Epic Entrepreneurs

“Built on Integrity: Jay Schumpert’s Journey from Broken Leg to Thriving Business”

• Bill Gilliland

Share episode

Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.

0:00 | 20:54

🎙️ In this powerful episode, Jay Schumpert, founder of No Worries Painting and Pressure Washing in Columbia, South Carolina, shares his raw and inspiring journey from hardship to entrepreneurship. What started in 2012 as a way to make ends meet after a devastating leg injury has grown into a thriving residential, commercial, and light industrial painting and remodeling company — now operating at 70% painting and 30% remodel work.

Jay opens up about the realities of business ownership — the sleepless nights, the responsibility of making sure his team’s families are taken care of before his own, and the myth that entrepreneurship is all glory and ease. He credits his growth not to flashy marketing, but to integrity, faith, and deep relationship-building. For Jay, business isn’t transactional — it’s personal. From mentoring employees who’ve gone on to start their own companies to treating his crew like family, his leadership philosophy is rooted in loyalty, discipline, and doing the right thing even when it’s hard.

He also discusses:

  • Why integrity matters more than resumes
  • The challenge of stepping away from your business
  • Building a team you can trust
  • The risks and rewards of entrepreneurship
  • Advice for business owners who feel overwhelmed

Now a proud grandfather, Jay shares how faith, family, and service continue to drive his mission forward. If you’re a business owner, aspiring entrepreneur, or leader looking to grow the right way — this episode is a reminder that success built on character lasts.

If this conversation helped you, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a quick review with your favorite takeaway—we read every one.”

Guest's contact info:

noworriests@yahoo.com

https://www.facebook.com/noworriespainting/


Thanks for Listening. You may contact me or our team at https://billgilliland.biz/

All the best!
Bill

Please hit the subscribe button, leave us a 5 star review,  and share this podcast. You can reach me at williamgilliland@actioncoach.com or at https://billgilliland.biz/


SPEAKER_00

Hi, everyone. Welcome to this week's episode of Epic Entrepreneurs. I am Cliff McCray, filling in for Bill Gillan with your local business training and coaching firm, Action Coach Business Growth Partners. I'm excited to have Jay Schumpert with No Worries Painting as the focus for our Epic Entrepreneurs podcast episode today. So, Jay, please introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about yourself and your company and what primary products or services you offer our community.

Services And Growth Beyond Painting

SPEAKER_02

Oh yeah, Cliff, my name is Jay Schumpert. I'm with No Worries Painting and Pressure Washing here in Columbia, South Carolina. We offer a wide range of residential, commercial, some light industrial, interior, exterior coatings. And over the last few years, we've actually got into a lot of property restoration. So the name of the company is painting and pressure washing, which is how I started in 2012. And over the last few years, we have grown into doing some full remodel things. So we offer a wide range of just 70% painting, 30% remodel.

SPEAKER_00

Okay, okay, love it. Yeah, for those who may not know it yet, you know, who is Jay Schrumper and what is No Worry's painting? And what problems are you most passionate about solving for your clients?

Family Roots And Personal Why

SPEAKER_02

Um, number one, I'm a family guy. I've got three daughters, 22, 19, and five. And I just became a granddaddy in September of 2025. So that is my whole reason why I do anything I do. And I and honestly, I'm passionate about coming in and offering a service that I'm able to stand back at the end and have made an improvement, no matter what that looks like.

SPEAKER_01

Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_00

I love it. I love it. And again, congratulations on becoming a granddad. I'm sure you're very happy about that. It's nice to be able to take care of the kid and then be able to give him back to their parents, right?

Origin Story And Early Lessons

SPEAKER_02

That is the highlight. I I utilize that all the time. You know, she go to fussing a little bit, need a diaper change. I'm like, here you go.

SPEAKER_00

So, Jay, take us back to the very beginning. What made you say, yep, I'm doing this, I'm starting this business?

