Pro Painter Podcast

3M’s Application Engineer Jeff Malmer: Hand Maskers & How To Prepare A Room For Painting | Pro Painter Podcast Bonus

Hosted by Nick May w/ guest Jeff Malmer

*This episode includes paid sponsored content. Hey! Fancy seeing you around here. This week, the Pro Painter Podcast brings you a mini episode featuring Jeff Malmer from 3M! Last time, Jeff walked Nick through the Scotch Painter’s Tape line of products. Today, Jeff and Nick touch a bit more on the painting side. Specifically, masking a room with tape prior to painting. It’s a tedious process, but you can save time and sweat (and tears) if you do it using a hand masker. What do you mean you don’t have one yet?

* Ready to live the life you love? Join the Pro Painter Network* Learn how to create systems, processes, and improve your marketing with Roadmap to Profit, an online course just for painting business owners.* Interested in connecting with the community and kickstarting your painting business? Check out our Denver Crankstart event in October!

This week's sponsor:

Moore Marketing Minute

will return next season!

Up-And-Coming New York City Painter and Business Owner Dane Carlson | S2E10 | Pro Painter Podcast

Hosted by Nick May w/ guest Dane Carlson

Hey! Welcome back to the Pro Painter Podcast. This week, Nick May is joined by Dane Carlson, a passionate painter from Connecticut and owner of a young business in New York City. Dane has been painting since he was 14; he enjoyed the craft and was skilled in sales. Eventually he moved to New York City to work for a painting company. He worked his way up to management positions thanks to his no-nonsense attitude and work-ethic. After being laid-off during COVID, he started his own business and he’s off to a fantastic start! While Dane speaks about the freedom of being his own boss and his excitement about the future, Nick reminds him – and us – the benefits of eventually hiring a team, saying ‘no’ to the wrong projects, and saying ‘yes’ to the right ones. Not to mention, getting old will become an obstacle! This is a marathon, and we have to prepare for all of it.

* Ready to live the life you love? Join the Pro Painter Network* Learn how to create systems, processes, and improve your marketing with Roadmap to Profit, an online course just for painting business owners.* Interested in connecting with the community and kickstarting your painting business? Check out our Denver Crankstart event in October!

This week's sponsor:

Moore Marketing Minute:

This week, iMay’s old friend Tyler LaChapelle follows up on SEO. More specifically, keyword research.

Paint Contractor Travis McClinton and the Benefits of Hiring an Admin | S2E9 | Pro Painter Podcast

Hosted by Nick May w/ guest Travis McClinton

In this week’s episode of the Pro Painter Podcast, Nick May sits down with Travis McClinton, co-founder of McClinton Painting in his hometown Albany, Ohio. Travis became a paint contractor alongside his brother Tyler, and together they both started McClinton Painting. Tyler left soon after, but Travis and McClinton Painting have already grown to sell a million dollars after just five years. Recently they’ve managed to double their staff from ten employees to twenty in only six months, thanks to Travis’ hiring strategy. Way to go! The company has been successful, largely because Travis acknowledges his own shortcomings. Believe it or not, he was that clumsy contractor who lost phone numbers and lacked communication skills with his customers. The solution was simple: just hire another admin. Yeah, it’s a big investment, but it was crucial for the business to become more organized, and allowed Travis to, as he puts it, “work ON the business instead of IN the business.”

* Ready to live the life you love? Join the Pro Painter Network* Learn how to create systems, processes, and improve your marketing with Roadmap to Profit, an online course just for painting business owners.* Interested in connecting with the community and kickstarting your painting business? Check out our Denver Crankstart event in October!

This week's sponsor:

Moore Marketing Minute:

This week, iMay’s old friend Tyler LaChapelle reminds us about Google My Business and SEO.

Ausherman Painting’s Newest Owner Zach Ausherman and the Challenges of Second-Generation Business | S2E8 | Pro Painter Podcast

Hosted by Nick May w/ guest Zach Ausherman

This week in the Pro Painter Podcast, Nick chats with Zach Ausherman, the new owner of Ausherman Painting in York, Pennsylvania.Ausherman Painting was originally owned by Zach’s father. Zach himself got a degree in business and political sciences, and went on his own path. Whenever he wasn’t working in the equipment industry, he worked at Ausherman as a salesman. Eventually his father decided to retire and, after a long and arduous process, Ausherman Painting is now officially under Zach’s ownership and direction.Zach talks about the many roadblocks of acquiring a business through succession. It’s not just about the paperwork, it’s about being the right person to keep the business on the right track – not to mention enjoying the position. Most importantly, Zach (and Nick) discuss the pros and cons of working with family members. Spoiler alert: family gets along better when they’re not working in the same company.

