So chances are, most of the entrepreneurship related articles that you read these days consist of how to make a killing on the internet. That seems to be the new cool thing, and hey, that’s what I am trying to do at the moment, so I have nothing against it, but there are definitely other ways to make money. Today I am going to tell you about the best way to make money that most of you have never considered: painting houses.
Ok ok, I know what you might be thinking “why would anyone want to paint a house?” And that’s a very valid question, but hear me out on this. Also note, this post is geared towards college students, as that is when a painting business is most beneficial.
- Make $25-50 an HOUR. During the peak of my painting enterprise, I was making an average of about $250/day. Even more importantly, I sustained this rate over a period of months, rather than just a day here and there. Oh did I mention it was tax free? Sure it’s a bit of a grey area, but if you are a college student just trying to get by, chances are you will never be questioned, especially if you are paid in cash.
- Be your own boss. Do you know how awesome it is to be working for yourself while all of your buddies are bagging groceries at Safeway? Need to sleep in an extra hour today? No problem. Take a day off between houses to golf? Go right ahead! I got to be the master of my own destiny, and the only person I could blame if I wasn’t successful was myself.
- Earn enough in three months to support yourself for a year. I would work my ass of between June and August, and make enough to carry me through the entire school year. Pretty nice not having to work while cramming for all of those finals. A friend of mine took this a step farther. He painted for an extra year after school, and saved up $30,000 which he is now using to travel the world.
- Learn how to run a business. This might be the most important point of all. When it came to sales, marketing, finances and delivering the product, I did it all. I learned more about running a business from painting houses, than I ever did in any of my business classes.
Sure this approach isn’t for everyone. I spent a good chunk of time between March and June marketing and networking in order to get enough jobs lined up to keep me busy during the summer. Also, don’t even get me started about some of the painting mishaps that occurred. However, the positive far outweighs the negative, in my opinion.
The best way to get started is to start talking to people in your neighborhood, as well as your parents and their friends. Tell them what you are up to, and offer a free estimate. To learn how to do this, Google “How to Paint a House” or even better find another contractor to give you a free estimate, and ask lots of questions J
The key to booking a job, is nothing but rapport. Talk to the home owner about their boat, pets, or the photos of their kids. Find common ground, and get to be friends with them. If they like you, they won’t care that you have never touched a paintbrush in your life, they’ll want to help.
The startup costs are minimal, learning curve manageable, and rewards great. If you have never considered painting your way through college, now is the perfect time. After all, in what other college job can you listen to music, get a tan, and make a ton of money, all at the same time?
Hi,
Interesting article, I am in the same boat as you and I am focusing on internet marketing business as well, but for now I need capital and need to make money and I painting houses popped in my head when my parents said they wanted to paint there house. My dad offered me a job for some decent money, but I was thinking I can take this to other people as well! However I do need to learn how to mix paint and do some of the basics stuff. I know you are not an accountant or anything but how does this work as far as taxes go ?
P.S Great Website By the Way!
I know I am a little late on this , so hope to hear from you!
Thanks,
Matt
Hi Matthew. Thanks for your comment. If you’re performing a service and earning money, then yes the IRS wants its fair share and legally you are required to report that income and pay taxes on it. But as you can imagine a lot of people who do side gigs try to circumvent these rules by asking for cash payments to keep their income hidden.
If you’re serious about painting houses you can claim your income on a schedule C tax form as a sole proprietor. Schedule C lets you report both profits and losses to determine your tax liability.
I’d recommend you consider getting insurance too for your own protection because there are always risks to starting a business especially as a sole proprietor because you wouldn’t have a separate business entity to shelter your assets (http://untemplater.com/business/the-risks-of-starting-a-business/).
During the summer of my junior year in high school I painted the inside of a 3 story house owned by some family friends. It was a complete restoration with all new plaster walls. It was a beautiful house with incredible woodwork everywhere. Primer, 2 coats of paint, and more sanding than I care to remember. I never worked so hard in my life and still remember the sense of accomplishment when I was finished!
I’m with eSearing. Pay your taxes.
I too have started small part time businesses that pay out some extra cash when needed. They can be rewarding financially and emotionally fulfilling as well. My particular endeavor was web development/design via contests or for local small businesses.
My only issue with your article is the not-so “grey area” of not paying taxes on the income. If you do not have integrity when it comes to money, will you have integrity in other parts of your life? Why risk being arrested or fined over a few hundred/thousand dollars or live in fear that the IRS may find you out one day. Keep in mind if you are legitimately running a business there are many expenses that can be written off related to that business like car maintenance, supplies, your cell phone, etc. which would normally just be a income reducing cost to you.
I whole-heartedly agree with this opportunity, and the related ones posted above. College students can get tons of community support with a little networking skill and general likeability, which turns into big profits in these situations.
