{"id":1767,"date":"2021-05-02T19:56:23","date_gmt":"2021-05-02T23:56:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/certapro.com\/kirkwood\/?post_type=community&p=1767"},"modified":"2021-05-02T19:56:23","modified_gmt":"2021-05-02T23:56:23","slug":"qa-with-owner-of-certapro-painters-of-kirkwood-mo-barbara-hershfelt","status":"publish","type":"community","link":"https:\/\/certapro.com\/kirkwood\/community\/qa-with-owner-of-certapro-painters-of-kirkwood-mo-barbara-hershfelt\/","title":{"rendered":"Q&A with Owner of CertaPro Painters\u00ae of Kirkwood, MO, Barbara Hershfelt"},"content":{"rendered":"

For the past two years, Barbara Hershfelt has been leading the team at CertaPro Painters\u00ae of Kirkwood, MO, transforming homes and making customers happy. For Barbara, ensuring her customers are 100% satisfied with her crew\u2019s work is personal. Not only does she own a business in the St. Louis area, but she lives there too and has become an integral part of the community.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Get to know Barbara Hershfelt, owner of CertaPro Painters\u00ae of Kirkwood, MO.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Q: What inspired you to start your own business?<\/b><\/p>\n

A:<\/b> After 35 years working for others, I was ready to strike out on my own. I\u2019ve worked the gambit of Fortune 100 companies to small upstart companies and found that I love working with smaller, more entrepreneurial organizations where I can actively grow sales and market share. So after years of building equity for others, I decided it was time to use my experience and start my own company.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Q: How did you get involved with CertaPro Painters\u00ae?<\/b><\/p>\n

A: In my previous jobs, I was burnt out from long hours, extensive travel, and missing too much of my teenage daughter\u2019s life. I wanted more flexibility and to achieve a better work\/life balance. When I decided I wanted to start my own business, I quickly sifted the multitude of options available by eliminating brick and mortar stores, high inventory and capital investments, and companies with a large number of employees. A business broker wound up leading me to CertaPro Painters\u00ae.<\/span><\/p>\n

Q: What is your favorite type of project?<\/b><\/p>\n

Our projects are like our children\u2014meaning we don\u2019t have favorites! I love transforming our customer\u2019s homes and businesses to their desires.<\/span><\/p>\n

Q: What is it like to be a female business owner in a male-dominated field?<\/b><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve played that game for my whole career and find it best not to focus on the differences but the similarities. For instance, whether you\u2019re a man or a woman, we all want our business to grow, our employees to be valued, and to achieve our goals. That being said, I might have a different perspective or management style on how to achieve success based on my life experiences, which of course, impacts my leadership.<\/span><\/p>\n

Q: Do you feel like you have to overcome any obstacles being a female business owner?<\/b><\/p>\n

When I can leverage \u201cGirl Power,\u201d I do \ud83d\ude0a. In the commercial sector, many of our contacts are female, and I always mention that I\u2019m the business owner. More than one woman was excited to work with me. In these situations, being a woman might get me in the door, but I still have to deliver a great experience. On the rare occasion when a client wants to work with a man, they are not the right client for us. I simply move on and don\u2019t dwell on it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Q: What are some of the highlights of your career with CertaPro?<\/b><\/p>\n

I\u2019m proud to say that we were able to grow our residential business during COVID and keep the crews and our RSA working. Another highlight is how many customers call us back for additional jobs. We just finished the fourth job for one customer in the last year!<\/span><\/p>\n

Q: Who do you turn to for support?<\/b><\/p>\n

Lucky for me, I have a great network of friends. Most work or have worked in corporate America and know the challenges of managing life and family. Wine and chocolate help, too.<\/span><\/p>\n

Q: How do you maintain a work\/life balance?<\/b><\/p>\n

My motto is family always comes first \u2013 business can wait. I work odd hours and might do paperwork until midnight so I can spend the day doing something I love or with my family. Technology has made it so easy to keep in touch with my customers and crews. I can keep our jobs moving forward while I\u2019m on one of my trips to the mountains, beach, or visiting friends. So clich\u00e9 \u2014 but \u201cwork hard, play hard\u201d works for me.<\/span><\/p>\n

Q: What is your advice for other women who want to start their own business?<\/b><\/p>\n

DO IT. I wish I had the confidence (and bankroll) to do this 20 years ago. You\u2019ll find hundreds of reasons to stay in a traditional job, but if you can go out on your own, do it.<\/span> Yes, there is a lot of responsibility in owning a business, but what you gain in flexibility and freedom makes it all worth it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Q: What\u2019s one fun fact about you?<\/b><\/p>\n

My first sales job was selling Girl Scout Cookies, which started my career in sales and marketing.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If you live in the St. Louis area and decide you want our help on your <\/span>interior <\/span><\/a>or <\/span>exterior <\/span><\/a>house painting, give us a call today!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For the past two years, Barbara Hershfelt has been leading the team at CertaPro Painters\u00ae of Kirkwood, MO, transforming homes and making customers happy. For Barbara, ensuring her customers are 100% satisfied with her crew\u2019s work is personal. Not only does she own a business in the St. Louis area, but she lives there tooRead the full article <\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","format":"standard","categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1767","community","type-community","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/certapro.com\/kirkwood\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/community\/1767","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/certapro.com\/kirkwood\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/community"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/certapro.com\/kirkwood\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/community"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/certapro.com\/kirkwood\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/67"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/certapro.com\/kirkwood\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1767"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/certapro.com\/kirkwood\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/community\/1767\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/certapro.com\/kirkwood\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/certapro.com\/kirkwood\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/certapro.com\/kirkwood\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}