Dive into the compelling narrative of Tyler, a Denver native and proud Colorado State University graduate, whose journey with LIME Painting evolved from General Manager to the company’s most tenured owner. Recently honored as the Franchise Multi-Unit Owner of The Year by the International Franchise Association in 2022, Tyler’s story is one of dedication, transition, and triumph. From childhood dreams of major league baseball to running a family-owned business with his mom, brother, and wife, Tyler’s passion for serving Boulder and Northern Colorado shines through. Tyler Fuss takes us into his journey with LIME Painting and shares how he levels up in the business. Join us for an episode filled with the joy of family, the thrill of adventure, and the essence of excellence in the world of franchising.
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We have another special episode of the people at LIME. Our guest started off as an entry-level salesperson in our founding location in Denver, Colorado. He became our second franchise owner and has grown to own six locations across multiple states. He generates over multiple seven figures in revenue. That’s a lot of value in the marketplace. He is the owner of LIME Painting of Northern Colorado and San Diego. If that was not enough, he is also the president of the Franchise Advisory Council at LIME Painting. It is my pleasure to welcome Tyler Fuss to the show.
It’s my pleasure, Nick. I’m excited to be on here.
It is an honor to have you. As I was thinking about how to introduce you, I was like, “I have to keep this short. The list could be so long.” You’ve become a friend, a brother, a business partner, and many other things. I thank you for making the time. This is a show where we’re able to share information with the world that helps them level up.
Most certainly, you have a unique ability to create teams, deliver value, and do it in a way that a lot of companies don’t. You genuinely lead with our values of love, integrity, mission, and excellence. It’s been awesome to see you grow into the leader that you are now, and I’m looking forward to seeing where you take your business and empire. Without further ado, let’s jump in. Tyler, if you wouldn’t mind sharing, how did you stumble into LIME, and where did you get started?
It all started at Greenwood Community Church in Greenwood Village. Shout out to Pastor Doug Brown. You and I were a part of a men’s bible study group, a discipleship program. We called ourselves the Guyples jokingly. I was at a place in my life where I realized I wanted to own a business, get out of Corporate America, and align myself with a company that had shared values. The more I looked into LIME, the more our relationship grew. The values of love, integrity, and mission excellence lined up with what I wanted to do. Ultimately, I loved the vision of doing business as a mission with you.
That’s what intrigued me. I liked the idea of working for a small business that gave back to the community. LIME Light Outreach is a tremendous organization that continues to grow year after year and impacts the youth and others in the community. The more I got to know you, the more I was excited to be a part of LIME. Before I jumped into owning, I wanted to make sure that I could do it, and the model worked. Five months in, I realized this model works. We bring tremendous value to the client, and it’s all client-focused.
When was it that you started at LIME? What year was that?
That was 2017. In some ways, it feels like a while, and in some ways, it feels like it was yesterday. The growth has been tremendous.
When I was getting ready to talk with you, I was thinking back on what year you started. The years fly by. Before we dive in further, I would like to hear from you what motivates you.
What motivates me is creating other opportunities for other people. The biggest reason for that is you created an opportunity for me. The impact that has had on me, I can’t speak enough to that. I looked for people that I wanted to serve and give an opportunity. It’s been neat. The first person I hired was my mom. The second person I hired was my brother. My brother and I are competing in love to have a top location at LIME and revenue, and most importantly, in service. He’s crushing it. He keeps me on my toes. That has been life-changing to him, just like it’s been life-changing to me.
My father passed away last December. He was ill for a lot of years. If my mom had stayed in Corporate America, she would not have been able to balance working and supporting my dad. My sister-in-law and my wife are here. We’re growing a team. Giving other people opportunities and trying to glorify God is what most motivates me. A lot of that stems from your leadership and what you’ve done in my life.
It is all about others and service. You are a humble individual here. I talk about this all the time. Success in business comes down to humility, especially in a service company like LIME. We have a saying at LIME, “We work in beautiful places for beautiful people with beautiful people.” It’s all about the people and serving while being heart-led. You have a genuine posture. Going all the way back to 2017, putting your best foot forward goes a long way.
