You Can't Afford Me
Making the leap from employment to entrepreneurship can be a scary time. The biggest fear people have is the unknown. Here on the “You Can’t Afford Me Podast” we speak with hustlers and innovators on how to make the most of your journey. If you have questions we have answers.
You Can't Afford Me
You Can Buy Entrepreneurship Instead Of Starting From Zero
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Starting a business from zero gets all the hype, but buying the right business can be the real cheat code. We bring on Chad Bowman, owner of The Shutter House of Richmond, to talk about why he chose franchise ownership in the home services world instead of building a brand completely from scratch and what surprised him once he got moving.
We get into Chad’s path from CPA to real estate, and how that experience sharpened the exact skills that translate to a successful home improvement business: customer service, consistency, follow-up, and knowing how to coordinate people when the work matters. He also breaks down what most outsiders miss about being a top realtor and why the “easy commission” story is mostly a myth.
Then we go deep on window treatments and the niche that got Chad fired up: custom exterior shutters. We talk curb appeal, the difference between old wood shutters, builder-grade vinyl, and modern composite options, and why Richmond VA is a strong market for this kind of upgrade. Chad also explains what franchise support looks like in real life: supplier relationships, industry knowledge you can’t easily Google, and having experienced people to call when a job gets nuanced.
If you’re weighing buying an existing business, exploring a franchise, or trying to time your first hire, you’ll walk away with practical perspective and a few hard truths about payroll and family balance. Subscribe, share this with an entrepreneur friend, and leave a review with the biggest “buy vs build” question you’re wrestling with.
www.themrpreneur.com
Welcome And Buying Businesses
SPEAKER_00Welcome to the You Can't Afford Me podcast on Skip the Fluff and that bring to the real entrepreneur, real drunk, and the unfiltered journey behind that. Hey guys, thanks for joining us on another episode of the You Can't Afford Me podcast. So this episode, I'm always intrigued by business owners who are buying into a business versus starting from scratch. So for myself, every business I've started up to this point has been from scratch. And I'm not sure that's the right approach. I think moving forward, I'm either gonna be part of a franchise model or buy into an existing business. Um and our guest today has done exactly that. So today we got Chad Bowman on the podcast. How you doing today, buddy?
SPEAKER_01Good, how you doing?
SPEAKER_00Awesome, awesome, man. So give us a quick 60-second rundown who you are, what you do.
SPEAKER_01Yes, I'm Chad Bowman. I own the Shutter House of Richmond. Um in a nutshell, the shutter house is window treatments, interior and exterior. Most people know interior window treatments pretty well what
Chad’s Story And Shutter House
SPEAKER_01that is shutters, shades, blinds, that kind of thing. But the exterior is really kind of our specialty, kind of our niche, uh custom exterior shutters.
SPEAKER_00Nice, nice. So I always like to go back and let's get the backstory. Where'd you grow up? Where'd you go to school? All that good stuff.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. I grew up here in Richmond, uh in the West End, really in the shore pump area. Nice. Um, went to high school, deep run high school, and uh went to Virginia Tech for college.
SPEAKER_00Oh, nice. Yeah. That's my one regret at the college, because I went to Lawn University. Obviously, we don't have a football team. It's my one would yeah. Okay, cool. It's my one regret is not going to a school that had a football team because you're a fan for life after that point.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, hopefully we can get it back on track too.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. So before the the shutter house, yeah. Talk to us about your career leading up to that point. So after Virginia Tech, what what was the the path for you?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so I guess uh just going back, I guess even like to thinking about to like childhood and everything. I grew up, you know, my dad was a business owner and everything growing up, so I always always had that in the back of my mind. Um what did he do? What he he owned uh a few businesses. He owned Nautilus Fitness Centers in Harrisonburg, Stanton, and uh Martinsburg, West Virginia. Nice. He also owned a place called Pro Park, which was like a almost like a mini Chuck E. Cheese, like a local Chuck E. Cheese, or almost like the Park RVA, if you can picture like a 90s version of that, that had miniature golf inside, arcade games, tickets, that kind of thing. Nice.