SPEAKER_02

I was in between jobs. I broke my leg. I was building power lines at first, and I broke my leg and it put me down for about nine months. I had two different surgeries and it put me down for about nine months. So, in between time, I was just trying to find something easy to do to make some money to pay the bills. And I went to work for a guy, and I found myself footing the bill for his paint crew. And I was like, if it's that easy, let me do it. So I jumped out there, decided I was gonna start my own business, and realized really quickly it was nowhere near as easy as I thought it was gonna be. And just continued just to dig and grind and learn the process and make sure that I stood on integrity and did it right. And I started in 2012, and in 2014, things started working out pretty good, and I was able to keep a good full crew busy for 40 hours, and things have just grown from there.

Hard Truths Of Ownership

SPEAKER_00

Nice, nice. I love it, I love it. So if you had to start your business from absolute scratch, no brand, no clients, no safety net, what would you do differently the second time around?

SPEAKER_02

Um what would I do differently? I don't know if I would do anything differently besides just not jump out there thinking I knew what was going on. Because I realized when I started I didn't know what was going on, and I had to learn that. I maybe would have gone a little slower, but I don't know if I would have done anything any differently.

SPEAKER_00

Okay. Okay, that's fair. That's fair. That's a good thing. So, what would you say is a lesson you learned the hard way as a business owner that no one really prepares you for?

SPEAKER_02

How hard it is.

SPEAKER_00

How hard it is.

SPEAKER_02

How much people count on you. Just everything that goes into it the phone calls, the sleepless nights, the making sure Santa Claus comes to your guy's house before he gets to your house, making sure everybody's straight before I am has always been my main thing. I've always been last in the company. I have to make sure everything else is where it needs to be, the company's where it needs to be, and then hey, now what can I do for myself and my family? And I've been very fortunate to be able to provide and do what I need to do.

SPEAKER_00

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah, so basically the needs of everybody else come before your own. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00

Okay, okay. So, what would you say is one very common myth that you hear people believe about running a business that makes you laugh now?

SPEAKER_02

That is all glory. That is all easy. People make it seem like they've got everything figured out. And I've been doing this since 2012, and I try to learn something every day, and do learn something every day, and dealing with the public is just that dealing with the public.

Entrepreneur Or Employee At Heart

SPEAKER_00

Okay, okay. So I want you to be 100% honest. Are you are you naturally more of an entrepreneur or an employee at heart? And what made you realize that?

SPEAKER_02

Um, I knew I've always been like, I think I'm more of an employee at heart because I like to do the service. I like to be hands-on, but I always knew no matter what, would even with the power company, that I would be a superintendent in a short amount of time. I went to work with another company doing wastewater treatment, and I knew within a year that I would be a boss man or a superintendent no matter where I went. Just because I'm wired different, then I feel like 99% of the people in this world, the way I think, the way that I do things, we get to an obstacle, and if I just had to get myself to the finish line, I could get there a lot quicker. But I have to make sure that my team, my group, my organization is standing there together when we get around that obstacle. But I still like to I like to do the service. I like to be hands-on. The last couple years in my business, I have not been able to be hands-on on the projects like I would like to, but when I do get on a job site and I stay there for a substantial amount of time, I end up leaving in on hugging terms with my customers that become clients. You know, we pray together, we hug at the end of it. I get good tips when I'm on a job site because I am such a people pleaser. I'm a yes man. Um, I go above and beyond every single chance I get. And I think that's what sets me apart. But I feel like I'm an employee at heart. I want to, I want to, I want to give.

Stepping Away And Trusting The Team

SPEAKER_00

And I tell you, Jay, you know, just meeting you here, talking with you a little bit, uh, you seem like a great guy. So definitely, I definitely agree with that as well. Um, so you know, going further into a little bit more, how do you personally handle stepping away from the business? You know, vacations, downtime, unplugging without everything falling apart?

SPEAKER_02

I don't. Um It's that simple. I my so my granddaughter, my daughter married a Marine, and she's stationed in California. So my granddaughter's in California. So just since September, I've been in California about five weeks, six weeks in total, you know, three different trips. But I have a core group of guys that I've hired that's been with me eight to ten years, that they keep it going. It may be a lot of phone calls. I may still be dealing with the customers, but I've got a group of guys that allows me to be able to do that. Without them, I could not do what I do.