I’m in my fifteenth year. I started painting in my freshman year of college. I would hear from clients things like, “Nick, thanks for showing up. Thanks for doing a good job. Thanks for answering your phone.” Those are differentiators in the paint space. You throw in all the other things that we pile on that. Who you are as an individual is unique. Customers have always gravitated toward that. It is simple to do things like answering your phone, showing up, and doing a good job.
You’re building this empire. That’s business and we’re talking about the service that we offer in luxury painting and serving customers, but you’re also an entrepreneur and a businessman. You’re building this empire. You’re not just talking about it. You’re doing it. Day by day, customer by customer, you have started at LIME from an entry-level position to a business owner, and you have continued to expand your footprint for growth. As an entrepreneur and a businessman, what is your vision for the empire that you’re building at LIME?
I would love to grow a business to $100 million in revenue. One of the things that I learned from you is that business is about people, serving your clients better than anyone else, bringing them more value than anyone else, and serving the people on your team. There’s a formula for success as far as scaling a business one.
Once you understand that formula and you attack that process, the business is going to grow and scale. You have to find the right people, treat them well, and give them the tools to be successful. You have to push when you need to push. You need to let off when you need to let off, but I want to grow a $100 million company, in the end, to give people the same opportunity you gave me. It has changed my life. Hopefully, I’ll be able to utilize some of the revenue from the business to plant churches and potentially pastor a church. That’s the end goal. I would love to strive to get there. If I fail, so be it. That’s what I’d like to shoot for.
That is a big, hairy, audacious goal, but that is represented by a lot of lives changed, customers served, and impact. You are using that success to turn around and give back. You’re talking about planning churches through the business. The M in LIME stands for Mission. We are using our business as a platform to give back and impact the communities that we serve and embody the values of LIME. Tyler, thanks for sharing that. When you think about giving customers exceptional value, what does that look like?
A lot of it ties back to our core values of integrity. A lot of our clients are white-collar. They know little to nothing about the trades. A lot of CEOs, lawyers, doctors, and entrepreneurs. It’d be easy to leave a job site without getting it right, without establishing a maximum water seal, or without prepping it properly. There are a lot of ways to make the project look good, but there are underlying issues.
It’s about going above and beyond little things. When we’re removing boards from a home, we make sure that we have a tarp and tools to get rid of all the nails. These are small things that you would think everyone would do, but not everyone does those things in the field. Listening and estimating. What’s important to this client? Make sure that you pay special attention to ensuring that. You take care of your client in that way.
It all goes back to bringing more value. You are training them to see the home the way you see it. You are training them on products and scopes. That creates accountability. They’re transparent with the process. We have a lot of good competition, a lot of good companies. A lot of times, people will handwrite an estimate on a napkin, and it’ll say, “Paint house.” There are no products or specifics to it.
In everything that we do, we try to bring as much value as we can. We try to serve them above and beyond. We want to do things that will go unnoticed that they don’t know, but that’s a part of having integrity. Over time, the word gets out. It’s an effective way to grow a business in general. If we model the way we do business the way that Christ lived, he humbled himself to become a mere human being. He washed people’s feet. There was nothing that he thought he was above. If we can have that same heart-led servant attitude and not just say it but do it, it’s the right thing to do. It leads to more opportunities, business, and growth.
You mentioned many things in there, but you started with integrity. By leading with a thorough consultation where you’re educating clients, you’re able to give them a perspective on their home that they’ve never had before. We’re a luxury paint company, and we work on custom homes. These custom homes have many different surfaces that make up the estate. As a result, each one of those surfaces deteriorates from sun and water damage.
By heavily vetting solutions that are high grade, from the stamped concrete to the siding to the trim and all of the accent surfaces, every surface is assessed and advised based on thorough preparation, creating an ideal profile for a vetted top coat to perform and protect it from sun and water damage. That is different.
Leading with integrity, vetting out, and creating that accountability that you talked about are exceptional values. When you think about training your team, you don’t impact a ton of clients by yourself. You do that with the team. When you’re thinking about working with your team and helping them understand what we talked about, how do you see the folks on your team embodying exceptional value?
It’s our culture and it’s the people that we’re looking to hire. Having a growth mindset that you can coach people up and people can change, but we try to start with the right people. We went through many interviews to get the quality folks that we have to partner with us in business. We wanted to work with people that had that same heart to serve.
