PaintED Podcast

What's the story you're telling yourself about your painting business — and is it true?

In this episode of the Elite Business Advice Podcast, host Chris Moore, founder of Elite Business Advisors, breaks down the #1 factor that determines whether a painting contractor succeeds: mindset. Not capital, not crew size, not experience — the internal stories painting company owners tell themselves every day about their ability to lead, grow, and scale.

Chris walks through a practical, three-step framework any painting contractor can use to take control of their thinking and, in turn, their results:

Awareness — Learn to catch the "lies" you believe about yourself as a business owner (a concept borrowed from Craig Groeschel), and why one bad moment doesn't make you a bad leader, bad boss, or bad painting contractor

Rewire — Use "I am" statements, affirmations, and gratitude practices to physically rewire the brain out of negative thought ruts — even when it feels uncomfortable or "dumb"

Never Stop — Understand why mindset work isn't a one-time fix but an infinite game every painting business owner has to keep playing

If you're a painting contractor who feels like something invisible is holding your business back — even when the numbers, the crew, and the systems are in place — this episode gets to the root cause.

Your thoughts control your actions. Your actions control your habits. Your habits control your results. Change starts here.

🎧 New episodes every week for painting contractors and painting company owners across North America looking to build smarter, more profitable painting businesses — The Elite Painting Way.

Connect with Chris Moore and Elite Business Advisors:

@elitebusinessadvisors on all social platforms

www.elitebusinessadvisors.com to learn more about how they help Painting Contractors all over North America!

Most contractors become leaders by accident.

You start a business because you're great at your trade. Then suddenly you're managing crews, handling conflict, giving feedback, and trying to keep good people from walking out the door.

And if you're like most owners, nobody ever taught you how to do any of it.

That's why this week's Contractor Evolution episode with leadership expert and former Head of Storybrand Dr. J.J. Peterson is worth your time.

In this conversation, Dr. J.J. breaks down a simple approach to leadership that helps you:

- Keep your best people longer

- Reduce costly mistakes and miscommunication

- Build a team you can actually trust

- Create a culture people want to be part of

You send your project manager — or go yourself — to check in on a jobsite. You get a great report back. Everything looks fine. Then a week later, it's not fine at all. Sound familiar? In this episode of the Elite Business Advice Podcast, host Chris Moore, founder of Elite Business Advisors, breaks down the real reason jobsite check-ins fail: a lack of intentionality about what's actually being checked.

By popular demand, this episode wraps up the Production SOP series with the Check-In Checklist — the exact list of what should be evaluated every single time you or your project manager sets foot on a jobsite mid-project.

In this episode, you'll learn:

- Why "it looks great" isn't a real jobsite report — and how vague check-ins let problems slip through until it's too late

- The 7-point Check-In Checklist — the specific areas every jobsite visit should cover, including:

- Client — guiding the color conversation, walking finished areas together, and gauging communication

- Budget/Progress Plan — staying on track against the project plan

- Punchlist walkthrough — catching issues early instead of at closeout

- SOP adherence — is the crew actually following your documented process?

- Jobsite cleanliness and organization

- Safety check

- Getting content — the step contractors forget most, and the one that fuels your marketing

- Why structure beats good intentions — a business without systems is just a job, and the Check-In Checklist is what keeps quality consistent instead of accidental

- What happens when you skip even one item — why every point on this list matters on its own, not just as a group

This episode closes out the 3-part Production SOP series. If you haven't caught the first two, go back and listen to the Job Start SOP and Job Closeout SOP episodes — together, these three form a complete framework for running consistent, professional projects from kickoff to final walkthrough.

Connect with Chris Moore and Elite Business Advisors:

@elitebusinessadvisors on all social platforms

www.elitebusinessadvisors.com to learn more about how they help Painting Contractors all over North America!

This is the Elite Business Advice Podcast — practical business strategy for painting contractors who want to run a tighter, more profitable operation.

#PaintingContractor #PaintingBusiness #SOP #PaintingCompany #ContractorTips #BusinessAdvice #CashflowManagement

AI is exposing everything that's broken in your contracting business…

…before it fixes anything.

Everyone's racing to adopt AI right now. But here's what nobody's saying: if your workflows are messy, AI doesn't clean them up. It accelerates the chaos. This episode is your filter; a practical, no-hype walkthrough of where AI for contractors actually fits, where it makes things worse, and how to know if your business is even ready.

If you're running a contracting company and feeling the pressure to "do something with AI" before you fall behind, this is the episode to listen to first.

There's one fundamental thing that trips up 95% of painting contractors — the Job Closeout SOP. In this episode of the Elite Business Advice Podcast, host Chris Moore, founder of Elite Business Advisors, breaks down exactly what a Job Closeout SOP should look like for your painting company, and why the process actually starts on day one of the project — not the last day.

