Today we’d like to introduce you to Joe Kennedy
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I graduated college two years early with a bachelor’s degree in health science from the University of Minnesota. I was working in healthcare when I decided I needed to make a change. I quit my job without having anything else lined up. With bills to pay I took a job at a medium-sized lawn care company. I went from dress shirts and a climate-controlled office to taking 10 – 20k steps per day during the summer months. While I did this job I had lots of time to plan my next move.
I have always had a strong interest in business. But back then the question “how do I capitalize on that interest?” loomed large. I decided a painting business was the way to go for a variety of reasons. It took me three months to land my first big job. I showed up to that job with two guys that had never painted before and I had only been painting for a few months. Despite taking longer than it should have the job went well. The customer gave a glowing review and recommendation. After that things took off and we had a great first year in business. I haven’t looked back since.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I started SunWell Painting in the middle of winter. I did not know this at the time but painting is one of the many industries that slow down during Minnesota winters. I got to a point where I was not getting any business and further research into how to make this business work only yielded results that confirmed what I was already doing should be working. But it wasn’t working! I felt like I was going crazy but kept doing what I was doing. Late spring I went from having too much time on my hands to not having enough.
Another more personal struggle has been answering questions like “why painting?” or “why don’t you get a regular job”. The latter of these two questions I got a lot when things did not take off right away in the beginning. The reason I think these were hard questions for me to answer is because from day 1 until right now I have never thought this business wasn’t going to work. That may sound arrogant but in my head, it feels more similar to how I think about the statement “the sky is blue”. I felt that it was a fact that if I continued to give 110% things would eventually work out. Explaining this to people was difficult and very frustrating for me. In fairness to the people asking those questions it makes sense to me now why they were asking them at the time.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
SunWell Painting is a Minnesota interior painting company that serves the greater Twin Cities area. We do commercial and residential repaints and new construction painting. I take a lot of pride in hiring great people. My unofficial litmus test is “would I trust this person to pick up my child at school?” A consequence of this is we do a lot of residential repaints. Often this involves working right alongside the customer who is working from home. It also involves working around the customer’s personal belongings. As you can probably imagine this type of work requires a tremendous amount of care and respect from my employees. I would say this is the number one thing that sets us apart from other painting companies.
In the early days, I was told by an older painter that the average painting company in Minnesota has less than two full-time W2 employees. Currently, we have 5 employees plus myself. One of my go-to lines when speaking with potential customers is “you hire me and my crew you get me and my crew”. In other words, we do everything in-house and we do not subcontract. This is something that I am really proud of because I feel that doing it this way delivers a better overall experience for the customer. I have much more control and accountability over the finished product. I also feel that it simplifies things a lot more from the customer’s point of view. On the first day of a job, the customer is greeted by the same person who did their estimate (me). They do not have people showing up they have never seen before in unmarked vans.
Where we are in life is often partly because of others. Who/what else deserves credit for how your story turned out?
None of this would be remotely possible without the amazing team at SunWell Painting. My team consistently does amazing work and they come up with great ideas that they share with me on how we can get even better. On days I am sick or unable to work they are always there to pick up the slack. Thank you guys for being so awesome.
Last but certainly not least would be my parents. While I may not have understood some of their parenting tactics when I was a kid looking back I can say with certainty that they did a great job. Their emphasis on education and helping me through college continues to help me to this day. Also in the early days when I was working 70 hours a week for a few months, my mother kept me functioning with her wonderful homemade dinners. I wouldn’t be where I am today without them.
Pricing:
- Give us a call for a free in person estimate! Joes direct line: 651-968-7868
Contact Info:
- Website: https://sunwellservices.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sunwellservices/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile/sunwellpainting
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sunwell-painting