Every single one of our leadership meetings, every single one of our meetings with a team, is always about when we’re identifying issues, discussing them, and solving them. It’s always intended to make it easier for our artisans, make it more profitable for our artisans, make it easier and better for our clients, and make it easier for each other.
How do we serve each other to grow the business together so that there are more opportunities for others, including the people who are already on the team? If we want to have a couple of general managers, a regional manager, a director of estimating, a director of production, a controller, and all these things that we talk about, we have to do business the right way.
It consumes every single conversation we have. We look to you in the home office and all the subcommittees that are affiliated with a FAC. We’re reading books like The 12 Week Year. That’s high-performance driven. We try to marry that with a service-led attitude. I don’t know a better way to grow a business and to do it right. I learned a lot of that from you and other good mentors in my life. It’s the people. I feel like we get that we try to get the right people.
You mentioned something in there that I want to make sure is not glazed over. You talked about this idea of artisans. What do you mean by that?
I look at them much more than painters. First of all, painting is an incredible art in and of itself. It’s something that brings a tremendous amount of value to these homes. A lot of people don’t know about coating systems and the importance of maintaining a home, but a lot of them do a lot more. They do carpentry, masonry, and stonework. They are artists.
When you look at the fact that we work on Victorian homes in Boulder off of Mapleton Ave, a lot of times, those homes have 8 or 9 colors. You want to talk about having plain cut lines when there are eight colors on 100-year-old fish scale siding with twenty layers of paint. That’s not easy. I do consider them artists. I know I couldn’t do it. I’ve tried, and it’s a skilled art.
Going back to my college days, I remember hiring college kids. There’s a big difference between folks who are committed to the industry, in that example, college kids, and the craftsmen in the space who do it professionally. There are different levels of craftsmanship and the top-tier artists. There is incredible talent in the work that our artisans do. You can’t do anything but appreciate the transformations that they provide. Thanks for sharing that.
Continuing on the theme of our values, when you look at the value of excellence, that’s a standard. We talk a lot about poor, average, good, great, and excellent. Those are different standards. Going back to our founding days, these were conversations that we had before we even started scaling when you were working in our founding location.
Every year, we were trying to increase the bar. One year, we said, “Excellence, we get that. Let’s go for another tier.” We went world-class. That was themed by service. The difference between an ordinary paint job and a luxury paint job, having that world-class experience. There are standards. LIME is a high-performance culture. We’re heart-led and servant based.
Love, integrity, and mission are important values, but excellence creates this high-performance culture and this incredible standard. I’ve talked all about it, but I would love to hear from you. When you’re working with clients, you’re building your team, and you’re in your community, how do you look at delivering role class service?
For me, it’s because we’re team building. It’s about providing the tools and the expertise to our team because they’re the representatives and the face of LIME. They’re who the clients interact with most. We have meetings three times a week with our team where we go over some training. Sometimes, it’s how you handle customers with certain personalities, being patient with some. Maybe they don’t fully understand what we’re doing, being patient and loving in that. Sometimes, it’s more expertise in coatings. What type of tips do we use on sprayers, and how often should we change them? It’s being able to identify and audit projects extremely well so that we get people the best possible service.
We have partnered with and leveraged our relationships with Sherwin Williams and Benjamin Moore to the point where they’ve allowed us to use their warehouses to onboard and train crews. Before we even put them on the house, we’re able to vet out new products and use sprayers to make sure we’re spraying properly. They help train us.
A lot of times, we’ll put them on a small trim job. We’ll let the client know, “This is a new artisan crew that we’re working with. We’re going to work on your trim. We’re going to get it right.” We’re transparent with that. It allows our craftspeople, over time, to level up their game to the point where we feel comfortable putting them in large custom homes. The other thing is safety and training. We are studying OSHA and studying how we keep these folks safe. It’s going to make everyone more comfortable. With me, it’s going to allow me to sleep more at night. Our account managers, production coordinators, whatever the role is. Most importantly, it keeps them safe.
