Paint your Money

By TheWild1 at 21 September, 2007, 2:15 am, Categories : All About Business

Whenever I am strolling through my neighborhood, I always see signs sticking out of people’s yard. The source of those signs are usually some contractors, landscapers, or PAINTERS. Yep… painting. That is my venture for you today, and, if done correctly, you just might be painting dollar signs on your wall.

Whats so great about a painting business is that start-up costs can be just a couple hundred dollars. To begin your entrepreneurial mission, you must first complete the legal work by applying for the proper permits and/or licenses that you need: (Get the Right Permits)

Choose a name and file for a DBA/TAX ID Number
Shop for insurance (owners are liable for their workers)
Setting up bank account

This can all be done in little to no time. Next you need to determine your work force. Will it just be you and a couple of your friends or are you looking to find new people to work for you? Either way, you need to make sure all workers know how to paint. This is an important step because sloppy work = sloppy profits.

Next, you need to get your name out there. There are many ways to do this cost-effectively:

Go to local college campuses and see if you can post signs on the the schools bulletin board. You be surprised (especially at the end of the year) how many students need their apartments/rooms quickly painted to avoid larger fines.
If your neighborhood has a homeowners association, then see if you can get your name in the listings of quarterly newsletters. Getting your business flowing through neighborhoods is a great advantage to have.
Post an ad in your local town newspaper, and don’t worry too much about the major metropolitan newspaper.
Find renovators or contractors and try to start relationships with them. The better connections you have the more job opportunities there will be.
Contact real estate companies and apartment complexes to see if they need work.

When running any business that caters to home improvements, marketing is always fair game. If you do one bad project, then that could trigger a chain of lost clients. I know personally, in my neighborhood, there are businesses that virtually lost all their client base in the area. On the other hand, if you do good, then you could be set in the area.

It is very good idea to make signs and get business cards to pass out everywhere you go. Theses are really cheap and effective ways of advertising.

Also, it is always good to have standard price guidelines when conducting estimates. Check what other local painter are charging in your area. It is never good idea to show up to a house and just throw up a ball park figure. Potential clients would be more willing to open their checkbooks if they can see a written method of how you got to their estimate.

What’s so great about this possible venture is that I basically covered everything you basically need to know about starting you own painting business. The hardest part of the whole start-up would probably be getting the permits, which is really not that hard. Especially for a paint company, as the start-up cost and liabilities are really low. And, like many of these simple yet great ventures, it is suitable for all ages. I remember in college there were numerous times when my peers were searching for painters to come join their company.

So go, pick up some paint brushes, a ladder, and get your work clothes out of the bottom of your dresser, and get to painting.