Happy Birthday To My Father, The Idaho Painter (A.K.A.- The Best Dad Ever!)
Happy Birthday To My Dad, The Idaho Painter
Hello to all you, our Paint Life family. How is your week and even your month been like?
The Paint Life Crew has had a very busy month that has been packed with many exciting announcements and some very stressful announcements as well. We have all been very excited to share with you what we have been working on for the last three years and the response from you all has been very overjoying.
Today is The Idaho Painter, (A.K.A) Chris Berry, (A.K.A) my father’s birthday. Birthdays have always been a big deal in our family as early as I can remember and today I am sitting at work reflecting on my life being and having the privilege of being the daughter of “The Idaho Painter”.
The day the palette arrived at our store with the “Brooke Brushes” I was sitting at my desk, which faces Chris’ desk with both our monitors hiding our faces. I remember seeing our delivery driver pull up and we were guessing what was on the palette. Chris and I walk out to start to unload these palettes with over 360 brushes loaded on it, unsure where we would fit all these brushes in our 2,500 sq ft store. (With no more room to fit anything). We are up to our nose in products at our store right now.
I was scratching my head, contemplating… so stressed about this delivery. I did not know how we would fit all these boxes into our back room while I watched Chris, just start unpacking 60 boxes all at once. At that moment I thought, “how do you just work so hard when you're overwhelmed with so much on your plate?”
I said, “So how does this feel?” as I watched him unboxing the 3” Brooke Brush packages. He then holds it up to me and explains how he would've never thought this would be him with his eyes welling up.
Today, many people know Chris’ story of being a business owner and just one day starting to post videos on YouTube? And then all the sudden he arrived here… to become the biggest YouTube painting channel in the world and become the CEO of a successful retail painting online and brick & mortar store. Not many people know or even realize what it took for him to get here? But I do, his daughter, the youngest of three and now his Procurement Specialist/Content Creator. I am here to tell my story of Christopher Troy Berry as I have lived it.
My dad has had many jobs but the only job I can remember is being a painter. I remember in preschool there was a Thanksgiving party and parents were allowed to come. My dad stopped work to make it to my kindergarten party. I remember all the other parents had suits and business casual dress on while my dad was dressed in his painting clothes with paint scattering his clothes, I didn’t care. I was proud that he was there. Flash forward to my dance days. I had so many dance recitals, performances, competitions and every single one my dad was there, in all white cheering me on. No matter what dance I did that day my dad showed up videoed and cheered me on. He could probably recite the dances because he watched every single one, hundreds of times over. Through traveling to my state and national competitions my dad came. We didn’t have much growing up, but my dad always made sure we sure felt like we did. Through three girls, all being involved in multiple sports, through high school into college, he showed up and was there to provide and support us.
Not many people saw the days of Chris working 14 hour+ hour days, but I did and still do. It all started with this tiny little camera, my dad would take pictures and film us all on until one day he stood in front of the camera and started talking to the camera. My mom and I would watch from our living room window of my dad in the backyard speaking to this little camera and we would giggle and try not to mess him up. We didn’t understand what he was doing but we never doubted him.
Chris is a night owl. In the days of owning his painting company he would be up until 3am-4am working on editing and creating his social media platforms. The next day he would wake up around 6am-8am and go to work with his painting crew. I would ask him why he is working so much and he would always answer with he just has a feeling this is what he needs to do. Being young I never fully understood, but I did comprehend what it meant to work hard. I witnessed first-hand the hard work, commitment and sacrifice right in front of my own eyes and daily.
It has close to 12 years since “The Idaho Painter” was created and the what I witnessed in the beginning days of this journey has stuck with me. I recall how my friends and I would always play with my dad's lighting and filming equipment not understanding how much money goes into all this equipment (the child brain). My friends would always laugh and not understand why my dad was calling himself “The Idaho Painter” and it would be a joke (good friends huh?). Even through the confusion and doubt he felt by his family and crew he still persisted. When he felt uncomfortable and awkward filming with people around, he never quit. The natural and easy going guy you see today was not who he once was, he worked to get there.
Through every trial and error, I never saw my dad give up or lose faith. Every time someone asks him for the best piece of advice for their own business he answers, “never give up if something goes wrong,” or “the only difference between a journeyman and apprentice is a journeyman can fix anything.” These were always just words to me with no meaning. I didn’t understand what it meant to ‘never give up on your goals’ until I became an adult. With 21 years of my dad teaching me the same lesson I am finally understanding what that truly means. I now understand the amount of frustrations as well as the mountains he had to climb and still climbs to make a name for himself and provide for his family. It has never been easy and it was never given to him, every ounce of it was worked for and earned.
So, to tell you a little bit more about who The Idaho Painter is, the man that you see on your phones is the most selfless, honest, and genuine man you’ll ever meet. His mission and entire goal with starting his business is to “Educate, Empower and Equip”. May sound cheesy, I know I had to throw this in there, but it is true. Chris has always wanted to help others and give back to his community. He has walked in everyone elses shoes, he has lived 100 different lives and from that experience his goal is to not let anyone have to go through what he did. He wants to help you avoid mistakes or if you need help he wants to help you succeed.
You never see the hustle, you always see the end result. I feel extremely blessed to have been able to see ALL of the hustle and ALL of the hard work that my dad has invested. Simple and plainly, the long strenuous hours that kept him up at night and overworking is how he got to where he is today. Through all of his the trials and errors in life, my dad never gave up on his dreams. His dreams to not only own the most successful painting company in Idaho, but to be able to provide his family with jobs that could turn into careers for others. My relationship with my dad has gone through many different seasons. From dad to hero, to friend, and now to boss. I have seen every side of my father and I could not be more amazed with the man that taught me and raised me.
If you have made it this far. I hope you see a glimpse of who my dad is a little bit more and understand who he is. Finally, to my dad, thank you for providing for our family. Thank you for never giving up on me and believing in me. Thank you for always working hard and becoming who you are today. It is extremely rewarding seeing your successes and working alongside you.
You are my hero, you are my sidekick, you are my best friend and through it all you I am honored to call you my dad.
I love you, Happy birthday.
It all started with this tiny little camera, my dad would take pictures and film us all on, until one day he stood in front of the camera and started talking to you with the camera at himself.
Afton Berry - The Idaho Painters Daughter