World-class customer service and the values at LIME are all driven by the title of your show. How do we continue to level up? We’ll never arrive. We’ll never be perfect. We tell our clients, “We’re going to get overspray. Something will likely go wrong, but if you trust us, we do have integrity. This is everything to us. This business is important. We must serve people well. Know that if something goes wrong, we will get it right. We stand by what we do.”
We’re not running anywhere. Painting is a simple business. It’s not complex. That’s the beautiful thing. If something goes wrong in the world of painting, it’s gone on a brick and gets cleaned off. If something doesn’t look quite right in terms of the finish and cut lines aren’t quite clean enough, they get touched up.
It’s an easy solution in the paint space because most of the time, the solution is to touch it up, recode it, and clean it up. When you have the posture of making it right, satisfaction is guaranteed. It’s a practical process. When you have a genuine relationship with a client, set the right expectations, and communicate proactively, that is a world-class service. One of the things you were talking about that was impressive was the attention to detail in developing the talent. It’s not about the relationship. It’s important to get the service right and have the expertise and the ability to deliver all of the services that we offer for luxury estates and custom homes.
We’ve talked quite a bit about the team, the artisans, the clients, and the approach. A lot of this is talking about culture. From a cultural perspective, how do you do that? How do you lead your team and your organization to adopt this type of culture? This is not normal. It takes a lot of intentional effort. You alluded to it a little bit earlier. You said, “We’re always emphasizing, leading, and drilling down on these points. When you are building the culture, and there’s a lot more culture and business for you to build, how do you go about creating this type of culture?
As I grew the business and believed in what I was preaching, you got to a point where you said, “I better live this out because if I’m going to expect my team to live it out, I better be leading from the front. I better be doing it myself because they’re watching.” I haven’t done it perfectly, but my team knows where my heart is. When I make mistakes, I own up to it. I was like, “I didn’t handle that right. I’m sorry. Here’s what I’m going to do differently next time. Here’s how I’m going to fix that.” No one is above anyone on the team.
When you can not only provide the vision and understanding for people, this isn’t going to benefit you. It’s going to benefit our clients, artisans, and you. You don’t realize the impact of things that you do. This is a small thing, but for example, if ClickUp isn’t updated, and we have all these different locations, and we’re sharing crews, that can impact somebody in Fort Collins trying to schedule a job.
Helping them understand, casting that vision, providing the why behind it, I can’t change somebody’s heart. I can’t necessarily motivate them. In some ways, what can help people get there is by living it out. I do it imperfectly. I make mistakes all the time, but I try to hold myself accountable in front of everyone. We’ll have meetings with the whole team. I’ll call myself out, and I’ll share how I can be better. My hope is that I can be a good example for them. I’m not a perfect example, but at least they know Tyler’s heart is in the right place. He is a man of his word. He lives it out.
When you see the fruit and the evidence of that, for me, at least when I see other leaders do that, I want to follow that guy or that gal. That’s what we’re starting to see. It’s not me. It’s Amanda. Our whole team lives it out. I’ve had mentors like you, Pastor Doug Brown, and my current pastor, Nick Katie, Armen Khadiwala, and Nick Lang at Northwestern Mutual, and many incredible people and high performers that they weren’t about the bottom line. They were about serving people, not preaching, but living it out.
I bought a franchise system for a reason. It’s already there. I just have to follow it. If it has the right value and process, it’s going to take off. That’s why LIME has taken off. I’m not that smart. I’m following what others have done. If I can add one or two nuggets here or there of studying other people, reading books, and applying them. It’s a good recipe. Our team has adopted that.
We have a couple of leaders who are mentoring those underneath them. We’re providing the coaching to them so they can provide the coaching to others. I told them, “This is what Nick did for me. I’m doing what Nick taught me, and I’m teaching you the same thing. We might have slightly different personalities, but it worked.” It has worked for a ton of people. You look at what’s happened with Jim, Luke, me, Joe Atella and Matt. I could go on and on.
When you find something that works, and it’s not broken, don’t fix it. You can add a little to level it up in a way that will work for your business and your location. It stemmed from many others who have impacted my life. I left out my father and my mom. I follow what I think people do well. That’s what has changed our culture.
