It is essential for business leaders to have good understanding of market dynamics and about utilizing technology effectively. To drive the success of the organization to great heights it needs to have a skilled leader who can create value-based organization in delivering its services consistently and reliably. Nick Lopez is one such skilled leader who considers important to tapping the potential of technology and in creating valued-based organization. Nick is the Founder of LIME Painting Franchise. LIME Painting Franchise is a values-based, high end franchise that focuses on custom residential and commercial interior and exterior painting while acting as a contracting service provider. As a values-based company, LIME stands for Love, Integrity, Mission, Excellence.
LIME Painting Franchise gives franchisees a platform to give back to their local community’s youth through LIME Light’s Four Pillars of Knowledge: Faith, Family, Patriotism, and Prosperity. It is the first and only high-end painting franchise company. With 40 different revenue streams, its Franchise owners have the ability to generate higher revenues on each job.
The Franchise Universe caught up with Nick Lopez to shed some light on his journey and his contribution through the LIME Painting Franchise.
Below are the highlights of the Interview:
Give us a brief overview of your position at Lime Painting Franchise, and your journey since inception.
I started my painting career in 2008 during the great recession while working on my marketing and sales degrees from Michigan State. As an out of state student from Denver, I started a painting company called Spartan College Painters to pay my way through college. After running the paint company for five years in college, I then moved back home and launched LIME Painting in 2013 with the intent to scale the niched high end focused paint company within more markets with underserved custom property owners. After proving out the business for a handful of years, launched the franchise in 2018.
As the Founder what is your opinion on the impact of the current pandemic on the Construction and Franchisee Industry?
The pandemic has provided LIME the opportunity to inspire people to fall back in love with their homes again through the services that we offer during a pandemic. As a result of people being home and not traveling, they are wanting more for the interior and exterior of their properties. As an essential business, we are able to serve customers in a safe way that abides by CDC recommendation ensuring that our employees, partners, and customers are safe.
What is your thought on the necessity of a positive work culture? In what ways do you implement it at your organization?
LIME is a people over profits organization. We value the people that work at LIME, the people that we serve, and the communities that we work in. As a family of business owners, each owner has the platform to use the resources and influence that the business provides to steward in a way that also gives back to the community, customers, and employees that contributed to the business location’s success.
What is your opinion on the necessity for businesses to align their offerings with newer technological developments, especially when it comes to building high-end homes and businesses?
LIME is a company that is made up of old school quality painting and coatings principles, but is a new aged marketing and technology driven company. From internal process to client facing platforms, LIME utilizes technology to ensure that LIME’s service is consistent and reliable. By utilizing technology LIME can streamline service and increase customer satisfaction. Most importantly, LIME’s focus on technology allows franchise owners to scale and develop a business by focusing on the metrics that matter most.
Please list your strategies and services that make you and your company standout from the competition.
Our competition is locally owned high end painting companies. LIME’s advantage is that we are the first and only national high end painting company. As the authority in luxury painting, LIME focuses on much more than just paint as custom properties are made up of many surfaces that deteriorate over time. Paint at its core is designed to protect surfaces from water and sun damage. Paint is much like a glove. However, on custome properties there are many other surfaces that deteriorate beyond just paintable. As a result, LIME does any kind of coating from direct to metal to elastomeric coatings, stains, lacquers, epoxy, sealers, and so on. Additionally, LIME will restore the surface that is needing a coating like stucco skim coating, carpentry, masonry, drywall, and more. LIME also does gutters as they are an extension to the coatings system. LIME offers 40 different painting, coatings, and surface restoration services on the interior and exterior of custom properties.
In what ways do you or LIME contributed to the community? If given a chance, what change would you bring to help other franchise start-ups?
LIME has a turnkey way for franchise partners across the country to give back in their local communities through LIME’s public charity non-profit LIME Light Outreach. LIME Light is focused on empowering the youth through LIME’s Four Pillars of Knowledge: Faith, Family, Patriotism, and Prosperity. Through LIME Light, franchise partners raise campaign funds through LIME Paintings loyalty rewards program as 50% of the one-time membership fee is contributed to the franchise locations bucket of campaign funds that are then used as a way to give back.
As an established business leader, what would be your advice to the budding entrepreneurs aspiring to venture into the high-end painting and franchise Industry?
For pioneer start up entrepreneurs, my advice is to think about owning a franchise where the systems are established, there is a community of other likeminded owners to collaborate, the brand well thought out, the technology built out, the marketing is turnkey, and there is training and support to assist in launching and running your business. On the flip side, pioneer start up entrepreneurs must spend the deliberate time failing forward competing in a dense market with established options for consumers. That path for a pioneer startup entrepreneur is lonely, requires much will power, high pain tolerance, and a healthy amount of optimism. I refer to franchise owners as the smart entrepreneurs and the startup pioneers as the crazy ones.
How do you envision on sustaining your franchisee competency in a cutthroat and volatile world of business? Where do you see your franchisee business in the next five years?
I see LIME remaining at the forefront of luxury painting due to the community of like-minded and extremely talented franchise partners that make up our brand. As a whole, we focus on collaboration, technology, and setting the industry standard. As the first to market as the world’s first and only high end painting franchise, LIME looks to continually set the standard for the luxury paint market.
Most importantly, LIME will be a beacon for a business that stands for and does good. By empowering our people with values that improve their lives and the people that they serve, being a values based company will make the communities that we work in a better place. LIME Painting will not only be an industry leader that provides tremendous value but an organization that puts people over profits with a focus on improving the community.