This is part 2 of a two-part Production SOP series. Last week covered the Job Start SOP; this week Chris focuses on the end of the customer experience — the walkthrough, the payment collection, and everything in between that determines whether a project closes clean or drags on with touchups, callbacks, and late payments.

In this episode, you'll learn:

· Why closeout problems are really structure problems — if you're dealing with late payments, callbacks, or crews saying "done" when it isn't, it likely traces back to a missing closeout process

· Why the Job Closeout SOP starts on day one — setting expectations for the final walkthrough and payment collection before a single wall is painted

· The 24-hour check-in — how to find out if the homeowner will be present for the final walkthrough, and how to problem-solve if they won't be

· The 45-minute walkthrough script — exactly what to say to the homeowner as your crew leader or PM wraps up touchups, invoicing, and payment

· How to build in reviews and referrals — using the walkthrough moment to hand off a Google Review postcard and introduce your Advocate discount program

· Why mini-walkthroughs throughout the project make closeout easier — and how to avoid a chaotic final day

· What closeout impacts — your mental bandwidth, your cashflow, and your schedule

Whether you're closing out jobs yourself or handing that responsibility to a crew leader or PM, this episode gives you a repeatable framework to protect your cashflow, your reputation, and your peace of mind on every project.

Missed part 1? Go back and listen to last week's episode on the Job Start SOP.

Connect with Chris Moore and Elite Business Advisors:

@elitebusinessadvisors on all social platforms

www.elitebusinessadvisors.com to learn more about how they help Painting Contractors all over North America!

Most contractors assume the sale is dead after two ignored messages. The data says otherwise, and the money you're leaving on the table is staggering.

Ryan Fenn, founder of CHIIRP, has analyzed massive volumes of real customer conversations to find out what actually gets replies, what kills deals, and what the best follow-up systems do differently. In this episode, we break it all down into the three elements that matter most: words, cadence, and channel.

Struggling to get projects off to a smooth, professional start? You're not alone. In this episode of the Elite Business Advice Podcast, host Chris Moore, founder of Elite Business Advisors, breaks down exactly what a Job Start SOP should look like for your painting company — and why most contractors are losing money, trust, and crew efficiency without one.

This is part one of a two-part series on Job Start and Job Closeout SOPs. Chris dives deep into the standard operating procedure every painting contractor needs to kick off projects with consistency, professionalism, and accountability.

In this episode, you'll learn:

· Why a documented Job Start SOP matters — the hidden costs of inconsistent project kickoffs that most contractors never see

· The exact sequence for a professional job start — from leader arrival time and lawn sign placement to the final scope review with the homeowner

· How a final scope review builds trust — and prevents the dreaded "homeowner hovering over your shoulder" problem

· Standards and timelines that protect your business — colors confirmed 2 weeks out, work orders ready 1 week out, materials ordered 3-5 days before

· Who's accountable for executing the SOP — and why accountability always sits one level above the person doing the work

· The 3 areas Job Start SOPs impact — marketing and visibility, client experience, and project efficiency for your crew

Whether you're a solo owner still running your own job starts or scaling a team of project managers and crew leaders, this episode gives you a repeatable framework to bring consistency, trust, and professionalism to every project kickoff.

Next week: Chris covers the Job Closeout SOP — don't miss it.

Connect with Chris Moore and Elite Business Advisors:

@elitebusinessadvisors on all social platforms

www.elitebusinessadvisors.com to learn more about how they help Painting Contractors all over North America!

This is the Elite Business Advice Podcast — practical business strategy for painting contractors who want to run a tighter, more profitable operation.

#PaintingContractor #PaintingBusiness #SOP #PaintingCompany #ContractorTips #BusinessAdvice

Your crew isn't lazy. Your processes are broken. In this episode of Contractor Evolution, process strategist Moustafa Moursy breaks down why most business systems collect dust, and introduces the OPTIMIZE Framework: a step-by-step method for building SOPs that your team actually uses, so you can stop running every decision through yourself.

If you've ever written a process doc that nobody followed, this episode will show you exactly where you went wrong (and how to fix it).

It’s really easy for us as business advisors to see the ripple effect in motion to those around us or that attended the 2026 Elite Business Retreat. But the more important aspect would be how do you embody the ripple effect in your life when you learn something or attend an event? In today’s episode we share some takeaways from this years retreat while also sharing how to be impactful to those around you on a daily basis!

Have a growth mindset and looking for help growing your painting company? Schedule a free business analysis meeting with us at www.elitebusinessadvisors.com!

If you're the only person on every jobsite who can catch a mistake, you don't have a team; you have a daycare. In this episode, Matt Risinger (from The Build Show) maps the exact path from babysitter to system-builder, so your business runs without you hovering over every decision.

Most contractors don't even realize they're micromanaging. They just know they're exhausted, their PMs won't make a call without them, and nothing gets caught until they personally show up. This episode breaks down why smart owners get trapped as the answer guy, what it's costing them in profit and sanity, and the step-by-step framework to build a team that thinks, decides, and polices standards on its own.