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We talk with Lauren about launching a rural painting company, scaling fast through brand and responsiveness, and selling to McFarland Painting in four years. She shares honest lessons on hiring a PM, doing open-book due diligence, and finding a better role post-sale.

• starting Apex Painting in 2021 and reaching $650k in two years
• using yard signs, reviews and a simple site to build trust
• inbound marketing in rural markets over paid ads
• writing SOPs for work and home to reduce chaos
• capacity limits while parenting and growing fast
• hiring wins and misses when replacing yourself
• what makes a strong, steady project manager
• deciding to sell, networking into a buyer
• open-book due diligence and clean financials
• choosing acquisition plus employment over a merger
• life after sale as an estimator and key lessons

This episode was originally recorded as a video for YouTube.

If you hear me say things like “in this video” or reference visuals, don’t worry —
the content still works perfectly in audio form.

And if you ever want to watch the video version, you can find it on the
Profitable Painter YouTube channel.

https://www.youtube.com/@BookkeepingForPainters

For being a loyal listener, I want to send you a copy of my new book Profitable Painter. Inside, I’ll show you the exact frameworks that have helped painting businesses save big on taxes, increase profits, and scale with confidence
Head over to profitablepaintercpa.com/book and grab your copy today. Don’t wait — this is my gift to you for being part of the Profitable Painter community.

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We walk through a simple funnel and a clear profitability test to judge whether Facebook and Instagram lead forms pay for a painting business. We show the benchmarks, the speed-to-lead standards, the diagnostic order, and a BANT filter that protects your calendar and close rate.

• four-step funnel from lead to job closed
• cost per booked job as the north star metric
• seven per cent marketing cap tied to average job size
• benchmarks for cost per lead, set rate, close rate
• speed to lead within three minutes and three days to estimate
• diagnostic order for set, show, and close rates
• follow-up cadence with scripts and reminders
• BANT questions to filter budget, authority, need, timeline

Quick pause. If this way of thinking about marketing is helpful for you, I wrote a book called Profitable Painter that breaks down these exact frameworks in more detail: pricing, owner pay, cash flow, marketing math. It normally costs about 20 bucks on Amazon, but you can get it for free. Just cover the shipping. There's a link in the description if you want to go deeper.
Click the video on the screen now, and I'll see you there.

This episode was originally recorded as a video for YouTube.

If you hear me say things like “in this video” or reference visuals, don’t worry —
the content still works perfectly in audio form.

And if you ever want to watch the video version, you can find it on the
Profitable Painter YouTube channel.

https://www.youtube.com/@BookkeepingForPainters

Send us a text

We lay out a simple system to price painting jobs accurately, mark up materials and labor correctly, and use close rate as a clean market signal. The result is stable gross profit, clearer work orders, and confidence to raise prices without killing demand.

• production rate estimating to predict labor hours
• PCA benchmarks versus timing your own crew
• moving from square footage guessing to surface rates
• marking up materials as well as labor
• gross profit formula using direct costs and targets
• ideal close rate range for residential repaint
• adjusting prices in measured steps based on market feedback
• diagnosing low close rate with sales process and customer fit
• summary framework for consistent, scalable pricing

Click the video on the screen now, and I'll see you there

This episode was originally recorded as a video for YouTube.

If you hear me say things like “in this video” or reference visuals, don’t worry —
the content still works perfectly in audio form.

And if you ever want to watch the video version, you can find it on the
Profitable Painter YouTube channel.

https://www.youtube.com/@BookkeepingForPainters

Send us a text

We show why painting companies lose profit to misaligned incentives and share pay models that make every role protect gross profit. Sales, production, leadership, and admin all get clear rules that tie pay to outcomes, not hours or revenue alone.

• sales comp with base commission plus GP-based step bonuses
• production manager pay split into base and performance tied to volume, GP, and reviews
• sales manager paid on team gross profit, not revenue
• admin and PM combined overhead targets to prevent bloat
• step-by-step numbers that stabilize margin and improve quality
• practical transitions for teams already on salary-only plans

Get a free copy of Profitable Painter, just cover the shipping. The link is in the description

This episode was originally recorded as a video for YouTube.

If you hear me say things like “in this video” or reference visuals, don’t worry —
the content still works perfectly in audio form.

And if you ever want to watch the video version, you can find it on the
Profitable Painter YouTube channel.

https://www.youtube.com/@BookkeepingForPainters

Send us a text

We share four cash flow plays that keep a painting business liquid while it grows fast. From legal deposit limits to payroll timing and progress billing, we design the money flow so cash shows up when work happens.

• cash survival moves for low bank balance
• collecting receivables and raising legal deposits
• progress payments tied to milestones
• paying subs after customer payment
• payroll timing to increase float
• stacking vendor terms with business credit
• operating legally under capped deposits
• employee model deposits covering CAC and labor
• down-sell strategy for testimonials
• subcontractor model funding current and next job

Click the video on the screen now to watch how much you should be making in your painting business

This episode was originally recorded as a video for YouTube.

