The Painters Circle

If you’re new to the channel, I’m Tas, founder of Painter Coach.

I help painting business owners build more profitable, predictable businesses without sacrificing all their time to do it.

A little about me...

I grew up in the painting industry and built my own painting business before moving into coaching other painting business owners.

We help painters across Australia build better businesses.

We focus on the numbers, systems, sales, team and performance that actually move the needle.

We built PainterOS™ to help painting business owners get clearer on their targets and execute against them.

And through The Painters Circle, I share the lessons, mistakes and strategies I’ve picked up along the way.

One thing I’ve learned?

Fear can quietly become one of the biggest bottlenecks in your business.

You hesitate on putting your prices up. You hold off on a marketing strategy. You avoid a difficult decision because you’re worried about getting it wrong.

But waiting doesn’t give you an answer.

Taking action does.

The faster you act, learn and adjust, the faster you create the feedback you need to make better decisions.

In this episode of The Painters Circle, we talk about fear in business, why it holds painting business owners back, pricing with confidence, getting comfortable with being uncomfortable and why taking action can accelerate your growth.

Because before you let fear stop you, ask yourself:

Will this knock me out of the game, or will it just give me a lesson?

Do you want help building a more predictable painting business?

PainterOS™ Accelerator:

https://accelerator.painteroperatingsystem.com/

🎙️ More from The Painters Circle:

https://pages.paintercoach.com/the-painters-circle

📺 Subscribe to Painter Coach:

https://www.youtube.com/@paintercoach

Timestamps

00:00 Fear Is Slowing Down Your Decisions

00:21 Welcome to The Painters Circle

00:42 Getting Comfortable With Being Uncomfortable

01:28 How Fear Holds Business Owners Back

02:13 Fear in Everyday Business Decisions

03:09 Taking Action Despite Fear

04:12 PainterOS™ Accelerator

06:19 The Fear of Raising Your Prices

07:08 Self-Worth vs Business Results

07:34 Stop Worrying About What Others Think

08:06 Why Some Business Owners Move Faster

08:38 Speed, Action & the Feedback Loop

09:26 The Mindset Behind Successful Businesses

10:17 Will It Stop You or Teach You?

If you’re new to the channel, I’m Tas, founder of Painter Coach.

I help painting business owners build more profitable, predictable businesses without sacrificing all their time to do it.

A little about me...

I grew up in the painting industry and built my own painting business before moving into coaching other painting business owners.

We help painters across Australia build better businesses.

We focus on the numbers, systems, sales, team and performance that actually move the needle.

We built PainterOS™ to help painting business owners get clearer on their targets and execute against them.

And through The Painters Circle, I share the lessons, mistakes and strategies I’ve picked up along the way.

One thing I’ve learned?

Most painting businesses are constantly trying to balance two problems.

Not enough work.

Or plenty of work, but not enough time or people to get it done.

And when you’re the person responsible for both winning the work and helping deliver it, it’s easy to get caught bouncing between the two.

Sell. Get busy. Stop selling. Finish the work. Get quiet. Start selling again.

The goal isn’t to keep running that cycle.

It’s to build a business that can handle both sides without everything relying on you.

That’s what this episode is about.

Do you want help building a more predictable painting business?

PainterOS™ Accelerator:

https://accelerator.painteroperatingsystem.com/

🎙️ More from The Painters Circle:

https://pages.paintercoach.com/the-painters-circle

📺 Subscribe to Painter Coach:

https://www.youtube.com/@paintercoach

Timestamps:

00:00 Why Your Business Goes From Busy to Quiet

00:14 The Painters Circle

00:35 The Two Problems Every Painting Business Faces

01:11 Sales vs. Delivery

01:57 Understanding Your Pipeline

03:06 The Hamster Wheel Effect

03:31 Why Today’s Results Started Months Ago

04:02 PainterOS™ Accelerator

06:09 Breaking the Cycle

07:06 Building More Capacity

07:28 Selling Problem or Delivery Problem?

09:24 Don’t Stop the Activities That Bring in Work

If you’re new to the channel, I’m Tas, founder of Painter Coach.

I help painting business owners build more profitable, predictable businesses without sacrificing all their time to do it.

A little about me...

I grew up in the painting industry and built my own painting business before moving into coaching other painting business owners.

We help painters across Australia build better businesses.

We focus on the numbers, systems, sales, team and performance that actually move the needle.

