Fast and Flawless Pricing Book Review

I was sent the Fast and Flawless Pricing book to review from Pete Wilkinson, which you can buy online by clicking here.

Now it’s not very often I read a book to be honest with you. It’s even rarer that I read a book from cover to cover in a day, which is an achievement itself (I usually find reading sends me to sleep) and it is unheard of that a book will make me change the way I run my business, but this book did.

Fast and Flawless Pricing Book Review

So what was this magical book I can hear you asking?

Well it’s a book written by Pete Wilkinson, you may know Pete’s other book Fast and Flawless.

This book has become a must read by anyone who wants to move from traditional painting and decorating into the new mysterious world of paint spraying and I can honestly say that Pete’s new book “Fast and Flawless Pricing” is going to be heading in the same direction.

The book looks at the way we as Decorators run our businesses, and how with a little thought and imagination we can all make more money have more free time and maybe even have less stress doing it.

I agree with Pete when he says “as decorators we should value our trade more”.

He made me smile when he tackled the “if you can piss you can paint” quote that we have all heard over and over again.

In the book Pete uses a character called Richard to tell various stories of how decorators get into running their businesses. At first, I thought this was going to be a bit boring, but it turned out I was wrong as it was a really good way of showing how most of us as self-employed decorators work on a daily basis.

If you’re looking to take your decorating business to the next level but your struggling to find a way, then you need to read this book.

Some of the topics covered are;

The Trades Hierarchy
Knowing your own Value as a Decorator
Taking someone on and why it doesn’t work out in so cases
How Decorating is changing
Supply and Demand
What we can learn from other trades as Decorators
Negotiation
Pricing Jobs the right way – no more of this number of days plus materials rubbish
Deposits
Different pricing strategies

Once you have read this book it should make you look at your business in a different way.
A way were you can not only earn a wage but also make a profit from working on your business.
A way were if you put process in place you maybe able to sell your business in the future, because you are not your business.

To sum up, if you take your thinking of starting a decorating business, or you have been running your own business for years this book is for you. If you want to make more money from Painting and Decorating  spend £10 and read it, I can guarantee it will be the best £10 you have ever spent on a book!!!

If your happy doing what you have always done then save your precious £10

Summary

Final Thoughts

My final thoughts are about Painters and Decorators in general. A self-employed Decorator can get bogged down in work and forget to look at the big picture. This is detrimental because it means we work harder for less money.

I see it all the time on Facebook; Some Decorators struggle to earn a living and can’t provide a very good standard of life for their families. Others work less and live a very good lifestyle.

I enjoyed Fast and Flawless Pricing, but I think I’m good at looking at ‘the big picture’ anyway. This book could have a profound effect on anyone who tends to get bogged down. It teaches you to look at the industry differently.

You’ll start looking for a niche, finding your selling points, seeking out the better customers, and spending less time on the tools. Things will run more smoothly because you’re not as stressed. You’ll learn to take a breath.