Four years ago, 19-year-old Landon Miller was working in a windowless office in Washington, D.C. Even so, he still dreamed of becoming an entrepreneur.
One weekend the Louisianan was driving to Dallas — nearly five hours away from his home in Alexandria, Louisiana — to get parts for his motorcycle powder coated when he had an epiphany.
He wanted to start his own powder coating business in his hometown of Alexandria in the middle of Louisiana.
“I wanted to offer quality, unique powder coating options in central Louisiana, says Miller, now 23 and owner of Cenla Powder Coating. “I was actually traveling to Dallas three times a month taking parts or picking up parts for myself.”
Starting Small in Powder Coating But Growing
At first, Miller built his own contraption in his parent’s garage, complete with his mother’s old baking oven to cure the coatings. Soon, his riding buddies asked him to do their parts, and a few people even asked him to powder coat non-motorcycle items.
It was a side gig for Miller that continued to grow and challenged the time he had for his computer job and college classes. But the fire inside of him to powder coat grew to the point where he made the decision to dive headfirst into his first business.
But four years ago, Miller found himself making the hard choice of giving up a government computer security job — which he says was paying him well — and his pursuit of a college degree for the long hours of self-employment.
“I took a leave of absence from college and work, and I gave myself four months total time,” Miller says. “I told myself that if I can’t get this 100% on its feet and self-sufficient by the end of summer, then I’m going to return to my desk job and college.”
He soon opened a small shop and began powder coating full-time.
“I’m truly passionate about what I do with powder coating and being able to see unique products and old parts become new again,” Miller says. “There’s no two days exactly the same. We’re always doing different stuff, different colors, and every day presents a different challenge.”
Today, Miller runs Cenla Powder Coating with four employees out of a 13,000-square-foot facility in Alexandria, Louisiana, and is looking to possibly soon expand into the facility next door that will give him over 27,000 square feet of space.
‘A Turning Point in My Life’
Miller runs Cenla Powder Coating with four employees out of a 13,000-square-foot facility in Alexandria, Louisiana.The government job was sending him around the country a lot to stay for periods of time, including stops in Washington, D.C., and Colorado; he was presented with the possibility of working in London, England, which happened to be the same time the pandemic started and postponed going overseas.
“Covid was a very hard time for a lot of people, but I can honestly say it was the turning point in my life,” Miller says. “It put me in the position to make choices that brought me to where I am today.”
Starting his business in a 400-square-foot garage was taxing on Miller, as he worked almost 14 hours a day to service customers and do the powder coating himself. He quickly outgrew that space and opened his first “brick and mortar” location soon thereafter when he leased a 3,600-square-foot facility that allowed him to have a showroom to display parts and color samples.
“One of the first things I learned was it is all about the prep that gives you the quality of the product,” Miller says
The new facility lasted about a year, at which time Miller had to find new space for Cenla Powder Coating as a result of the continued growth. In October of 2022, he moved into a new space in a 13,000-square-footwarehouse, but business has been growing so fast that he has already filled that space and may need more.
“I anticipated that may happen, which is a good problem to have,” he says. “The building has the option for expansion up to around 27,000 square feet if we need it. I’m anticipating in the near future to tack on another 3,000- square feet.”
Training to Produce Quality Coated Parts
Miller is self-taught but soon realized the importance of mastering the art of powder coating to ensure he was providing a quality, reliable coating to his customers. When he bought his first professional set of equipment, he drove to the distributor in Massachusetts and spent over a week learning the finer nuances of operating a powder coating gun and precise coating techniques.
“One of the first things I learned was it is all about the prep that gives you the quality of the product,” Miller says. “If I’m going to give a product to a customer and they’re going to spend their hard-earned money on it, then it’s going be quality. That was a very big jumpstart in the whole learning process about the basics, the proper mil thickness, and proper part profiling.”
Powder coating wasn’t Miller’s first foray into entrepreneurship. In high school, he took a fulfillment job with Amazon, and he also bought products and sold them on eBay as well.
“I was in high school, so my mom had to actually open the accounts as I was too young to do it on my own,”Miller says.
In addition to his growing powder coating operation, Cenla Powder Coating offers a sandblasting service that is also mobile; he says work has been growing so fast in the blasting business that he wants to hire more people for that side of the business, too.
Miller has even purchased equipment to start an anodizing line and is exploring adding this to his company’sservices because of the growing demand.
“We’re always looking to branch out and provide new services for our customers,” he says. “We actually have a ton of anodizing equipment that I purchased and, in the future, hope to find someone that is interested in training, becoming certified, and developing a career.
Finding Employees to Grow the Company
Cenla Powder Coating offers a sandblasting service that is also mobile.Miller says that at age 23, he has already realized how hard it is to be a business owner and a boss, especially when dealing with people his own age. He has one employee younger than himself, but the rest are all older, which he prefers.
“I find a lot of guys my age don’t want to develop their career,” he says. “They want just to walk in and immediately start in the high-paying positions with zero experience. I get a lot of people that come to me, and they almost essentially make demands on what their pay will be, but they have zero experience. It’s tough to find people my age that want to work with us because it’s a physically demanding job, but I’m willing to invest in the staff that is willing to invest in themselves. I have one guy who is 22, and he’s been with me since day one, and everyone else is either in their 30s or 40s.”
Most of Cenla Powder Coating’s work comes from word-of-mouth and recommendations from satisfied customers, as the region has a large manufacturing base and plenty of powder coating work to be had. Miller has occasionally been dropping in on a few fabricators when he drives by their facilities to introduce himself and offer sandblasting, powder coating, and Cerakote (high temp) services.
“It’s probably not the optimal way of advertising, but I do enjoy meeting with customers personally, and until I can hire more employees and expand, that’s what we’re sticking with,” Miller says. “It allows me to know my customers as well as save money on an advertisement that I can put back into the business for future growth.”