SPEAKER_00Um you were popping skate in school then.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, for a little bit, yeah, yeah. He uh he passed at a young age too young, he passed at age 40, right? Oh wow. But I still had that like instilled in me as far as like just what his life looked like, as far as um, you know, he had multiple businesses that kind of operated themselves. Yeah. Like I traveled with him a lot to like Harrisonburg to go, you know, stay the night and check in on things and whatnot. But that was always in the back of my mind, right? Um, so if we fast forward to uh college, um, I always liked the idea of doing something like in the residential home space, uh building instruction, that kind of thing. But the economy, it was like, you know, when we started like looking for jobs and everything, it was like oh eight and oh nine. My uncle was in real estate, and I know like things were just kind of like down, you know, especially in the residential space.
SPEAKER_00Down's an understatement.
SPEAKER_01It felt like the opportunities like didn't really exist, like in the residential space.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Um, so I want the most conservative default path I could have gone. I was a CPA out of college. Um, so I did that for four years. Wait, hold on, let's pause there one.
Lessons From A Business Owner Dad
SPEAKER_00Let's go back to your to the growing up.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So obviously, you probably learned things along the way that the average child isn't exposed to. I always think of like the tidbits and the nuggets that Warren Buffett's kids have gotten around the dinner table, like growing up around uh a guy like that. What were some of the major lessons you learned as at an early age with your dad being a business owner?
SPEAKER_01A lot of things positive. He was really big on positivity. Um so I remember just, you know, things like positive affirmations and whatnot. Um, you know, he would you know, just praying at night, those kind of things. Um but again the positivity was like the biggest thing that I think about. Like it was kind of like I feel like that's kind of like a thing now in like the Instagram era, is positive affirmations, but it wasn't really a thing then, and like that was something he was really big on and instilled in me. Um yeah.
SPEAKER_00What about seeing like taking those trips? You said one of his businesses was in West Virginia. Yeah. So that ain't a 30-minute drive. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So like most of the time it was Harrisonburg. When I would go with him, it was Harrisonburg. But yeah, he was he was traveling to those businesses, yeah, Stanton, Martinsburg, West Virginia. Um he did that travel probably, I would say, you know, I I was only with him, of course, until I was nine, but he probably did that like, you know, once a week or so, travel to one of those locations. Um, but at the same time, I remember just seeing how his life was designed like on the weekends. Yeah, the business was still running, but we were going to, you know, Virginia Beach, King's Dominion, that kind of thing. Yeah. So I didn't like really pick it up, pick up on it at the time, but like in hindsight, I remember um just the way he was able to design his life by owning his own business and having people that he trusted you know, running the business for him.
SPEAKER_00What age do you think that clicked where you were like, I think entrepreneurship is is the right path for me.
SPEAKER_01That's fine because yeah, so like I don't know that it ever clicked any specific time. It was like um it was in the back of my head, I remember that, like just thinking I wanted to be a business owner. I think at some point, you know, whether it was like, you know, him passing that kind of thing, I think at some point I I felt like I wanted to be an entrepreneur, but like maybe lost the belief that I could do it at some point.
CPA Burnout To Real Estate
SPEAKER_01And so again, you know, out of college, did the CPA thing, um, did that for four years, just knew like my heart like wasn't in it and it wasn't what I wanted to do long term. Um so I made the jump over into real estate, which is kind of you know, dipping your toes into entrepreneurship, working for yourself. Um did that for 10 years. I still sell real estate. Um, but at some point, you know, probably like 22, 23 along along those years, um, I just thought like, you know, thought back to what his life was like, right? Yeah. And I really like the idea of building something, you know, a brand. Um so I kinda was kind of like, do I want to build a real estate team or do I want to build something, a brand that's kind of like still within the home services space? And I was just kind of like really attracted to something in the home improvement space, basically.
