Full Transcript for Ask a Painter…. Turned Business Advisor

I am gonna be painting while I record this. 00:02:10.639 --> 00:02:14.560 So if you're watching this on YouTube, you can critique me, you can do whatever you want. 00:02:14.639 --> 00:02:21.520 If you're listening to this on audio, well, I encourage you to go watch on YouTube and give me some pointers, tell me what I'm doing wrong. 00:02:21.680 --> 00:02:24.719 Um, but it's kind of like riding a bike, I've just picked it right back up. 00:02:24.800 --> 00:02:26.000 So I hope it helps. 00:02:26.159 --> 00:02:27.280 Thanks for plugging in. 00:02:27.360 --> 00:02:30.319 This is the Elite Business Advice Podcast. 00:02:32.000 --> 00:02:39.280 Alright, so question number one that we had, and I'm taking this from some questions that we had clients submit. 00:02:39.360 --> 00:02:50.479 Uh, we put some stuff on our social media about this, so it's not just like a random list of questions, although there's a couple questions that came up on a call I was on earlier today uh that I want to share with you guys as well. 00:02:50.719 --> 00:02:56.080 Question number one came in, and and this is something I think a lot of people probably can relate to. 00:02:56.240 --> 00:03:05.840 Uh, and so again, I'm not gonna use any names in this anywhere throughout any of these questions, but uh question number one was I feel like I'm dealing with some owner fatigue. 00:03:06.080 --> 00:03:08.719 Has anybody ever dealt with this? 00:03:08.960 --> 00:03:12.159 And I'm gonna guess the answer to that is yes. 00:03:12.319 --> 00:03:14.719 Um give me some thoughts back on it. 00:03:14.879 --> 00:03:17.199 Uh, I think odor fatigue is a real thing. 00:03:17.360 --> 00:03:19.759 Um some people call it burnout. 00:03:19.840 --> 00:03:27.360 I think uh you talk like clinical burnout, um, I think it kind of could be used synonymously with owner fatigue. 00:03:27.439 --> 00:03:33.280 Uh and if you're watching some video, yes, I'm right-handed cutting in backwards, because that's how I like to roll sometimes. 00:03:33.439 --> 00:03:36.400 Um I can do it left-handed too, just so we're clear. 00:03:36.560 --> 00:03:39.439 Um, but owner's fatigue can be a real thing. 00:03:39.599 --> 00:03:46.400 Burnout, whatever you want to call it again, because a lot of people have very different names for a very similar thing. 00:03:46.560 --> 00:03:53.360 Um, but sometimes as we go through our journey, maybe it's years down the road, uh, you know, we see this a lot with owners. 00:03:53.439 --> 00:04:03.439 Uh, honestly, we see it a lot with people in general, but we see it with owners that, you know, go through uh a long time and maybe they don't make as much progress in their business as they want. 00:04:03.520 --> 00:04:19.600 Um, I've talked a lot on this show about the game of or the downfall of comparison that you know we compare ourselves too much, and so sometimes that causes owners' fatigue because we we get maybe discouraged because you know we're just not farther along in our journey where we want to be at. 00:04:19.759 --> 00:04:43.839 Um sometimes owners, what we also see is they continue to build their business, they grow it, they grow it, they get so far away from like what they were doing when they started the business, whether that's actually painting, whether that's actually managing projects, whether that's actually doing sales, um, and they are now leading and coaching other people, and it's a whole new level of leadership and management. 00:04:44.000 --> 00:04:54.000 Um, and you know, as I'm talking through this, uh, and I won't share you know all the stories that I know and that you know he shared at PCI Expo, but I know Nick even kind of went through that a little bit as well. 00:04:54.079 --> 00:05:04.800 Like he became realized he was the manager, the coach, the leader of his business, and it was a new journey for him, and it took some time for him to really figure out like where does he fit into his own business? 00:05:04.959 --> 00:05:08.240 Um, and so you know, I think I think it's common. 