We built PainterOS™ to help painting business owners get clearer on their targets and execute against them.

And through The Painters Circle, I share the lessons, mistakes and strategies I’ve picked up along the way.

One thing I’ve learned?

You don’t need to have everything figured out before you move.

Make the decision. Get the feedback. Correct course. Get better.

Because sitting there overthinking the perfect move usually gets you nowhere.

Correct, don’t protect.

That’s what this episode is about.

Do you want help building a more predictable painting business?

PainterOS™ Accelerator:

https://accelerator.painteroperatingsystem.com/

🎙️ More from The Painters Circle:

https://pages.paintercoach.com/the-painters-circle

📺 Subscribe to Painter Coach:

https://www.youtube.com/@paintercoach

Timestamps:

00:00 Stop Overthinking and Just Do the Thing

00:24 The Painters Circle

00:45 Why New Business Owners Get Stuck

01:43 Overthinking Slows Down Your Business

02:16 Correct, Don’t Protect

03:13 Why New Things Feel Overwhelming

04:25 Give Yourself Time to Get Better

04:56 PainterOS™ Accelerator

07:03 The Power of One Hour a Week

08:07 You Have to Do the Thing

08:53 Build the Habit of Getting Better

09:27 How to Get Yourself Unstuck

“I just don’t have enough time.”

Tas has heard it repeatedly from painting business owners.

There’s marketing to work on, sales to improve, numbers to understand, jobs to deliver, customers to deal with and a team to manage.

But what if the problem isn’t actually time?

In this episode of The Painters Circle, Tas breaks down why managing your priorities may be far more important than trying to manage every minute of your day.

More money and a bigger team don’t automatically give you more freedom. Tas shares the example of a painting business doing around $3 million in annual revenue with a large team, yet the owner still had virtually no spare time.

The real question is:

Where is your attention going?

If you’re spending hours doing admin, driving materials around, checking invoices and completing tasks someone else, a process or technology could handle, you’re sacrificing time that could be spent on higher-value activities.

In this episode, Tas covers:

• Why more revenue doesn’t automatically mean more time

• Time management vs priority management

• Where a business owner’s attention should go

• Why not every task deserves equal priority

• Delegating low-value activities

• Using a default diary

• How to track where your time actually goes

• Using ChatGPT to audit your time

• The “unpaid Uber driver” problem

• Calculating the return on your time

• How business owners can start buying back their time

Your job as a business owner isn’t simply to stay busy.

It’s to work on the right things at the right time.

🎙️ The Painters Circle

PainterOS™ Accelerator:

https://accelerator.painteroperatingsystem.com/

Subscribe to Painter Coach:

https://www.youtube.com/@paintercoach

Timestamps

Keeping these streamlined:

00:00 You Don’t Have a Time Problem

00:37 “I Just Don’t Have Time”

01:30 Stop Managing Time, Manage Priorities

02:28 Where Is Your Attention Going?

03:19 Should You Really Be Doing the Admin?

06:27 What Should a Business Owner Prioritise?

06:58 Build a Default Diary

07:54 Track Where Your Time Actually Goes

08:39 The “Unpaid Uber Driver” Problem

09:31 You Have a Priority Problem

10:06 What Is Your Time Actually Worth?

Does it feel like every customer is making their decision based on price?

You send the quote. They question the price, tell you someone else is cheaper, or disappear completely.

But what if the problem isn’t actually your price?

In Episode 61 of The Painters Circle, Tas breaks down why painting business owners continually run into price objections and why the sales conversation BEFORE you present the quote matters so much.

If all you talk about is your paint, your process, your team and the work you’re going to perform, you give the customer very little else to compare besides price.

Instead, you need to understand the outcome they actually want and why that outcome matters to them.

In this episode, Tas covers:

• Why customers keep pushing back on price

• Intrinsic value vs perceived value

• Why superficial sales questions aren’t enough

• How to uncover what a customer REALLY wants

• Why Tas prefers presenting price live

• Why your quotes aren’t actually “free”

• How to stop competing with the cheapest painter

• Why your job isn’t to convince someone to buy

• The questions to ask before presenting your proposal

A customer saying “I want my house painted” isn’t enough. Maybe they're preparing for a wedding, selling the property, moving in, moving out or trying to hit an important deadline. Until you understand the reason underneath the request, you don't fully understand what they value.

Stop assuming. Start asking better questions.

🎙️ The Painters Circle | Episode 61

Want more clarity and control over your painting business?

