So, you want to start a painting business with no money? It can be done! With some creativity, you can get your painting business started without incurring any debt. One big mistake many new business owners make is to take out a large loan, buy expensive equipment, and then expect to get rich overnight. When that doesn’t happen, they end up taking a big loss. Here are some helpful tips on how to start a painting business with no money:
Plan, Plan, Plan
In order to start your painting business without taking out a loan, you will need work up a business plan. Figure out the bare minimum equipment you need to get started. A few good brushes, a roller, cover, and pan, some sort of a drop cloth, and a step ladder. Hopefully you already have some sort of a vehicle, but if not, you’ll need to plan on taking on painting jobs you can either walk to, or have someone drive you to. You don’t need to spend any money to buy anything…yet.
Next, you need to get some customers. With no money, you’ll to use some creativity in advertising. If you have a computer and printer at home, you can print some of your own flyers advertising your painting business. You could also get customers through setting up a free Google Business listing, a free Facebook business page, or by simply contacting all local friends, family, neighbors, and business associates. Let them know what you are offering with your new business, and kindly ask them to spread the word.
The key to getting started with no money is to sign up a job, preferably an $800-$1,000 interior painting job. You can print out free estimate forms from the internet. In your painting job proposal, require 1/3 down-payment upon acceptance of your proposal. This will give you approximately $250-$350 to go and buy the equipment you need. If you were able to sign up an interior job painting rooms, you should only need to purchase a stepladder, drop cloths, a paintbrush, roller, roller cover, and pan, along with the paint you need. The down-payment money should be plenty to cover these expenses.
Next, when completing the job, save the remaining profits and put them toward additional equipment you may need- ladders, sprayer, etc. It would be wise to hold that money until you sign up another job, and then combine it with down-payment money from your next job. Don’t forget to spend a small portion of your profits on some business cards that you can start passing out to other potential customers.
To recap, in order to start a painting business with little or no money, you must first carefully plan out your business, figuring out the bare essentials you will need for your first job. You will then need to creatively find a customer or two, preferably signing up a simple interior painting job. Lastly, you will need to use the down-payment to purchase the minimal painting equipment and materials you will need to complete your first job. Save any money you earn to put back into your painting business. After a few jobs, you should be able to have paid for most, if not all, of the equipment you will need for your painting business. From then on, you can enjoy the profits!