00:05:08.399 --> 00:05:14.000 Um, I I would argue that I've probably even been there in our business as well, uh, and from time to time. 00:05:14.319 --> 00:05:16.720 And ownership fatigue is a real thing. 00:05:16.800 --> 00:05:23.040 I think what you gotta figure out is, you know, are are you still going in the direction that you really truly want to? 00:05:23.279 --> 00:05:27.360 Um we talk a lot about making sure that your business serves your life. 00:05:27.600 --> 00:05:38.639 It's you know, in terms of time freedom, in terms of money freedom, uh, whatever that means to you, whatever you're desiring for you and your life and your family and your business needs to sue that. 00:05:38.879 --> 00:05:54.560 And if you realize you're running in a direction that doesn't fulfill that, again, maybe less less about in the moment right now, but more big picture, then you know, unfortunately, maybe you need to have a hard look on what your goals are and why your goals are what they are, right? 00:05:54.879 --> 00:05:57.920 Um, so you know, that would be one thing I would encourage. 00:05:58.079 --> 00:06:04.160 Um, another thought is uh, you know, figure out what you what do you truly enjoy? 00:06:04.319 --> 00:06:14.079 You know, one thing I talk a lot with with our clients and our team about to make sure we're we're coaching in the right direction, is you know, what do you truly enjoy doing in your business? 00:06:14.240 --> 00:06:18.399 And then how do we build your business around doing that task, right? 00:06:18.480 --> 00:06:24.079 If it's what you're good at, it's what you enjoy doing, how do you build your business around that? 00:06:24.240 --> 00:06:26.399 Uh and so that's something also explore, right? 00:06:26.480 --> 00:06:27.759 Are you doing tasks? 00:06:27.839 --> 00:06:35.920 Are you, you know, and the last thing is um on this, and this isn't necessarily how to fix this, again, that could be an entire episode in

and of itself. 00:06:36.079 --> 00:06:45.519 Um, but like the last kind of thought I have on that is um, you know, is it just a season that you're in, or is it the direction you're heading, right? 00:06:45.680 --> 00:07:04.079 Um, for example, you may not love managing projects uh and paint projects, but it might just be for maybe the rest of this year, it might just even be for another month or two until you can hire a project manager or replace one that needed to go, whatever it is, right? 00:07:04.160 --> 00:07:14.800 And so is what you're feeling an actual long-term thing, or is it just a short-term situation that you find yourself in? 00:07:14.959 --> 00:07:21.439 So uh I know I went kind of deep on that one much longer than I expected to, uh, but I think it's a real thing. 00:07:21.600 --> 00:07:33.839 I we you know, we can talk nuts and bolts on this podcast all day, uh, but sometimes it's those mindset type things uh that we need to, you know, make sure that we're also talking about too, because it's definitely a reality out there. 00:07:34.079 --> 00:07:37.360 So um, alright, second one. 00:07:37.920 --> 00:07:40.160 Um somebody asked a question. 00:07:40.399 --> 00:07:42.319 I kind of appreciated the question here. 00:07:42.560 --> 00:07:47.360 It said they said, um, you know, I was doing our doing job costing. 00:07:47.439 --> 00:07:56.000 Uh this was an industry event over that, and I said, you know, doing job costing, and we realized our our gross profit was at 20 to 30 percent. 00:07:56.399 --> 00:08:00.319 How do we start to diagnose and you know triage? 00:08:00.959 --> 00:08:02.720 Like, where do we fix this at? 00:08:03.040 --> 00:08:03.279 Right? 00:08:03.600 --> 00:08:09.040 And so I'll kind of run through real quickly the couple of questions that I asked this individual. 00:08:09.120 --> 00:08:16.319 Um, kind of what I would suggest looking at again is is in a quickest time frame that I get to answer a question like this. 00:08:16.560 --> 00:08:21.920 Um, but question the the first part was okay, um, what are you charging? 