The New Mindset for Hiring Painters

The New Mindset for Hiring Painters

I think you’d agree that It’s never been as hard as it is today to find painters to hire.

In fact, this is the new market share you’re truly competing for.

Unless you’re a new company, customers are plenty.

Most guys are already booked out 2-3 months. Which brings us back to our true problem to solve, production capacity.

Your ability to double your business is in direct proportion to your ability to staff up.

But in order to do so, you need to change your mindset. I know it’s a grind to find new painters now, but most of it is in your head.

The grind you are feeling is the lack of painters, not the actual effort put into looking for them.

Granted you’ve probably placed a hiring ad on Indeed, FB, and CraigsList, but…

Consider the effort you put in to look for customers…

  • Branded T-shirts & hats
  • Branded vehicles
  • Website
  • Blog post
  • BNI
  • Chamber
  • Rotary
  • Facebook posts
  • Instagram posts
  • Community involvement
  • Staying top of mind to your customers
  • Etc…


(I hope you’re not paying for leads )

You then take the leads from all of these sources and collect them into your CRM (Customer Relationship Manager):

 

  • You pre-qualify them to make sure they are your target market.
 
  • You schedule the estimate.
 
  • You measure and present your estimate.
 
  • You ask for the job.
 
  • If not yet closed on the spot, you schedule a time to follow up.
 
  • You send a thank you card after the estimate.
 
  • Rinse and repeat.


If it’s the hardest it’s ever been to find painters and customers are plentiful,

shouldn’t you be working as hard or harder finding painters than you are finding customers?

I’ll say it again,

Hiring painters is the new market share you are competing for.


You must pivot your “Build the List” mindset from customers to “Build The List” of applicants.

Here’s the new hiring ratio 25 – 5 – 3 – 1

You need 25 applicants to get 1 interview.

You need to interview 5 people to hire 1 person.

You need to hire 3 people before you find the 1 All-Star.

If you do the math, that’s 1 All-Star for every 375 applicants!

That’s a lot I know…

That’s why you must Build The List (of applicants), now!

Start with your current marketing channels and grow from there.

  • Business card w/ Now Hiring!
  • Branded T-shirts & hats w/ Now Hiring!
  • Branded vehicles w/ Now Hiring!
  • Website w/ Now Hiring!
  • Blog post about what it’s like to work at your company
  • Video Testimonials from your current painters about their experience working for your company
  • BNI commercial with “The perfect person we’re looking for is…”
  • Chamber network for people to hire
  • Rotary network for people to hire
  • Facebook posts with videos and stories of your team having a great time working for your company
  • Instagram posts with videos and stories of your team having a great time working for your company
  • Community involvement – Find and participate in job fairs
  • Staying top of mind to your customers – Email your customers thanking them for all of their referrals and say, “Oh, by the way, we really need more great people on our team!”
  • Etc…

Be a Head Hunter and Build the List of Painters.

This is what we have been focused on all winter with our Mastermind Group members and many of them have a long list of applicants already built up.

Think of it as a CRM for applicants.

When spring hits, your competitors are going to walk outside, see the sun shining and realize that they are booked out for a few months and they need to place a hiring ad.

But not you; you now have the new hiring mindset
and have built the list of applicants to call on to staff up and

…the list continues to grow.

Now you can break through the ceiling of production capacity.

Hiring is a big problem that I don’t see going away anytime soon.

However, as an entrepreneur, you’re a problem solver.

As businesses grow and markets shift, you’re presented with new problems.

This never goes away.

When you solve one problem, it reveals a new problem.

Decide to be a problem-solving head-hunter and grab this bull by the horns today and build the list!

If you’d like to know the tech stack used to streamline your list-building process, book a quick call with me here.

Dream BIG, Hustle Smarter,
You’ve Got This!

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.

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