PainterOS™ Accelerator:

https://accelerator.painteroperatingsystem.com/

Subscribe to Painter Coach:

https://www.youtube.com/@paintercoach

Timestamps

Keeping these lean like we established:

00:00 Why Customers Keep Questioning Your Price

00:49 Every Objection Starts With an Unanswered Question

01:19 Intrinsic Value vs Perceived Value

02:11 What Does Your Customer REALLY Want?

03:16 Why Tas Presents Price Live

03:38 Stop Assuming, Start Asking

06:46 Questions Are the Answers

08:05 You’re Not in the Quoting Business

08:27 Do Customers Actually Want the Cheapest Quote?

09:00 Your Job Isn’t to Convince Them

10:43 The Real Problem Behind Price Objections

Do you keep losing painting jobs because your quote is “too expensive”?

Or at least... is that what you think is happening?

One of the most common things Tas hears from painting business owners is that they're losing jobs because of price.

So in this episode of The Painters Circle, Tas challenges that belief.

Because when you walk into every quote already expecting the customer to think you're too expensive, it can completely change the way you approach the conversation.

You start focusing on price.

You second-guess your quote.

You struggle to communicate value.

And sometimes, you start discounting before you've even discovered what the customer actually wants.

Tas even dives into 365 days of data from his own painting business, looking at hundreds of lost opportunities to understand whether price was really the problem.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why you might feel like you're constantly losing jobs on price

• How your own beliefs can affect a sales conversation

• Why you should track the real reasons you're losing quotes

• The difference between price and perceived value

• Why customers aren't simply buying a paint job

• How to uncover the outcome your customer actually wants

• The three filters influencing buying decisions

• Why discounting isn't always the answer

• How to approach your next quote differently

Because people don't simply buy based on price.

They buy based on the value they perceive in the outcome.

Before you lower your price again, ask yourself:

Is your price actually the problem?

PainterOS™ Accelerator:

https://accelerator.painteroperatingsystem.com/

Subscribe to Painter Coach:

https://www.youtube.com/@paintercoach

00:00 Are You Losing Jobs Because of Price?

00:45 “I Keep Losing Jobs on Price”

02:14 What the Data Actually Says

03:51 People Don’t Buy Based on Price

04:50 What Does Your Customer Actually Value?

07:04 Sell the Outcome, Not the Price

09:30 The 3 Reasons People Make Buying Decisions

12:31 What to Do If You’re Losing Jobs on Price

Sick of spending money on marketing that doesn't work?

Facebook Ads.

Google Ads.

SEO.

Lead generation companies.

You've tried the tactics... but the quotes still aren't coming in consistently.

Here's the problem:

It might not be the marketing tactic that's failing. It might be the strategy behind it.

In this week's episode of The Painters Circle, Tas breaks down the framework he uses to turn marketing from an expense into an investment.

Instead of jumping from one tactic to another, Tas explains how painting business owners can think about marketing through three levels:

Tactics → Strategy → Principles

Because running Meta Ads, Google Ads, SEO, signage and referrals at the same time might make you feel busy...

But busy doesn't necessarily mean profitable.

In this episode you'll learn:

✅ The 3 types of marketing available to painting businesses

✅ Why jumping between marketing tactics creates noise and confusion

✅ The difference between a marketing tactic and a marketing strategy

✅ Why getting more leads shouldn't be your only objective

✅ How to build a simple funnel around your marketing

✅ Why you should nurture leads that aren't ready for a quote today

✅ The marketing number every business owner should understand

✅ Why Tas targets a 10:1 return on marketing spend

✅ How Tas's Facebook marketing reached $12.90 back for every $1 spent

✅ The Tactics → Strategy → Principles framework

One of the biggest lessons from this episode is simple:

Marketing shouldn't just cost you money.

When it's working properly, you should understand exactly what you're putting in and what you're getting back.

$1 in.

How many dollars out?

That's the game.

So before saying:

“Facebook Ads don't work.”

“Google Ads don't work.”

“SEO doesn't work.”

Ask yourself a different question:

Do I actually have a strategy behind the tactic?

Because the goal isn't to do more marketing.

The goal is to build a predictable and consistent way of attracting the right customers into your painting business.

🎯 Want more predictable revenue and consistent profits in your painting business?

PainterOS™ Accelerator is available now.

🔗 https://accelerator.painteroperatingsystem.com/

🎙️ New episodes of The Painters Circle every Thursday at 5PM (AEST).