It wasn’t always like that. I had to go through adversity. I had to be humbled to get to that point where I lived it out, and I fully bought into it. You have to go through adversity to get to that point. I’m grateful for the adversity that I’ve gone through at times in my life. It humbled me, brought me to my knees, put me in a better place, and given me a better perspective on things.
You’re certainly shooting for the stars and pulling many folks along with you. That requires tremendous growth. You call it on your knees. Practically speaking, that’s what happened, but it was an accumulation of pursuing this vision and having this standard for creating this impact. I admire your persistence, diligence, and commitment to who you are and where you’re going. When I asked you to talk about culture, I did not think you were going to say that you lived it out. That is great leadership. It’s one thing to bark orders and not live it out. It’s a different perspective.
You want to follow that person when you know that they are in the fight and have your back. You’ve seen many things at LIME change, all the way back to the founding location and to where we are now. You mentioned that we’re growing rapidly. From your perspective, what have you noticed change at LIME?
There’s a tremendous amount of change at LIME, but the heart and the drive have remained the same. I always tell people, “Nick Lopez is legendary.” There were certain people like Kobe Bryant when he passed away, but people didn’t necessarily appreciate that. When he was gone, you’re like, “That dude was a big-time leader.” We need to appreciate people while they’re still here for the leadership they have.
I thought I knew what hard work was before I joined LIME. I saw you working six days a week and extremely long hours, and who knows what you were going through. The pain points early on in starting a business. You have to be fully committed. There’s no work-life balance, in my opinion. When you’re an entrepreneur and you’re growing a business, if you go into it of, “I’m going to work 40 hours a week.” That might work.
If you’re okay with running a small business forever and you do not necessarily want to grow, there’s nobility in that, and that’s fine. If you want to grow a business the way you have, it’s hard work, and it’s consistent over the years. You’ve been in the business for fifteen years. I still don’t know if I know someone who works harder and dedicated. So much of it is hard work and dedication. It all stems from the heart. That is what’s led to those changes because when you do put in the work, you always say, “Behavior equals outcome.” When you pay attention to the details, drive the revenue to create a mess, and clean it up by hiring more people and creating more operations, that’s how you level up.
Before I started, you guys were still in the corporate location. We were handwriting estimates. We got a new CRM where you could attach videos and pictures. It was extremely detailed. The whole vision the entire time was always about how to level up. How do we get better? How do we get better with our tech stack? How do we get better with our customer service? How do we get better with our training? Every single year, you get better at training.
We created training software for people, LIME Elite Academy, and that’s been a game changer. I onboard a new VRC or salesperson, account manager, and people who are selling and managing projects. They get to go through a robust training program that walks them through every single aspect of the LIME way, from the door pitch all the way through getting a customer review, reaching out to them next year for a follow-up, and potentially booking more work. The attention and detail every single year, the intention is to level up.
In 2020, we had five locations or something like that, and now we’re at 90 locations. We did it from the ground level up. We weren’t highly leveraged in cash. Some companies can throw $1 billion out and grow a company quickly. That can be sustainable. Oftentimes, it’s not. You did it from the ground up. You did it the right way and in a sustainable way. I can’t think of anything where we haven’t moved forward. Even at times when it feels like we’re moving back, you have to go through those pain points to move forward. It’s always an opportunity to grow.
Everything from our CRM to our production software, to our in-the-field technology, to our training, to a better understanding of products, to partnering with Ben Moore and PPG in conjunction with Sherwin Williams, to leveraging those opportunities to establishing national accounts for residential and commercial to having more safety protocol to have more of a robust production manual. It seems like in a short period of time, thanks to your hard work and that of a lot of others at LIME. I can’t think of an area where we haven’t grown significantly from my first year.
That’s why I invested in Colorado Springs after our first year and in three more locations in San Diego. We believe in the direction it’s going. It’s not for everyone, but that’s okay. We’re looking for the right owners and people who see the opportunity, want to get after it, and have the same heart. We’re all diverse and different, but we want to have the same core values of love, integrity, mission, and excellence.
There is a lot of change and growth, but I love how you said that consistency is at the core of what we do, which is our business. It’s all about our customers. We’re growing our footprint and delivering our unique service. We’re standardizing what it means to experience a luxury paint project nationally. There’s no other company nationally that’s doing what we’re doing. That core focus has always remained the same, but as you’re growing an organization, there are many departments, teammates, and folks that go into expanding that objective.
