Business & Tech

Q&A: Apple Valley Business Owner Tim Fier

Fier recently made a career switch, going from a corporate-America path to setting up his own business based in Apple Valley.

After more than 20 years in a corporate-America office environment, Tim Fier was looking for a change, and to fulfill his dream of starting his own business. Now, he's the owner of a CertaPro Painters franchise that serves clients throughout the south metro, with an office in Apple Valley. Fier talked with Apple Valley Patch about what sparked his desire for the change, how he went about making it happen and advice for others who might be making similar considerations.

Apple Valley Patch: Tell me a little about your background and what you were doing before you started working with CertaPro.

Tim Fier: Well, my background has been about 20 years in corporate America, and my career was focused in the advertising and marketing area of that, most generally helping brick and mortar, whether it be in the grocery industry or the hardward industry, marketing to the consumers ... probably about 21, 22 years of doing that. That’s what I went to college for was advertising and marketing, and really enjoyed that aspect of being able to do what I went to college for and sustaining that for 20-plus years.

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Apple Valley Patch: How did you know that you wanted to make a change?

Fier: There’s always the enjoyment of having the security of that full-time job, of working for a company and that routine paycheck coming through, but it’s always been my desire to own my own business. With the environment the way it is today … some corporate restructuring and things like that, I just finally made the decision: If you’re ever gonna make your dream come true, do it now.... I just said, now is the time to actually make it happen.

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Apple Valley Patch: And how long ago was that?

Fier: I actually bought the company in late February, early March, so I began my research process … a couple months before that to really dive into deciding what type of business would be a good fit for me.

Apple Valley Patch: What sort of research and considerations went into your decision?

Fier: I knew that I wanted to take a franchise approach because I wanted that support mechanism—to have that business model to build off of versus just entering 100 percent on my own.... I knew I wanted to break away from the sitting in the office all day environment, having more interaction with the actual customers face to face, and then providing a tangible service. But then other things I looked into were … is it something that’s sustainable over the years? What is the growth potential? Is it a scalable business?

Apple Valley Patch: You said you looked at service-industry options. Is painting or home improvement something that’s of particular interest to you?

Fier: I kind of have a hobby or a passion for the interior stuff … helping folks out with selecting paint colors and doing some home staging, things like that, so I thought, how can I mirror that?.... My role in the company is to be that face of the company to interact with the customers … and also to work with my team of crews to assign the right crew to the right job.... Plus I’m able to keep my historical work as far as service and marketing and advertising, because that’s a big part of what I do too … building the brand. So I got to bring my past and build it into my future all at once.

Apple Valley Patch: Are you based right out of Apple Valley?

Fier: My business address is here in Apple Valley, but I serve a number of communities in the south metro.

Apple Valley Patch: Talk about some of the successes that you’ve seen, or some of the things that have gone well for you.

Fier: I’ve only been doing this a few months but I’ve completed a number of jobs, and so far they’ve all gone very, very well…. Just seeing [the client's] pleasure when the job is done … and making their vision come to reality.

Interviewing, meeting and hiring a number of different crews to actually complete the work has been a very rewarding thing. The other success is really just breaking away from the environment that I was in the past … being able to have variety … going out into the public and meeting people and going into their homes and saying, what can we do to make your environment better?

Apple Valley Patch: What are some of the things that you’ve found challenging, or that you didn’t expect or have been tougher to navigate?

Fier: It’s all the day-to-day, crossing the Ts and dotting the Is … a very necessary thing in starting your own business.... You can’t think of everything when you’re making such a drastic change like this. So it’s been a challenge but it’s been a fun challenge to overcome those things and those little surprises.

Apple Valley Patch: If you have family that were involved in this as you were making this decision, what did they think?

Fier: I have a significant other that we made the decisions together on all of this.… I don’t have children.… I’m at a point in my life where I can make this change and I’m not sacrificing a child’s college education. But outside of that … I have a number of siblings I bounce things off of … as well as some very close friends and colleagues.

Apple Valley Patch: And did they seem pretty supportive, or were they concerned at all?

Fier: They all said, go for it—what’s the worse that can happen? You’ve always wanted to own your own business, you’re not getting any younger. If you’re gonna do it, make it happen.

Apple Valley Patch: It seems like that was kind of your attitude about it, too—you didn’t seem too nervous.

Fier: The one thing that was really beneficial was … coming out of the economic slump that we’ve been in … we’ve seen a rise in people trying to make their home environments and their work environment much more enjoyable.… They want them to be that much more of a positive environment and I’m providing a service to help them do that.

Apple Valley Patch: If you were talking to other people who were thinking about a career change or owning their own business, what are some tips you would have for people?

Fier: Do your due diligence. Do research. Check out your options. Truly think about what it is that you want to do. When you’re opening your own business … don’t open a painting company because you like to paint. You’re opening a business. You’re running a business…. Really look at the big picture versus … that skill set for the actual, specific service you’re providing. Do you have the skill set that you need and the desire to do the people management, looking at the finances and all of that?

The other thing that I’m very happy with ... is working with a franchise…. Having that phenomenal resource to tap into if I do have questions … I have this entire support mechanism. That’s a true benefit that is really gonna ensure that I’m successful with my business.

Do you know anyone with an Apple Valley connection and a story to share? Email Allison Wickler at allison.wickler@patch.com.


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