah, well, you've educated them. You've put them on the – yeah, you're the one who helped them figure out how to make the best decisions. So you obviously know more than anyone else about this. And since you specialize in it, you must be the guy. So the P stands for planning. Planning. Planning is key in this game, man. It's the rainy season right now. You could go from making$0 this entire week because you can't get a job sealed because you can't sand it in the rain and you can't seal it in the rain. You can clean it in the rain, but you can't see sealant in the rain. So planning goes into it.

13:12So we plan ahead all our jobs, man. Everything has to be laid out. Usually early in the morning, it's not raining. So that's the time we try to get our ceiling in and we prep in the afternoon. So planning out your schedule in this game right here is a must. Yeah, and I love that. I love that. The I stands for inspiration. Inspiration, man. And a lot of people is crazy, but I get inspired by the big guys. I want to have 20 trucks. You know, I talk to other guys that's big in the game and they got 20 trucks, 20 crews out there, 10 crews out there. You know, to me, that's inspiration, man. You know, that it could be done.

13:54And especially when you hear their story and realize, man, they came from the same background as King's Rumble. You know, and that inspires me right there. Yeah, they put on their pants the same way we do. exactly yeah it's the same stuff so all right this is going to be a good one for you the c stands for commitment commitment man paver ceiling man it's up and down um a lot of a lot of a lot of people want to get into paver ceiling because it's a higher ticket than pressure cleaning way higher ticket um but you have to be committed uh people don't want to spend the money to get into it. The equipment is not cheap.

14:32You're buying cheap pump-up sprayers and you're trying to do the job. It's inconsistent. So in order to make it in this game, you got to commit to it. You can't do, oh, I'm going to do roof and ceiling. It's going to coincide with, it's going to contradict each other and you're going to have to choose which one you want to do or focus on more, you know? I love that. I love that. So what words of advice would you offer other business owners who are looking to grow? In my field, if you're looking to get into the paver-feeling game, get some training, man. There is a lot of free training out there.

15:11Get some training, get some training. Pay to shadow somebody. I did that in my beginning. paid a guy to shadow him just to see the ins and outs you know and then i i attended a bunch of trainings man i became a master certified tech you know so training is very important man everybody thinks it's easy any monkey could spray some sealer it's not all about the sealer it's about the prep if you're not prepping the surface properly you're not gonna make it man and um In this game, there's no cheap mistake, you know, to strip off a failed sealer that you put on. You're looking like three, four grand period, you know.

15:55So it's not a cheap, easy fix if you mess up. Yeah. Training, man. Training. I think it's the key. I love it. Yeah. The prep was all the key. I have a client who does concrete refinishing and it's all about. It's all about the prep. It's all about the prep. It's not the same, but it's similar to what you're up to, but it's all about the same. Hey, lastly, how does somebody get a hold of you if they want their pavers sealed? Oh, man, you can reach us at 561-485-2425. You could look us up on Facebook, Paver Perfection. You could go on our website at www.paverperfectionpros.com. We're on Twitter.

16:40We're on YouTube. We're on Instagram. Instagram paper perfection everywhere. You'll see the big bold letters. You can't miss us. I love it. I love it. I love it. So, Hey, really appreciate you. Thanks for coming on the podcast. Really appreciate you joining us, um, and being a part of the Epic entrepreneurs community. And I know you're a big part of the community there in the Palm beach area. So, um, yeah, thanks for all of that. Appreciate you having me, man. Yeah. Hey, and until next time, remember, if you're listening to this and you're in the Western North Carolina area, or if you're going to come visit us, get those tickets to the Asheville Business Summit at WNCSummit.com, September 23rd, the big day.

17:25We'll look forward to seeing you there. Hey, and until next time, all the best.

17:31Hey, thanks for listening to the Epic Entrepreneurs Podcast. here's three things that you can do. Number one, remember to subscribe to the podcast. It takes very little effort on your part. It's going to help you and your fellow entrepreneurs. Plus, you guys know how it works. The more subscribers we get, the more cool things we can offer to you. Second, to learn more about growing your business, just download my book, The Coach Approach. it's free for you at gift from bill.com that's gift from bill.com hey and if you'd like more info about growing your business and what we can do to help you grow your business send me an email directly just send it to williamgilliland at actioncoach.com that's my personal email that i read no one else reads it first there's it's not screened it's my real email Just send it to me.

18:33I can't wait to talk to you. Hey, and until then, all the best.