Thanks for those compliments. That means a lot. There’s a lot of hard work. For an individual like yourself, you have visions and aspirations for the future. Many things are about timing. You have a unique perspective as a ground-level pre-franchising and second franchise owner. We’re at 90 locations, coast to coast, 21 states. It’s been a heck of a ride. In many ways, we’re just getting started, which is exciting.
We’re talking about an organization changing. You talked about sustainability and being able to improve the value that we give customers from market to market. The marketplace is always changing, and customer demands are always shifting. We want to define and remain as the authority and luxury coatings and painting.
A part of a franchise organization is the Franchise Advisory Council. How we change organizationally to better serve our customers is where those committees and collaboration come together. That is the core of a healthy franchise system. You were voted by the owners as the president of the Franchise Advisory Council. Why is that role important to you?
It goes back to giving back. I keep bringing up the opportunity you gave me, but look how it’s changed my life and those around me. I wanted to give support to the best of my ability while still running my own businesses. The power of collaboration, which you wrote about in your book, is powerful. We have owners who are highly intelligent. They have previous experience in Corporate America and small or middle-sized businesses. There’s a lot that we can learn from that.
I was very humble to be voted into that role. Since then, we’ve started subcommittees. That was an idea my wife proposed. It was a good one. We invite all owners to collaborate with us and be a part of that, and not just people who are a part of the FAC. Other owners can join and provide insight and ideas on how we can continue to level up.
I get to be a part of the finance committee, where we talk about how you increase profitability not only for yourself but also for your subs. How do you understand the numbers so that you can make wise decisions in terms of hiring and so many other aspects? We have a tech stack committee to level people up on their knowledge of technology.
When you have an entire organization working together, that’s how you grow. People feel like they have a voice and influence because they do. There’s a lot of buy-in to it. It’s been a tremendous journey. I hope that I can bring more value to the last four months of the year. We’re in phase three of this of the year. It’s when some markets slow down a little bit, and it’s a great opportunity for us to get after it.
Our version of the Franchise Advisory Council is quite innovative. At the core of it, it’s all about collaboration. We don’t want to have a top-down approach. We subscribe to the upside-down pyramid. That has gained tremendous traction over the past years. We’re at a tipping point with it, where the next year is going to create a lot of value for customers in the market and provide our franchise owners more tools and resources to do that and serve our customers in our markets. Tyler, why do you think somebody should invest in a LIME Painting franchise?
I’ll tell you what intrigued me. I spoke about the values and relationship with you, but the fact that we are the only high-end national coatings company and surface restoration company to my knowledge in the world, certainly in the United States, one of the things I like about that is the average paint cell in the United States is somewhere between 2,800 and 3,100. I’ve seen different stats on it, whereas ours at LIME, depending on the market, is at least 10,000. In a lot of markets, it’s a lot more than that.
When you think about the fact that rather than having 80 subcontractors where you’re doing a ton of volume and you have no idea who you’re putting on a home, we get to target the projects and the clients we want to work on to ensure that we do a quality job. The margins are great because our clients, as I mentioned, a lot of CEOs, executives, and business owners, are willing to pay. They’re looking for a Mercedes. The great thing about that is that they’re going to pay you more. You better fulfill your promises, do an excellent job, and provide world-class customer service because that opens up many more opportunities.
It allows you to pay the artisans better than any company that I’m aware of. What does that do? It creates loyalty. You’re taking care of them. You’re paying them fairly. When I was in Denver, we always had barbecues with them. They would come over to your house like we were brothers. They were our brothers and sisters. A lot of companies do not have that. That’s a differentiator in the marketplace.
The branding and the marketing get your attention. The marketing is tremendous. When we are canvassing neighborhoods, we wear lime green shirts. We might wear black ones or white ones to manage jobs, but the green is bullish. It stands out. I did a validation call with a lady from Chicago. I asked her, “Why did you look at LIME?” She goes, “I love your model, the branding, and what you guys stand for.”
