Several years ago, Juan Cervantes was out of work, out of options, and about to become a father. Coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Amarillo, Texas, native found himself in a tough spot.
“Unemployment had ended, and there was no more help coming in,” he said. “I couldn’t get back into the oil field doing what I used to do. We were going through a pregnancy, and I just thought — I don’t want my kid growing up without his dad around all the time.”
That moment of reckoning pushed Juan to bet on himself. He picked up a small welding side job. Then another. And another.
“It just kept going,” he said. “Years later, here we are. The rest is history.”
Today, Juan owns and operates Windy City Welding, a construction and welding business based in the Texas Panhandle.
Juan grew up around welding. His uncle, whom he deeply admired, was a welder. His dad went to welding school, and several cousins are also in the trade. From a young age, he was drawn to the craft — tinkering with machines, developing a natural affinity for hands-on work.
After high school, Juan considered going to college to make his parents proud, but welding kept calling. He enrolled in welding school and started out as a helper. The work stuck with him but turning that passion into a successful business would take another leap — and some help.
That help came unexpectedly.
Juan once did a repair job for Doshon Johnson, owner of Urban Heights Investments, LLC, a construction transport business in Amarillo. Doshon, a longtime client of the Entrepreneurship Team at Communities Unlimited (CU), struck up a conversation with Juan about business and life — and handed him CU’s contact information. Juan didn’t call right away, but eventually realized he needed more support than he thought and made the call.
That call led him to James Custer, a Management Consultant on CU’s Entrepreneurship Team.
As Windy City Welding began to grow, it grew fast — maybe too fast. “The first year or two wasn’t bad because we weren’t doing things on a big scale yet,” Juan said. “But then we got some big jobs, hired more people, bought equipment — and things got a lot more complicated.”
Juan was running a five-man crew and taking on large projects but often waited 30 to 60 days to get paid. Meanwhile, material costs came out of his own pocket. Cash flow was tight.
“I always try to make sure my guys get paid first so I don’t lose anyone,” he said. “Whatever’s left goes to us — if there’s anything left.”
That’s when James stepped in to conduct a full analysis of the business.
“When we started, we really had no idea what we were doing. We were doing a lot of little things wrong — and some big things too.”
— Juan Cervantes, Owner of Windy City Welding
They started with the numbers. “Not short-changing myself on bids was a big one,” Juan said. “Your bid is what it is. If you’re second-guessing yourself, you’re probably bidding too low.”
They also tackled overspending, budgeting, and crew productivity. Juan stopped footing the bill for daily meals, brought on a full-time bookkeeper, and raised wages to boost morale and output. James encouraged him to build a stronger team and eventually hire a dedicated salesperson.
“Little things like markups — James would say, ‘Don’t touch it if you can’t mark it up.’ Stuff like that added up.”
Now, Windy City Welding doesn’t just weld — it manages full-scale projects, from concrete and plumbing to steel erection and insulation. What started as small repair jobs has become a full-service general contracting company handling turnkey metal building construction.
“That’s helped a lot with cash flow,” Juan said.
He’s no longer focused on growing fast — he’s focused on growing smart.
“Right now, I’m tightening up what we’ve built, learning more about the business side so I can teach it to the team,” he said. “Eventually, I want to put the right people in the right places so I can step back a bit — have more time with my family and a little more financial freedom.”
With a stronger structure, new systems, and more accurate bids that now account for rising material costs, Windy City Welding is on track to top $1 million in revenue in 2025.
That’s a long way from side jobs and slim margins.
Juan credits Communities Unlimited and James Custer’s support for helping him navigate that growth.
“James has been amazing. Being a former business owner himself, he brought a lot of good advice and insight. If I had to do it all over again, I’d definitely want James to be part of that journey again.”
— Juan Cervantes
