Today we’d like to introduce you to Steve Guzman.
Hi Steve, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I am the son of immigrants who came to the States to be close to family in the early ’90’s. After I was born, looking for better work opportunities, and because they missed their home, they returned to rural Mexico. I called Mexico home until age 17, when I had the opportunity to finish my high school education in Southern California.
After high school, I served a two year church service mission. During this time, I discovered my ability to listen to people, and understand their needs. That has translated into a lifetime of, together with my wife, trying my best to serve God and others in the community around me. Shortly after my missionary work, I worked in construction, and alarm system installation. It paid the bills, and formed a work ethic that would serve me through well through the next few years. I dreamed of working for myself and starting my own business.
We relocated to my wife’s hometown of Kansas City in 2016. After working a few jobs to support my young family, and after a family tradgedy, I realized that my biggest priority was my family. I made the switch to the painting industry in an effort to find a work-life balance, and be present to help support my extended family through a difficult period of time. As I made the switch, I started at the very beginning, cleaning brushes, and masking walls for paint.
I was fortunate to find a patient teacher in my father-in-law who taught me the basics. I quickly found that I loved the process of taking a space and helping it reach its full potential through paint. As a young father, I relied on what I had learned through my service experiences in previous work and as a missionary, and tried to understand the needs of the people around me to help them realize the visions they had for their homes. After a few years, and with the encouragement of my father-in-law, I was given the opportunity to take a few jobs on my own.
I decided to learn as much as I could about paint. I found every store training, video, program, podcast and person who could teach me about products, techniques, and tricks of the trade. My work and business became a passion for me. While striving to become a master craftsman and serve the community around me, I became obsessed with customer service. I am always trying to find new techniques and methods to make the painting process better, and to make the customer experience easier. As I have shifted my focus to the bigger picture of the business, I have been fortunate to find people just as dedicated as I am to the work and the process to help our customers achieve the vision they have for their home through paint.
I believe that being a true craftsman means looking for ways to master my skills as a tool to serve others. I believe that as we become true masters of a craft, it leads us to God and helps us to better serve him. I strive to reflect the values of my faith and the love that I have for God in the work and business that I do. I truly believe that this world is beautiful, and I can add to the beauty in it by mastering the craft and helping others to live, and work in a place that is beautiful and helps them to meet their needs.
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?
It has not been a smooth road…
Working long hours, holidays, Christmas
I worked till midnight on my 30th birthday and my wife had fallen asleep on the couch with dinner waiting for me.
We paid for groceries on credit cards waiting for paychecks to come from people who didn’t pay us..
We had employees steal left over paint and found them selling in on Marketplace.
Finding employees who were dedicated enough to show up and follow through on commitments
We started the business during the pandemic, it was a huge leap of faith to start the business in the middle of people being wary of outside interaction and people loosing their jobs.
I had no choice but to push through and make it work to support my family.
As you know, we’re big fans of Bee Square Pro Paintning. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Bee Square Pro Painting is known for our commitment to quality work, and our commitment to helping our customers achieve their vision, whatever that may be. We want to help people live and work in the best versions of their space.
If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
I grew up in a small rural community in Vera Cruz, Mexico. I was pretty reserved, and spent a lot of time at home. Being an only child meant that I played, and did a lot of activities by myself. My parents both worked, and taught me to do the same. At a young age I began selling, or trying to sell, anything that I could door to door, convincing people around me (mostly family friends and relatives) to buy anything from hand made drawings to pineapples from the land we worked, also Mexican pastries, tilapias and other families business adventures. I was motivated to leave my small community and study in the capital, knowing that my potential for growth was outside of the small community where my family had lived for generations.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://beesquarepro.com
- Instagram: @beesquarepro
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/19aMeQkDLC/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steve-guzman-307279145
