Today we’d like to introduce you to Darren Etlinger.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
When I was a kid, I wanted to work with my hands. My dad would take me to construction sites to pick through the debris pile for useful pieces of wood. I looked upon the guys building those houses as someone to admire, someone to be. In our backyard, on the patio, I had an on-going project of different shapes and pieces affixed together, with masking-tape mending it all. I knew way back then that I need to be creative. And I eventually learned that I needed my own venue for creative expression–it just took an extra 20 years to figure it out.
Enter college. A degree was supposed to be the answer to, well, everything, when you grew up in the middle-lower class in Southern Texas. 8 years of higher-education spread over a 12 year span with four degrees to mark my progress–the last of which, an MBA in 2003–would be the accomplishments that would ensure my place in the landscape of working American. Money and happiness were on the horizon.
And yet, I didn’t fit. I used to joke with my mother when I was in my mid-teens that I was born in the wrong century. I was a generalist in a specialized world; where do I belong?
A native Texan, originally from the small Texas town of Moulton–I spent most of my youth and college years in Victoria, TX. With the “BIG CITY” calling my name in the late 90’s, I moved to Houston in 1998.
Rather than big city dreams–the experience was more like an endless struggle–not quite what I had hoped for or expected! Persistence being one of my better traits, though maybe not wisdom, I opted for self-employment, as a sculptor, in the Fall of 2001, after losing a job while in the midst of graduate school.
I established Earthtones by d.p.Etlinger–Maker of Sculpture | Functional Metal Art | Metal Furniture & Accessories as a means of creative expression and a means to an end! From 2001-2005, I lived and operated from my warehouse studio located in the 5th ward just on the outskirts of downtown Houston. In 2005, struggling as most do as an artist, I left the studio life and began, again, doing other gigs in search of my next venture.
Tired of waiting to see if a contract job would turn into an “employee” relationship with a Houston based manufacturer of oil exploration cables, I ventured out on my own yet again, officially opening Houston Honey Do in the Fall of 2007–first as a DBA and then I registered as an LLC under the name Handy Honey, LLC in 2009.
I have since owned and operated Houston Honey Do.
I eventually created that venue, and venture–that creative place for myself, first as a metal fabricator and sculpture some 16+ years ago [Earthtones by d.p.Etlinger] and now with a home repair service–Houston Honey Do. I was blessed with a kind and supportive wife, Tatiana, whom I married in her home country of Colombia in 2011; we have since had two girls, Amber Lucia (4) and Erin Emilia (1). I don’t know where the future will take me, but I am ready for whatever.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Smooth? Not in the least. Most of my time in business, in Houston, in college…in life in general I has been “cash poor”. High on ambition, work ethic, drive–some of the accoutrements necessary for success in life and business–but definitely low on cash. Having little capital when operating a business means, for example, you need to purchase materials in order to create a prototype for your potential client but because you don’t have the money to buy the materials, you cannot make the prototype. You need the deposit from said potential client in order to buy the materials; and to pay rent; and your car payment; student loan; to buy food. And if you get the client by some stretch of creativity without acquiring the deposit prior to making the prototype (maybe because you improvised with materials), now your materials money needs to go to all the other bills that I just articulated but waited to pay because you were cash poor. Now, after paying your bills, you are now without funds to purchase the materials necessary to make the order for your customer. Now you need another customer to finish the first customers order. It is an illustration of robbing Peter to pay Paul most definitely.
At some point, after fighting this battle, you turn things around, get cash positive, save a little dough by figuring it out–figuring out how to operate a business and the ups and downs of cash flow.
Mentorship. I’ve had little. I have had little guidance and support, primarily and originally from family, and then lacking in mentorship once I was self-employed in my late 20’s. It would have been extremely helpful to have someone to learn from, to ask questions, someone who had already been there but also someone who would be around for a long duration; someone I could have said thank you to for all his/her help and support. That didn’t exist, so I have learned most of what I know about life and business through struggle, mistakes and some successes.
Marketing. Marketing and cash flow were things I’d learned about in college and business school. It took being self-employed to learn what they really mean. The latter means whether you eat or not; the former is how you get the customers that allow you to eat.
Houston Honey Do – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Houston Honey Do is a home repair and home maintenance service. It gets easily grouped into the generic descriptive of a “handyman” service but for me that is too simplistic and not quite what I offer. Certainly I am a handyman but most handymen don’t have an MBA; thus I think I approach this basic service from a different perspective than your average fix-it guy. Being that I have some corporate, professional experience as well as a formal education I think makes me a unique service provider for the local community. Being also a sculptor/artist/furniture maker/craftsman makes for an even more unique offering. What does that mean for a customer; well, hopefully, it means professionalism and craftsmanship with even an artistic influence or flair. I have described myself, and my father, as being honest to a fault; so integrity is what one can expect and in this sense it certainly is part of what makes my service stand out from others. I would say there are a few other, specific things that I do different than others.
We are not re-modelers; I prefer smaller jobs that are less time consuming, less resource dependent and that carry less potential liability. Punch lists for the sale of a home or similar “to-do” lists are ideally what we aim for and want to address.
More than anything, beyond the above, I have resolved to not work with illegal immigrants, which is a very difficult commitment to maintain. It has probably hurt me more than helped over the past 11 years. Besides the fact that it is illegal to do so, I chose not to–even though the whole local landscaping, food service and construction industries of the Texas Gulf Coast are dependent on said labor–because the mere presence of this inexpensive workforce drives down wages in these industries and I believe overall has a more negative than positive impact on the local economy. Beyond the economics of it, my wife is a legal immigrant from Colombia who came to the states in 1999. It took her 15 years to become a citizen and it is beyond offensive to me, knowing her struggle that others can be here, and freely work here, in violation of the law.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
Two moments:
First: when I made my first real custom furniture “sale” to a customer in 2002. Receiving that deposit felt like I concurred the world. I was in Dallas and I stopped to buy myself a steak.
Second: after starting Houston Honey Do, after leaving a job, realizing that my decision was a good one; that I could operate a business successfully.
Contact Info:
- Address: 5519 Moss Meadow Ct.
Sugar Land, TX 77479 - Website: www.houstonhoneydo.com
- Phone: 281-546-3637
- Email: dp@houstonhoneydo.com
- Instagram: darrenpetlinger
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/houstonhoneydo
- Twitter: @houstonhoneydo
- Other: www.dpetlinger.com
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