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#036 - The Moment I Realized Being a Better Painter Was the Problem!
Struggling to scale your painting business? Join the circle of experts at Painters Circle and get the guidance you need to grow your business. Start today: https://pages.paintercoach.com/the-painters-circle
FREE GAME PLAN BUILDER: https://pages.paintercoach.com/Game_Plan_Builder
Most painting businesses think they have a sales problem. In reality, they have a delivery and capacity problem.
Most tradies start a business chasing more money and more freedom, only to end up working longer hours, carrying more stress, and building a business that depends entirely on them.
In this episode, Tas shares the real journey behind building multiple businesses including QPaint, Painter Coach, and Tradiematepro, and what it actually took to get off the tools and create a business that can run without being fully reliant on the owner. He breaks down the shift from thinking like a tradesperson to thinking like a business owner, and why that transition is where real time and financial freedom begins.
Tas explains one of the biggest mistakes trades business owners make: believing that becoming better at the trade automatically makes them better at running the business. He unpacks how this mindset leads to burnout, underquoting, overworking, and getting stuck in the cycle of doing everything yourself. The conversation highlights why there is no real money in just doing the work if you are not also learning pricing, sales, recruitment, systems, and leadership.
The episode also dives into how trades business owners can start getting their time back. Tas shares how he helps clients identify where they are stuck, whether it is in pricing, performance, admin, or operations, and how small shifts in responsibility can unlock massive gains in revenue and freedom. He walks through the importance of pipeline visibility, monetising tasks, and understanding the opportunity cost of staying buried in low-value work.
This conversation ties everything together around a simple truth: if you want a business that gives you more time, more profit, and more control, you have to stop building your identity around the tools and start building the skills of a business owner. If you feel stuck on the hamster wheel, this episode will help you see the real bottlenecks and show you a practical path forward.
Follow us:
https://www.paintercoach.com/
https://www.instagram.com/paintercoach/
https://www.facebook.com/paintercoach
Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction to Tas Moulis and his businesses
00:55 Why getting off the tools is the goal for many tradies
02:15 Tas’s background as a second-generation painter
03:45 Moving from the tools into the business side
04:16 Becoming a director and building for freedom
05:16 Why most tradies start a business for time and money freedom
06:25 The role of coaching in Tas’s business journey
07:12 Burnout and the mistake of focusing only on technical skill
07:32 “There’s no money in the thing that you do”
08:18 Why being a better painter does not make you a better business owner
09:05 The danger of working longer, quoting more, and dropping prices
09:53 The real skills business owners need to develop
11:07 The E-Myth and the technician trap
13:03 Why learning business matters more than just doing the work
14:13 The two major bottlenecks: pricing and performance
15:02 Understanding pipeline and booked work
15:30 Monetising tasks and identifying opportunity cost
16:18 Input, throughput, and output in a painting business
17:07 Why admin should be the first thing to delegate
18:14 Replacing low-value tasks with higher-value activities
19:17 How moving into sales creates better returns
21:09 Why many owners resist getting off the tools
22:01 Comfort zones, trust, and identity on site
23:14 Why doing the same thing keeps producing the same result
24:03 The difference between choosing to be on the tools and needing to be
25:03 Building workflows and creating time to work on the business
26:29 Why getting off the tools happens gradually, not overnight
27:19 Changing identity from tradesperson to business owner
28:16 Swapping one tool for another and falling into the same trap
30:00 Efficiency versus real business growth
31:14 Why underpricing creates long-term damage
33:49 The myth of price competitiveness
35:19 Why every business needs time and money to survive
36:07 What happens when you underquote work
37:09 How poor pricing impacts quality and client experience
39:06 The cost of being locked into unprofitable work
40:03 Why you cannot outwork a bad pricing strategy
41:22 Working hard in the wrong area of the business
42:40 Final thoughts and future conversation on marketing
View all episodes
By Tas MoulisStruggling to scale your painting business? Join the circle of experts at Painters Circle and get the guidance you need to grow your business. Start today: https://pages.paintercoach.com/the-painters-circle
FREE GAME PLAN BUILDER: https://pages.paintercoach.com/Game_Plan_Builder
Most painting businesses think they have a sales problem. In reality, they have a delivery and capacity problem.
Most tradies start a business chasing more money and more freedom, only to end up working longer hours, carrying more stress, and building a business that depends entirely on them.
In this episode, Tas shares the real journey behind building multiple businesses including QPaint, Painter Coach, and Tradiematepro, and what it actually took to get off the tools and create a business that can run without being fully reliant on the owner. He breaks down the shift from thinking like a tradesperson to thinking like a business owner, and why that transition is where real time and financial freedom begins.
Tas explains one of the biggest mistakes trades business owners make: believing that becoming better at the trade automatically makes them better at running the business. He unpacks how this mindset leads to burnout, underquoting, overworking, and getting stuck in the cycle of doing everything yourself. The conversation highlights why there is no real money in just doing the work if you are not also learning pricing, sales, recruitment, systems, and leadership.
The episode also dives into how trades business owners can start getting their time back. Tas shares how he helps clients identify where they are stuck, whether it is in pricing, performance, admin, or operations, and how small shifts in responsibility can unlock massive gains in revenue and freedom. He walks through the importance of pipeline visibility, monetising tasks, and understanding the opportunity cost of staying buried in low-value work.
This conversation ties everything together around a simple truth: if you want a business that gives you more time, more profit, and more control, you have to stop building your identity around the tools and start building the skills of a business owner. If you feel stuck on the hamster wheel, this episode will help you see the real bottlenecks and show you a practical path forward.
Follow us:
https://www.paintercoach.com/
https://www.instagram.com/paintercoach/
https://www.facebook.com/paintercoach
Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction to Tas Moulis and his businesses
00:55 Why getting off the tools is the goal for many tradies
02:15 Tas’s background as a second-generation painter
03:45 Moving from the tools into the business side
04:16 Becoming a director and building for freedom
05:16 Why most tradies start a business for time and money freedom
06:25 The role of coaching in Tas’s business journey
07:12 Burnout and the mistake of focusing only on technical skill
07:32 “There’s no money in the thing that you do”
08:18 Why being a better painter does not make you a better business owner
09:05 The danger of working longer, quoting more, and dropping prices
09:53 The real skills business owners need to develop
11:07 The E-Myth and the technician trap
13:03 Why learning business matters more than just doing the work
14:13 The two major bottlenecks: pricing and performance
15:02 Understanding pipeline and booked work
15:30 Monetising tasks and identifying opportunity cost
16:18 Input, throughput, and output in a painting business
17:07 Why admin should be the first thing to delegate
18:14 Replacing low-value tasks with higher-value activities
19:17 How moving into sales creates better returns
21:09 Why many owners resist getting off the tools
22:01 Comfort zones, trust, and identity on site
23:14 Why doing the same thing keeps producing the same result
24:03 The difference between choosing to be on the tools and needing to be
25:03 Building workflows and creating time to work on the business
26:29 Why getting off the tools happens gradually, not overnight
27:19 Changing identity from tradesperson to business owner
28:16 Swapping one tool for another and falling into the same trap
30:00 Efficiency versus real business growth
31:14 Why underpricing creates long-term damage
33:49 The myth of price competitiveness
35:19 Why every business needs time and money to survive
36:07 What happens when you underquote work
37:09 How poor pricing impacts quality and client experience
39:06 The cost of being locked into unprofitable work
40:03 Why you cannot outwork a bad pricing strategy
41:22 Working hard in the wrong area of the business
42:40 Final thoughts and future conversation on marketing