There are many moments (and sleepless nights) in my painting and business life that I’ll never forget, as I’m sure there are for you.

I’ll never forget working my butt off in my Dad’s painting business as a teen, trying with every ounce of sweat I had to create some sort of financial freedom for myself. Being an ‘off-the-boat’ Greek, Dad built his business here in Australia from the ground up. No hand-outs, just good ol’ elbow grease.

I’m sure you can relate to this type of hard work being a tradie yourself. The next thing I never forgot about in my life was asking my Dad for a job in the family painting business and he said NO! I was completely shocked.

After a couple of conversations with my Mum we managed to get Dad on-side. But he made me start right at the bottom and do an apprenticeship at the ripe old age of 22.

At the time I was really cut, but now in hindsight I admire him for not playing favourites and making sure I learned from the ground up what it takes to be a good Painter and Business Owner.

He had a business partner, so it made sense that I was treated just like any other apprentice. I didn’t live at home and I was on shitty wages, which makes this story I’m about to tell you a whole lot more easily to digest.

I’ve always been fairly entrepreneurial and was always working away in my own time trying to come up with ways to make Dad’s business more profitable and easier to run.

Even as a young kid I was always coming up with ways to try and make money. For me, it was always about choice. I have always been ‘crystal clear’ about the type of house I wanted, the type of family, what schools I wanted my kids to go to, how many weeks holiday a year I wanted and the type of lifestyle we would live.

Another huge thing I’ll never forget is the feeling when Dad rejected me from becoming his partner.

I knew, deep down I had heaps of value to offer and needed to be able to apply and test myself because I was committed to building a successful business. I’m a stubborn bugger, and I wouldn’t and didn’t let up. So of course, I would NEVER forget the day I finally became a partner in the family business.

I would be forever grateful for the opportunity. And in that moment, our business and entire Painting Industry would change forever.

I just didn’t know it yet. In 2004 I started QPaint and formally took over the painting business and continued to work 12+ hour days building structures and systems that would not only increase profitability, but would be my apprenticeship into building successful business; I had a young family at the time and those 12 hour days were pretty tough on us. I had also just got married Janice and we had our first child Petros Jnr 2 years later.

QPaint was doing pretty well by then and business had doubled. But of course, you as a business owner knows, that what the business earns and what we as owners take home, is FAR different.

One of the absolute biggest things I will never ever forget, was the day, in 2008 when my wee Stella was born 3 ½ months premature.

In that moment I had a new choice to make. Keep doing these insane 12-hour days; which meant leaving my beautiful wife to deal with the 3 month emotional journey at the Neo-natal ICU while looking after the household and our 17 month old son... Or make the business work to honour my highest value; which is the freedom to allow myself to choose whatever I want in life.

It was a ‘Snap Point’ where I realised I had to make a Decision to either make this business work without me … or let it die where 80% of businesses end up after 5 years.

I could have chosen in that moment to burn myself out and take my family down with me. Trust me I’ve had my fair share of self-destructive behaviour over the years.

Thankfully, I chose the other path and made a Decision that there was another way and just because I didn’t know how to … that wasn’t going to stop me. I could have looked at that moment as a problem but I embraced the ‘trial and tribulation’ and made the decision to build a business that worked without me. So from 2008 to 2014 I embarked on a journey to learn from experts who had done it before.

I realised it was simply a matter of copying successful business people and stop thinking I had to ‘reinvent’ the wheel and continue doing it the hard way. So I started working Smarter and Not Harder. Harder just made me more tired as I’m sure you can appreciate.

During that time the business has tripled in size, without me being on the tools, doing the quotes, sending the invoices or being in the business - I work ON the business instead of IN the business. Not bad for a blue-collar dude huh?

And to wrap up this story, how could I ever forget that my family and I have that freedom of choice that I dreamt of as a kid. And that’s why I choose to help other painters like yourself, have the same freedoms. … With far less headaches and sleepless nights! You wanna know something funny? I had way more ‘failures’ than successes along this journey.

It’s taken me almost 10 years of failing really fast and often, and over 450K in my business and self-education to get to where I am. And it has all been worth it!

But it is THIS journey that allows me to do what I’m really passionate about and that’s to Support and Mentor other Painters like you towards your level of choice and freedom quicker than I did.

Like I mentioned earlier there are 2 roads you can take … You can spend the next 10 years and a small fortune trying to figure it all out for yourself (and you probably could do it too), or you can learn from my mistakes and create a business that provides what you want for you and your family sooner rather than later.

I made sure I slapped on the Primer of Strategy over the years so that YOU could enjoy the finished product.

I look forward to talking with you soon and helping you get everything you want out of your business.

Committed to Increasing the Profitability, Success of Painters… One Business at a Time!
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Tas Moulis is the Award Winning owner of QPaint and Mentor to all Painters Australia-Wide. Contact Tas today about how YOU can have the lifestyle and choices you want from your business.