Jesse Brown built Spray Marks to give his people a career, a safe livelihood, and eventually their own home, the same path it gave him. But growing headcount and repeated hesitations risked that same promise. When a fifth business was incorporated under the Spray Marks umbrella, landing on an operation already stretched to breaking, Jesse couldn't afford another hesitation. Business Growth School and Point16 gave him the speed to act before two decades of work unravelled.
The Challenge
Jesse has spent 22 years inside Spray Marks, starting at the bottom and working his way up through supervisor, manager and divisional manager roles before taking a controlling share of the business that has five divisions and around 150 people. His driving goal is giving people a better way of life, helping them into their first homes and taking care of the roads and community Spray Marks calls home.
For two decades, Jesse associated growth and success with headcount. Every time they hired or acquired a new division, it was seen as proof the business was winning. What that habit created was a snowball effect, a bigger, more complex beast than the current systems could support. Jesse started to realise that this kind of growth could turn against him: if conditions ever retracted, the business wouldn't shrink cleanly, it would cost people their jobs. That risk sat directly against the one thing Jesse actually cared about, the careers and homes he wanted the business to keep building for people, not take away.
Waiting for certainty had already cost him once. When the government scrapped the industry standard governing one of his divisions, it left the whole industry without one, and whoever moved first could become the go-to authority other businesses would follow. Jesse hesitated on the opportunity, and the business lost the chance to be that leader.
Then came a decision with far more riding on it: acquiring a fifth business that could catapult Spray Marks forward. In Jesse's own words, it was "going to be a monster," complete with its own management structure and its own culture to fold into a group already stretched thin. This time the stakes weren't a missed market gap, they were the stability of everything he'd built for the people depending on him. Getting this wrong wasn't an option. Something had to change, and it had to change fast.
Jesse carried most of these decisions alone. "I knew it could be done better," he says. "Trying to stretch across five separate business models all by myself, I needed some guidance and strategy."
The Approach
Jesse had already heard how effective Business Growth School was, so committing took no hesitation. Six days spread over two months meant he could keep learning without stepping away from running Spray Marks.
He walked in with the all too common ‘imposter syndrome’, surrounded by businesses that he thought were bigger and further along than his own. That feeling didn't last. Hearing another owner in the room describe the exact same struggle, just at a different scale, was the first real relief: he wasn't the only one white-knuckling decisions he wasn't sure about.
The ideas landed faster than Jesse could execute them. Most nights through the programme he was implementing new processes and learnings that had massive effects running through every layer of his business.
The Result
The clearest sign of what changed is how quickly Jesse is able to confidently move on the calls he used to sit on. A session on software tools gave him the confidence and information to stop assuming every big project needed an outside contractor. With guidance from his coach, Jesse was able to build an app, database and management interface in-house instead, specific to his company, avoiding $960,000 in contractor costs and a three-year timeline.
The same instinct carried into health and safety. A simple system he adapted from the course turned into a weekly focus point for basic habits on site. Within six months, he was able to better protect his staff by reducing ankle injuries across his roughly 150 staff by 66%.
Learnings weren’t confined to the classroom. Daily stand-ups became quick check-ins, communication gaps between departments were closed, and efficiency gaps in operations were found and fixed. Jesse applies the practicality of BGS instantly: direct reporting is proactive, and a live collaboration dashboard has replaced legacy, defunct systems, keeping the whole team on the same page.
"Catch it quick, catch it small, and a eight out of ten plan is a good start. You can perfect it later, just get the momentum going."
- Jesse Brown, Director, Spray Marks
Success now means the same result, or better, without growing headcount or risking people's livelihoods. Five divisions is a lot to hold, and twenty-two years on the tools had taught Jesse plenty, but never how to write a strategy, let alone stick to one. Six days at Business Growth School changed that, and left him with a plan he could finally hand to the people counting on him. "BGS removed the shroud around how to make a strategy."
Is there a call you have been sitting on?
If Jesse's story sounds familiar, let's talk about whether it fits your business. Get in touch to book a Discovery Call and find out whether Business Growth School is right for your business.