* Ready to live the life you love? Join the Pro Painter Network* Learn how to create systems, processes, and improve your marketing with Roadmap to Profit, an online course just for painting business owners.* Interested in connecting with the community and kickstarting your painting business? Check out our Denver Crankstart event in October!

This week's sponsor:

Moore Marketing Minute:

This week, iMay’s old friend Tyler LaChapelle warns us that Google Smart Campaings may not be that smart.

Grit City Pro Painter Ben Taff and the Importance of the Customer Experience | S2E7 | Pro Painter Podcast

Hosted by Nick May w/ guest Ben Taff

This week in the Pro Painter Podcast, Nick sits down with Ben Taff, founder of Grit City Painters in Tacoma, WA (which is apparently also known as Grit City… oh, now we get it!)

In over 20 years, Ben has worked for a multitude of companies, from Kelly Moore Paints, to Mallory Paint Company, to even BEHR. He’s been in all kinds of positions: stocking paint, painting, color matching, you name it. Finally, Ben started his current company, Grit City Painters.

Going back and forth between business positions to painting gave him plenty of experience in all aspects of the painting world; despite launching his company in the year 2020, he had a quite successful start and isn’t stopping anytime soon. Ben has already sold a million dollars, and has a closing ratio of 46.8%. What’s his secret? He lets us know that marketing and customer experience are as important – if not, more – than the actual painting.

* Ready to live the life you love? Join the Pro Painter Network* Learn how to create systems, processes, and improve your marketing with Roadmap to Profit, an online course just for painting business owners.* Interested in connecting with the community and kickstarting your painting business? Check out our Denver Crankstart event in October!

This week's sponsor:

Moore Marketing Minute:

This week, Taylor Coleman of iMay Marketing shows us how to interact with our audience.

Estimate Rocket’s Kathy Droste and Their Newest Education Guy and PPN Alumni Chris Shank | S2E6 | Pro Painter Podcast

Hosted by Nick May w/ guests Kathy Droste and Chris Shank

Howdy! Welcome back to the Pro Painter Podcast. This week, Nick brings on our old friends Kathy Droste and Chris Shank from Estimate Rocket! Kathy helped develop Estimate Rocket, a cloud-based system that helps service contractors improve their budgeting workflow in their projects. While the system had been successfully functioning for 5 years, the team didn’t have a structure for educating and engaging their users. Enter Chris Shank. In case you didn’t know, Chris used to be part of iMay Media and Pro Painter Network team. He was crucial in developing our Roadmap to Profit training course, and framing and driving much of Pro Painter Network’s educational initiatives. Estimate Rocket brought him on for his vast experience in education to build a training program for estimators and painters. Are you using Estimate Rocket for your business?

* Ready to live the life you love? Join the Pro Painter Network* Learn how to create systems, processes, and improve your marketing with Roadmap to Profit, an online course just for painting business owners.* Interested in connecting with the community and kickstarting your painting business? Check out our Denver Crankstart event in October!

This week's sponsor:

Moore Marketing Minute:

This week, Nick May of iMay and PPN advises us to market ourselves, not just our business.

Renewing Hotels One Brush Stroke at a Time with Commercial Painter Ryan Gill | S2E5 | Pro Painter Podcast

Hosted by Nick May w/ guest Ryan Gill

Hello! This week in the Pro Painter Podcast, Nick chats with Ryan Gill of Brush Strokes in Augusta, Georgia. Brush Strokes is dedicated mainly to commercial painting. With half of the work focusing on new construction, while the other half focuses on repaints. Ryan’s favorite projects to work on are hotel repaints. In fact, his very first project was a tall hotel with an atrium ceiling that every other contractor was too afraid to touch. Of course, business isn’t all fun projects. At first, Ryan’s biggest struggles were the lack of effective systems and processes (yup, those again), learning to trust his crew, and not always doing everything himself (yup, that again). Fortunately Ryan restructured his business and leadership to turn Brush Strokes into the profitable and successful painting company it is today.

