Painting Business – How To Stand Before Kings and Not Mean Men

As a painting business consultant, I got a letter the other day from one of my good customers named Tom. Tom was having a real bad time with a lady’s front door. He called it the “door from hell”.

He said it had several coats of paint on it and the topcoat was black and it was blistering in places. He also said that he went and bought some citrus paint stripper to remove the multi-layers of paint and it ate through some plastic panels that were on the front of the door.

He said “the door is over 30 years old and you cannot find that style anymore. And the customer does not want to spend any more money on this painting job and certainly not on the "door from hell".

“She is an elderly widow that doesn’t want to spend any more money, and I feel like I should have discussed this development of unexpected expense in both time and materials, but did not.”

Well, looking back at my early painting business career I remember that I made some similar mistakes also. Mostly I made mistakes like:

* Seriously underestimating or underbidding my painting jobs (I had no system for how to price my work yet).
* Taking on exterior jobs that were too big for one painter to handle.
* Not knowing how to advertise correctly.
* Targeting the wrong income level of people.

But I had an advantage that other painting business owners don’t have. I had council and reassurance from a worthy source – the book of Proverbs (Holy Bible). You see, there is no wiser knowledge on the planet for a young man or young women to live by daily than the Bible’s book of Proverbs.

There are 31 chapters (one chapter for each day). King Solomon wrote many of the proverbs in this book. God gave him more wisdom and wealth than any other man on the planet. Kings from all over (and even the queen of Sheba) came to hear and marvel at his wisdom that God had given him.

This one book has helped me more in my business than any other source as long as I applied it’s principles. As I shared with Tom, one thing that the book of Proverbs says is, “there is profit in all labor”.

And you know what? God’s wisdom is true! Those same people who I worked for and seriously underbid their job, those same people referred me to other good paying customers. These were jobs where I did make good money because I got my confidence up over time.

Plus those same original customers hired me back again at the right price because they knew I had grown and matured in my painting business. Also, because they knew I did good work.

If you are coming up against obstacles in your painting business or any business, stay the course. Keep a winning attitude because there IS profit in all labor. I have never lost out in my painting business as long as I did what was right.

Some more wise information found in the book of Proverbs is:

* Get wise council (there is safety in the multitude of councilors)
* He that regards the clouds shall not prosper (Don’t be afraid of the weather or any other diverse circumstances)
* Be honest (be a man or woman of your word)
* Don’t be lazy (don’t over-eat or over-sleep – save it for the weekends!)

I like Proverbs 22:29. It says, “See a man that is diligent in his business? He shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men”. And to that I say hip, hip, hooray!

So if you are thinking about starting a painting business or whatever business you are in, whether or not to stick with it, etc., remember the promise in Proverbs 22:29. Standing on God’s word is a sure foundation for any growing business and life in general. Stand before kings!

Lee Cusano has owned and operated his own successful painting business since 1991. He has also helped many others to start their own painting business with his "Paint Like a Pro Estimating and Advertising CD-ROM".

Lee also offers a new free report titled "How To Quit Your Day Job This Week and Double or Triple Your Income". To get it go to http://www.Painting-Business.com

P.S. You have full permission to reprint any of my articles as long as you don't change anything in the content and you leave my bio intact.