You’ve decided to start a painting business. That’s awesome! Congratulations. Committing to creating your own business is the first step in the process, and you’ve already completed that. Give yourself a pat on the back but buckle up for the next steps.
What comes next will be an exciting and busy time. We want to help you get on your feet. Here are four things you need to do before starting a painting business (besides getting painting software).
Hone Your Paint Skills
Before you’re ready to start a painting business, you should be an expert in your craft. Maybe you’re working as a painter for another business right now and have decided to break away and start your own company. Or maybe you’ve painted a few friends’ houses and are looking for something more.
Whatever the circumstance, it’s crucial to hone your skills and learn everything you can about painting. Business owners should stay informed about what’s going on in their industry.
It’s one thing to have experience in professional painting and another thing entirely to take it on as your career. If you want to run a successful painting business, your product better meet the industry standard.
Take some time to educate yourself on further perfecting your craft. Learn as much as you can about the industry, the market, and what customers want from painters. Doing this work now will save you headaches in the long run.
Get Your Business Set Up
As you master your painting skills and educate yourself about the industry, you should also work on the logistics of getting a business up and running. There’s a lot of paperwork that goes into starting a business. Here are a few things you’ll need to do right away:
- Define your business structure
- Choose a location
- Register your business name
- Register your business with the IRS, state, and local agencies
- Apply for relevant licenses and permits
You’ll need to research business registration requirements for federal and state regulations.
While we admit there is a hefty amount of paperwork involved in launching a painting business, there are also fun things you’ll get to do as well. You’ll get to create a logo for your company and create a website as well.
Here’s how to get started on your website and how to design a logo.
Starting a business can feel overwhelming, but painting software can help you manage your business. Painting software is designed to increase your business’s efficiency.
With paint software, you can manage all customer communication from one centralized place, run reports, track invoices, and create paint bids. Using paint software helps you be more professional, organized, and profitable.
Create a Marketing Strategy
Once your business is up and running, it’s time to go out there and find some customers! Start by identifying the market you plan to target and then create a marketing strategy. Before you launch any marketing campaigns, it’s best to take a step back and write down some goals.
Build a few goals that you hope to achieve through your marketing strategy. The best goals are SMART ones, which stands for:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Attainable
- Relevant
- Time-based
After identifying a few goals you’re aiming for, look into getting help with your marketing plans. You’re a professional painter and business owner—not necessarily a marketing expert. Thankfully, painting software helps business owners stay on top of their marketing efforts.
Painting software tracks where current leads come from and even makes reports with the information. This knowledge will help you stay on top of your marketing strategy and give you the insights you need to make informed marketing decisions.
Check out our guide to the four key steps of marketing your painting company.
Learn How to Bid Paint Jobs
Now you better learn how to bid paint jobs before the incoming storm of customers floods your inbox. Bidding a paint job can be an intimidating process, but it’s necessary to master it.
Start by calculating a good profit margin your business needs to aim for to stay afloat. Once you’ve determined the best profit margin percentage for your business, it’s all about managing bids to hit that percentage.
Every time you start a customer’s paint job bid, you’ll need to determine the project cost. It’s essential to be meticulous in this process because you need to know how much you’re spending to figure out what your profit will be.
Once you’ve determined your cost and desired profit margin, it’s time to send the written paint job bid over to the customer. Bidding a paint job is a delicate balance—you need to land right in the sweet spot.
As you grow your painting business, you’ll notice your business will often work similar paint jobs for customers. Investing in painting software not only helps you manage your business and marketing plans, but it can also help you bid on paint jobs. Painting software allows you to create templates for different paint job bids. Bid templates will save you time and increase your business’s efficiency.
Here’s the complete walkthrough of how to bid a paint job.
As you embark on your journey to create a painting business, remember that all this hard work on the front end will pay off and ultimately set you up for success. Why did you want to start a painting business? Let us know in the comments below!
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