Here’s How to Find Work NOW
Running out of work or no work? I am Ron Ramsden and I am a DYB coach, also a painting contractor here in Massachusetts.
I just got off a call with somebody that said that they are afraid because in the next week they are running out of work, they are a fairly new company, or maybe you are a new company, you don’t have any work and you are branching off on your own. Some of these might be repetitive to some of you, but to some of you, this might open your eyes to some opportunities of finding some work.
If I was in either one of those situations right now, these are the few things I would do;
I would make sure I have a Facebook page for my business, not your personal one, your business. I would make sure I have some content on there.
If you are starting off, you have no content. So, what do you do? You want to go to the Benjamin Moore and the Sherman Williams and other paint stores that you use, and borrow some things from that –things like the color of the week, the color of the month, and the color of the year.
They also have some videos that you can borrow and share and put out there, and then you want to maybe put out a ride, and take a couple of pictures of some really pretty homes. Exteriors of the home, the front doors, and things like that. And then you are going to schedule those out, you are going to have 2 postings a day for the next week, so when someone comes to visit your page, they are going to see some content.
If you have some pictures of some projects you have done in the past, post them also, don’t post them all today so you have 20 things today, space them out to 2 or 3 things a day so things would be popping into your newsfeed for your business page, that’s the first thing.
You are also going to invite all your friends, so when you open up that page, you are going to go underneath, you are going to say, invite friends, and you are going to invite every single person who is on your regular page, all they can do is not accept the invite. Anyways, your page is started.
You know, starting off and not having any work. Some of this stuff is going to be uncomfortable, but you have to understand, you either eat or you don’t eat, you either pay your mortgage and rent or you don’t. So, let’s get uncomfortable because if you start doing it uncomfortably, it is going to get easier as you go.
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Who doesn’t know that you own a painting company? Or maybe they know you own a painting company but maybe they think you are just busy like everybody else seems to be, or every other contractor they call, they call a plumber and he is 3 months out, maybe they don’t know the gap in your schedule that you need to fill right now.
So, what I am going to do is put an email together, and I am going to send everybody an email, letting them know that I am a painter, what I do and I have openings. If they decide to read it, great, if they don’t, we are going to keep going, and what we are going to do is, your aunts, your uncles, your friends, and your neighbors, you are going to give them a phone call, and tell them what you do, tell them that you have openings, all they can say is, thanks, I will pass on the news, that’s fine.
At least you touch base with these people… Remember, you don’t work, you don’t pay your mortgage, you don’t pay your rent, you don’t eat. We have to get down and dirty, do the uncomfortable. What else are we going to do?
If you have no work, none. Or maybe your aunt needs her kitchen painted, maybe she can’t afford to pay you, maybe she thinks your rates are too high, maybe you are going to say it is going to be $600, but she really only can pay $300, do it for $300, you are not doing anything else.
But in exchange for the $300 that you are going to get, you are going to get her to give you a video testimonial, and that video testimonial is gold, and we will come back to that.
Also, she is going to leave you a Google review, and if you don’t have a Google business page, just go on to Google and put, “Google my business” and it is going to tell you how. It is going to take about 2 weeks because they have to send something to you in a snail mail; a pin number.
After you paint your aunt’s kitchen for $300, which you think is half the price it should be, and it probably could be a third of what it is, but she can’t pay you, and you are not working anyways. Do it, get the video review, get the pictures for your social media, and then help her set up her Gmail account, she might not want one, help her set it up and say, hey, can you do this favor for me, I did this for free, and then let her send you a Google review, it would be her first Google review, and you can kind of let her write her own thing, but maybe you can set that up for her.
So, that fills the day, you didn’t get paid for it, but you weren’t doing anything anyways, now, you have that video review, you are going to post it on social media, you are going to post it on website, if you have your website, and then you are going to email it to everybody in the world that you know, and they are going to open it. In the subject line you are going to say, check out this awesome video review from ABCDEF Painting. You have to get the word out.
Next, if you have to go power wash Uncle Sam’s house and Uncle Sam thinks it is only worth $50, take the $50, you use it for gas, power wash his house and do the exact same thing, say I will do it for $50, but you are going to give me a video review when I am done, a video testimonial, and you are going to write a Google review and if he doesn’t have one, you can help him set up a new Google account.
You need these things to start attraction, so now you have a couple days, you didn’t get paid, but you have some gold there, you are going to then take that video review and you are going to then send that out to everybody again.
You’re also going to Google BNI, that’s a networking group, it’s called Business Network International (BNI), and they are everywhere. Some towns have 2, some towns have 3, depending on the population, and some of them, you might have to drive a half hour to get to them.
You don’t have any money, we realize that, because you have no work, but what you can do is visit each BNI twice before you make a decision to join, they meet every single week, you are going to find 2 or 3 of them, then you are going to meet on different days, or different times during the day and you are going to visit each one of those twice.
So for the next couple weeks, you are going to go to 3 or 4 networking events. It might be uncomfortable, search on YouTube, BNI meeting, there are so many of them out there that are recorded, they can tell you what is going to happen ahead of time, if you don’t know what is going to happen, send me a message, I will tell you what is going to happen during the BNI. I have been a BNI member for at least 14 years now.
Go to these meetings, I am going to almost guarantee, after you visit 3 or 4 of those, you are going to end up with a few referrals because they can’t find painters and you are going to give them the referrals and then down the road, you can decide if you are going to join the BNI. Don’t even make the decision, do not take out a credit card and don’t say yes. Visit each one of them twice before you make that big decision. We have to put money in your pocket, we have to get this business, that is viable and that you can put gas in your car, pay your mortgage, eat and also earn a living.
I hope these basic things helped? Get out there, start making those phone calls… And the bonus one, go to the dollar store, pick up a bunch of blank cards, just a little thank you cards, but they don’t say thank you anymore, you want some thank you cards also, but just get some blank ones that have maybe a pretty seal on the front, and start writing notes to everybody that you have talked to or have met.
If you have met somebody at a BNI or a networking event, great to meet you, thanks for taking the time and helping me during my first BNI meeting. If you do some work for someone, thank them, if you give someone a proposal, and they don’t accept it, or they haven’t made their decision, thank them for taking the time and letting you give them the proposal.
Hand-write the outside in blue ink, hand-write the entire inside, if you don’t have a great penmanship, print it, if you have terrible printing and terrible penmanship, have your daughter, have your sister, have your wife, have your girlfriend, have your boyfriend, have someone do it, nobody sends cards in a mail anymore, you will stand out, so high over everybody else.
If you don’t have any work or if you see a hole in your schedule, get down and dirty, and get uncomfortable.
I am Ron Ramsden, I am a DYB coach and also a painting contractor. If you would like to reach me, it is ron@dybcoach.com, find me on Facebook, seems like everybody else has, I would love to chat with you, we can private message or even exchange cell phone numbers.
Go out there, get your feet dirty, do the uncomfortable, and you can make it happen, have a great day…
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