The Right Things to Do When Launching a Company with, Cofounder President, Tricia Binder of Muros

Welcome to this episode of the Million Dollar Mastermind. I'm Larry Weddell.

And before we get started, if you.

Want to know exactly how to win again and again, go to Wydell on winning.com webinar now to watch something I've put together for you. Now let's get going into this episode of Million Dollar Mastermind.

All right, I'm with Tricia Binder, and she is sharing her experiences from working for Fortune 500 companies and then graduating to three years ago, starting her own company, Muros, and helping brands and businesses creatively engage audiences by infusing local art into their brand, specializing in mural and street art. And a big revenue year is happening for them here in the third year. They're already matched the first two years, production and our volume. And so things look bright for Miros. And who should. Who's listening to this? Who should be interested in maybe engaging Muris for their business?

Everyone.

At what point? How can you help?

No, I would say if you are a brand looking to, again, take a really unique, fun and creative approach that's going to get people excited, engaged, and wanting to make it part of their own Instagram feeds, I think murals is an amazing fit. Likewise, you know, if you are a developer or you have commercial or residential properties and you're looking to really beautify your space for residents or tenants looking to sell, leasing space. Art is such an amazing thing. It has from the beginning of time really being a means of communication and storytelling. And I think our company is really well suited to somebody who is looking for somebody to come in and creatively make something beautiful that can be shared with the people.

Give me an example for your. From your first three years of, like.

A brand or a business that we've worked with.

Yeah. You know, an experience. You work with what you did for them and whatever.

Sure. So one of my favorite projects was we worked with the Houston Astros when they were moving into the postseason, and what they wanted to do, hoping to go and make a run for the World Series, was create, for every win that they had in the postseason, create a mural, basically overnight after the game that would pop up across different markets across the city of Houston. So it was downtown, it was on, you know, the east side, the north side, into the burbs. And they really became this incredible kind of almost like scavenger hunt where people knew these murals were gonna pop up after an evening wind. And there was so much energy and excitement in the city. There would be lines of people who, you know, like, especially in the burbs had never really had a mural in their community where people could take pictures, you know, maybe like a key player or something from the game. And it was a really unique and creative strategy that the Astros had to really, again, resonate and connect with the community at such an important and pivotal time for the team. And they made it all the way into the World Series. You know, didn't win it, but we did 10 murals within, I think, four weeks, again, all across different markets in Houston. And it was highly localized. It was Houston artists, it was Houston business owners that donated or provided their wall space. And it was just really such a fun and energizing campaign that got a ton of press and coverage for them. So I think it's just a great example of somebody who thinks about a unique way to really celebrate and again, connect with different fans or ticket holders in various markets.

Yeah, and how about a more average sized business? How would they engage you and what, you know, how would they plug into something like this? Because you did say, everybody, this is your fault that I'm asking.

I was being somewhat facetious, but yeah, I mean, so we. So, for example, there's this.

You probably think you're probably like someone who lives in New York that, like, you know, everybody, everybody, if it's. If it's not New York, it doesn't exist. You're. You probably think they're not a Fortune 500 company. They just don't exist. I don't know who they are. Yeah, but how people that are not.

Fortune 500 companies, it really isn't for everybody. But, you know, as an example, we've worked with this amazing, like, local brewery here in Chicago, and they were building out this really cool kind of brew hog concept, and they engaged us to create for them an interior mural. And we're also going to be doing some, like, really cool larger scale canvas pieces that are going to, like, flip in and out of a new property that they're opening up soon. So, you know, it can be so many different things. Sometimes we do just like, small, like, canvas painting. We've painted, you know, large pumpkins in the fall and had local artists do that. I think there's. There's so many ways that creatively, you know, you can create an experience and something fun for people to watch. The live painting for us, I think is always interesting because anybody knows whether you've seen a mural or you've seen a piece of artwork or you have it in your home that, like, it's beautiful. But to watch these artists who are so Incredibly talented. Like, create these pieces before your eyes really is something very special. So, you know, again, it can be like a live event, something to entertain. We're doing something coming up with St. Jude where we're going to be like, incorporating elements of their brands and what their business and mission stands for. So there's, there's just a million ways that I think you can leverage artists to tell a really beautiful story that's. That speaks to your brand and speaks to the people that again, you're looking to connect with.

And yeah, I appreciate that. I've got a better idea now. And so when you started your company though, you know, they say, you know, give me the five minute elevator pitch. You know, how do you, how did, how long and hard did you have to work to get? Basically a mission statement are like, murals. What is that? And how did you come up with murals? I'm sure mural, but the thing is, like, how did you get, how long and hard did you have to work to get your idea down, you know, crystallized where, you know, if you can't do that, you can't market it?