SPEAKER_00Well, what was it about? Because I think it's interesting growing up around a father like that, setting the entrepreneurial example for you. Um, I think we came up in that era where it was still like our parents telling us you gotta go to college and get a good job. Now I like I look at my oldest child is six years old, and like, I'm not sure I'm gonna push my kids into college because the value of a degree is nowhere near what it was before when we were first growing up. So was there any thought in that decision where was your family like, no, this is the next step, you go to college, or were you like, well, I know I'm gonna be an entrepreneur, so what's the point of me even going to school?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, no, I don't think it was a fa a family push at all. Um, my mom, she owned a business as well at one point. Um, but I think it was just like uh the societal thing, maybe. Yeah. Like at some point, again, your dad passes, he was the one who owned those businesses and everything. And so you kind of like lose, you kind of like forget about that a little bit, you know. And everyone else, all my friends, going to college, getting the W-2 job, that kind of thing. So again, at some point, I remember even taking like I took like a personality test. It was like in high school and it said like small business owner. And it was like, you know, I was like, that's what I want to do, but like didn't think I could actually do it. It's like, where do you start? That kind of thing. Yeah. And so yeah, at some point I just like felt like I needed to just fall into like the kind of office W-2 thing, and then I think it just took time, like, you know, in real estate, just seeing yourself successful in that, coming in contact with contractors, you know, and how like they're all busy, you know. There's just so much demand in the home services space that at some point just started believing like I can do this, you know.
SPEAKER_00No, absolutely, absolutely. So going from from that, what was it about being a CPA that were the red flags for you where you're like, I can't spend the next 40 years of my life doing this?
SPEAKER_01So the time behind the computer. Yeah. I mean, you know, 12 hours. We were working, you know, it was public accounting, so it was it was long hours, um, lots of travel, which didn't bother me then, but I couldn't imagine doing that now with kids and everything. Yeah. Couldn't imagine doing that kind of travel and just mainly the just the computer time, you know. I need to be out in front of people. I like my office time also, but only to a certain extent, you know, a few hours a day, and then I like being out for people, sales appointments, that kind of thing.
SPEAKER_00So talk about that transition from being a CPA to why initially real estate? Because there, like you just pointed out, there's several things in like the residential, you know, department that you could look at in terms of a career. What first sparked your interest about being a a realtor?
SPEAKER_01I grew up around that too, because my dad he he sold, I don't remember him selling real estate, but he did sell real estate before he started his businesses. And then my uncle, he's always been in real estate. He's been a realtor uh pretty much my whole life. So just watching him, I was just familiar with the industry. Yeah. Pretty much. And uh again, just like the I always liked the residential home service space. Did construction in uh in high school, like during the summers and whatnot. And uh I think real estate is just an easy thing to get into, you know, it doesn't really require any major um startup costs, that kind of thing, aside from getting a license and calling people.
SPEAKER_00So I heard most realtors don't pass that test the first time though, do they?
SPEAKER_01Uh probably not, yeah.
SPEAKER_00And then so with that, the the one thing I see with a lot of realtors, because that was like our our start with Nzo Media Firm, like all we did was solely focus on realtors. Because my thought process was we're a new business, we're in marketing services, what professional can help spread the word faster than anybody? And I was like, Realtors seem to know a lot of people, so we'll just cater our services directly to them. Um
What Great Realtors Do Differently
SPEAKER_00I see a lot of realtors that don't treat their business like a business. They they treat themselves like W-2 employees. So for you, as you were building that real estate business, how did you keep yourself from getting pinned into that frame of mind? Because I I would say the vast majority of realtors I've come across, they view themselves as employees versus entrepreneurs.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think just the thing with real estate is I I think you can be a realtor and just kind of like coast and uh maybe you'll I think the average says like the average agent sells like six homes a year, yeah kind of thing. But if you're a certain like driven person to be a successful like realtor and sell like a good amount of houses, you really have to work hard to get that business. Yeah. There's 7,000 other agents in Richmond. So I think people don't realize that is like to be a successful one, like if you're just driven to have success in it, then you're gonna have to work pretty hard and keep in touch with people, give really good customer service. Yeah. That's what gets the referrals going.
SPEAKER_00What what's the top three things, kind of putting you on the spot here? What's the top three things that you think most people don't understand about being a realtor?
