Inspiring Conversations with Heather Hernandez of Brothers Painting

Today we’d like to introduce you to Heather Hernandez.

Hi Heather, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
Just turned 21. Just got divorced. Just moved into the Salvation Army with three very young sons.

When all hope is seemingly lost:

Step 1: Secure the basics. Food, water, shelter and clothing.

Step 2: Give what you can.

Step 3: Tell everyone what you can do for their business and secure a job.

Step 4: Accept help.

Step 5: Never give up hope. All is never lost.

When we moved into the shelter, I did not know what would happen next. I was launched into adulthood at the age of 16, when I got pregnant with the twins. I had no idea what anything meant in the world. We were all scared. We just lost everything…again. The only thing I knew was that I had to figure out how to take care of and raise three boys.

Here’s what I did:

Step 1: Found shelter, food, water and clothing at the Hope Center in San Antonio, TX.

Step 2: Offered to help the mission in whatever way was needed. I was posted in the very busy Food Pantry sorting and prepping bags of food for those in need and handed them out.

Step 3: Asked for a paying job and was offered a position as Records Clerk. I interviewed for intake and kept records of applicants in need of assistance.

Step 4: Family and friends offered help with babysitting, food, time spent together, loving us…while it is easy to feel shame and not accept help, which is my natural way of responding, it is best to accept when others are wanting to give.

Step 5: Don’t give up. Ever.

We have come so far together. Now we own a successful business Brothers Painting where we are respected in our field.

There are still daily struggles. All the basic steps apply. Get secure. Give back. Offer your skills. Build your tribe. Keep going. In that order.

Twenty-eight years ago, Brothers Painting was only in the hidden recesses of my mind. After being forced to live in a park in San Antonio, TX with my infant twin sons, Samuel and Daniel, this teenage girl knew that I needed to do something to help my tiny family. We were in and out of homeless shelters as I tried to find my way.

Many years later, I started Brothers Painting relying on the training I received from three generations of Master Painters and my own fortitude.

Today, it is a thriving business that the elite seek for specialized services. Making the decision to leave the corporate world into the unknown of entrepreneurship was the hardest decision I have made on the journey to starting the business. There are many life situations that led to my decision. One of my twins came back from serving in the Army as an Airborne Paratrooper in Afghanistan suffering terribly from PTSD. He ended up a homeless Veteran living on the streets of Madison, WI. His twin brother, who was in college at the time, decided to go with him after a year of his brother not coming home to assist with this disorder. I would work my corporate job during the day and drive two and a half hours by night to make sure they were ok. After several years of this, with their condition degrading rapidly, I was at a crossroads as to what to do.

A wise person once said, “Do what you can with what you have”. I thought back to our painting days and how healthy and happy we were to be doing something productive and the pride we felt with the result. Starting the business was the perfect solution in my mind to give my sons a hand up and not a handout. I got their buy in to sell a paint project here and there so they could make some money and 3 years later, they are independent, healthy, and thriving. Having the funds to start the business, buy equipment, start a website, network and logistics was a challenge, if not near impossible. I am thankful for the few but amazing people who helped us along the way, like my sister Pam who worked for no pay helping me get things organized. I wasn’t worried about the how, my why was big enough. We started with 2 purchased ladders and a rented sprayer working out of my dilapidated red Jeep.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It has not been a smooth road for me on this journey. Being a single mom of 4 now, money was not flowing for us. Financially we were struggling to even get materials needed for jobs. Another issue was, I was the only one with a driver’s license, so I spent day and night moving painters, materials and anything needed to get the projects completed, while making sales appointments on nights and weekends to gain new clientele. Between trying to raise my daughter amongst the chaos and keeping my sons alive, my path was seemingly hopeless, however, I had to keep going. The day I decided to keep my twins when I was 16, was the day I decided I would not stop in my journey to do everything I could to take care of my family.

Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We are a full-service, high end painting contractor, painting homes and business, interior and exterior. Initially, I founded the company with my two sons and myself working, giving them a safe space to grow and become independent. There were key decisions that drove us to the next level. We just opened a second location in the booming city of Austin, TX.

Every cent that we have made has gone back into the business. As we started with 2 ladders and a rented sprayer, we bootstrapped everything we needed to grow, eventually purchasing a shiny new sprayer, an SUV, a work truck, and an ample number of ladders crucial to the trade. This has enabled us to run multiple projects simultaneously and expand our outreach.

Since these steps have been taken, we have seen a 47%+ growth rate and are booked for future business well into next year. The company is growing exponentially.

During 2020 and 2021 while COVID threatened everything we strived for, we worked even harder. Those efforts paid off as we were the proud recipients of the Governor’s Business Excellence Award, recognized as a Rising Star for 2020. The Rising Star Award recognizes Wisconsin-based emerging certified businesses that have strong growth potential by virtue of their past performance, innovative products or services, business team or other distinct competitive advantage. We also won a 2021 Top Job Award for Wisconsin from American Painting Contractor Magazine for our painstaking work to bring a century old Victorian home back to life with paint!

My current strategy is to increase sales revenue by improving our website and an accurate and user-friendly quote request form, increase marketing through new advertising and posts, and boosting our referral program and executing it consistently. These three elements will help grow the company immensely, with most people online due to COVID-19 we need to be in front of them continually. Marketing efforts will drill down to our ideal clients and bring them in to do business with us. More people are working from home, seeing improvements needed inside their homes and outside. We want to be first in their minds when they make the decision to get estimates.

We, Brothers Painting, offer a service like no other. Our techniques span over three generations. We provide every client with incredible service, quality, cleanliness, and responsibility for everything we do. We are building our processes to ensure that each step required to complete a project is seamless and to the customer’s greatest satisfaction. Our high standard of quality never waivers. Our clients are treated with the highest standard of excellence. The “Brothers” have taken on Operations provides the Management roles so that as an owner, I can focus on Leadership, Management and Planning. Brothers Painting has hired and is developing a great group of people invested in seeing the company grow. I would love to see some of our young painters learn enough to start their own painting business someday or grow with us as we expand. We are celebrating the opening of our second location in Austin, TX just his year! We are gaining a great following through our quality work. Families love having us in their homes as they trust us. Most importantly, we treat our clients like family.

Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
Listen to your team. Your team is on the front lines of the company and hear and see so much of what the clients are saying, whether good or bad. All feedback is good feedback. Be flexible and willing to consider ideas and suggestions from your team. Trust your team.

Contact Info:

• Email: bosslady@brotherspaintpros.com
• Website: www.brotherspaintpros.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brotherspaintpros/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BrothersPainting

Image Credits:
Stacy Kaat