Available on YouTube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@paintercoach

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2MxPkThmbxNfsd9FtoIq2D?si=a8ffb79eaa2f4d75

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast/the-painters-circle/id1821598579?l=en-GB

Timestamps

00:00 - Is Your Marketing Wasting Money?

00:34 - Why Most Painting Businesses Get Marketing Wrong

00:41 - The 3 Types of Marketing

01:06 - Relationship Marketing

01:16 - Why We're Focusing on Paid Marketing

01:26 - Stop Thinking Tactically

01:56 - The Marketing Offers Targeting Painters

02:25 - The Marketing Pyramid

02:47 - Why Stacking Tactics Creates Confusion

03:15 - Tactics vs Strategy

03:40 - A Better Way to Run Meta Ads

04:04 - Build a Database, Not Just Quotes

04:28 - Building a Simple Marketing Funnel

05:06 - “Google Ads Don't Work”

05:30 - Maybe the Platform Isn't the Problem

05:47 - The Marketing Metric You NEED to Know

05:56 - What Is ROAS?

06:06 - Why Tas Targets 10:1

06:12 - $1 In → $12.90 Out

06:29 - Marketing Is an Investment, Not an Expense

06:44 - The Marketing Vending Machine

07:02 - Tactics → Strategy → Principles

07:25 - The Principles Behind Great Marketing

07:33 - Understanding Leverage

07:51 - Interested vs Interesting

08:22 - The Marketing Trifecta

08:29 - How to Create Predictable Leads

08:47 - $1 In, How Many Dollars Out?

09:10 - It's Not About the Marketing

09:19 - Outro

Want more predictable revenue and consistent profits in your painting business?

PainterOS™ Accelerator is available now.

https://accelerator.painteroperatingsystem.com/

You don't need more quotes.

You need more conversations.

One of the biggest mistakes painting business owners make is believing their job is to get as many quotes out the door as possible.

But you're not in the quoting business.

You're in the painting business.

In this week's episode of The Painters Circle, Tas breaks down a pattern he noticed after speaking with dozens of painting business owners at a recent trade expo and workshop in Melbourne.

The question kept coming up:

“How do I get more quotes?”

But that might be the wrong question.

Before someone becomes a quote, they're a lead.

Before they become a customer, you need to understand what they actually want, why they want it, when they need it, and whether you're the right business to help them.

And simply emailing another PDF isn't necessarily going to get you there.

🎙️ New episodes of The Painters Circle every Thursday at 5PM (AEST).

Available on YouTube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@paintercoach

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2MxPkThmbxNfsd9FtoIq2D?si=a8ffb79eaa2f4d75

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast/the-painters-circle/id1821598579?l=en-GB

Timestamps

00:00 - You Don't Need 40 Quotes

00:20 - Welcome to The Painters Circle

00:40 - The #1 Mistake Painting Business Owners Make

00:46 - What Tas Learned From Painters in Melbourne

01:03 - “How Do I Get More Quotes?”

01:14 - What Actually Counts as a Lead?

01:29 - The First Number You Need to Track

01:44 - How to Qualify Your Leads

02:00 - When a Lead Becomes a Quote

02:15 - Want More Quotes? Start Here

02:40 - Why Painters Are Losing Opportunities

02:59 - Why Aren't You Presenting Quotes Live?

03:19 - You're NOT in the Quoting Business

03:36 - PainterOS™ Accelerator

05:43 - You're in the Painting Business

06:17 - What Your Customer Actually Wants

06:54 - The Quote Is Only One Step

07:16 - The Sales Process Painters Should Follow

07:46 - Why You Should Present Proposals Live

08:04 - The #1 Quoting Mistake Explained

08:13 - 40 Quotes vs 40 Conversations

08:24 - Stop Focusing on the Quote

08:56 - Change the Way You Think About Quoting

09:13 - Leads vs Quotes

09:35 - The Big Takeaway

10:00 - Outro

PainterOS™ Accelerator is available now.

🔗 https://accelerator.painteroperatingsystem.com/

AI isn't going to magically fix your painting business.

But used properly, it can help you save time, analyse information faster, reduce wasted spend, and make better business decisions.

In this week's episode of The Painters Circle, Tas breaks down how he's actually using AI inside his businesses, beyond simply asking ChatGPT to write an email.

One example?

