There’s a Wrong Way to Do Things.

This weekend, my wife and I decided to paint our master bedroom. We’ve renovated every other upstairs room in our house, so it was time to finish ours. We asked (told) our kids to help so we could do it all in a weekend.

Saturday morning we woke the kids (they love to sleep in), had breakfast and then started to remove all the furniture, etc. from the room. My wife and son patched holes and dug out/repair cracks in the walls. Then we cleaned and got all the tools out. Because we got started a bit later than we thought, we had to break for lunch before we really got started.

Why does everything take longer than you imagine it will? This must be a “law” that’s akin to Murphy’s.

We’re not sure what paint is on the walls of our old house (oil or latex) so we prime the entire room with a thick covering coat of oil-based Kilz before painting. This gives us a fresh canvas for our new decor. We want to do it right!

It’s rare that we ever have everyone in the family join in the renovations. And to be honest, I think it’s harder to have so many people in a small space. Management is often harder than doing it yourself; however, I’m trying to teach my sons how to do these chores, so it’s worth it. Like all management, it’ll eventually pay off to teach someone else how to do it the right way!

From renovating houses for 20+ years, I’ve learned that there’s a certain order to painting a room: 1) prime 2) tape/cover the floors 3) paint the trim 4) “cut in” the walls 5) roll the color on the walls. I’ve done it that way for so long I’ve practically forgotten why it’s best to do it in that order.

Yesterday, because the rest of the family can’t or won’t “cut in” (the process of brushing the color on next to a border or boundary) on the walls or trim, we decided to mix up the order. We felt that we’d get the most done and feel great going to bed.

Late last evening, we crawled into our bed having everything done except the trim. Yep, the first thing that we should have done, now the last. We had a great feeling of accomplishment; but didn’t realize the aggravation we created.

Today as I finished the painting, I realized how (almost) impossible it is to paint trim last. I cut in and got the trim painted and ended up having to touch up the walls because of the random brush marks that made it onto the other colors. It took almost 3 hours to complete. I wasn’t happy.

There’s a reason for order!

In business, there’s a way (a process) that you develop a brand. Excited entrepreneurs try to complete it in what they think is the easiest way. And then, after trying and failing, they ask us to help them “fix” it. And we end up having to redo a lot of work and it often takes us a lot longer to tie in the existing “brand”.

Professionals who make a living doing what they do, have tried shortcuts, different paths and even tried to re-invent the wheel! After years and years of trying, they’ve developed a really good process to make their clients successful.

At PinPoint we have a process for developing a “brand” that we know will work. We’d love to share that process with you and help you achieve great things. In the long run it’s less expensive and will be far more successful than something you do on your own.

Now that I think of it, the next house we decide to renovate, I think I’m going to hire a professional. I’d have few less gray hairs and a lot more time on my hands to do other things.