Understanding the Starting Point

Consider the journey of a husband-and-wife team who transformed their flooring business from a small operation generating under $100,000 to a thriving enterprise exceeding $2 million in revenue. This was the path Paries and Jared Johnson embarked upon with JPF Group Co Inc., their commercial and residential flooring and luxury home renovations company. Their story illustrates how strategic guidance can help family businesses evolve from tactical execution to strategic leadership.

Let’s imagine a skilled craftsperson who excels at their trade but operates with the mindset of an artisan rather than a business leader. This was the initial situation for the Johnsons – they possessed excellent technical skills but were, in Paries’s words, “doing it off the cuff” when it came to business strategy.

The Complexity of Their Challenge

The challenges the Johnsons faced went beyond typical business growth issues. They were confronting what we might call the “craftsperson’s dilemma” – the need to evolve from technical excellence to business leadership. This transformation is similar to a master chef who needs to stop cooking every dish and learn to run the entire restaurant.

Their situation was particularly nuanced because it involved several interconnected challenges:

Business Identity: They needed to define not just what they did, but who they were as a business. The question wasn’t simply about selling flooring – it was about understanding their unique position in the market.

Personal Evolution: The transition required fundamental changes in how they approached their work, particularly for Jared, who needed to shift from an “installer technician mentality” to a “CEO mentality.”

Partnership Dynamics: As a married couple in business together, they needed to navigate both personal and professional relationships while transforming their enterprise.

The Transformation Process

The journey from a small flooring operation to a multi-million dollar enterprise involved several fundamental shifts:

Strategic Planning: Moving from intuitive decision-making to structured business planning. This process wasn’t just about creating documents – it was about developing a strategic mindset that could anticipate and shape the future of their business.

Personal Development: The transformation required significant personal growth, particularly evident in Jared’s evolution. From changing his attire to mastering business tools like Microsoft Word and Excel, the changes were both external and internal.

Business Model Refinement: Through strategic analysis, they discovered that their path to growth didn’t require a traditional retail space – a realization that saved them from unnecessary overhead while allowing them to focus on their strengths.

The Results in Context

The transformation yielded remarkable outcomes across multiple dimensions:

Financial Growth: Scaling from under $100,000 to over $2 million in revenue Operational Evolution: Transitioning from hands-on installation work to strategic business management Professional Development: Developing new skills and approaches to business leadership Market Position: Establishing a clear identity in the luxury home renovations and commercial flooring space

Understanding the Pivotal Moment

Paries describes a “pivotal moment” in their kitchen, where honest feedback about the need to “step it up” catalyzed significant change. This moment illustrates how transformative guidance often requires addressing both business and personal habits that might be limiting growth.

Coach’s Commentary

Working with the Johnsons revealed something profound about family business transformation: successful evolution requires alignment of both business strategy and personal development. What makes their story particularly instructive is how they embraced change at both levels simultaneously.

Their experience demonstrates that effective business transformation isn’t just about implementing new systems or strategies – it’s about developing new ways of thinking and being. The shift from working “in” the business to working “on” the business represents more than a change in daily activities; it represents a fundamental evolution in how they approached their roles as business leaders.

The recognition that “business plans changed on a every six month basis” while remaining foundational to their progress shows a sophisticated understanding of strategic planning as a living, evolving process rather than a static document.

Your Next Step

If you’re running a family business or transitioning from technical expertise to business leadership, the Johnsons’ story offers valuable insights. Perhaps you too are looking to evolve from hands-on work to strategic business leadership.

We invite you to explore how your business might undergo a similar transformation. Through a confidential strategy session, we will:

• Examine your current business position and personal goals
• Explore strategies for evolving your role from technician to business leader
• Discuss approaches for implementing sustainable growth
• Determine if our approach aligns with your vision for both personal and business development

Request Your Strategy Session

“I will never do life as a business owner without a coach, a mentor, or even a psychologist at this point. If someone is on the fence about growing their business because they are too worried about hiring someone that may not align with them or it’s a financial objection, then they shouldn’t be in business because they don’t understand that the growth of being an entrepreneur is who is behind them, pushing them up that hill and supporting them.” – Paries Johnson