Tas took more than 800 quotes from the previous financial year and used AI to analyse where the leads came from, what they were worth, conversion performance, and which marketing channels were actually producing results.

That analysis helped identify underperforming marketing activities and contributed to cutting $36,000 in marketing spend and redirecting that money towards areas that were performing.

But there's a catch:

AI is only as useful as the information and direction you give it.

The goal isn't to use AI because everyone else is talking about it.

The goal is to ask:

What outcome am I trying to achieve, and can this tool help me get there faster?

Because your job isn't to be busy.

Your job is to be effective.

🎯 Want more predictable revenue and consistent profits in your painting business?

🎙️ New episodes of The Painters Circle every Thursday at 5PM (AEST).

Available on YouTube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@paintercoach

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2MxPkThmbxNfsd9FtoIq2D?si=a8ffb79eaa2f4d75

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast/the-painters-circle/id1821598579?l=en-GB

Timestamps:

00:00 - Better Inputs = Better AI Results

00:35 - Welcome to The Painters Circle

00:57 - Should Painting Businesses Be Using AI?

01:32 - Why Tas Decided to Deep Dive Into AI

02:08 - Can AI Save You Time & Money?

02:47 - AI Is Just a Fancy Calculator

03:10 - Stop Using AI Just to Write Emails

03:17 - Using AI to Analyse Business Reports

03:46 - Getting Better at AI Through Repetition

04:05 - How Tas Uses ChatGPT & Claude

04:54 - Analysing 800+ Quotes With AI

06:09 - Building a Business Report in Minutes

06:33 - Finding Which Marketing Channels Actually Work

07:07 - PainterOS™ Accelerator

08:52 - Turning AI Insights Into Business Decisions

09:35 - Cutting $36,000 in Marketing Spend

10:14 - The Biggest Mistake Business Owners Make With AI

10:49 - How to Get Better Results From AI

11:01 - Why AI Will Become Part of Every Painting Business

11:57 - Your Job Isn't to Be Busy

12:19 - AI: Tool or Distraction?

12:53 - Final Thoughts

Feeling overwhelmed in your painting business?

You're not alone.

Most business owners think they need to work harder to get ahead.

But the real problem isn't effort.

It's consistency.

In this episode of The Painters Circle, Tas shares why overwhelm isn't caused by having too much to do. It's caused by the habits you repeat every single day.

From starting your morning in your inbox to reacting to everyone else's priorities, Tas explains why your daily rituals determine your long-term results.

If you're constantly busy but still feel like you're falling behind, this episode will help you create more clarity, build better habits, and take back control of your business.

🎯 Struggling to scale your painting business?

Join the circle of experts at The Painters Circle and get the guidance you need to grow your business.

👉 https://pages.paintercoach.com/the-painters-circle

In this episode, you'll learn:

✅ Why consistency beats motivation every time

✅ The hidden reason business owners feel overwhelmed

✅ How your morning routine impacts your business

✅ Why starting your day in your inbox is costing you

✅ Simple daily habits that create long-term success

✅ How to build rituals that make running your business easier

One of the biggest lessons from this episode is simple:

You don't rise to your goals. You fall to your habits.

If you change what you repeatedly do, you'll change the results your business produces.

Whether you're running a painting business, trade business, or service business, this episode will help you become more focused, more consistent, and more effective.

🚀 PainterOS™ Accelerator available now!

Learn more:

https://accelerator.painteroperatingsystem.com/

🎙️ Available on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@paintercoach

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2MxPkThmbxNfsd9FtoIq2D?si=a8ffb79eaa2f4d75

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast/the-painters-circle/id1821598579?l=en-GB

⏱️ Timestamps

00:00 - Excellence Is a Habit

00:54 - Why Consistency Matters More Than Motivation

01:50 - The Real Cause of Overwhelm

02:46 - Busy Doesn't Mean Productive

03:14 - The Habits That Help You Stay Consistent

04:06 - The 1,000-Day Consistency Challenge

05:02 - Why You Need Space to Think

05:18 - Stop Starting Your Day in Your Inbox

06:50 - Creating Better Business Habits

08:08 - Building Your Default Diary

09:48 - The Most Important Business Habits

10:02 - Why Behaviour Beats Process

11:13 - PainterOS™ Accelerator

12:59 - My Daily Non-Negotiable Habit

13:43 - Why Nothing Changes Until You Do

14:06 - The First Step to Ending Overwhelm

15:04 - Final Thoughts