How to start a painting business, get painting leads, win your first jobs, and grow without a huge marketing budget — Tanner Mullen breaks down what he would do starting a painting company from scratch.
Lauren recently launched Wild Grain Painting and joins Tanner for a Business Breakthrough session to figure out exactly what she should focus on next.
They cover everything from positioning and sales to organic marketing, reviews, Facebook Ads, hiring painters, and getting off the tools.
In this episode, you'll learn:
• How to look more professional on estimates
• Why perceived value matters when you're brand new
• How to use your personal story to differentiate your company
• How to find your company's real value proposition
• How to generate leads when you have almost no marketing budget
• How Tanner would use local Facebook groups
• Why every new painting company needs reviews
• When to start investing in Facebook Ads
• Why you shouldn't wait to build your CRM
• How to avoid getting trapped doing all the painting yourself
• How to sell the job first and find production second
• What Tanner would do if he started over from $0
CHAPTERS:
00:00 Starting a Painting Business
01:18 Meet Lauren & Wild Grain Painting
02:27 What Should the Owner Actually Do?
04:13 Building Confidence as a New Contractor
05:18 Look Like a Professional Estimator
06:03 Perceived Value Matters
07:46 Lauren's First Commercial Estimate
08:39 Avoiding the Commercial & GC Trap
09:39 Marketing With Almost No Money
10:23 Your Biggest Competitive Advantage
11:30 Building a Story People Care About
14:17 What Makes Your Company Different?
17:28 Turning Your Story Into Marketing
19:55 Get Clear on the Mission
20:20 Why Marketing Means Being "Annoying"
20:48 Free Local Facebook Marketing
21:51 Build the Systems Before You Need Them
22:09 Setting Up a CRM
22:15 DripJobs Startup Program
23:33 When to Invest in Facebook Ads
24:21 Building Google Reviews
25:27 The Paint Trap
26:13 Why Tanner Wouldn't Pick Up a Paintbrush
27:07 Subcontractors vs Employees
27:57 Where Lauren Should Start
28:18 The Final Game Plan
One of Tanner's biggest lessons:
If you're starting a painting business, your highest-value job may not be painting.
Sell a job.
Schedule it.
Find someone to produce it.
Then go sell another one.
At the beginning, you need to become resourceful.
Tell your story.
Build your reputation.
Get reviews.
Post locally.
Sell.
Build systems.
Then reinvest your profits into marketing.
If you're starting a painting company or trying to get your first consistent painting jobs, this episode gives you a practical roadmap to follow.
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