We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Reggie Pettegrew. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Reggie below.

Hi Reggie, thanks for joining us today. How did you scale up? What were the strategies, tactics, meaningful moments, twists/turns, obstacles, mistakes along the way? The world needs to hear more realistic, actionable stories about this critical part of the business building journey. Tell us your scaling up story – bring us along so we can understand what it was like making the decisions you had, implementing the strategies/tactics etc.

Nothing is given in this business, everything is earned. Whether it’s trust or reputation, it’s something you have to work for. Most people come up with ideas and assume it’s as easy as creating an “LLC” and calling it good. They figure the business will come to them (If its a service based business) , They think it’s a simple exchange of services for profit and the business is self sufficient. When in reality, it’s not. It’s hounding social media/ google / coffee houses / community boards ect. for leads. It’s staying up late into the night working on marketing strategies, writing up and sending estimates, it’s normalizing a 20+ hour work day and then taking a couple hour nap just to wake up and do it again. Before you scale, you have to lay the foundation. Your name has to be “clean” within your community. This means when someone asks about you or your business the response is undeniably positive, only then will someone feel like they can trust you.

Kind of like you moving to a new town and you’re looking for a good place to eat. More times than not you are going to ask around and ultimately take someones recommendation, because that person told you that place is” great” or “the food is to die for”, or maybe even “it’s the best around”, you will go to try it out. However, you’re not going to go to a place where someone tells you “it’s a dump” or “it has the most health code violations” ect. . The same goes for a service based business. When me and/or my team show up to someones property to work, they’re going to know about our reputation off the bat. They would’ve already googled us or seen us working in the neighborhood and have witnessed the quality of work first hand. The best most common way people find out about us, is through word of mouth. “People send us their people”. Which is very true. We have serviced/painted entire family trees. Started with a mom and dad, then aunts/uncles and then grandparents , and eventually the adult kids. Talk about respect! Our name and reputation in the communities we serve is very seriously taken.

After you lay the groundwork and establish a couple customers as a base, you MUST then make your presence know on social media. Whether you like it or not, most everyone is on some form of social media . To get started, all you need is some before/after pictures to post and you’re on your way. Sticking on the subject of social media, I then had to join every single community page for the communities you’re going to serve. This is a form of network marketing, that like mine has helped advertise for my company and spread the word.

You’ve marketed your business, you’ve showcased projects and you “hit the ground running”. You complete job after job secured by JUST a handshake. THEN IT HITS. I’ve always given people the benefit of the doubt. I trusted people to hold up their part of the bargain, and then out of the blue they don’t. They soil that line of thinking for everyone else. After the first time of getting stiffed on a job, I had to consult an attorney and get a legal binding contract written up. There’s no bitter feelings, it was our fault for not anticipating that possibility. You just “chalk it up” as a loss and move forward. No matter what business you’re in, you WILL hit some bumps in the road. Some potentially worse than others.

Having an accounting and banking background, the numbers have alway came easy to me. Whether it was invoicing, writing up purchase orders to managing the budget on certain projects and balancing the books and more, it’s all second nature. I do advise however, if you do not come from such a background I suggest seeking help from a professional as this can make or break your business. You need to know where every dollar is and what it’s doing at all times.

Starting from scratch in 2019, we didn’t have much as a business. Through the hustle and relentless work, right now in 2022 we have grown from 2 managing/working partners to now having 4 full time employees and 1 part time employee. We have done a higher volume of sales year over year and now we are about to do more than the last 3 years combined!

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?

My name is Reggie Pettegrew and together with my business partner Max Adams, we have created “RAX Drywall and Paint” in early 2019. We not only provide a variety of drywall and painting services but we provide an experience. With us you will not only be our customer but you become part of the family. You will receive top notch customer service, an unbeatable price, industry leading workmanship and your complete satisfaction. With nearly 120 combined years of experience in this field we know we can handle your job, big or small. Not only does how we do business set us apart from anyone else, we also outshine our competitors by what we give back to the communities we serve. After all, without them we have nothing! Since inception in 2019, RAX Drywall and Paint has sponsored multiple softball teams (Strongsville/Brookpark/Parma) year after year (Some of which us owners have also played on and coached!) , but also sponsor the annual cruise in at Mootown Creamery in Berea. We believe in giving back not only because we were given the opportunity to but also because so much has been given to us through the years of earning your business.
I run an interaction based business. – Solving the problem of keeping up with the times. Whether its fixing a stress crack on the ceiling/ fixing water damaged areas up high or low, to painting the outside of your home and raising your property value by THOUSANDS, we do it ALL!
Providing Commercial or Residential drywall and painting services we are your one stop shop. From hanging, finishing, patching , painting and more, we don’t take it lightly getting invited through your door!

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

Preforming the work requested in a timely, cost efficient manner. I treat everybody’s property as if it was my own. If I wouldn’t do it to my house/property, I won’t do it to yours. I think people really respect that.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Social media is one of the most important tools when it comes to marketing a business. However, it can also be the worst for small business owners. To make your presence known on social media you have to first establish the radius of the area in which you serve. Once you have that figured out it’s all about marketing yourself. Community pages are a big one, as most people will entertain your offer if someone else within your community has trusted you. Like us, the main social media you need to have created is a Facebook page, Google page and Instagram page. These platforms will exponentially grow your business and get the word out for you.
The unfortunate part about it is that you’re susceptible to peoples random rage that could decimate and destroy your good name forever with a single review.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @raxfamllc
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/raxdnp
• Yelp: RAX Drywall and Paint
• Other: Google: RAX Drywall and Paint