Colby Davis has made plenty of mistakes building his business, and he’s sure he’ll make plenty more. The key is learning from them instead of repeating them. Here are a few that stand out in his journey with Davis Painting.
Mistake one: hiring too fast without proper vetting. Early on, Colby was desperate for help and brought people on without really understanding if they were a good fit. Some of them were great, but others caused problems that took months to clean up. He learned to slow down the hiring process, check references carefully, and trust his gut when something feels off.
Mistake two: underpricing jobs to win work. When he was starting out, Colby thought being the cheapest option was the path to growth. All it did was attract price-focused customers who were never satisfied and drain his margins. He learned that the right customers value quality and reliability over rock-bottom pricing, and those are the customers he wants to work with.
Mistake three: avoiding difficult conversations. Colby used to let problems simmer because he didn’t want to deal with confrontation. That always made things worse. Now he addresses issues quickly and directly, and he’s found that most people appreciate the honesty even if the conversation is uncomfortable.
Mistake four: trying to do everything himself for too long. Colby wore his busyness like a badge of honor, but all it did was create a bottleneck. The business couldn’t grow because everything ran through him. Learning to delegate and trust his team was one of the hardest but most important shifts he made.
Every mistake taught Colby something valuable. He’d rather fail, learn, and improve than play it safe and stay stuck.