Building Culture Through Strategic Downtime: The CHP Paint Co. Story

Culture isn’t a soft skill or a nice-to-have—it’s a strategic business decision that shows up in your bottom line.

Episode 258 of Out of the Hourglass brings us into the world of Summit Member Eric McDonald, Founder & CEO of CHP Paint Co. based in Cheyenne, Wyoming

“I remember waking up every day and just telling myself to grind through,” he recalls. “At the end of that year, I was kind of done.” After eight years of running CHP Paint Co., grinding through 60-hour weeks and wearing all the operational hats, Eric hit a wall in 2021. He was overworked, spent too much time away from his young family, and when his phone ran, he got anxiety—and Eric isn’t someone who struggles with anxiety.

What happened next defied conventional business wisdom. Eric put his entire crew on unemployment for six weeks and disappeared to Florida with his family. He called a time out.

NOW – Five years later, Eric is podcasting with us  from Hawaii during his company’s fifth annual two-week shutdown. His crews now work four-day weeks, productivity has jumped from 75% to 115% efficiency, and the company grew revenue by 30% last year.

 [Watch the full episode here on Youtube]

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The Realization That Changed Everything

When Eric came back from that six-week break in 2022, he started asking his employees what they actually wanted. “The biggest one a 3-day weekend every weekend,” Eric says. “They didn’t believe I would give it to them.”

But the deeper realization was about where Eric had been focusing his energy. “I was so focused on satisfying the customer, and I prided myself in that,” he explains. “There’s a problem to being completely customer-focused, though- you have these employees that know they come second, or third, or whatever.”

Eric figured out that if he could just serve his team, they would inherently serve his customers.

The  Culture Transformation

Eric started listening. His younger employees wanted three-day weekends, so he implemented four-day work weeks. They wanted health insurance, PTO, and recognition, so he gave it to them.

The results? His crews began producing more work in four days than they had in five or six days. Culture improved dramatically. Profitability increased, and customer satisfaction soared without Eric micromanaging any of it.

The numbers tell the story. In 2023, CHP’s gross wages were at 41%. By 2025, Eric had dialed it down to 27%. “When you’re hitting those benchmarks, there’s cash in the bank,” he says.

The December Shut Down Strategy

The annual two-week shutdown that started as survival has become strategic. Eric budgets for it using the Nolan Financial Workbook, and yes, it shows as a planned loss on the P&L. But he’s not focused on top-line revenue—he cares about the bottom line.

The shutdown helps stack jobs into January, gives the team an off-season to recharge, and serves as a massive thank-you to the crews. “We all come back with renewed ambitions and easily make up the difference throughout the year,” Eric says.

The shutdown has also become a recruiting advantage. About half of Eric’s new hires come from employee referrals. “They enjoy where they work and they want their friends to work with them as well.”

The Venn Diagram as his Culture Compass

Eric’s decision-making framework is elegantly simple. On his office wall hangs a Venn diagram with three overlapping circles: productivity, customer satisfaction, and culture.

Before pursuing any opportunity, Eric asks how it will affect all three circles. Sometimes this restricts growth because he turns down work that doesn’t hit the sweet spot. “However, it’s the cream of the crop revenue,” he explains. “I’m going to build a business that can produce that type of revenue, have the best culture, have customers that are very happy, and be profitable.”

This stands in stark contrast to how most business owners plan. “So many people build a business plan that’s all about revenue—grow, grow, grow at any cost. Then they wonder why their culture’s poor, or why it’s a fire drill every day. It’s because you’re pursuing the wrong thing, blindly.”

Eric’s company grew revenue by 30% last year, proving you can still grow—you just have to grow with the right revenue.

The Productivity Paradox

The counterintuitive math is what stops people in their tracks. Eric’s crews work at 110-115% efficiency during their four-day weeks. When they were working five or six days, productivity was around 75%. “You’re getting a lot done, you’re producing revenue, but you’re not productive. You’re not profitable,” Eric explains.

The biggest incentive his crews have isn’t bonuses—it’s those three-day weekends. They work hard to ensure no customer issues because the penalty for callbacks means working on Friday.

The Bottom Line

Eric’s advice for burnt-out business owners who think they can’t possibly shut down? “You probably need it more than you think you do.”

The key is understanding that you can’t out-produce bad culture. Culture isn’t a soft skill or a nice-to-have—it’s a strategic business decision that shows up in your bottom line.

“Baking your culture into your business plan doesn’t mean putting another expense item that says employee appreciation into your budget,” Eric explains. “That’s literally pursuing the correct revenue. I want to pursue revenue that they enjoy, because I know if they’re enjoying it, they’re going to be productive. And they’re going to serve the customers, and culture’s gonna be great.”

Eric McDonald is proof that strategic downtime works. That working less can produce more. That putting employees first creates better customer outcomes. And that sometimes the smartest business move is the one that looks like a loss on paper but pays dividends all year long.

Listen to the full conversation in the video below to hear more about Eric’s journey, his framework for decision-making, and how he accounts for culture in his business planning.

[Watch the full episode on YouTube]

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