00:08:22.000 --> 00:08:23.360 What's your power leading rate? 00:08:23.519 --> 00:08:30.079 And it was actually at a you know at a pretty good number, I think maybe a little bit low for where they were located out on the East Coast. 00:08:30.160 --> 00:08:37.039 Um, but it wasn't like you know, we're charging$35 an hour,$40 an hour, which was 1 million percent what I expected. 00:08:37.279 --> 00:08:38.559 I said, okay, great. 00:08:38.639 --> 00:08:45.200 So it's not necessarily the charge rate, it's not hurting you, but that's not the reason why your gross profits at 20 to 30 percent. 00:08:45.440 --> 00:08:54.320 Um next question was um, you know, talk to me about the estimated hours versus the actual hours. 00:08:54.480 --> 00:08:55.919 Where's the disconnect at? 00:08:56.240 --> 00:09:04.559 And we started diving into that a little bit, didn't have a ton of data, um, encourage them to get a lot more insight and in tune with that, right? 00:09:04.639 --> 00:09:08.799 We're estimating 80 hours for a project, how and how long is it taking us to complete it? 00:09:08.879 --> 00:09:14.159 Um, that will kind of start to tell you, uh, at least to some degree, if there's a huge disconnect there, right? 00:09:14.240 --> 00:09:17.039 We're estimating 80, it's taking us 150. 00:09:17.120 --> 00:09:23.279 Okay, are we messing up the estimate or are we you know really off with our production? 00:09:23.519 --> 00:09:33.759 Uh, and so I encouraged him to you know do some tracking, do some checking if was his painters actually painting at you know industry benchmark averages or not. 00:09:34.000 --> 00:09:40.879 So uh that was kind of the conversation there to just do a deeper dive into it. 00:09:41.039 --> 00:09:54.240 Um couple of questions later revealed that uh some of the problems seem to be estimating on work, and so that was part of you know tracking kind of the thought of hey, track your guys' time. 00:09:54.399 --> 00:09:55.759 You know, obviously don't tell them. 00:09:55.840 --> 00:09:56.639 That's one thing. 00:09:56.720 --> 00:09:57.679 I'm gonna be very clear. 00:09:57.840 --> 00:10:04.240 If you're ever tracking your team's time to see how long it takes them to do things, don't tell them that you're tracking them. 00:10:04.559 --> 00:10:10.559 Because they're gonna overperform every time and they're gonna skew off your study, and then you're gonna start looking in the wrong places for answers. 00:10:10.720 --> 00:10:13.200 So I said, you know, check it, check it by thing. 00:10:13.279 --> 00:10:20.080 And I said, what I mean by that is, you know, sometimes you like they might be fine with painting, but it's the prep work, right? 00:10:20.240 --> 00:10:28.879 Uh and so he kind of shared an example of something that he realized that yeah, it just took way longer than what he was factoring in time-wise for. 00:10:29.120 --> 00:10:40.559 And uh we think that, you know, maybe it's more so isolated to uh the 25 to 30 percent is just on jobs where they have these uh, you know, prep prep things that don't go according to plan. 00:10:41.120 --> 00:10:44.320 And um that was kind of the diagnosis on that. 00:10:44.399 --> 00:10:49.360 So there's a lot of places to look on, you know, again, root cause of things, right? 00:10:49.440 --> 00:10:53.919 There's a lot of ways to kind of diagnose these things, and sometimes it's just asking questions. 00:10:54.240 --> 00:11:01.279 Um, you know, I'm really not trying to make this whole episode about vendors, much as I want to jokingly talk about Ascapane and all these other things. 00:11:01.519 --> 00:11:07.679 Uh notice Nick I didn't say this is Ascapane or live, so you can't sue me for trademark infringement or branding or anything like that. 00:11:07.759 --> 00:11:09.600 But it's just it's just Ascopainer today. 00:11:10.080 --> 00:11:17.600 Um but you know, Nick always says, you know, job costing leads you