One major point that needs to be covered in this entry is that these businesses are great to do INDEPENDENTLY. There are several painting internships that recruit aggressively on college campuses by touting the same advantages that this article does: Big profits, simple work, relaxed environment, and experience running your own business.
Speaking from personal experience, these internships do have their advantages, such as insurance, transportation reimbursement, training in both painting and sales, and opportunity for advancement. However, in my opinion the costs greatly outweigh the benefits in these internships. These include long, required hours (say goodbye to sleeping in), a huge cut taken out of your profits, and hidden costs to pay to the company (I won’t say the name of the company I worked for, but its their policy to charge interns a $2500 fee to rent painting equipment. This could be understandable, but they don’t tell interns this until AFTER they’ve put in months of hard work and can’t walk away.)
Overall, after reading this post, I wish I’d run a painting business myself, instead of through an internship. I would have had to learn more from experience rather than being told, but I definitely would have made more money, had more freedom, and had a more beneficial experience overall.
There are definitely pros and cons to going through any # of those “internship” programs. That is actually how I initially got started, but overall felt as though I was getting screwed, and would be better off on my own. I think if you have no sales experience, then that is the biggest advantage to working with one of them. They do a good job of giving you a lot of the basics.
As for equipment, I had $2,000 taken out of my profits from the first few houses, but then all of the equipment was mine. Afterwards I was able to sell some of the stuff I didn’t need, and put the rest towards my own venture.
Sean, nothing wrong with Painting Houses, I’d like to throw in that a great additional business that can be turned into a muse is pressure washing. Something that is often done prior to painting houses too. I would make anywhere between 250-375 to pressure wash a brick home during the spring months. Through in drive ways, roofs and decks for more money. Plus, after awhile I found a highschool kid to do it for 100 a job. It was a win win. He’d make more than he could else where if he could clean a house in about 4 hours. And I’d really make bank because I wasn’t doing anything.
Something to keep in mind, is that if you’re young and clean cut, you’ll go further. Painting is one of those industries that (I hate to stereo type) is filled with people who really can’t do much else, the whose who of mental health. A clean cut appearance will go far. I’d even land side gigs doing computer work when I worked for my uncle because people liked me and they felt like they could trust me.
A lot of painters can’t paint also. I know everyone thinks it easy to paint, but truth is most can’t. If you need tape to cut in a straight line, you probably suck with a paintbrush. So if you got a nack for it, build it. It’s also an easy business I think to turn into a real fledged business.
Right on all counts. There were countless times when people didn’t want their entire house painted, but I would spend half a day and do the pressure washing. The skills kind of go hand in hand. You *have* to pressure wash before painting anyways, so if you can turn that in itself into a viable business, then you are even better off!
Also, one of my biggest selling points is that I wasn’t your typical painter. I was a student, or professional or whatever, and very clean cut. People appreciated that. My biggest selling point was that you should be comfortable leaving your kids around the painter. And its true!
There’s another great benefit to painting houses and similar jobs — at the end of the summer, you have a fantastic tan and are in great shape.
There are tons of ‘handy man’ type entrepreneurial opportunities that are so easy to miss out on. In high school, one of my friends actually employed a lot of our mutual friends over the summer — they all made an impressive amount of money by pushing lawn mowers day in and day out. He pushed a mower as well, but made a little off the top by finding clients and setting a schedule for everyone else.
Absolutely! Not to mention by the time I was done I had acquired a trade skill that I will be able to use forever. Although now I am the defacto person my friends go to for house painting help 🙂
But yeah those summers were great, listened to music, got a tan, oh wait, thats not much different than my life these days haha.
Great post, so many people miss obvious points like this.
As an entrepreneur you need to look at all opportunities that present themselves to YOU in YOUR environment.
My general response to someone who tells me there is lots of money to be made in XYZ industry is “you can also make heaps cleaning toilets! Who do you think cleans every toilet in every office building everyday? I’m sure the owner of a business who has a bunch of those contracts makes a pretty penny.”
The truth is, there is money in every industry and every rule can be broken.
If you don’t want to start a blog, build your personal brand by talking to people… If you don’t want to sell your product online, sell it over the phone… People and business prosper in both environments.
There is so much truth to your statement that there is money to be made in any industry. House painting for me turned out to be the market I never, ever expected to enter, but made more money and learned more about business than I ever thought I would.
Bottom line, if you are willing to put in some time and hard work, you can do the same thing I did in any one of a hundred different industries.
I did this exact same thing in college, only with a small crew doing commercial roofing. It was REALLY nice to be able to bust my ass all summer and not work through the school year if I didn’t want to.
Now that I have respect for! Roofing is WAY worse than painting houses, but similar in the opportunities that are available. And it was nice to not *have* to work during school. Gave me time to focus on other entrepreneurial things…