“From Avocation To Vocation: How I Turned My Hobby Into A Career” With Bill Valway the CEO of AP Corp

As a part of our series about entrepreneurs who transformed something they did for fun into a full-time career, I had the pleasure of interviewing Bill Valway, the CEO of AP Corp. AP Corp is the top-rated nationwide provider of applied graphics, window films, and vehicle wraps. But their main offering is an easy, turnkey solution for customers and a relentless pursuit of perfection and excellence in the all the tinting and graphics projects they take on.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a bit about your “childhood backstory”?

Bill grew up with dyslexia and found school challenging. Reading, studying textbooks, learning that way was difficult. So, he had to find new ways to learn, helping him develop his grit. Eventually, Bill latched onto a craft: a visual, artistic, and detail-oriented thing.

At 14, Bill started as a helper at a tint shop — by 18, he wanted to be manager. He was a driven top performer at the job, but the job was given to someone else who did a poor job. Eventually, Bill left. He believed an organization should provide growth opportunities for its employees: exceptional people should be allowed to grow and develop. So, Bill created AP Corp.

What was the catalyst from transforming your hobby or something you love into a business? Can you share the story of your “ah ha” moment with us?

The true ‘ah ha’ moment was when I realized the person I was working for had no clue how to inspire greatness in their employees. I feel an organization should help employees grow personally and professionally. A company should educate people about what they need to do to prepare for their future. So, I created a company which would align with my values. And it was nice doing it in an industry I loved. Something I could do with my hands.

There is no shortage of good ideas out there, but people seem to struggle in taking a good idea and translating it into an actual business. How did you overcome this challenge?

Someone said ideas don’t come out fully formed. Ideas only become clearer as you work on them. The biggest component is to take action. If I worried about the perfect plan or perfect idea and waited until it jelled into the perfect thing I would have never accomplished anything. I’ve always had a solid belief in how my life would impact others and I’ve always known there’s something bigger and greater that I’m working toward. So, I focused on that goal, and didn’t worry myself over each of the individual steps. This is how our business transformed and created a better, more caring organization.

What advice would you give someone who has a hobby or pastime that they absolutely love but is reluctant to do it for a living?

Be honest with yourself. If you ask the right questions, you’ll get the right answers. Ask yourself this: why are you passionate about that hobby? How far are you willing to go? What are you willing to sacrifice to get there? I think most people will find they want to pursue that business and talk about it, but the large majority don’t have the strength to do it. They aren’t willing to relentlessly peruse their goals. That’s why 90% don’t make it to $1mil or more.

It’s said the quickest way to take the fun out of doing something is to do it for a living. How do you keep from changing something you love into something you dread? How do you keep it fresh and enjoyable?

If this is a true statement, you’re in the wrong business. It’s a choice. Decide what you want to do and what you don’t want to do. You gave to challenge yourself to do those things which aren’t fun at the start, and stay focused on your goal, and understand you can’t be everything. Then you hire people who compliment you, you can keep it fresh and enjoyable. You hire the right people to do the stuff which may have made it dreadful for you so you can stick to the parts you love. And remember, culture trumps strategy.

What do you enjoy most about running your own business? What are the downsides of running your own business? Can you share what you did to overcome these drawbacks?

Enjoy? The thing I enjoy most is being able to take my vision and see it become the reality. It’s incredibly rewarding to take an idea you have no concrete idea of how you’re gonna achieve and then get achieve that goal through hard work and innovation. Watching it become a reality is amazing, it’s an amazing process.

Downsides? It can be incredibly stressful. I’ve joked in the past that the amount of stress an entrepreneur is faced with would probably kill the average person. There’s an insane amount of uncertainty.

Overcome these drawbacks? I invest in coaches and mentors. I spend a lot of time in self-reflection and working to develop myself personally. And I’ve learned that when I’m stressed out the most is when I should be focused on helping others in the organization. That seems to help me re-energize and refocus myself on what’s really important.

Can you share what was the most striking difference between your actual job and how you thought the job would be?

