Twenty-five years ago, Jim Bird couldn’t have imagined his life painted in quite this way.

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    Twenty-five years later, Bird is owner of JTB Painting Company, employing 40 helpers of his own. The fact that he is celebrating a silver anniversary of sorts is shocking even to him, especially since he wasn’t actually a professional painter at the beginning.

“I had never been a painter before I started JTB Painting,” Bird says. “I was a businessman becoming a painter rather than a painter becoming a businessman.”

And the economy didn’t prove to be too kind to the non-painter as he tried to spread his bristles.

“Immediately, I was exposed to a down economy, but I was so small it didn’t make a really big impact,” he says. “But that’s part of it. Things are always changing.”

He credits his ability to remain flexible to change as the reason he has survived even down economies and says he has too many good memories from the past 25 years to count, especially as he reflects on the client relationships. As for any less-than-happy memories he accrued while establishing the business, Bird prefers to see them as “learning experiences.” He says he has enjoyed experiencing the pride of seeing a company start up, grow and provide income for people.  But then, sometimes, that can also be the most difficult aspect.

“Some days, you’re just so proud,“ he says. “And some days, you can’t figure out why you did it. But most days are filled with pride.”

Interestingly, Bird says his business has been “a port in the storm” for his four sons (and even daughter-in-laws). Almost all of them have, at one time or another, dipped their toes in the paint to test it as they wonder what their next move is going to be.
    JTB Painting is a commercial painting company located in Garland. –mjm