SPEAKER_01

Okay.

SPEAKER_02

They might not be able to run it like I run it, but they don't let it burn to the ground. They make sure the production continues to happen.

unknown

Okay.

Integrity As The Operating System

SPEAKER_02

With standing on integrity. With standing on integrity. That's my number one thing. I need guys that are willing to stand on integrity first, and our quality will always follow that. But I'm not willing to break my integrity for no amount of money or nobody in the world.

Relationship-Driven Growth

SPEAKER_00

I love that. Love that. So looking back at it, what what do you attribute most to your growth so far?

SPEAKER_02

My relationship building. I don't just look at it as a job. I look at it as a family. My guys that I hire, when I hire them, I may not know them. But over time, they're eating dinner with me. I got one guy that has no relation to me that works for me that my five-year-old calls uncle. Yep. So very family-oriented. I want to see people succeed. I've had my wife's cousin come to work for me. Um, I got one of my cousins that come to work for me that are now running their own paint business with using me as a stepping stone. And I have no animosity towards that. We have great relationships to this day with let them use my equipment. I may use their equipment. Um, we may come together and collab on big projects, and I'm a stepping stone for them. I show them everything I know, complete transparency, because I want to be surrounded by a bunch of kings, not just one king and a bunch of doers. You know, I want everybody to succeed in life. And the hard part of that is I've had to come to understand and realize that everybody don't have it. A lot of people just don't have it. You can give it to them. You can lay it out there on a yellow brick road and say, hey, this is what you got to do, this is how you need to do it, this is what works. And they just don't have it. Their mindset is not where it needs to be. And it's nothing wrong with that. Everybody has their own process to get to that finish line, but we just need to get there.

Building Teams On Character

SPEAKER_00

So Yeah, no, you're totally right. I mean, you can't teach somebody to have it, right? Either they have it or they don't. That's exactly right. That's exactly right. Yeah. So when you're when you're building a team, what traits matter more to you than what's on someone's resume? Integrity. I mean, integrity, yeah. You kind of went into it a little bit.

SPEAKER_02

Integrity. I good morals. It's a lot harder to do the right thing. It's easier to make a selfish decision and what's going to be best for you. But if you do the right thing, it's way more rewarding. It may be harder, but it's rewarding. And that's what I want. I want people that's willing to stand on integrity. Respectful, loyalty. Those are my biggest things.

SPEAKER_00

Okay. So, what would you say? What's one thing you do intentionally to keep your workplace positive, motivated, and productive? It sounds like you're very, you're very family-oriented. You invite people over, do stuff like that. Is there anything else you do to keep your workplace positive and people motivated?

SPEAKER_02

I'm good to them. Um, I'm just really good to them. I've, you know, I've got a couple guys that, you know, they depend on me. You know, I bail them out of some situations that they may get themselves in financially or whatever, but I always make sure that if we go out to eat lunch somewhere and I'm having a rib by steak, they are too. Um I treat everybody fairly. I'm really good to them. And I mean, we do we do team building exercises, you know. Um, I, you know, I got a side-by-side. I take, you know, two or three guys with me. We'll go ride some trails and we do things together. We hunt together, we fish together, we do a lot of things together outside of work. And I think we just I care about their family like I care about my family. And they know that. That's not just a show. That's not me saying that. That's that's me doing it, showing them, putting myself last, me doing what out so they can do with. And they've watched it, they've seen that happen.

Quick Fire Values: Plan, Risk, Discipline

SPEAKER_00

Okay. Okay, okay. Yeah, so let's move on to the quick fire round. So basically, what I'm gonna do here is I'm gonna give you one word. Uh, and I just want you to give me the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear this word in regards to running your business. All right. All right. The first word is education. You don't need it.

SPEAKER_02

I don't know. Education, you don't have to have it with what I do. You just got to be able to learn as we go. Ain't nothing I learned in school besides some math taught me what of anything I do. That's just that's honesty.

SPEAKER_00

Okay. Next word is planning.