Yep. Yeah, great question. So first, miros means walls in Latin and Spanish. So that's where the name came from. And again, we were really more focused on murals at first. And we also thought the idea was initially like, we thought like every, like coffee shop or brewery should have a mural. Right. What we realized very quickly to your point is like you're learning, you're changing, is they don't have money typically really be able to do something certainly for it to be, you know, like managed, like maybe they could pay an artist direct, but, but not to have somebody come in. So it was talking to different businesses and really hearing where there was pain points, which was usually in like, I don't know how to find an artist. I don't want to have to deal with the insurance. We don't know how to execute this. So it really started forming and shaping, I would say probably over a period of five to six months where we just again, kind of tested some stuff. Like we tested into the developer market and realized that that was a huge market for us because initially too we thought, well then, if not, you know, coffee shops and breweries and brands. But we realized people with big walls and big properties, you know, we're looking for things to fill that and to really stand out. But I would say it was at least, you know, five to six months of kind of grinding and just talking to a ton of people to really help us kind of shape and inform the direction that the company.

Was that a support? Now, did you do that before or after you launched?

Both. So before we even created the company, we reached out to see if we could get meetings with different businesses and organizations. For example, there was one big restaurant hospitality group in Chicago, and they were willing to take a meeting with us. They had done some murals and some of the restaurants and things, and they sat down and we were like, here's our business idea. Can you tell us what you think about it? What would be the pros? What would be the consultation? What would you find helpful? What don't you need? And so it was having conversations like that initially that helped us get the baseline idea for the business. And then it was getting potential client and prospective client meetings and just constantly, again, absorbing and learning and hearing what they were saying and what they really needed that allowed us to continue to shape and mold the company to what it is now.

And so how did you. Did you change the way you described your focus and your mission after the five months, or was it the same?

No, it definitely changed. I mean, it's still changing. Honestly, the pitch is always evolving because it's always growing into something.

Well, how would you say is. What is mirrors? What did you say in the beginning and what do you say now?

So we didn't say an art activation agency. We weren't really even sure if we wanted to call ourselves, you know, were we an agency? Were we a vendor? Were we an art company? We weren't totally sure. But again, we realized that there was this managed service aspect that a lot of clients needed, whether you were a developer, you were a brand, and so that kind of drove the agency part of it. And again, as I mentioned, like, the name derives from walls, so. So really, murals is where we started, but now we're doing light experiences and projection mapping and sculptures. And that's all from hearing different clients ask for different things. They wanted live events and live experiences and music. And so that's why we call ourselves an art activation agency, because we're really activating. It could be a mural, but lots of different experiences or ways of approaching art or thinking about art that were very different from the more simple, you know, murals only approach that we started the organization with.

Yeah, and what you've done is you found. It sounds like you found a niche, you created an edge.

Yeah. I mean, people have been incredibly receptive. Obviously, you know, the growth of the company shows that. But, you know, a lot of times too, like, with some of these new things, sculptures, whatever, there's again, there's always that learning curve that we talked about, you know, last time, and it's just, it's constantly, again, staying uncomfortable and learning, being willing to kind of figure out new ways or try new things or pitch new ideas to see where we can take it and how we can expand.

Now, are you. Do you have a lot of employees or you're outsourcing most of what you do? How many did you start with and how many do you have now?

Yeah, so at first it was just me, my two other co founders. Now we have a team of seven, we're hiring again, and we contract hundreds of subcontractors throughout the year to help us be able to execute. All artists are subcontracted, but we have lots of other vendors that help us produce, you know, walls and other things that we need to be able to deliver for our clients.

Yeah, fantastic. Now, did you make. Who's the executive? Are you the. So you're president? So are you the one that makes the decisions or you guys operate as a team?

We really operate as a team. Me and my other two co founders, we all have pretty different skill sets and experiences and we balance each other well. I think, I think we, you know, again, we. My strengths are not my two co founders strengths and theirs are not mine. So we really try to.

So what are you, what are your strengths?

I would say I am the corporate girl. So the more pragmatic, kind of detail, focus oriented person in the company is me. So I do handle a lot of our back office things. My co founder, Dave, he's very visionary and he's great at sales and going out and really pushing boundaries and talking to people. Matteo, whose original idea was kind of bringing street art into the mix, is very creative. He's a very charismatic individual that does all of our artist relations and continues to go out and find amazing talent that we can bring into the mix. So we again, have different strengths and different weaknesses. But together, the three of us, it just really works well.