For me, it’s not just the money, which is good, but it’s all of it. It’s the way that we manage production. We do ensure quality. We ensure custom results and lasting impressions. We go above and beyond. The other thing is you can scale it. Hopefully, we’re going to see a lot of owners own a ton of territories. We’re already seeing existing owners purchase more. That’s going to continue.
The average franchise in the United States net income is around $30,000 to $35,000. Ours is quite a bit higher than that. Without breaking down the numbers, I don’t want to speak to the latest FDDs, but the income and the value from the home office are there. We have national success coaches who can crunch numbers and help you train your team. I could go on and on. I’m all in. Hopefully, we’re far from being done with expanding our little empire at LIME. Nick, you’re going for $1 billion. I’m putting it out there for you. We’d love to be 10% of that. I hope we get to $2 billion. We’ll be 5%. It’s a good company to be a part of. I’m grateful to be a part of it.
Our ten-year goal, our big, hairy, audacious goal, is a billion-dollar organization. It’s uncomfortable to say that, but if it’s not uncomfortable, it’s not a big enough goal. You were talking about customers wanting to pay more to get more. You think about painting. Nobody is going to overpay. That’s not our position in the market, but you can think of LIME a lot like Uber Black. You want to opt-in for a nicer vehicle. You’re not going to pay a crazy amount for that, but you are willing to pay more for that.
LIME pairs clients and custom homeowners with high-grade solutions that have been vetted. There’s a lot of transparency and education that go into the consulting process for how to do it correctly. That is our positioning. That’s where we are in the marketplace. It’s an exciting venture to be defining what it means to be the authority and luxury painting. We’ve talked about our values, love, integrity, mission, and excellence. Which one is your favorite value and why?
I would say love because it starts with love. To have integrity, you have to love the person more than yourself at times. The mission for me is to spread the gospel. At times, I’ve been afraid to do that because I’m like, “I fall far short of the glory of God.” It’s not about me. It’s about Him. Hopefully, there aren’t negative consequences that come my way from that, but if so, be it.
It’s well-intentioned. I’m a sinner. I’m certainly saved by grace. That motivates me to want to be a better person. Excellence goes back to if you love your employees, painters, suppliers, vendors, and everyone you work with, you’re going to put your best effort forward to improve their lives. For me, it all starts with love, and it works its way out.
I do want to say something quick on that last segment. Thank you for bringing that up. We charge people fairly. I want that to be clear. We’re looking for people who want that luxury car and paint job. We charge appropriately based on that. That gives us so many different opportunities. When you fulfill your promises, you expand your clientele base. For me, it starts with love.
Tyler, it has been an honor having you on the show. Thank you for your leadership and how you set the example at LIME. Thank you for the posture that you have with your team, customers, and artisans. This is a family business for you and the Fusses. It’s been remarkable having your family a part of LIME. You’re a huge part of why we are where we are now.
Thank you for sharing your story and your knowledge on the Level Up Show, which is this special episode of the people at LIME. This is an amazing individual. I look forward to having you on the show in the future and seeing where your empire is at. Tyler, if anyone would like to get in touch with you, how can they do that?
Shoot me an email. My email is TFuss@LIMEPainting.com. I’ll get in touch with you through that avenue.
Reach out to Tyler if you have any questions, but please, it’s important that you click the subscribe button. That’s how we are able to continue to grow and bring thought leaders like Tyler to you to help you level up. Like the video and contribute to the conversation. Drop a comment down below. We would love to hear your thoughts on this conversation. As always, level up.
Tyler is a native of Denver and a graduate of Colorado State University. Before LIME Painting became a franchise company, Tyler was the General Manager of the Denver and Boulder locations and was thrilled when the CEO welcomed him to become an owner. He is currently the most tenured owner at LIME and was recently recognized as Franchise Multi-Unit Owner of The Year by the International Franchise Association in 2022.
Tyler’s goal as a kid was to become a major league baseball player or run a family-owned business. While his 78 mile per hour fast ball did not lead him to the big leagues, he is living out his dream by working with his mom, brother, and wife, by serving the wonderful people of Boulder and Northern Colorado.
For fun, Tyler enjoys spending time with family, hiking, biking, camping, and traveling. He loves all things college football, NBA, and MLB.