At just 25 years old, Ricardo Herrera has already experienced the highs, mistakes, uncertainty, and responsibility that come with building a painting company from the ground up.
On Episode 136 of Workforce Skills with John Morris, Ricardo joins John for a candid conversation about entrepreneurship, leadership, hiring, knowing your numbers, social media, and what it actually takes to turn a trade into a business.
Ricardo started painting when he was 12, formed his LLC after graduating high school, and by 20 decided to stop working for other people and go all-in on his own company. But his perspective on entrepreneurship has changed dramatically since those early days.
Five years ago, Ricardo would have told almost anyone to start a business. Today, his advice is very different: if you’re doing it just for the money, don’t do it.
John and Ricardo compare two very different sides of the painting industry—Ricardo’s residential business and John’s commercial operation—and discover that many of the challenges are exactly the same.
They discuss underbidding jobs, job costing, hiring friends and family, building a company culture, pre-qualifying customers, dealing with cash flow, getting licensed and insured, using social media to generate work, and learning how to lead employees who depend on you for their livelihood.
Ricardo also shares what his first year in business really felt like: having employees to pay while sometimes having no idea where the next project would come from.
John shares his own journey from doing side jobs as “John the Painter” to building PHP Commercial Painting, along with the lessons learned from mistakes, growth, technology, training, and scaling a company.
This isn’t a conversation about getting rich quick. It’s about what happens after you decide to bet on yourself—and the responsibility that comes with building something bigger than you.
In this episode:
• Ricardo’s journey from painting at 12 to owning a company at 25
• Why entrepreneurship isn’t for everyone
• The fear of not knowing where the next job will come from
• Residential vs. commercial painting
• Why underbidding can destroy a growing contractor
• Knowing your real labor, material, vehicle, and job costs
• Hiring employees—and hiring friends and family
• Using social media to attract customers and employees
• Pre-qualifying customers before wasting time on estimates
• Cash flow and the realities of waiting to get paid
• Learning from failure instead of hiding from it
• Why being a great painter doesn’t automatically make you a great business owner
• John’s goal of taking PHP Commercial Painting to another level
If you’re thinking about starting a business—or you’re already in the middle of building one—this episode offers a realistic look at what entrepreneurship actually demands.
Stay hungry.