Anything Goes

"I sort of made this into a [successful] business," says James Martin, founder of The Color People, a Denver-based company that chooses the paint colors used on hotels, office buildings and apartment complexes nationwide. "I had many, many doubts along the way."

Clearly, Martin's doubting days are far behind him-and for good reason. Despite the occasional encounter with skeptics ("You just pick colors for buildings?"), Martin posts annual sales increases of 10 percent-far more than just a drop in the paint bucket.

"Color is a phenomenal marketing tool for buildings," insists the 50-year-old entrepreneur, whose brush with Victorian house renovation steered him in the direction of color consulting. "We're taking [clients'] maintenance dollars and turning them into marketing dollars."

This article was originally published in the January 1996 print edition of Entrepreneur with the headline: Anything Goes.