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Painting Contractors Planning for 2020

Have you created your plan for 2020?

Running a business without a plan is like rafting in the rapids without a paddle.

You will go somewhere and fast, but you might not end up where you wanted and you might even end up on the rocks!

Now is the perfect time to begin planning for next year.

Start with re-visiting your vision for your business or possibly creating one for the first time.

I recommend you start with 1,3, and 5 year visions.

While you might find it difficult to be clear about what you might want your company to look like in 5 or even 10 years, it will help plan the short term with the long term in mind.

After you create your vision, I would next go through a SWOT process.

SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.

This exercise will identify what you need to keep going and where you need to improve in order to achieve your vision.

It can also be helpful in identifying areas you need to exit as well as identify areas where you might be well-positioned to grow.

An example might be that the erratic scheduling of General Contractors makes it hard for you to have a predictable scheduling process and profit.

So this is a threat.

From here you can identify that you would like to reduce your GC revenue by 50% next year and another 25% the following year and only work for the few GC’s that align with your company.

Of course, this action will require you to increase revenue in other areas to account for this revenue reduction with GC’s.

Where and how will you do this?

You might also identify some complimenting areas you might want to offer services.

Maybe some carpentry or drywall services.

These would be opportunities.

So take some time and create your vision and do a SWOT analysis with this template.

Next week we will talk about the next steps in the planning process.

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About the Author

As many of you know, my journey has been one of grit, grace, and transformation. At 19, I was a high school dropout, single father, and struggling paint contractor in Michigan. I later moved to Florida, where I faced both personal and professional hardships. With nothing left to lose, I turned to prayer—and was blessed with a relentless hunger to learn. I devoured books, attended seminars, and discovered better ways to streamline and grow my business—even through the Great Recession (and yes, I did hit the wife lottery along the way!). In 2014, I published How To Double Your Business and later sold the painting business, launching a new chapter: coaching others to grow their businesses. For the past 10 years, I’ve dedicated myself to helping business owners scale through the DYB System, while also drawing from frameworks like EOS, Scaling Up, and The Four Disciplines of Execution. Yet something was still missing—something more adaptive, integrated, and complete. Then I found Pinnacle. After months of research and interviews with other Guides, I joined Pinnacle. Their tools and strategies have exceeded every expectation. Now, as a Pinnacle Business Guide, I help leadership teams implement a custom-tailored operating system that draws from the best in the industry—but flexes with your unique business. It’s a dynamic, proven approach to achieve clarity, momentum, and lasting growth. I’m no longer taking on any more 1:1 coaching clients… Instead, I now specialize in working with visionary business owners who are ready to get their leadership teams aligned—around a clear vision, a focused strategy, and an actionable execution plan. With the tools and process I now have as a Pinnacle Business Guide, I help turn alignment into momentum, and momentum into results. If your business is growing—but your leadership team isn’t fully rowing in the same direction—let’s talk.