PaintED Podcast

Employees and company executives must share the responsibility of preventing burnout.

As business owners we often don’t realize the strain we put on our employees and the actions we task them with. In this episode, Josh Douglas with WorkHappy helps us break down 3 main reasons why employee’s get burned out, how we can prevent it, and what way’s we can help them further succeed and feel fulfilled in their roles at your company.

PCA Overdrive is free for members.

What are contractors' biggest problems? And how can these problems be solved?

This episode is going to be a little different from our typical format.

While a lot of our other Contractor Evolution episodes are more instructional, this one is more of in-depth observation of the contracting and trades industry on a personal level.

Over the last few years, I’ve conducted well over 1000 business assessments, each lasting roughly 2 hours, where I dive deep into the biggest challenges each contractor is facing.

What becomes blatantly obvious over time is that most of the issues I see come back to 3 core problems that are totally preventable.

So in this episode, I’m going to lay out (or maybe rant a little) on a few key points:

- General observations after conducting more than 1000 business assessments with contractors

- 3 easy to avoid mistakes that 9 out of 10 contractors are making in their everyday decisions

- The area where a company falls apart when there is no clear vision

- Why being the ‘nice guy’ sentences you the death of a thousand cuts

- The biggest opportunity for recruiting that is sitting right in front of contractors faces but few recognize it

- A rant that most contractors need to hear about where they focus their efforts

PCA Overdrive is free for members.

What do you consider to be a successful business? For many people, business success is characterized by achieving business goals and having the ability to be self-employed.

In this episode of PaintED, Join Torlando as he talks with Tom Reber of the Contractor Fight about the mentality that it takes to be the author of your own success. Tom helps us walk through gaining clarity for what we want our lives to look like and building the daily habits of consistency to see it become reality.

PCA Overdrive is free for members.

The right mindset for success is a blend of implemented expertise and business strategies.

Michael Sutton, owner of Kind Home Solutions, reveals how he has grown his residential repaint company to doing over $6 million in business in less than 4 years. He discusses some of the biggest mistakes he made early on, as well as some consistent issues he sees other painting company owners creating that he hopes he listening to this episode can prevent. Michael believes there is an incredible opportunity available for ambitious painting company owners and hopes his story can highlight what's possible.

Topics Discussed:

- The mindset needed for aggressive growth in your painting company.

- How to craft a customer journey that propels your painting business to success.

- Why your fear of charging more for your painting services is unfounded.

- The most common and destructive mistake Michael sees other painting company owners making and how to fix it.

PCA Overdrive is free for members.

Brothers of the Brush is the first international show to arrive at PCA. Hosted by the English Master Decorator, Chris Kerfoot, this show consists of interviews with numerous decorators from across the world to acquire real-life business experiences and guidance from the source.

In this first episode, Chris talks to Scott Barney, known for his hipster beard, honest Instagram reviews, and being an all-around top bloke to discuss dream makers, music, and trade associations.

This could be the next step in your globalization journey! Don't miss out on each episode made by decorators for decorators.

Who is Chris? Since 1989, Chris Kerfoot has been a reliable and consistent Painter and Decorator. His company, which is based in East Yorkshire, England, provides top-notch painting, decorating, and spraying services for both residential and commercial clients.

Chris is always interested in hearing what you have to say! Please contact him at [email protected] if there are any topics you'd want to hear more about, or if there's someone you'd like us to approach to feature on future podcasts (including yourself!).

PCA Overdrive is free for members.

There's no point in selling yourself short. Underpricing your work can destroy your business by sending the wrong message to your customers.

In this episode, Nick Slavik discusses how to efficiently price your job depending on a variety of elements such as your market rate, production rates, and experience. He divides the most effective pricing strategy into three primary elements that determine pricing. The first entails a thorough examination of the project. The second step is to have clear visuals for the project. The third stage involves taking into account all variables, which is especially important in larger projects. Furthermore, Nick describes how this pricing technique is based on what his market could handle, given his rapidly expanding business with a large number of apprentices. Stay until the end to hear him explain how he calculates his budgets using the following formula: (Revenue - 15% materials) / $60 = hours a project needs to be completed to be ‘profitable’.