Don't get stuck in the back office too much. You're pretty good communicator.

Thank you. I'm hoping eventually to come out. Larry.

Yeah. Don't be the back office person. Don't. Don't let them stick you in the back office.

Baby. In the car.

Yeah. Okay. So what is the biggest regret you have? Or do you have a regret for the first three years? You know, did you get off track? Did you make a boneheaded move?

Are.

Was it just all. Did you have any oops, you know, when you tell stories. There's always got to be. Everything's going along great. And then like, oh, no, this happened, you know, so did you have one of any of that yet? Or is. Or is it coming? Tricia?

I mean, there's always something crazy happening that we're just like, this is unbelievable.

Give me an example. Give me an example.

I. Oh, boy. Okay. So very early in the company, the first thing that, like, really, really scared me. We were doing a campaign for square payments, and the client went to take a look at one of the murals that we had done. And literally there was a Porsche ad being painted over it two days into the media flight.

What?

Yeah. And the client was literally there. I'm like, no, they gotta be at the wrong. The wrong wall. They weren't. But there had been a mix up in the inventory and who had it. And they double booked us. And our, you know, inventory was literally, you know, this whole mural that a New York artist had flown out to do was being painted over. I mean, paint was barely dry and it was being painted over.

Since I wasn't in charge of that, I can laugh, but.

Yeah, you didn't get that call, right?

It's funny when it doesn't happen to you.

Yeah, exactly. Or, you know, there's a list that breaks down with an artist style up 40ft in the air. Or there's. I mean, there's always something wild happening that you're just like, this is literally unbelievable. You know, we just had a project this week where we were literally going out to paint. I was in. We were in Miami for it, and they called within hours of starting and said, we need to push this back potentially a couple weeks. So there's just always things that you can't foresee or that you wouldn't expect to happen or that you didn't know what a plan for. I wouldn't say there's a ton of oops. I mean, if I have one regret, I think it's that for the first, even maybe two years, we really undervalued our services. We've said probably, yes, too much, you know, overcompensated over, provided for somebody when they weren't paying us to do things. And I think that has taken a toll on our time and a lot of things where I'd like to be smarter and feel more confident that we really do have an amazing product. We're a really great team of very nice people, but we don't have to be nice to our detriment. And so I think just having that Confidence and really believing in the value of what we're doing is something that I wish we had maybe seen or felt more earlier on in the company.

Hey, listen, there's a lot of information online, but there aren't a lot of people who have actually done something. In my case, I've actually built a successful business, has accrued over $5 billion in assets under management, and has done well even during trying times. Now, if you want to know exactly how I've done this, go to Whiteellawinning.com webinar Now, I've compressed a decade of learning into five short weeks. Just for those of you who want to give yourself an incredible advantage and are tired of waiting and watching others move.

Okay, I'm going to put that on you now. You're the corporate person, you're the back office. And you've got to be the one to say no on this stuff, okay? You're the one. You're the, you're the one. I'm authorizing you to have the backbone to say no. Yeah, we, we love you, but no, we don't work for free. We're not, you know, this is not a charity, you know, exactly. But it is when you're scared to get established and, you know, tentative and this and the other. It does take a certain amount of guts or working it out. You got to work it out of your own mind. Like this is all right. You know, it's like I remember when I started at sales a million years ago and we would do, we would meet husbands and wives at home and you know, you try to set the appointment and really, you know, when I started, every night was free. Well, if you go out there and say, I'm available anytime, you know, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, you pick the time. They're never going to make an appointment. And I got to the, I got my schedule filled up when I said, Look, I've got two openings this week. I got 7 o' clock on Tuesday and I have 9 o' clock or 8:30 on Thursday. If we can't get together then it's probably going to be another couple of weeks because my schedule's packed. And then they pick one of those.

And no, you're right. I mean it's, yeah, it's fear based. And really there's no room if you want to be successful, to let fear guide or overrule what it is, the decisions that you're making because it's not going to get you where you want to go. Yeah.

And it's not their job. You know, I'm speaking to all of us. It's not our customers jobs to make sure we're fairly compensated or that we, you know, that we're making a living out of this thing. That's not their job. You know, their job is to get the best price possible and get all the extras they possibly can. And just while they're asking for them doesn't mean it's kind of like your 5 year old. Just because they're asking for it doesn't mean they got it. They're going to get it. And so they're just trying to find out. So when, what was the best thing you did, getting started that you're proud of and happiest about or that you got advised to do?