down a path of 17 more questions about your business. 00:11:17.759 --> 00:11:19.440 Uh, and I think it's so true, right? 00:11:19.519 --> 00:11:23.440 You start checking some of those actuals versus estimated things and whatnot. 00:11:23.600 --> 00:11:25.120 So, alright. 00:11:25.279 --> 00:11:28.240 Um, yeah, I have to show you guys this if you're watching the video. 00:11:28.480 --> 00:11:32.960 It's the first time ever I have a podcast outline on the back of a short Williams receipt. 00:11:33.200 --> 00:11:35.039 So, not too proud about that. 00:11:35.120 --> 00:11:38.399 Um, I have to at least have a couple of things to keep my brain on track. 00:11:38.639 --> 00:11:43.039 And uh yeah, I figured I couldn't use my phone because that's when recording this on. 00:11:43.120 --> 00:11:56.720 So, um, alright, here was a question I got asked earlier today, and this this is actually a good one, one of my favorites, uh, and and honestly in a way that um you know sometimes I'll give advice to people on stuff. 00:11:56.879 --> 00:12:06.159 Uh the question was if you were gonna start your painting business over, um what uh what business model would you take? 00:12:06.240 --> 00:12:14.559 And in the context of the question was W-2 versus in-house employee, or sorry, W-2 versus subcontractors. 00:12:14.720 --> 00:12:31.600 Uh, and every time I hear just the conversation W-2 versus subcontractors, I always think of another ABC cover magazine, probably second best one that's ever been out there, um, with my good friends Brad Ellison and John McFarland having a debate about this. 00:12:31.679 --> 00:12:34.799 So I got to witness that live in Michigan last summer. 00:12:34.879 --> 00:12:36.080 It was a ton of fun too. 00:12:36.240 --> 00:12:47.919 But um honestly, my my answer to that, uh, and again, the context was kind of given like knowing everything that you know and have seen in the industry in the last eight years of doing this, you know, what what would you choose? 00:12:48.080 --> 00:12:56.159 Um, and I love this question, and my answer is in the very, very beginning, I think I would go full sub route. 00:12:56.639 --> 00:13:08.000 And the reason behind that is um it's much easier to weather the ups and downs of demand until you get your marketing systems dialed in, until you get a good steady backlog of work. 00:13:08.159 --> 00:13:18.960 And then once you know you're consistently six plus, eight plus weeks out, uh again, Midwest terms here, a few cities that will that'll maybe differ in just because homeowners don't want to wait more than three or four weeks. 00:13:19.120 --> 00:13:27.200 Um once you once you can kind of get some consistent demand built up, then it's a little bit more comfortable to scale in-house. 00:13:27.519 --> 00:13:30.480 Uh, and so, or you feel a little bit more secure in that. 00:13:30.559 --> 00:13:46.480 And so my answer to the question is if I was starting over, I would go subs in the very beginning just to kind of naturally uh mitigate and handle that flux in demand, you know, good or bad. 00:13:46.639 --> 00:13:59.759 Um, and then I would eventually work it to get into a hybrid system role where I have like three to six in-house employees and then you know, one to four subcontractors on top of it. 00:13:59.919 --> 00:14:32.559 Um, you know, I think I would probably, uh for me at least, uh, you know, I was thinking very like if I was gonna start a painting company while I'm still doing this with EBA, not feel too much conflict with our our clients here and saying listen, I don't I don't know that I really want to, but if I was gonna do it, my goal would be to get it to about 1.5 million, have an office manager, an SPR, a project manager, and then see if we can't build efficiencies to a point where we can do maybe say two million a year or so just with those three key leadership positions. 00:14:32.720 --> 00:14:33.679 That would be my goal. 00:14:33.759 --> 00:14:41.200 Again, if I didn't have this as another income source, maybe that'd be closer to three to four million, have two of each. 00:14:41.360 --> 00:14:47.360 Um, again, kind of deviating from the question here, but I love the hybrid role or the hybrid model. 