Landlords are a SMB gold mine
Estimated Reading Time: 2 minutes and 52 seconds
It’s been a little while since I’ve come with an idea, so let’s talk ideas.
I came across this tweet recently and it lit up the old lightbulb.
This tweet epitomizes the value I try to bring to this newsletter. Pay attention to what’s going on around you. What are the pain points? Where do wealthy people have needs that you can fulfill?
It goes back to our newsletter from last week. Find your market first, then build your product second.
In this case, by identifying landlords as a market we see two potential businesses that we can spin up in order to help landlord’s make more money.
Painting
Photography
Whenever you can provide enough value for someone that it is a no brainer, you know you are onto a great business model.
Today I want to focus on painting because we’ve already done a photography email. That one was focused more towards real estate agents but I think the idea can transfer fairly easily.
Learning to Paint
Let’s start with the obvious. Painting is something that takes some skill and practice. If you mess up painting, it can be a very expensive mistake.
Spend time researching painting techniques and strategies to keep paint from spilling onto flooring and other places you don’t want it to go. It’s not difficult, and a few tips and tricks will go a long way. Just be careful and make sure you are prepared with the prior knowledge you’ll need.
Paint suppliers and home stores have workshops and webinars you can watch to learn the ins and outs of painting.
Get a few practice paints in. Offer your neighbors free painting if they buy the paint. You know your mother in law would be so excited if you offered to paint her house for free.
Acquiring Clients
The client acquisition strategy is going to be a little different than just going after real estate agents. Landlords are much less public with their information, and are much more difficult to find.
Use Facebook Marketplace to find units listed for rent. DON’T MESSAGE THE LANDLORD DIRECTLY ON THEIR LISTING.
The fastest way to turn someone against you is to offer a service when they are trying to advertise their own product or service.
Get their name, do some basic google searching and find another way to contact them. Try and find their LinkedIn profile or office number.
Come up with a compelling reason for them to meet with you. Review the previous email on cold outreach.
Many landlords outsource these decisions to property management companies who handle all maintenance and leasing for them. You can contact these companies directly and offer your services as a painter as well.
The beautiful thing about this industry is with just a few good relationships you could stay very busy and make a bunch of money.
As long as you are honest, do a good job, and keep your word you should be able to find a customer once and do lots of work for them over the next few years.
Play long term games with long term people.
-Naval Ravikant
The DTC method
If you don’t want to play the landlord and property management game, you can go after customers directly.
Try going to Zillow and filtering homes by recently sold in your area. Recently purchased homes are 10x more likely to be ready to paint because they’ll want to “make the home their own”.
Create a compelling flyer and go knock on each one of these houses. Offer your services and give them a flyer. Try to book as many appointments as you can on a Saturday afternoon.
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