Learn from the "Old School" Painters
By Steve Skarritt
 Here is a comment I left in the Painting, Decorating and Remodeling group on LinkedIn.
I myself like reading how others are handling problems and what tools and materials they are using as well as the techniques for achieving their finished products. It can be some interesting reading and I've made some friends across the USA and its great that we all make a living doing the same thing but at the same time we aren't competing against each other.
In this painting trade that I make a living at, I'm what is considered "Old School" and I was taught by a couple of old guys that were older than "Old School" over 30 years ago. I learned more about the painting trade from them in the 3 years I was there than in 33 since. The business part is what I'm still learning and I'm sure I'll never know it all and I do try most things that I think will work to produce a better product, be more time efficient, and will still be geared towards customer satisfaction.
Lets face it, all of us here are trying to make a living at a very difficult trade. Its very easy for a painter, whether its ourselves or one of our employees, to screw something up, whether its cleaning a brush in the wrong place, spilling paint, painting something the wrong color, or get paint on something where it doesn't belong. I take a lot of pride in what I do and my company does. I've seen "Hit & Run" artists and "Blow & Go" specialists and I've seen many companies come and go because of the way they try to make a buck and don't care who's toes they're stepping on.
On here in this group there are some of those same kinds of people running their company's. Most of us know who or what type I'm talking about so I'll just leave it at that, but as professionals, we are entitled to our opinions and its great if done with humor. If you want to respond privately to something I say, that's fine too as I've done the same, but if you want to bash the way I do things and send me messages about how you do things better and all else you might want to say, that's also fine, but listen to the "Old School" guys, we've been there done that many times over and good advice is priceless, especially if you learn from the advice. Experience is something you don't start out with and there's always going to be someone with more than you, but don't scoff at us, learn from us, learn from our mistakes, because if you don't, you'll be making them yourself and learning from them when you could have just kept on going and not regretting. Someday, if you can hang and still be around, people will be listening to you and the way you do things and they'll be scoffing at you because that's the old way to do it.
If you want it to look like a professional did it, hire one to do it.
About the Author
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| Steve Skarritt, Painting Services by Steve
1559 Hoveden Dr
Katy, TX 77450
(713)464-3877
Contact Author: request info
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