In this testimonial, Ryan, the owner of Straight Line House Painting, explains how a referral from his business coach Eric Barstow (Painting Business Pro) led him to sign up for Bookkeeping for Painters without skepticism. Before using the service, Ryan’s bookkeeping was virtually non‑existent; he struggled with QuickBooks, tax filing, payroll, and reading profit‑and‑loss statements. After outsourcing his accounting, he received monthly reconciliations and quarterly video explanations of his financial reports, which taught him to interpret P&Ls. Freed from bookkeeping tasks, Ryan could concentrate on sales, marketing, and project management, resulting in rapid revenue growth: $150,000 in the first year, $370,000 in the second, and a projected over $500,000 in the third year. He emphasizes the peace of mind gained from having experts manage his books and recommends the service to other painting contractors, especially those who dislike bookkeeping or are early‑stage businesses seeking to focus on higher‑value activities.
Chapters
Hey, I'm Ryan with Straight Line House Painting. I found out about Bookkeepers for Painting through my business coach Eric Barstow, who runs Painting Business Pro. I was not skeptical signing up for Bookkeepers for Painters because I was referred by someone who had already been using them and they spoke highly of you guys. So yeah, so no skepticism. I was confident in the service and they have pull through for me. What was the state of your bookkeeping accounting experience before you worked with us? So prior to working with Bookkeeping For Painters, my bookkeeping was really non-existent. I, I didn't have a system for, for doing it. I used QuickBooks kind of on my own, but I couldn't keep up with it. I didn't know how to enter the data. I didn't know how to do my taxes. I didn't really know how to read P&Ls, and Bookkeeping for Painters taught me how to read P&Ls through, you know, sending me their quarterly videos on my reports, and they read those reports to me and tell me what they mean, which is awesome. I get to learn business while I have this vendor who serves me. So state was nonexistent. Once I signed up, I was able to really put all my focus towards my marketing and sales and my production manager, my project management, and my revenue started going up because of my focus on sales and managing my projects. And I no longer had the stress of worrying about my books because I knew someone who was an expert at managing my books would take care of that part for me. And I pay them to do that. And so I'm confident that they're delivering and they are. This is my third year in business. My revenue keeps growing. I have peace of mind. I no longer have to worry about my bookkeeping anymore. Super awesome service. I'd recommend it to anyone. After you signed up, what specific results have you gotten? Using Bookkeeping for Painters. So, you know, there's a number of different things that I use that help me. Bookkeeping for Painters was a major one. Why? Because I used to try to do my books and try to figure out how to do payroll and how to do taxes and how to, you know, enter things into QuickBooks and just how to reconcile my books each month. And you would, you'd be amazed at how long that takes an individual who doesn't really know what they're doing when it comes to accounting. So for me to sign up for Bookkeeping for Painters and take that off my plate and not have to focus on it and then be able to focus on the skill set that I am good at, which is sales and managing my projects, my revenue went up. So the first year that I started using Bookkeeping for Painters, I did $150,000 in revenue. The second year, getting better and better at this stuff, I did $370,000 in revenue. The third— now I'm in the third, my third summer, my third year of operating my business under my model that I'm using, using Bookkeeping for Painters, and my revenue, I'm on pace for over half a million. So those are, those are some of the numbers that you can understand. When I can put my focus towards the skill sets that I should be within my business, I can then grow my business. So yeah, those are some of the results. And not to mention, one of the best results is peace of mind. I know my books are in order because I've got experts working on them, reconciling them monthly. And so I have great peace of mind because I don't have to worry about it anymore. Who would I recommend to Bookkeeping for Painters? I would recommend anyone who is, you know, just doesn't like doing bookkeeping work. Really, even if you don't like it and your skill set is better suited for sales or project management or marketing or whatever within your company, I would outsource that so that you don't have to worry about it and have peace of mind and focus on higher value tasks that are going to earn you more money. Painting companies that are starting out and, you know, you've got a drive, reach out to them, see if they can help you. I reached out to Painting Business Pro as a small business owner who did, you know, less than, you know, right around $100 grand a year in revenue. Didn't know what I was doing and they gave me a chance. Granted, they work with a little bit larger revenue companies to start out, but They gave me a chance. I told them that I would, you know, have the drive and the initiative to grow my company and scale it. And that's what I'm working on doing. So.