PCA Overdrive is free for members.

Are you satisfied with your contracts? Too long? Too short? They can never be too detailed, but at what expense? A boring, too-generalized document that no one reads and where confusion reigns is not good. And how about those thick commercial contracts with terms like "indemnification”: do we sign our life away, or spend $350/hr for our attorney to check that fine print? Join Randy Fornoff of MTS Painting as he walks through contracts that are tailored to your contracting needs.

After an unprecedented year, EXPO 2022 will take place at the Hyatt Grand Cypress Hotel in Orlando, FL. From March 2nd to March 4th, attendees will be able to enjoy 30 different breakout sessions, daily brain meld sessions, a tradeshow, an awards ceremony, and evening events hosted by industry partners Benjamin Moore, PPG, and Sherwin Williams.

Learn more about PCA EXPO

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Good creative marketing cuts through the clutter to highlight your company's values and strengths.

Finding ways to stand out in your industry may be extremely easy or rather hard. In this episode, Emile Flowers helps provide some creative ideas that you can use in your business to stand out, differentiate yourself, and give back to your clients. If you’re looking to build better, stronger, more fruitful relationships with your referral partners and/or clients, this episode is for you!

PCA Overdrive is free for members.

Effective accounting knowledge and technical skills are necessary for running a successful business!

You, more than likely, didn’t start your business to stare at Quickbooks, reconcile receipts, or painstakingly track every expense down to the penny.

You started your business because you had a vision, you wanted to lead, and you wanted to create. Being an entrepreneur was the best vehicle for that.

And while your big picture thinking is critical to success, let’s not forget at the end of the day your business needs to make money. This part of the equation can be extremely difficult without solid bookkeeping and accounting systems. You can build teams and process all you want, but if your business doesn’t reliably generate profit, you won’t be playing this game very long.

While this concept is simple enough to understand... it's a lot harder to implement. Let’s not kid ourselves... tracking financial data really well and using it to make the right decisions requires great accounting infrastructure and the right person to do it diligently.

The good news is that person doesn’t need to be you. Your responsibility is to assemble the right people around you to get this done successfully.

The bad news is that a lot of bookkeepers can often be incompetent, unreliable, or straight-up shady. And as a busy business owner, it can be hard to find the true pros that ARE out there.

To shed some light on this thorny issue we brought Morgan Ray onto the show. Morgan is Managing Partner at Bookkeeping for Trades - a professional bookkeeping firm built exclusively for entrepreneurs in the Trades and Construction space.

Morgan’s firm has managed the accounting cycle for over 200 trades businesses helping them gain true financial clarity and increased margins. When it comes to bookkeeping for trades, she understands the needs of the market.

In this episode we unpack:

- Why bookkeeping is so frustrating for contractors and why you aren’t alone in thinking it is.

- The 2 kinds of bookkeeping and why 1 sucks and the other is pretty fun, but few contractors use it.

- What a good bookkeeper SHOULD be doing, and also what they SHOULDN’t be doing.

- The crucial security pieces every contractor needs to have in place to avoid fraud, embezzlement, or a nasty call from the taxman.

- What good bookkeeping FEELS like to you the business owner, and how to know when you’ve nailed it.

- The 3 traits you should be looking for when you hire a bookkeeper.

PCA Overdrive is free for members.

Tim Perryman, co-owner of Perryman Painting and Remodeling, discusses the importance of company culture and employee happiness. He dives into why he views his company as a "people company" first, and a "painting and remodeling company" second. He also discusses the importance of knowing your "why", and having your personal and business goals aligned. Throughout his entrepreneurial journey, Tim has learned the great importance of introspection.

Topics Discussed:

- Why employee culture and happiness is your most important asset

- The failures entrepreneurs are sure to endure, and why they matter

- How young entrepreneurs can use introspection to set themselves up for success

PCA Overdrive is free for members.