00:14:47.440 --> 00:14:49.519 I think it gives a lot of flexibility. 00:14:49.679 --> 00:14:52.799 Um, it's great for everybody that's in a seasonal climate. 00:14:52.960 --> 00:14:54.960 Um, we talked a lot about the seasonal climate. 00:14:55.039 --> 00:14:59.279 Don't forget, um, holidays happen all around the world, even in warm climates. 00:14:59.519 --> 00:15:15.200 So there is a natural slowdown November, December, uh, you know, a little bit in January because people are still celebrating the holidays and you know, distracted with everything going on and not making decisions and not prioritizing stuff and putting it off until January. 00:15:15.279 --> 00:15:19.200 So again, those in a northern climate, I think have even more of a disadvantage. 00:15:19.440 --> 00:15:26.399 But uh yeah, so if you're in a seasonal climate, I love, love, love the hybrid model concept. 00:15:26.639 --> 00:15:29.919 Um keep keep a certain amount of people busy year-round. 00:15:30.080 --> 00:15:35.519 Arguably, you typically do make a little bit more money on your in-house employees. 00:15:35.600 --> 00:15:39.679 Uh, and so you know, the the market is somewhat a little bit better there. 00:15:39.759 --> 00:15:40.879 Again, management's different. 00:15:40.960 --> 00:15:50.320 There's there's pros and cons to it uh for sure, but I love the idea of kind of having a hybrid model uh based on all the hundreds of painting companies I've seen. 00:15:50.480 --> 00:15:52.639 Again, there's no right or wrong way to do this, guys. 00:15:52.720 --> 00:15:57.759 It's it's based on what's best for you and your situation, your personality, your leadership, your goals. 00:15:57.840 --> 00:16:03.759 Um, but just if I was doing it over 100%, that would be the route I would

go. 00:16:04.000 --> 00:16:09.600 So um, next question how to raise prices. 00:16:09.919 --> 00:16:11.120 This is a good one. 00:16:11.279 --> 00:16:33.600 Uh the question was given the context around, you know, I feel like I need to raise our prices, um, and you know, they were kind of feeling like they were already pushing the top end of that mark, and so you know, they were just trying to figure out like how do we go about raising our prices, which then led into another great question that I'll share here in a second that I thought was worth discussing with you guys. 00:16:33.759 --> 00:16:42.960 Um, and so the question was, or the thought behind how do we raise prices, um, is number one, it's just build more value and enhance the experience. 00:16:43.120 --> 00:16:54.240 Um, again, go back to the first principles reasoning episode we just did uh not too long ago, uh, where we talked about you know why do homeowners actually make decisions and different things. 00:16:54.320 --> 00:17:11.359 Um, you know, I think get a very good fundamental understanding of that and just cater your entire sales process, the entire customer experience, the entire customer journey that they go on from the second they check out your website all the way through, you know, when they make a decision to go with you. 00:17:11.599 --> 00:17:12.960 What is that, what does that look like? 00:17:13.119 --> 00:17:14.799 What do those touch points look like? 00:17:14.880 --> 00:17:16.559 Um, how do you navigate that? 00:17:16.720 --> 00:17:20.960 So um, 10 out of 10, recommend just elevate your process. 00:17:21.119 --> 00:17:34.720 People need confidence, they need to trust you, uh, and they need to kind of you know have an obvious understanding of why your price might be 50% more, you know, 30% more, whatever the number is, than everybody else, right? 00:17:34.880 --> 00:17:53.759 And if you have a very thorough process, you're very professional, you know, you're you're dialed in, you're on time, you communicate well, you do all the extra little things to build value and give them confidence and educate them as a homeowner on what to expect and next steps and all this stuff. 00:17:53.920 --> 00:18:06.880 Um, and then you know, your bid is 30% more from Joe Blows, but Joe Blows showed up 15 minutes late, didn't even text them to tell them, and emailed them a bit over 72 hours later. 