Build Your Business

Build Your Business
Are you tired of making less money than your employees? Are you tired of working 60, 70, or more hours a week? Are you tired of saying "next year will be better"?
Are you thinking of starting your own painting business, but you don't know where to begin?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, then this letter may change your life.
According to the Small Business Administration, more than 90% of small businesses fail within 5 years. Of those that survive 5 years, another 90% will fail within another 5 years. After 10 years, less than 1 out of 100 small businesses remain open.
Operating a successful paint contracting company does not need to be complicated. It just requires good business practices. Do you need more leads? Implement a marketing plan that includes effective strategies like customer retention and proximity marketing. Do you want motivated and happy employees? Empower them and get out of their way. Do you fret over low priced competition? Learn to sell more effectively by focusing on consumer education.
I'll show you how to do all of this and more.
Why do so many businesses fail?
Among the most common reasons cited are insufficient starting capital and poor planning. Both can certainly contribute to the failure of a business. However, neither is a necessary cause of business failure—a business can survive with insufficient capital and/ or poor planning.
The reason most businesses fail is because the owner does not have the necessary business skills. He gets what Michael Gerber (author of The E-Myth) calls "entrepreneurial seizure". A skilled craftsman decides he is tired of working for someone else and hangs out his shingle--now he'll make the big bucks. The problem is, this seldom works out well. A skilled craftsman does not necessarily make a good business owner. The skill sets are much different.
I know because I've been there. I started my business in 1986, and I was clueless. I struggled year after year, vowing that somehow next year would be better. I was ready to close my business many, many times. But I stuck to it, continued to learn, and today I own 2 successful and profitable paint contracting companies.
Along the way I learned some very painful, and at times, expensive lessons. I also learned the biggest secret to business success: There are no secrets to business success. Success just takes hard work and good business practices.
If you are like most business owners, you are willing to work hard. And if you are like most business owners, you lack good business practices.
You could spend several years reading books and magazines, going to seminars, listening to tapes, and then trying to implement everything you've learned. But why re-invent the wheel? Why spend so much time and effort and money when I've already done that for you?
Over the past 8 years I've spent nearly $30,000 on books, tapes, magazines, attending conferences, and more. I've heard lots of great ideas, and a few downright crazy ideas. I've tried a lot of things that didn't work, and quite a few that did. And now I've put together a manual-- Getting Out of the Bucket--that shows you what works.