SPEAKER_01Uh again, going back to you can be like just a okay one that just opens the door, right? And you know, works with your friends and that kind of thing. But to really be a good one, it takes a lot. You know, it's it's you know, working like when you're getting a listing ready, um, you can just take photos and list the house, right? But if you really want to get your clients the most money, it's taking all the steps necessary to get them the most money, right? Yep. Uh subcontractors, lining those up, staging, those kind of things. Um, those are the things that people I think don't realize that the good agents are doing.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, because most people think for the most part, I've said this over the years. Consumers on average probably just think that you guys are riding around in a fancy BMW or bins when you get a little parched and thirsty, you're sipping on champagne, and when you want a little snack eating caviar.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00They just see you guys like walking around million-dollar homes non-stop. But I've been on the back end where I've seen we've showed up to do a walkthrough video for a realtor, and they're moving dirty laundry and they're making up beds, and like they're moving dog crates, like so we can get the photos and videos and all that right. Like, it's a lot that goes into it. A lot of people think you just show up and you know, $30,000 commission checks just fall on your lab. Like, no, you you gotta go after it. Um, making that transition from real estate, and you're still in real estate today. What prompted you to even think before we even get into the business that you're in now, what prompted you to say, I want to do something else outside of real estate?
SPEAKER_01I think I'd again come in contact with different subcontractors, um, or you know, just contracts, like painters, whether it's painters, you know, power washers, that kind of thing, like you realize like there's a lot of different types out there, right? Like there's ones that like don't really pick up their phone, that kind of thing. It's a lot of them. There's a lot of really good ones too, right? But the one common denominator is like they seem to always be busy. And so like I always just liked the fact that there's a ton of demand in that space, right? And if I can take the customer service that I give, like from a real estate standpoint, and apply that to home services, then like what can that, you know, what can you do there?
Why Exterior Shutters Stand Out
SPEAKER_00What what sparked your interest more specifically with the shutter space then?
SPEAKER_01I always liked so probably it was probably a two-year, maybe two and a half years, where I was kind of like looking at different concepts and whatnot. Um, most of those were in the home services realm. Um but I always kept coming back to the window treatments space. I really like that. I just like the the products, um, good demand, that kind of thing. Um and then it was over just over a year ago last year where I came across the Shutter House. And uh when I I was not thinking about exterior shutters before the Shutter House. Um but once I saw it and I saw like their website and like nice new shutters, I just it just kind of clicked that like there's no one like really in that space in Richmond that's focusing on that. And when you once you see it, I feel like you you realize how much it does for the home, that kind of thing. So I love the interior side of things, you know, shutters, shades, blinds, but I really like the exterior part of it also.
SPEAKER_00So you guys do both interior and exterior, but you're saying you guys are more specialized in the outdoor piece.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, the uh the out the exterior is just more niche. Yeah. It's specific neighborhoods a lot of times and whatnot. Everyone kind of needs some kind of window covering inside their home for privacy, that kind of thing for whatever reason. Not everyone views exterior shutters as a need. It's a it's a nice to have, but the people who get it really get it, and it's really fun. It can make a huge impact on the on the front of the home, especially in like you know, historic areas. Oh, yeah. Areas like Tuckahoe where the shutters are are real, that kind of thing.
SPEAKER_00So let's talk about that because I want to go through this in in phases. So I'm so intrigued with people when they go buy a business. So one of my favorite entrepreneurs, and I've mentioned her a thousand times on this podcast, Cody Sanchez. She's like my favorite entrepreneur in the world right now. Her big thing, and kind of her claim to fame online, has just been we need more people buying existing businesses because we're gonna see the biggest wealth transfer that this country's ever seen with all the baby boomers retiring. And so many of them have successful businesses, but their kids don't own businesses today. They either want to like get a trailer and go backpacking across the USA and like or live in a tiny home one day, or they want to be a TikTok star or YouTuber, like they don't want to go own a shutter business or a plumbing business or all these other things that are making millions and millions of dollars a year. So once you came across the Shutter House, number one was the owner initially selling, or did you approach them about the sell of uh the business?
