LESSON #1: PAINT WITH PRIMER

So, you’ve decided to start a business. Money is tight. You begin to renovate a space and look at different paint shades. You think, “HEY! Why get paint with primer? It’s more money! Let’s save money and not get the paint with primer!” Big, big mistake. Let me tell you why.

Although paint without primer is around $5 less per gallon of paint, that $5 directly correlates to the amount of paint fumes you’ll inhale while continuing onto your 5th coat of paint, because you didn’t use primer. That’s about 6 months without the ability to smell anything. 6 months. Trust me, after that, you’ll wish you paid the $5 for the paint with primer. (Also, you’ll save about $200 on the extra 4 gallons of paint you have to buy to be able to complete a fifth coat).

On the first day of our big move to Kingston to start our business, Improbable Escapes, we sat in our soon-to-be commercial space looking at the amount of work we had to do to make the unit even a tiny bit presentable. Install flooring, fix holes in walls, take old dead bats out of the trim (literally), and paint walls. So many walls.

Even after we learned that maybe we should ALWAYS go with the concept of primer when painting walls, it took us a while to realize that this small lesson would soon become our proverbial motto. Always choose primer.

Even if this is with choosing a reputable cleaning company over an individual that says they can clean (found on Kijiji). Even if this is with choosing a construction company over an individual that says they can help you build walls (again… Kijiji). And yet again, even if you’re sick and tired of painting that fifth layer of paint and are tempted to find someone on Kijiji that can help you, choose the professional painter. Skipping out on the proverbial primer just means that you’ll have to spend more money and more resources to correct avoidable mistakes.

(As a side note: Kijiji and other websites such as craigslist are great for finding services and objects. Just don’t cheap out on the quality of services and objects that are important to your business.)

Remember … Paint with primer. Always.