Faux Painting for Profit

cont;

Your are the Boss and the Employee! 

In order to get yourself to thinking straight on this fundamental matter, it is a good idea to regard your business as a firm or corporation and yourself as its employee… its hired manager. Even if your business does not become a corporation… this still can be a useful technique.

Supposing your business should grow to many times its present size, and, needing capitol, supposing you should sell forty per  cent of the stock to outsiders. You certainly would then insist on paying yourself a salary as manager before you allowed the stock holders who put in no time or effort towards building the business… to share in the proceeds. 

The principle is the same if you happen to own all the stock. You, as manager, should receive your salary before you, as stockholder, get your dividends.

Then there is the competition side of it… competition for your services… and for your money. As president and general manager, you certainly should expect your own corporation to pay you just as large a salary as you can make by working for somebody else, and as stock holder in your company, you expect the corporation to pay you interest on the money you have invested. 

No Other Faux Painting Business Could Hire You Without Paying You A Salary 

If your business as it now stands is not able to pay you the salary that you could get from another job, and if it isn't sufficiently profitable to pay you a satisfactory return on the money you have invested, the certainly there is something wrong and you could make more money by actually working for somebody else and investing your money in other ways. 

No Other Painting Business Could Rent Your Storage Space and Office For Nothing 

Read the rest of this article: Your Not In The Faux Painting Business Just For Fun 

What is your idea of being in the faux painting business?

Is it to make daily wages just like those that work for you?

Or do you expect some compensation also for -

• The money you have invested
• The risks you take of loosing money
• The extra worry of running the faux business

You know a good investment bond pays less return that a share of good stock. Why? Because, first there is little or no risk with a bond. The interest on a bond must be paid whether the painting business makes money or not. A share of stock pays a return only if the business makes money.

Bondholder vs. Shareholder

The wage earner is in the position of the bond holder.

The business owner is in the position of the share holder. 

The former takes no risk and takes the smaller slice of the income. He gets hes whether anybody else gets anything or not; but he does not share in the profits.

The latter takes all the risk and expends extra brain power. He gets nothing if the business does not make a profit. It is only fair that he does get the dividends when the are available.

So far, every faux painting contractor will agree. Now we shall say something with which not all of you readers will agree.

Pay Yourself What Others Would Pay You 

Every painting contractor should not only get the legitimate profits of his business… but should also pay himself a share of the legitimate expenses of the business before profits are figured. In other words… the "boss" should have wages as well as the men.

The only time a contractor should lose out on a salary… is when he goes Florida for a vacation and needs to pay those wages to someone else.  If he works with his hands… he certainly deserves wages. And if he supervises other painters… he should have a commensurates salary for that.

Did you just say "Who says we wouldn't agree with that?" 

Well, I heard a pretty big time painting contractor say at a recent convention that he never charged anything to the business for his own time or supervisory experience. He simply took what was left after labor and materials were accounted for. 

If this really popular faux painter ignores such a simple and vital business principle, I imagine there may be others.

You Are The Boss and Employee… Both! 

Click here to read more: Faux Paint Contractor 

Urgent Question from Vickie: 

I dont know how much to charge and I have builders waiting on me.
Help!!

Vickie… What are you painting?  Do you have competitors? What is your experience level? Are you licenced?  Do you have contracts?   These are all questions that would help in finding your answers.  

I would need a ton more information to be able to help you with your pricing.
But… just to give you a little nudge in the right direction:

After you have added up all your costs and included what you think would be a fair amount for profit… take that entire figure and add 20%. Honest… It will keep you from underbidding.  It is a tried and true formula for us.
Hope this helps you.

I also recieved this comment from a reader: 

I have done so many family and friends FREE!
My mistake. Although it has been great experience practicing and trying out some new techniques. As you know, it does take time away from family as well as personal time. I don't mind nor does my husband and two boys but I always feel guilty. I feel like I should be cleaning or organizing something.

This is why I am pursuing it full time. I can hopefully do this while everyone is at work and school.

Anyway, I think I am too nice or maybe don't feel worthy of charging the prices that I know some artists do because I love it so much that I feel strange charging for my enjoyment. I am not stupid however and do realize there are many people that tend to be clueless on decorating, painting, etc. I am not judging, this has been told to me many times from the people who are clueless.

You will find that many potential clients are "clueless" when it comes to decorative and mural painting prices.  They will put your work into the same catagory as painting by the foot contractors.

This is not your fault… really.  You need to either convince the client that art is far more expensive than base coat painting… or move on to the next client.  Don't let any one make you feel like you are charging more than you are worth.  This is where faux painters loose their profit in business.  Faux painting takes time, talent and patience.  It's not for the average joe. 

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=f_kJ6aZX5rg[/youtube] 

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