How Franchise Support Actually Works
SPEAKER_01So for the franchise, yeah. Um, so it's a franchise. It's a franchise, yeah, yeah. So kind of somewhere in between. Um I I looked at existing businesses, um, not really hard, but for some reason I like the idea of building something a little bit more locally, building it a little bit more from scratch. Yeah. And having kind of like my own say behind the brand and whatnot. Um, but I liked the fact that franchising, you're not in it totally by yourself, right? You've got the industry knowledge, you have other franchisees to lean on, which is huge. And then things like supplier relationships, especially in the exterior side of things. Um, there would have been no way that I could have pieced together the different manufacturers. We have 10 different manufacturers, you know, just on the exterior shutter side of things.
SPEAKER_00So talk talk about the the benefits. So obviously, like with the partnerships and and the vendors and things like that, but like really what does it mean to be part of a franchise and be supported? Like, are they assisting you with marketing help? Are they assisting you with a potential client funnel? Like, what are the big benefits of being part of a franchise?
SPEAKER_01The biggest thing for the shutter house is probably the industry knowledge for one, right? There's not a lot of information about out there, especially about exterior shutters. Um, it's not something you can find like a lot of information on online, especially the different products that we have. Um so for one industry experience, things like architectural, you know, what's architecturally correct, um, things like lining up the mid-rails with the window sashes, little things like that, yeah. Um, that only people like in the field kind of know about. So having that industry knowledge, um, people that I can call on any question that I have. Uh, also the supplier manufacturer relationships, that's huge also.
SPEAKER_00So is that industry knowledge? Does that look like you have monthly calls with people or they have trainings throughout the year? What does that really look like?
SPEAKER_01We do do, yeah, regular calls. Um, now it's more we do like a franchise, we're doing weekly calls right now with the other franchisees, but really just someone that I can call on like when I have a when I have an issue or something I'm not familiar with, because every job has a little bit of a nuance to it, usually. Um so just someone that I can call. I've got three different people in our in our franchise, you know, kind of like with our headquarters. Yeah. I can call at any time.
SPEAKER_00Nice, nice. And you've been in this business now, what, coming up on a year?
SPEAKER_01Uh close to a year.
SPEAKER_00Nice, nice. Talk to us about that experience up to this point. Like, obviously, this is something different. You've been shown this lifestyle by your uncle and your dad growing up and things like that. Is it what you expected? Was it easier, was it harder? What how did this turn out for you?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's uh it it's a new challenge every day. It's it's like it's probably more, even more rewarding than I thought it would be. Yeah. Um, you know, there's no part of me that's slowing up whatsoever, but it is, you know, it takes a lot of energy and a lot of um grit, that kind of thing. And there's always challenges that you don't like fully expect. Like you can have the best measurements in the world as far as like interior shades, that kind of thing, but there's gonna be something that happens, right? Like, you know, when you go through 20, 40 shades, one of them's gonna arrive broken, that kind of thing. So it's like those kind of things you don't really plan for, right?
Hiring First Installer And Challenges
SPEAKER_01Um, and then just you know, startup costs, um, things like when to make your first hire, those kind of things. You're always just faced with like you know decisions.
SPEAKER_00Have you done have you done that yet? Or is it just yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01We have our first lead installer now who's W-2. Nice. And he's he's awesome.
SPEAKER_00So, what were these are insights I like getting from business owners? Like now, after 11 years, I think I can I've finally figured out the green and red flags when I'm sitting down and interviewing someone. Um, we're actually interviewing for a videographer position right now, and one thing I do is a stress test of sorts. Because a lot of times a videographer applies for a job here, and it's like they send you this resume with all these videos, but they could have been a grip on set just holding the light and they put the video in the portfolio. So you don't really know what you're getting until you really test them. So I got this from uh social network that uh movie on Zuckerberg starting Facebook, where he had the coders like it was like midnight and they had to take shots every time a bell went off, but they were coding at the same time. And whoever the top three to five people were that got the code right, he they got a job at Facebook. So I've done that of sorts, I'm not giving shots to anybody, but uh I'll bring a videographer in, then I'm looking to hire, and they have 60 minutes to film and edit a video. And I don't care where they are at the 60-second mark, I'm watching it and it's over. And from there I can help make some decisions. But what are some of the things that you've learned throughout this process to let you know if someone's gonna be a good fit for the team? Because during an interview, we're all our best self. Hair's looking great, probably smelling better than you ever have in months, like you just have the most positive attitude. But there's certain things I think we can pick up on to determine if this person's a good fit for our organization or they belong somewhere else.