Yeah, I mean, I think, I mean honestly I'm still so blown away by what we've created and what we've done. And I think just literally starting a business that none of us had any experience or really background in doing, I think was, I give ourselves a lot of credit for that because we didn't know anything about lifts or insurance or all of these types of things or even how a mural was done and painted in production. And I think it took a lot to really move into something where not even a single one of us three co founders had the background and experience. So I am really proud of how we've, we've really just figured it out. It's been just a lot of grind, a lot of blood, sweat and tears and we've landed some of the most amazing, biggest brands that I ever could have imagined. Sometimes we were just laughing this week as we were all together on our website and the level of artists and talent that we work with and the number of amazing brands that we've worked with and how they're coming to us now, it's mind boggling and it's so exciting. So I'm really proud for just, you know, kind of just jumping both feet in into the middle of the ocean and hoping to God he could swim.

Well, let's talk about that, Tricia, let's talk about that. You know, from the beginning it'll be helpful for people that are on the like, like, you know, one thing I want to ask you is like how you have changed in just three years or two and a half years, you know, you know, if you look back and the great thing about starting a company is it's terrorizing, you know, it's high rolling. But you learn so much, you know, you develop so many Skills and relationships and this, that the other in such a short period of time, there's just no substitute for how it can transform you. But how did you. When you get, like, let's just say you get a job and, like, lifts, you know, things like that, how do you go figure it out? Do the artists tell you? Do, you know, you get. People have done it before. How. How were you. How did you get your. Figure this thing out? Like, the, you know, obvious answer, I'm sure you're going to tell me, is like, one step at a time, one question at a time. But how did you get in that situation or figure out how to do it?

You just get on the lift. Like, I will. I will never forget, you know, seeing, like, my partners, like, learning to operate these giant pieces of equipment. And again, like, we came from office jobs and now we're out on these.

You're on a big cherry picker, something like that, right?

Yeah. Like, these tires are, like, bigger than me. And literally, it's just. It's just getting on and looking at it and figuring it out or not being afraid to call the company and being like, where's the, you know, this switch or whatever?

Yeah, it's all a switch. You know, hit the switch, you go up.

Yeah, exactly. It's just literally like, again, you have to kind of put your pride and everything to the side and just go all in and be a student again and figure it out and not be, you know, embarrassed or ashamed to be figuring out something or look, you know, foolish or something for a second until you get it. And then you just. You keep learning and you keep doing that, and then you keep, you know, stacking up all, like you said, like, all this experience, all of these skills that you never thought you'd have. I mean, I remember when we were just getting the company started, I literally had to give myself a refresh on accounting by going on YouTube and reviewing t sheets.

Really?

I haven't seen this since college. Like, I need a refresher just on accounting and. Yeah, so, yeah, I mean, it was just. It's just like. It's kind of like ABCs, like, back to basics and again, not. Not having so much pride that you're not willing to kind of be the one who doesn't have the answers in the room.

Have you found it tough, you know, when you went inside the big companies and you started out, you said there was a rigorous, you know, they were very organized and their metrics. Now you got to put that in place. Is it, you know, what the way I look at it is no entrepreneur likes to do the numbers, but they've got to do the, you know, because they'd rather be out doing things and creating stuff and all. But if you don't do the numbers, you're going to wind up working for somebody who will. And so you have to do the numbers, keep up with the numbers, get some people working for you and supervise them. Has that been tough for you?

Yeah. I mean, it's hard to one, find the time to carve out and do that because again, me and Michael Blonders, I mean, we work seven days a week, 365. When we're on vacation, we're still on our computers, and it's hard to find the time to carve out for it, and also sometimes hard to find the energy to do the stuff that's not sexy or not fun. What, as you said, is necessary, you know, for the business to understand where we're at or to balance the books or, you know, whatever the case might be. Yeah, it's tough. Like, I'm just having the energy, like the mental energy to put your head there as opposed to maybe a more exciting client pitch deck or something else is always, I think, difficult.

Well, it's important for people to know, Tricia, that it's not that you're bad, it's not that you're incapable of, you know, it's not a problem with you if you're an entrepreneur and the books just drive you nuts and all. I mean, it's because to be an entrepreneur, you're solving problems. You're on the attack, you're thinking about the future, and you're thinking conceptually, what if we do this, what if we do that? And then you're making decisions and all of that. You're living in that place. You're communicating with people, you're reading their eyes, you're reading the future, you're reading people, you're thinking about concepts and possibilities.

And then you.