00:18:07.039 --> 00:18:14.640 Um, it's gonna be pretty obvious maybe why your price is you know 30% more than Joe's, but uh, you know, again, what's the homeowner? 00:18:14.960 --> 00:18:17.279 You know, what do they expect the rest of the job to look like? 00:18:17.359 --> 00:18:20.640 I think that's one fundamental thing to think about when it comes to sales. 00:18:20.880 --> 00:18:27.839 Whatever that that journey is you take them on in the beginning, I guess this could be good or bad, it's what they expect. 00:18:28.000 --> 00:18:31.759 They just assume the rest of the process is gonna follow suit like that. 00:18:31.920 --> 00:18:43.680 So if it's good, they just assume that from then on, from when they make that decision all the way through you know the final walkthrough and final payment, they expect that process to be the exact same as what that sales process was. 00:18:43.759 --> 00:18:46.480 So, one, I mean you gotta make sure everything is in sync there. 00:18:46.640 --> 00:18:54.079 Um, but two, if it's if it's bad up front, well, that's kind of what they then are expecting your paint job to follow suit on, right? 00:18:54.160 --> 00:19:07.440 If you don't communicate well, you don't show up on time, you know, you don't give them a lot of education, just like, oh yeah, cool, here's what you want, here's the bid, um, you know, all this stuff, they kind of just assume that's probably what the rest of it's gonna be like, right? 00:19:07.680 --> 00:19:11.680 So um we just gotta make sure we're building the value in that. 00:19:11.920 --> 00:19:20.160 Um, the question that popped off from that that I wanted to include here, so that was a really good question, and it's not one that I hear um or get a whole heck of a lot. 00:19:20.240 --> 00:19:27.680 It was kind of fun to talk through with a couple of people, um, is how do you really accurately identify your target? 00:19:27.839 --> 00:19:30.720 Are are you marketing and targeting the right areas? 00:19:31.119 --> 00:19:38.480 Um, you know, so that was the other half of the question, is like, you know, if if I feel like I'm at the top of my price point, am I in the right demographic? 00:19:38.640 --> 00:19:40.000 Am I in the right market? 00:19:40.160 --> 00:19:48.160 And so it's kind of a fun thought was like, you know, how do you identify what is your you know, your good target market? 00:19:48.400 --> 00:19:53.440 Um, you know, the obvious thing we want to kind of look at here is disposable income. 00:19:53.599 --> 00:20:01.839 Um, do people have and disposable income that they are are you know want to and are willing to pay to have stuff done? 00:20:02.000 --> 00:20:02.960 That's the biggest thing. 00:20:03.039 --> 00:20:05.680 And and a couple things that you can kind of look at. 00:20:05.839 --> 00:20:12.559 Um, you know, school districts can sometimes be wondered, you know, do people send send their kids to private school? 00:20:12.720 --> 00:20:15.200 Um, you know, and different things like that. 00:20:15.440 --> 00:20:34.640 Um but I think an easy one just driving through a neighborhood, obviously you're only gonna know that from conversations or I don't know, somehow maybe doing some research, but um, you know, the biggest one that I would look at is uh do they um you know do they keep up with their homes in the area? 00:20:34.880 --> 00:20:37.920 That to me is a is a huge, huge one. 00:20:38.000 --> 00:20:57.200 Um if you are looking through and you notice that you know 90% of the homes, the grass is tall and they you know aren't maintaining their homes and stuff

