>> Gain the knowledge about your industry.
Learn about -- if it's painting, understand what it is about paint, different paint.
Understand what it means to deal with a homeowner
versus a contractor versus a property management.
Understand what each one needs.
Understand what the services that they're asking for
and at what price that you need to be competitive.
I know lots of guys who were busier than they can handle yet,
at the end of the day, they're not making any money.
They just -- they give the pricing to get the work.
If you're not making money at the end of the day, then there's no reason to be in business.
Start slow.
Expand very slowly.
Service the heck out of the contracts you have.
So many times I've witnessed other companies, 34 years, we've seen the ebbs and flows,
most recently 2009, you know, and for quite a number of those years where people got --
extended themselves, got very big, grew bigger than they could handle at a rate
that they couldn't keep up with, and then they turned around
and all of a sudden their business is gone.
I've seen guys that used to run crews of 50 painters hanging around the paint stores looking
for one day of work after they lost their business.