"I started my painting business to help my dad—he was battling addiction, my mom had passed away. I’d worked in everything from restaurants to banking to car sales before I was 23, so I came with a strong customer service, sales, and operational mindset. But when I went all-in and quit my $80k job, I quickly learned my dad wasn’t in the place to partner. That pushed me to build the business from scratch, with subcontractors and my own approach. I couldn’t go back—so I had to make it work."

"Margins are phenomenal, depending on what you paint. Cabinets are even better—3 to 5 gallons of paint, high value jobs. Your material cost might land at 15-19%. Labor is what can eat you up, especially with employees. You’re looking at 35-45% for labor. Usually you’ll net out 20-30% gross profit but it can be as high as 40-45% if you get it right."

"My first painting job came from buying leads—fast path to where I excel, which is selling. I bought from HomeAdvisor. New owners need reps, so pay for leads to get regular opportunity. If you rely on a friend who lets you paint a couple rooms, sure, good start, but it’s not sustainable. Buying leads lets you control the flow—turn the dial and get a lead. That’s how you build a repeatable business."

"I painted with my team for six to eight months when I started—so I understood exactly how long things took. Pricing is honestly a lot of estimating and hoping you nail it, especially on labor and paint. We once had a $40,000 job where a simple mistake added days of sanding! My system was: ‘What’s my labor for a full house—call it three days, $1,000 per day. Paint maybe $1,000. That’s $4,000 total cost. I’d try for 50% margin, but even if I had to discount, I’d never go below my hard costs. It’s project management plus a safe buffer for surprises.’"

"No one knows the pain points better than someone who actually lives them. I was running a seven-figure operation, feeling the pressure around organizing leads, gaining follow-up, keeping teams busy. I wanted a tool that solved my real headaches as fast as possible. The vision was always there—the key was execution and building something communication-first, pipeline driven, with all the automations and follow-ups baked into the system. I still run my painting business, so if something breaks in my world, it needs to be fixed for DripJobs too."

"If your why is just money, you won't survive getting a software business off the ground. You burn cash the first year and it’s messy—iteration, bugs, features, motivating your builder, and endless project management. Ideas and software are commodities; execution and service win. You need relentless drive and to genuinely care about helping business owners. We serve 2,000+ users—support is crucial. If you don’t love it, it’ll eat you alive."

"We’re pipeline-driven. When you add a customer, we instantly send the right messages at the right time—on lead receipt, booking, proposals, scheduling, job progress, and reviews. It’s industry agnostic—painters, roofers, cabinet guys, doesn’t matter. Most companies treat the journey similarly: capture the lead, systematize communication, and deliver a great customer experience. All of that is ready to go when you sign up—add your logo, and you’re running."