Women of all ages and former occupations are finding painting and wallpapering to be a creative and lucrative home-based business and one that will be in demand as long as people want to remodel or redecorate their homes. Joann Kaiser, a home decorating store clerk, started "Wall Works" after a customer there asked if Kaiser would paper her walls after she had bought some wallpaper. Kaiser did the job and the customer, the dean of a woman's college, urged Joann to go into wallpapering and Pointing as a business.
After enrolling in a series of small business start-up seminars, Kaiser began to look for wallpapering jobs part-time while she held another job in home health care. She says, "I gained confidence and perfected my skills when I did papering part-time and had the opportunity to figure out a pricing guide." When it became too much to do both jobs, Kaiser decided to go full-time into wallpapering and has been doing it ever since.

Start-Up Costs And Financing Sources

* About $ 1,000 for basic supplies and office equipment.
* Personal savings, line of credit on credit cards, loans from friends or family, small business loans.

Pricing Guidelines

* Wallpaper hangers and painters charge by the roll, by the hour, and according to the difficulty of the job. Find out what other paperhangers in your area charge.
* Painting is priced according to the square foot and the kind of paint used.
* Stenciling is priced from $3-$4 a linear foot with extra charges for multicolor stenciling.

Marketing And Advertising Methods And Tips

* Encourage word-of-mouth referrals from satisfied customers. 4* Hand out flyers and business cards.
* Place classified ads in local newspapers.
* Buy ad time on local cable television channels.
* Offer a wallpapering workshop at a local wallpapering contractor's shop.
* Send out direct mailings to retirement homes, schools, businesses, and interior decorators.

Essential Equipment

Ladders, assorted paint brushes and rollers, papering brushes and rollers, knives, razor blades for cutting paper, drop cloths, vehicle for carrying your supplies.
Your home office would require a telephone line with answering machine, answering service, or voice mail, filing system (manual or computer for billing, customer and supplier database, etc.)

Recommended Training, Experience, Or Needed Skills

* Work with a professional paperhanger. Joann Kaiser says, "I would have learned the tips and methods faster if 1 had worked for a paperhanger before I started doing it on my own."
* Volunteer with friends and family to help them wallpaper or paint, or try it in your own home.
* Take a course at a school or local decorating, hardware, or paint center.
* Need physical dexterity, a working knowledge of math, familiarity with color, and an ability to communicate well with your customers.

Income Potential

$12,000-$ 100,000 average annual earnings; $300-$500 per week

Type Of Business

Primarily an out-of-the-home business—for consultations and for doing the work

Helpful Tips

* Kaiser says after you and your customer agree on the estimated cost, "Always get a signed contract to ensure payment."
* Pay attention to detail, protect the furniture and belongings of your customers, and do quality work, which will lead to referrals to other potential customers.

Various Categories Of Valuable Paintings

Paintings are creative and artistic skills of the painter which he has been endowed by Nature, very inherent skills. If you have such inborn talent of artistic exposure via paintings, you may not only earn fame but also financial gains simultaneously. You may start to display your paintings in the market and may earn the money by starting this home-business, very reasonable business for the women. Paintings have been categorized into different kinds including face painting, body painting, adult painting, abstract painting, oil paintings etc. body painting and face painting have been gaining more popularity in the youthful generation and all youngsters like to adopt this fashion of face painting and body painting. Adult body painting is considered one of the famous paintings among the young people who like to paint over their entire body to boost up the physical beauty. Body painting women is much popular among the women to display the beauty of the fair-sexes artistically.

Abstract painting is the presentation of the artistic skills and fun of the artist who displays his fantastic talents in the form of color combination and interpretation of the specific purpose behind the artistic creation. Oil painting is also a very complicated art of painting with the oil colors, giving a very wonderful display. Renaissance paintings are still popular among the lovers of the artistic paintings. You may start your home-based business by learning all artistic skills in painting the different kinds of masterpieces of. Art.

Wallpapering As Financial Venture

Wallpapering paneling is also very famous among the homeowners who want to renovate or remodel their homes with unique kinds of wallpapering. Painting after wallpapering is very much liked by all homeowners who want to have remodeling by new paintings and wallpapering. You should know all tips on wallpapering before starting your business as wallpapering contractor. Wallpapering techniques should be learned by you to enhance your professional skills for wallpapering.