I think anybody that starts a business at 18 probably thinks that by the time they reach their mid-30s they’re gonna be driving around a Ferrari and not doing a lot of work. The reality is I’m heavily involved in every part of my business. And I wouldn’t have it any other way because I get to grow and make a positive impact in my teams.

Has there ever been a moment when you thought to yourself “I can’t take it anymore, I’m going to get a “real” job? If so how did you overcome it?

No. There’s been times I’ve literally screamed out “enough” but it was more in frustration because I knew we were doing the right things and we weren’t gaining the traction I knew we should gain. But it always caught up. Whenever I reach those moments I see it like an entrepreneurial test — to see who can hold onto the electric fence the longest–I just dig in and keep working at it.

As an example, starting the company was a big challenge as I didn’t have anyone to help me so I’d just have to sit at a hard project and keep trying and trying until I got it, there was no one to swoop in to save the day — it was my vehicle to accomplish my larger dreams and goals.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?

Over the years, I’ve met some incredible human beings. One that sticks out to me right now is a woman who had us install window film on her home. In talking to, and getting to know her, during the 2-hour long estimate (usually takes 20 minutes) I got to really connect with her. So when we came back out to do the install I started talking again and chatting about antique sales (that’s what she did). I asked if she had any connections for diamonds and she said “boyyy I’m gonna take you shopping”. You see, at the time I was looking for an engagement ring. So she took me out shopping and introduced me to her diamond broker. During the visit, I found the ring I wanted to buy, but I didn’t have enough money. The broker refinanced the ring on the spot and just took a deposit — and it was all because the lady vouched for me. I was blown away, but so very thankful for her. It’s just little stories like that which make what we do all worthwhile.

Who has inspired or continues to inspire you to be a great leader? Why?

I’d say Tony Robbins. He’s such a charismatic leaders who stays true to what his beliefs are and has these tremendous visions he’s been able to come up with and accomplish. It’s something that really inspires me. Tony is just the type of person who can take and predict their own future by focusing on their goals, their visions.

How have you used your success to make the world a better place?

Currently, I use a percentage of my time to help individual employees accomplish more in their own lives. I have 2 leading values in life: enjoy the hell out of life and have a positive impact on as many as people as I can. The business gives me the opportunity to do that over time; and hopefully that multiples when those people do the same for others.

What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why? (Please share a story or example for each.)

1. Save every dollar that you can. Save as much as you can.

2. Trust your instincts, you have them for a reason.

3. Don’t ever put off having the conversation because you think there will be a better time.

4. Never, ever assume anything.

5. Develop daily disciplines that will align you for future success.

What person wouldn’t want to work doing something they absolutely love. You are an incredible inspiration to a great many people. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

Help each other move through and move past self-limiting beliefs. That’s the difference between someone incredibly successful in their life and someone who is not successful. They have developed the ability to overcome those self-limiting beliefs. Everyone is looking for something they are fulfilled in and hopefully they find a career they are fulfilled in. There was a quote I heard: “Successful people have what they want; fulfilled people give everything they got.” There’s a shift in taking and giving and if people could just realize what their true purpose is in life everything else will fall into place and start to work out.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“The tyranny of ‘how’ kills all hope and dreams.” Friend of mine said that. Comes back to if I spent my time and energy on how I was going to accomplish my incredibly wild dreams, and started analyzing it, I would have never moved. The summit would have looked so high. Instead I started with a belief that is centered at my core that it’s going to happen. I dunno if it’s your energy or your focus but somehow life brings in these opportunities that align with your vision… but it forces you to work backwards and set goals that align with that vision. But again, if you worry about how first, the human brain cannot comprehend how much work it’s gonna take to get to that summit. It reverts to how to stay safe and starts saying ‘don’t do that’. Believe you can get there and over time you will develop the tools necessary to accomplish those dreams.

Some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.

Robert Herjavec. He’s someone I really admire because he is incredibly business savvy, but he also has a huge… you can see he has a huge heart. He’s really grounded in helping others. And I saw a speech on YouTube and I’ve listed to it probably a 100 times at this time. It really centered me in my belief systems and I feel we share beliefs. The guy started from nothing and never sold his sole to get to where he is today.

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.

Thank you!