SPEAKER_01I think I don't know that I had anything specific. I mean, I had a recruiting firm that fortunately, like they vetted, you know, people, that kind of thing, right? And uh so I only met with like certain select people. I probably interviewed maybe six people over the phone and then met with I would say three of them. Yeah. Um the nice thing was I didn't have to make necessarily a quick decision because when you're first starting out, you don't quite I knew that I wanted to bring on someone that had the experience, right? And how do you get someone with the experience to come on before you have the work available, right?
SPEAKER_00Yep.
SPEAKER_01So that was kind of nice in a sense that I it gave me time to really get to know the person. I I you know, the first time that I probably the first phone call that I had with the guy that I ended up hiring, like I knew that he was the guy. But it was good to be able to have multiple hour-long meetings with him over the course of you know, four months um to see that he's truly a a good guy that cares about the same things that you know I care about, that we care about as a company.
SPEAKER_00Nice. Why did you and I think it's a smart move, why did you choose to go with a recruitment company versus doing all these individuals?
SPEAKER_01Honestly just time. You know, I felt like you know, they could do it quicker than I could.
SPEAKER_00Yep.
SPEAKER_01Um and more effectively than I could as far as getting people You know, in front of me.
SPEAKER_00Yep. No, that's a good point. I think too many business owners, we try to pile too much on our plate because we know we're going to give things a certain attention because it's our baby. But things do get to a point where you got to understand how valuable your time is. And like, why am I doing a $20, $25 an hour task when I can go out and make $150 an hour? You're not saving any money. You're costing yourself more money. Talk to us about like, because I'm trying to visualize
What Modern Shutters Look Like
SPEAKER_00in my head. Like I'm looking at I have the image of my house in my head right now. And I'm like, first off, do we even have shutters? So it's the little square things beside the windows, those are shutters, right?
SPEAKER_02Shutters. Okay.
SPEAKER_00Is this becoming more because obviously now we have much more modern style homes, like you know, minimalist and all those sorts of things. What's the trend that you're seeing with shutters right now?
SPEAKER_01So if we like backpedal a little bit, like most people are used to seeing like two things. It's like you're in a classic area where you see a lot of real shutters, old wood shutters, and a lot of them are kind of like starting to like fall apart, that kind of thing. And then about like the 90s and 2000s, you know, a lot of builders just started throwing up vinyl shutters. Yeah. Right. And so they're not used to seeing nice new shutters that are real, right? So a lot of what we sell is you know, we sell wood and we sell vinyl, but a lot of what we sell is a composite product that looks like wood, it's substantial. Uh, we can do it fixed mount or on hinges, um, but then it's also maintenance-free as well.
SPEAKER_00Like the sound of that. Yeah. I'm not getting up on a ladder and and doing anything up there. Talk to us about balancing the two now, because like you said, you're you're you still have a real estate career, but now you have this brand.
Managing Two Careers And Family
SPEAKER_00Um, for me, I've been a serial entrepreneur since I became an entrepreneur. So for me, it's always, I don't want to say easier. It's just the way my mind works. Like, I don't think if I had only come out the gate doing one thing, that I would be anywhere close to where I'm at today. I think, and you're also in a space that compliment one service complements the other. So if you're helping someone sell a home or buy a home, this is a service that they could utilize. Was that a big thought in the factor when you were looking at a business to be involved in? Um, and how are you balancing the two?
SPEAKER_01Not as far as I don't really like cross-selling. Like I let my past clients and everything know that like uh, you know, I own the shutterhouse and whatnot, but I don't like, you know, when I'm meeting with someone for the shutterhouse, selling them on real estate, that kind of thing. So I didn't really think about it from the like going back and forth as far as clients go and whatnot. Um, I didn't see that as much of a benefit, but it was really that like just kind of my the relationships that you build over time in real estate. Like that's certainly a benefit. Um, agents in my office for one, and then just you know, agents, agents, and then you know, contractor, you know, partners, that kind of thing um that you come in contact, your relationships from real estate that's been really valuable.