or in anything even, um, you know, vehicles, whatever, it's pretty obvious they're probably not gonna spend money on that. 00:20:57.359 --> 00:20:57.680 Right? 00:20:57.759 --> 00:21:08.000 But if you're in a spot where they you notice, hey, they pay to have water done, they take pride in their house, they you know, they're they're paying for convenience, right? 00:21:08.079 --> 00:21:14.720 All these different things kind of starts to install loot to the fact that they might be willing to spend some money to do that. 00:21:14.960 --> 00:21:25.279 So um I don't know, it's just kind of a fun again question that I don't really get a lot or get to think through a lot, um, and uh wanted to include that on there. 00:21:25.440 --> 00:21:42.559 So um the last question that I had, yeah, this one's good on um what stipulations do you recommend putting in place for employee incentives uh for like recruiting people, right? 00:21:42.720 --> 00:21:56.559 So one thing that tends to work well for um you know hiring new employees is if you have good new employee existing employees, they may know and hang around with other good people. 00:21:57.119 --> 00:21:59.599 And so um, how do we maybe incentivize that? 00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:02.079 Little bit, I love having some sort of an employee bonus. 00:22:02.160 --> 00:22:07.119 You know, I would say you're gonna spend money on recruiting, I'd rather that money go you know back into my team's pocket. 00:22:07.279 --> 00:22:18.720 Um, and so you know what I would suggest on that is um give them you know whatever the bonus is, maybe it's uh you know$500 or you know$250 or whatever. 00:22:18.880 --> 00:22:29.920 Um, you know, I would give them half of that, whatever it is, at the end of 30 days of that new person's employment, and the other half um 30 days at the end of 90 days. 00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:33.680 Um so that way it just kind of locks in and you're only spending money on that. 00:22:34.000 --> 00:22:43.839 Um, you know, I don't have an exact date on this, I don't know if Nick very well could, um as far as like how much it costs to recruit the average employee. 00:22:44.000 --> 00:22:59.599 Uh, but for me, what I would just say and throw out there to you guys is I mean, I know a lot of clients, a lot of people that you know, if you spend five to five hundred to seven hundred and fifty bucks to recruit you know, a good employee, um, I mean, that's usually money well spent. 00:22:59.680 --> 00:23:02.799 Like, there's usually a pretty solid ROI on that. 00:23:03.039 --> 00:23:08.079 So, again, just so you know, I'm gonna see if we're like, Oh, I'll give my employees like 50 bucks or something, right? 00:23:08.160 --> 00:23:12.720 It's like, uh, I think we need, you know, we might need the the money to talk a little bit harder on this one. 00:23:12.799 --> 00:23:17.839 Uh, and so I would just encourage you to you know think about that and keep in perspective. 00:23:17.920 --> 00:23:23.440 Um, I mean, if really truthfully, like, just I'm gonna go mad year free on this, okay. 00:23:23.680 --> 00:23:26.079 Um, and we all know I'm doing this off the top of my head. 00:23:29.039 --> 00:23:49.599 Um but if you you know if you're at your say uh you know you're already at your break-even point, you are already, you know, beyond that, whatever it is, um, you know, every new employee realistically should generate, and I'm just gonna kind of go with the low number here,$3,500 of money in your pocket. 00:23:49.839 --> 00:23:52.640 Okay, and so I would keep that in mind. 00:23:52.720 --> 00:23:58.240 A lot of people view recruiting as like a necessary evil, um, but it's really an opportunity, right? 00:23:58.319 --> 00:24:02.880 And I look at it, you know, just quick, simple math as I'll start to wrap this up here. 00:24:03.119 --> 00:24:11.200 Um, you know, uh an average painter should produce about$10,000 a month in revenue for your business. 00:24:11.279 --> 00:24:22.480 Okay, so$10,000 a month, let's just say, you know, on average you you're gonna pay out, let's just say it's an experienced painter, and I forget which dollar amount this is at. 00:24:22.720 --> 00:24:26.960 Um, but let's just go with$4,000 for sake of an example here. 00:24:27.119 --> 00:24:33.440 Um that would be you know somewhere in that ballpark for a good average painter, they could produce$10,000 a month for you in revenue. 