May 8, 2017

Meet Cedric Willis of Veteran Brothers Painting in Lithonia

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Cedric Willis.

Cedric, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
As the name of our company suggest, we are both military veterans and we are actual brothers. We are actual Atlanta natives; born at Grady Memorial Hospital. We are two of four children from a close family. Growing up, our summers were spent in LaGrange, GA, with our grandparents. They played a major role in developing us with the love they gave us, the discipline they DEFINITELY gave us, and, of course, the care we needed. Both of us graduated from Hapeville High School. We are both college graduates – Cedric from the United States Air Force Academy (Class of 1984) and Thee from Georgia State University (Class of 1987). After graduating our respective universities, we chose to serve our country in the US Air Force (Cedric) and the US Army (Thee). Both of us also served in Operation Desert Storm at the same time in the early 1990’s.

We have always wanted to be business owners, but you know how things go in life. You leave school and enter the working world and you keep telling yourself, “One day I’m going to own a business.” But you find yourself stuck in the rut and never make that leap and you end up just working. Although we are in our 50’s, we finally made the decision to choose our own path and develop as people and business owners. So here we are, venturing out on our own. And it’s been so liberating! We chose the painting business because it’s a relatively low investment start up opportunity and you don’t have to have the expertise as a tradesman. The things we do know are how to manage operations and how to work with people and develop a team. We have found that you can find the skilled painters you need and allow them to do what they do best and we get to manage, market, and develop relationships with our customers.

Equally as important to us is the painting business gives us an opportunity to interact with people in an experience that involves emotion, self-expression and style. We have found that people enjoy being able to apply their “own” unique expression to their environment. That’s the beauty of this business to us. By respecting our customers time, color choices, and self-expression, we help enhance their lives.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Of course there are always challenges, no matter what you do in life. Being a new start up business, the biggest challenge is getting people to know that your business exists. Then, once they know you exist, the next challenge is to gain your customers’ trust so that they want to work with you. After all, they are inviting you into their homes or businesses – two very personal places. So, we make sure that we are respectful and courteous to our customers – by respecting their time when we schedule an appointment and by respecting their personal spaces.

Another challenge we have found is finding reliable sub-contractors. We have had a couple that said they would work and then not show up for the job. That’s obviously frustrating – both to us and to the customer. But we have found a couple of teams now that we can rely on to be at the jobsite when we need them as well as they do exceptional work. And, that’s helping to enhance our image and trust with our customers.

Although we have done all of the prerequisites for working in today’s world – a website, distinctive logo, calling on customers, even riding around town with signs on our cars – relationship building is the real key. Through relationships, we build trust and mutual respect. We have been very fortunate to have found three great groups to work with: BNI Decatur, the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce, and the Decatur Business Association. We are inspired by the assistance and support these groups are giving us and we are able to give support back to them as well. Interacting with these teams, gives us a chance to spend time with people who have a positive outlook on life, and that’s so important in developing a new business.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
Veteran Brothers painting is more than just a painting company for us. As we grow Veteran Brothers, our vision is to start a legacy of self-sufficiency and entrepreneurship in our family. We also see our business as a vehicle that allows us the opportunity to provide a needed service for families and businesses to enhance their environment while, at the same time, have a business that also allows us to be able to give back to our family, friends and community.

As far as the business itself, we offer a variety of services to our customers. In addition to offering interior and exterior painting services for both the residential and commercial markets, we also offer the follow services to our customers:

Wallpaper Installation
Drywall and Sheet Rock Repair
Fence and Deck Cleaning and Staining
Fence Installation
Pressure Washing
Cabinetry
Trim and Crown Molding Installation
Tile and Vinyl Flooring Installation

Our Motto is: “We proudly served our country, now we are here to serve you!”

What were you like growing up?
We grew up in southwest Atlanta in the Dixie Hills area. We played a lot of baseball as children and attended a lot of Braves games back when you could get in for 50 cents on a General Admission ticket. Back in those days, there would be about 2,000 people at a weekday game, so we would get a General Admission ticket and end up sitting right behind the dugout. We always had an interest in reading and travel. Part of the reason we gravitated towards the military was for the opportunity to travel and see other parts of the world most people never have an opportunity to experience.

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