SPEAKER_02

Important. Have a plan. Try to stick to it. It will change, but it's important.

SPEAKER_00

Okay. Inspiration.

SPEAKER_02

I don't know. Inspiration. Try to find it in whatever you can find it in. The world's hard. You gotta find inspiration some kind of way.

SPEAKER_00

Next word is commitment.

SPEAKER_02

A hundred percent. If you can't give me a hundred percent, you can only give me ninety, I need all 90 of it. Commit.

SPEAKER_00

Okay. Next word is discipline.

SPEAKER_02

Got to be disciplined. Very, very important there too. We still work for the public. So we've got to be able to fall in line and do whatever it takes.

SPEAKER_00

Okay. Next word is risk.

SPEAKER_02

Reward. The bigger, the bigger the risk, the more the reward. But you got to be willing to take that chance sometimes. Having faith has a lot to do with it. Walking through doors that he's opened, or turning around or walking away from doors that he's closed.

SPEAKER_00

Mm-hmm. And the last word is execution.

SPEAKER_02

Goes back to the planning. Stick to it. We have a plan to execute to get to the finish line. Things are going to happen in between that we may have to shift one way or the other, but stick to what we know works.

Advice For Owners Feeling Stuck

SPEAKER_00

Okay. If a business owner is listening right now, and I want you to be as candid as you can possibly be with this answer. If a business owner is listening right now and feels stuck or overwhelmed, what's a piece of advice you'd want them to hear today?

SPEAKER_02

For me, it goes to my faith. Without my faith, without God leading the way, I will get swamped and stay swamped. But keep digging, keep putting one foot in front of the other. When you're going through hell, keep moving to get through it. Don't give up. Don't give up.

SPEAKER_00

Love that. So what's the uh what would you say is next for uh No Worry's painting and what should people be excited about coming up in the future?

SPEAKER_02

You know, we just gonna keep digging and keep moving forward. For me, I'm I need help. I need good employees to continue to grow because the work's out here right now. We even during COVID, we never missed an hour. My quality is exceptional. My integrity rises above most, and we got work. I turned down a good bit of work, and I need people that are willing to step in with integrity to do the job to continue to grow. Without the manpower, you cannot grow anymore. I offer a skill set. I can teach you to do it, but you have to be committed, you have to be disciplined, and you have to be loyal. And it's hard. It's hard to find a help out here right now. It's hard.

SPEAKER_00

Okay, okay. So for anybody listening, what's uh you did you did say you're hiring. What are you hiring for? And uh where can people send uh you know potential resumes?

SPEAKER_02

Um I'm hiring for anything from a laborer to just clean up job sites all the way up to painters, carpenters. And you can send uh resume to my email, no worries ts at yahoo.com. No worries, t is in tom. S is in snake. No worries, ts at yahoo.com.

Word Of Mouth Over Marketing

SPEAKER_00

Perfect. I appreciate that. Yeah, and uh you already talked about a way for people to connect with you. Do you have any social media?

SPEAKER_02

I have Facebook, I have Facebook, Jay Shumpert is my Facebook page. I also have a business page, no worries, painting and pressure washing. Again, I'm not very tech savvy. I don't really post on there, I don't do a lot on the social media platform. All my work comes from word of mouth. I don't do a lot of marketing, don't do any advertising. I have in the past because I just thought it was cool. Radio station. Just want to hear your name mentioned somewhere. But I just I just don't do it word of mouth for me. Keeps me all the work I need.

Gratitude And Reflections

SPEAKER_00

Okay, okay. All right, perfect, Jay. Yeah, this has been fantastic. Yeah, thank you so much for sharing your story, your perspective, and your real behind the scenes of building your business. Uh really appreciate you coming on and appreciate you, you know, coming on and everything that you're doing. So I wish you continued success.

SPEAKER_02

Well, Cliff, I appreciate the opportunity first and foremost. Um, this has actually been a lighting for me. Some of those quick round questions are gonna make me think on that today and in the future days, on things how I can improve, things I can do differently, and you know, want to be able to be able to reflect. So I appreciate that.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah, no, it was great. Thank you very much, sir.