SPEAKER_00So you're seeing a lot of the initial revenue that's starting to come in from those previous relationships, more or less.
SPEAKER_01For sure, yeah. I mean, we just did an install um yeah, two weeks ago for one of my real estate colleagues.
SPEAKER_00So nice, nice. And talk a little bit more about that balance, because I truly feel as an entrepreneur, there's no such thing as a well-balanced life. Like, there are gonna be times where my business demands more of me and things are gonna suffer on the end, like with my wife and kids in terms of like me being his present. And then there are times where business is doing great, we can go vacation a little bit more, we can go do X, Y, and Z. Kind of talk about how you because I I don't like you even using the word balance because I feel there is no such thing when you're an entrepreneur, but kind of talk about how you manage the the two businesses, but also being a family man.
SPEAKER_01I mean from a time standpoint, yeah. Yeah, um, that's probably like one of the biggest challenges, honestly, is kind of like that, you know, the guilt that you feel like when you have two kids and a wife and everything, um, from not being with them, right? But also knowing that like what we're doing today is gonna make a big difference in what we can do two years from now. Absolutely. Financially and then from a time standpoint, too.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. What was that conversation like? Because I feel like when you're an entrepreneur, you also have to have that talk with your spouse. Yeah. So like earlier this year, I told my wife, I was like, I I just see some things coming down the pipeline that a lot of people don't necessarily pay attention to. Like when I started to hear murmurs of like Michael Jordan like going coming back to be an analyst or something like that, I'm like, dude's a billionaire and he's coming back to work? Or you even look at like a Tom Brady, like he he signed a pretty lucrative deal with CBS to be an analyst, but I'm like, Tom is balling. And you see all these multimillionaires and billionaires like getting back to work. To me, that's a sh that's a sign of what's to come. That like economically there are gonna be some rough waves that we're gonna have to tackle here within the next two to three years or so. Um so for me, I'm always looking at those pieces in terms of like planning these things out. So for you looking down, looking down the road, like where do you see this industry going?
SPEAKER_01Um, I mean, I think Richmond specifically, it seems to be like we're pretty well insulated as far as from like major, it seems like we stay pretty steady. Yeah, you know, like and this is a booming housing market. Yeah. I mean, just from a housing market standpoint, like you hear a lot of the bigger, like, you know, national markets like the um LA's and Austin's, that kind of thing. I feel like they had a bigger, you know, dip than we had. Whereas Richmond's always been pretty, pretty stable. Um, and then you know, window treatments, anything really in the home services space. I'm just a pretty firm believer that like you know the area that we live in, yeah. If you put the work in, then you know, you're gonna do well, you're gonna succeed. Care about people, treat people right, that kind of thing. That's for sure. That's fine.
SPEAKER_00That's the same across any any business. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01You might make more some years, you know, some years you'll be down, but life is still gonna go on.
SPEAKER_00Yep, absolutely. What do you for someone who's listening to this podcast right now, and this is a space that they've been thinking about getting into. I don't want you to necessarily share your numbers, but like this industry, like typically this type of business, what can someone expect to make, you know, five years into this business on a on a
Growth Goals Revenue And Marketing
SPEAKER_00yearly basis? Gross revenue.
SPEAKER_01Um, it's tough to say there. Um, I mean, certainly, you know, our goal is within, you know, three years to be doing over a million in in revenue. But yeah, tough to say with each business.
SPEAKER_00With the ones that you've talked to, like in the franchise and stuff like that, is like an average that they've seen for the franchise. Like, yeah, most of these operators are and it sounds like two if you if you only have one or two employees keeping overhead costs somewhat low. I mean, payroll's my biggest expense every single month, and yeah. That keeps every business owner up at night, is is that payroll expense. Like, so typically around like anywhere from like half a mil to a million dollars a year, like operations can expect.
SPEAKER_01That's pretty safe to say. And uh one of the things that like attracted me to the it to this franchise specifically, again, is like it's almost like two, it's diversified because it's almost like two uh two businesses in a sense, because the window treatment space interior is pretty proven model. Like there's companies doing many multi-billion dollars in revenue in the interior space, right?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, we moved into our last house. I did not expect that bill to be what it was.