00:24:33.599 --> 00:24:39.119 Um, so you're gonna have$4,000 in labor cost on that$10K that they're gonna produce. 00:24:39.279 --> 00:24:44.880 You're gonna have, let's just, let's just even shoot on the high end,$15% materials, so that's another$1,500. 00:24:45.119 --> 00:24:49.519 So now you're down, so that's$5,500 in cost on$10,000. 00:24:49.680 --> 00:24:50.960 So you're at$4,500. 00:24:51.279 --> 00:24:53.039 I give you the number of$3,500. 00:24:53.279 --> 00:24:56.640 Let's just say you've got a little bit extra of some administrative stuff. 00:24:56.720 --> 00:25:02.000 Maybe you need a bump of your marketing to make sure you have enough work, you know, to keep this extra employee busy. 00:25:02.160 --> 00:25:12.480 Um, you know, so again, I'm shooting on the low end, but I'm just gonna say, again, depending on their wage,$3,500 to$4,000 a month of profit off of a higher, right? 00:25:12.720 --> 00:25:15.599 So again, what's$500 worth to you? 00:25:15.759 --> 00:25:20.319 Well,$500 quickly turning into$4,000 in a month. 00:25:20.400 --> 00:25:27.359 I mean, that's a what eight times return on your investment, like out of the gate on the first month. 00:25:27.599 --> 00:25:31.200 If that employee stays with you for 10 years, what's your return on that, right? 00:25:31.359 --> 00:25:42.720 So just let's work on the mindset a little bit, maybe with that, um, and make sure that we're looking at recruiting and you know how we're what we're spending on recruiting uh in the right manner. 00:25:42.799 --> 00:25:47.200 I'm all about you know organic and trying to do stuff, you know, as cost effective as possible. 00:25:47.279 --> 00:25:50.720 I wanted to start saying cost effective, not cheap, because it sounds better. 00:25:50.880 --> 00:25:57.599 Um, but let's also realize there, you know, sometimes in the business we have to spend a little bit of money to be able to make money. 00:25:57.759 --> 00:26:01.039 So um I hope you got some nuggets out of this. 00:26:01.119 --> 00:26:05.200 I hope you found some entertainment and amusement in here. 00:26:05.440 --> 00:26:15.119 Uh, I also appreciate you allowing me to be a little efficient with my time as I've been painting this office this week and just trying to get to a functional state soon. 00:26:15.279 --> 00:26:18.160 So um I don't have a plan for next week's episode. 00:26:18.240 --> 00:26:22.799 I might do another Ask a Painter on Monday when I'm wrapping up the Navy Blue Accent Walls. 00:26:22.880 --> 00:26:23.200 We'll see. 00:26:23.279 --> 00:26:25.839 If everybody loves this, I'm gonna post a clip on this on social. 00:26:26.319 --> 00:26:31.279 You might get Ask a Painter round two, and then that'll be it, and we'll get back to normal in the new office. 00:26:31.519 --> 00:26:33.519 Hope you have a great day. 00:26:34.240 --> 00:26:36.400 Thanks for plugging into this week's episode. 00:26:36.480 --> 00:26:40.160 I hope you're able to take a few nuggets away from it to implement into your business. 00:26:40.319 --> 00:26:43.279 Remember, knowledge without implementation is useless. 00:26:43.519 --> 00:26:53.839 If you're curious about what we do and how we help painting contractors all over North America, schedule a free business analysis meeting with us at www.elitebusinessadvisors.com. 00:26:54.079 --> 00:26:59.839 Our entire team of advisors have ran and managed painting companies just like myself that are here to help support you on your journey. 00:27:00.000 --> 00:27:07.279 We have packages available for contractors at every stage of business, from flying solo and just starting out, all the way to multi million dollar businesses. 00:27:07.519 --> 00:27:11.440 And lastly, if you love this episode, please leave us a rating and a review. 00:27:11.519 --> 00:27:16.480 It helps others on the platform find our podcast, and it can be the best blessing that's ever happened to them. 00:27:16.559 --> 00:27:17.359 Thanks to you. 00:27:17.519 --> 00:27:20.160 Thanks for plugging in, and we'll see you back for next week's episode.