If you hear me say things like “in this video” or reference visuals, don’t worry —
the content still works perfectly in audio form.

And if you ever want to watch the video version, you can find it on the
Profitable Painter YouTube channel.

https://www.youtube.com/@BookkeepingForPainters

Send us a text

We lay out four numbers that tell you if a painting job builds profit or drains cash, and show how to set deposits and milestones so growth funds itself. The result is a simple playbook to price right, buy leads with confidence, and end payroll stress.

• defining gross profit and why 50% vs 30% changes everything
• calculating customer acquisition cost including ads, leads, and sales time
• using the 3:1 rule to judge healthy marketing spend
• reading the GP to CAC ratio to decide if growth helps or hurts
• fixing cash conversion with deposits, mid-job payments, and vendor float
• action steps to audit ten jobs and compute your numbers
• guidance for states with limits on deposits and how to shift to milestones

You can get a copy for free. It normally costs 20 bucks on Amazon. All you gotta do is cover the shipping. There’s a link in the description if you want to go deeper.
Click the video on the screen now to watch four cash flow plays for painting businesses to scale.

This episode was originally recorded as a video for YouTube.

If you hear me say things like “in this video” or reference visuals, don’t worry —
the content still works perfectly in audio form.

And if you ever want to watch the video version, you can find it on the
Profitable Painter YouTube channel.

https://www.youtube.com/@BookkeepingForPainters

Send us a text

Work with us
https://profitablepaintercpa.com/vsl

Free Book - Profitable Painter
https://profitablepaintercpa.com/book

We lay out a simple budget that starts with your income target and works backward to revenue, sales, production, and overhead. By pricing your roles and checking capacity, you learn exactly what $1M requires and what you should pay yourself for each hat you wear.

• owners earn discretionary earnings across roles
• set target income, then compute revenue from percentages
• benchmark pay for ownership, sales, leadership, production management
• sales capacity for one rep and CAC guardrails
• production capacity per crew and honest COGS
• gross profit split into sales and marketing, overhead, profit
• cap overhead so it does not outrun revenue
• identify next hire and fix margins, not just sales

Get a copy of Profitable Painter for free—normally $20 on Amazon—just cover shipping. There’s a link in the description if you want to dive deeper

This episode was originally recorded as a video for YouTube.

If you hear me say things like “in this video” or reference visuals, don’t worry —
the content still works perfectly in audio form.

And if you ever want to watch the video version, you can find it on the
Profitable Painter YouTube channel.

https://www.youtube.com/@BookkeepingForPainters

Send us a text

Grab a free copy of Profitable Painter here: https://profitablepaintercpa.com/book

Work with Profitable Painter CPA here:
https://profitablepaintercpa.com/vsl

You carry the payroll, the risk, the insurance, and the stress—so why does your paycheck still feel like an afterthought? We open the books on owner compensation for painting contractors and explain how to know, in dollars, whether you’re underpaid or right on target. Using a simple benchmark—the 15 percent “beach test”—you’ll learn how to measure what your business should pay you even if you step away from day-to-day work.

From there, we get practical. We break down owner discretionary earnings into salary, distributions, and perks, and show why a reasonable W-2 salary plus S corp distributions is often the most tax-efficient path. You’ll hear clear role-based pay ranges tailored to painting companies: sales at 7–9 percent, production management at 4–7 percent, admin at 2–4 percent, executive leadership at 3–5 percent, and a passive 15 percent owner return. Then we run real numbers at $750,000 in revenue so you can see how a combined 33 percent total owner benefit can look in the real world without confusing salary for true earnings.

We also cover how compensation evolves as you scale past $1 million, $2 million, and $3 million by removing hats and keeping the owner return. A case study with Chris in North Carolina shows the tax savings and clarity that come from defining roles, electing S corp status, setting a reasonable salary, and stabilizing gross profit and overhead. Finally, we share a three-bucket pay model—salary for work performed, monthly or quarterly distributions from profit, and performance-based bonuses—that keeps your pay predictable, tax-smart, and tied to healthy margins.

If your business can’t fund a 15 percent owner return while paying fairly for the roles you fill, the problem isn’t you—it’s your margins. Tune in to learn the benchmarks, the math, and the steps to align pricing, gross margin, and overhead so you finally get paid like an owner. If this helped, subscribe, share it with a fellow contractor, and leave a review with the one metric you’ll fix first.

This episode was originally recorded as a video for YouTube.

If you hear me say things like “in this video” or reference visuals, don’t worry —
the content still works perfectly in audio form.

And if you ever want to watch the video version, you can find it on the
Profitable Painter YouTube channel.

https://www.youtube.com/@BookkeepingForPainters