SPEAKER_01But uh on the exterior side of things, it's it's kind of unproven, which is like the exciting part about it, is like where we where our corporate headquarters is founded, they really haven't spent a ton of money on marketing. It's mainly off relationships, uh, builders, and then just homeowners, you know, calling in off the website, referrals, that kind of thing. Yeah. Um, where they intentionally haven't put in a ton from a marketing standpoint. So it's like, what could this be? You know, if we're in a city like Richmond that has shutters everywhere, and then really start investing money in marketing on top of that, also.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. No, for sure. Yeah. No, this is uh I get excited about businesses. I know you and I have briefly talked about the marketing stuff, but I always get excited about businesses where those industries really aren't marketed that much. Like when I meet a business owner and I'm like, man, your competition is doing nothing out here. I was like, it's like shooting fish in a barrel if you use the right equipment for for this stuff. Um, and I'm still trying to put like that that visual together in my head. What when most clients come to you, like what is is it an upgrade? Is it people that didn't even have shutters on the exterior of their home and they want to add it? Like, what kind of facelift does this truly give a home?
SPEAKER_01We're seeing a little bit of both. Do you mean on the exterior side? Okay, exterior side. Um, so the one thing like I I expected, like I thought, you know, I knew it would be pretty niche, right? And I thought like the areas like the museum district and Tuckahoe and all that thing, like we'd do really well there. And we have, like, I get a lot of calls from people, you know, wanting to replace their old wood shutters. Yeah. And they want to do real on hinges, all those things, right? Um, but I also get calls just from people out in like maybe, you know, short pump, um, just you know, early 2000s suburbs, you know, Wyndham, where you know, they have vinyl shutters and they just want to upgrade it to something more substantial that's gonna last. That, you know, vinyl shutters, the thing about them is you know, we sell vinyl also, but like in 10 years, you can't really paint vinyl, you know. Whereas you know, you're getting a shutter. A lot of our products have a lifetime warranty on them, right? They're gonna last forever.
SPEAKER_00Nice, nice. The last question I always ask every entrepreneur on the show.
Tough Decisions And How To Connect
SPEAKER_00And I know for this particular venture has been less than a year for you, so you may have to rely on your real estate business for this. Um describe to us your most difficult moment as an entrepreneur and what you did to overcome that.
SPEAKER_01Most difficult moment so far. Um probably has just been deciding when to again bring on the first installer. First, first employee, really. First person I've ever hired. Yeah. First employee. That's probably the most difficult decision. Um it was an easy one at the same time because I knew it was something I needed to do. But from a you know, financial standpoint, you're banking on the fact that like, you know, this is gonna pay off, right? So far it has, you know. He brings a ton of experience, uh, good person, you know, that does things the right way.
SPEAKER_00So talk talk about a little bit about the I lied, I said that was the last question. Yeah. Talk talk a little bit more about that that leap of faith. Because I I don't think a lot of people realize that when you start a business venture, obviously there's an initial leap of faith and and going into that space, but there are other leaps of faith throughout that process. Like first time, like I remember the first time I hired somebody to start cleaning the office for us. I remember the first time I hired a CPA and an accountant. Like all those were like, all right, I'm committing more of the gross revenue to something like this. Like, something I can do myself, but I'm not that equipped to do. Um, but it sounds like you were at peace with that with that decision that you were making.
SPEAKER_01Like this is it took a minute to get to that piece. Yeah, yeah, but certainly now. Yeah, no question whatsoever.
SPEAKER_00Nice, nice. Well, dude, appreciate you being on here today. If people need this service, they're in the local Richmond area. How far is your service area?
SPEAKER_01We can really service anywhere, but mainly, you know, the greater Richmond area is our territory.
SPEAKER_00Perfect. So if people want to check you out, they want to get more information, where can they go?
SPEAKER_01Uh, website is super simple, shutterhouse rva.com, and then uh phone number is eight oh four three seven two zero one nine five.
SPEAKER_00Perfect. Oh man, appreciate you being on here today. Thank you. Appreciate it. We'll see you guys on the next episode.