* Ready to live the life you love? Join the Pro Painter Network* Learn how to create systems, processes, and improve your marketing with Roadmap to Profit, an online course just for painting business owners.* Interested in connecting with the community and kickstarting your painting business? Check out our Denver Crankstart event in October!

This week's sponsor:

Moore Marketing Minute:

This week, Damon R. Nagy of iMay and PPN gives us an insight on effective Calls to Action.

If You’re in Hawaii, Sam Chandler is The Right Painter for You | S2E4 | Pro Painter Podcast

Hosted by Nick May w/ guest Sam Chandler

On this week’s episode of the Pro Painter Podcast, Nick brings on Sam Chandler, owner of The Right Painter in Hawaii!While studying mechanics in college, Sam noticed he was more interested in architecture. From there he started painting for 30 different companies all over the states. After a while, he set off to start his own business. It took him a few rocky attempts until one day he created The Right Painter in Kaneohe, Hawaii. It still didn’t get any easier.Getting a business license in Hawaii is “rocket science.” He went through, shall we say, an interesting catalog of candidates to build his team. He made the tough decision to increase his prices to stay afloat. And yes, he had to learn to say ‘no’ to customers. All that effort paid off, however, as Sam’s business is rolling.

* Ready to live the life you love? Join the Pro Painter Network* Learn how to create systems, processes, and improve your marketing with Roadmap to Profit, an online course just for painting business owners.* Interested in connecting with the community and kickstarting your painting business? Check out our Denver Crankstart event in October!

This week's sponsor:

Moore Marketing Minute:

This week, Steven Odom of iMay teaches us how to work with a graphic designer.

A Pro Painter Armed with a Degree, Minnesota native Ryan Turry | S2E3 | Pro Painter Podcast

Hosted by Nick May w/ guest Ryan Turry

On this week’s episode of the Pro Painter Podcast, Nick brings on Ryan Turry, founder of Headwaters Painting LLC. 

 

After graduating college with a Housing Studies degree, Ryan proceeded to get a secure job with benefits. He stayed for around 5 years, not wanting to be in corporate forever. He instead wanted to start his own business.

 

Ryan brainstormed business ideas and came across painting, which he found exciting. He researched the essentials, got a license, and with a bit of support from his boss at US Bank, Ryan got his first painting job.How did it go? Well, here’s a pro-tip from Ryan: don’t start a painting business between November and February. Naturally he undercharged for his project, but hey – didn’t we all?

 

A few years in, he attended one of Nick’s first CRANK events which opened his eyes and helped him grow his business. He started implementing systems and processes, hired more people, and today his business is rolling. He hopes to be able to retire while the business continues in the future. Godspeed, Ryan!

* Ready to live the life you love? Join the Pro Painter Network* Learn how to create systems, processes, and improve your marketing with Roadmap to Profit, an online course just for painting business owners.* Interested in connecting with the community and kickstarting your painting business? Check out our Denver Crankstart event in October!

This week's sponsor:

Moore Marketing Minute:

This week, Taylor Coleman of iMay Marketing talks the value of Stories in social media.

TAMA Painting’s Own Pro Painter Phil Cline | S2E2 | Pro Painter Podcast

Hosted by Nick May w/ guest Phil Cline

Nick sits down on this week’s episode of Pro Painter Podcast with old friend of the show (and official Pro Painter), Phil Cline of TAMA Painting. For those of you haven’t met Phil yet, he started out working for a friend of his mother’s back in college. He did everything! From concrete to remodeling,  landscaping, fencing, to painting which he enjoyed the most. When he finally started his own business, he still did everything! Sound familiar? Spraying, staining, you name it. Phil was hesitant to hire employees for a while. Eventually, he realized it was more efficient (and completely necessary) to build a team rather than just keep working solo. He now has nearly 10 workers, not only increasing productivity but also freeing him up to grow the business, make the job more enjoyable, and live the life he loves.

* Ready to live the life you love? Join the Pro Painter Network* Learn how to create systems, processes, and improve your marketing with Roadmap to Profit, an online course just for painting business owners.

This week's sponsor:

Moore Marketing Minute:

This week, Alberto Romo of iMay stresses the importance of quality photos and hiring a professional photographer.