What happens is you have to completely shift to look at numbers. You know, after all these years, I told my people, you know, even my own staff, you know, I finally think this year I finally broken them. It's like what they'll do is they're working on numbers, they're working on a report, and they say, and I just emailed you such. And so when you get a free. Some free time, take a look at so. And so I said, never do that again. Okay? Okay. Never send me anything to look at unless you've got me on the phone. I'm in front of the computer and I've got some time where I won't be rushed, I'm not thinking about something else. And then email it to me and I will open it and then you will walk me through it. Because if you leave me alone, I'm going to get a phone call, I'm going to thought up the jump in my mind. I've got to remember this. An unfinished task will jump in my mind and I'll never get it done. When I went to North Carolina and launched our financial services businesses up there, I was the only one in the beginning of the first few months. And so what I did was I put the paperwork that needed to be done right in front of me in my desk, you know, and it would just build up and my thinking was that if it's right in front of me, I'll get so annoyed I will force myself to do it. Well, I found out that was not true and so I let it get about a foot tall to where I couldn't see over it. Then I move it over to the side at the. Eventually my entire desk was like 18 inches with stacks of 18 inch piles of paperwork that needed to get done. And when I did interviews I had to look. It all happened so fast. I don't even know how it got that out of control. But I was looking over these 18 inch stacks of to do's and papers and things reports and finally one day I said to myself, look, obviously I'm still in business and I never got to these things. So I just threw them all in the trash and said reset.

I wish maybe I can do that. I wish I could do that. But yes, I mean it's very easy to procrastinate on some of those things. And yeah, I mean sometimes obviously it's up I do need to do. But I've, I've had that moment too where it's like, okay, I haven't gotten to these emails and now they're four weeks old. So at some point I'm guessing they just, they don't matter to get a.

Staff as quickly as you can and get a part time staff, you know, I even, you know where my life changes where I even had a mom who had worked in the corporate world but now she had a kid was going to school and she wanted to get out of the house and work three mornings a week and so she would come in, that's, that's all I could afford. But that changed everything, you know, and you've got to get Yourself some staff, spend money on support people, because you got to free yourself up to focus on the creating magic. And so, you know, that's why I never bought a lawnmower. You know, it's just like I never want. I never want to spend that much time on my lawn to where I feel. I feel like we know each other. You know, it's like I always said, you know, about the lawn. It's like, yeah, I know I've got. I've got grass out there, but we've never been personally introduced, you know, and if I got a lot more, then I'd have to have a gas can. Now my garage stinks. So it's just, you know, no, we'll hire somebody to come in and do that job. And so you just got to make some decisions about what you will and will not accept. But the fact whether you do it or not, you got to get it done, you know, the minutia and things like that. And at some point, you know, you have to stand up to people who want to get you to work for free and talk about one last thing, curious about how you've. Let's go back to that thing about how you've changed. You know, I. I bet you're much more excited about yourself as an executive, as a business person, is an independent person operating in business than you were before you got started.

Yeah, I. It's, it's, you know, like, it's kind like I feel like years in, like an entrepreneur world is like dog years, where it's, you know, acquired 20 years of experience in that short amount of time. And I think that that really is the most incredible thing. Like there, you know, there are moments occasionally where you have that second to go back and reflect on. Like, I was talking about the counting thing, like, how far and how much I've learned that was outside of, you know, really what I went to school for or what I had been doing at other companies. Like, of course, you're always bringing in, like, you know, certain skills that you had, but the sheer amount of things that I've learned or can share or communicate to people or the improvements that we've made, and it's just incredible how far we've come. And I've changed so much. I mean, I think I feel like we're really hitting our groove, and I'm starting to kind of feel like I'm hitting my groove in a different way that I felt before. And it's just the possibilities seem endless of what we can do and how exciting it is. And it's just, it's been, again, a crazy ride, not lacking stress or exhaustion or anything like that. But the rewards really, really are quite amazing. The lows are very low, but the highs are very high. And when I look back, I'm very, very excited by what me and my partners have done and what we continue to build and where I think the trajectory of this company is going to go.

Well, I'm so proud of you. You've done a great thing, and you're on the verge of doing some absolutely amazing things, and there's going to be an impact out there in the world for beauty and good and growth because of what you're doing. Thanks so much, Tricia.

Thank you, Larry. I really appreciate it.

If you enjoyed what you've heard and are dead serious about finding out for yourself exactly how this works in the real world, I've taken the most valuable business lessons I've learned over 40 years and put them into something for you to watch. Go to whiteellawinning.com webinar now in order to move up as fast as possible. I'm Larry Wydell, and I run the Million Dollar Mastermind. Go, go, go.