Blue TapeBoot Camp

The Ellison Painting Way · Eight weeks · Live

We took a painting company from zero to $9 million in four years.

Blue Tape Boot Camp is eight weeks with the two owners who did it. It isn’t theory and it isn’t a motivational seminar. It’s the actual systems we built at Ellison Painting, handed over for you to run in your own company.

Apply for the next cohort See the eight weeks

Wednesdays 7–9 PM Eastern · Starts October 14 · Capped at 12 companies

Blue Tape Boot Camp Blue Tape Boot Camp
$0→$9MAnnual revenue
4 yearsTo get there
3,000+Projects completed
2 ownersOn every call

Why us

We’re not consultants. We’re the guys who built it.

Ellison Painting started at zero in Metro Detroit. Four years later it was doing nine million a year with a real team, a real org chart, and owners who aren’t the ones holding the brush.

There was no secret. We wrote down what worked, threw out what didn’t, and ran the same plays over and over until they held up without us standing there. Most of it we learned the expensive way.

That’s what these eight weeks are. Not what we read in a book. What we actually built, what it cost us to figure out, and the parts we’d do differently if we started again tomorrow.

Taught by the owners of Ellison Painting
Metro Detroit · Family owned

Where we started

Every one of these was us.

Blue tape is the most honest moment on a job. You walk the house with the customer, everything that isn’t right gets a flag on it, nobody argues, and you fix what’s marked.

Nobody ever does that walkthrough on the business. So the expensive problems just sit there for years. We ran a company with every one of these flags on it, and then we pulled them one at a time.

You don’t know which jobs made money
Every estimate is a gut call
Leads go cold in your inbox
Nothing moves unless you’re on site
Your best painter just quit
You haven’t taken a real week off in years
  • You don’t know which jobs made money
  • Every estimate is a gut call
  • Leads go cold in your inbox
  • Nothing moves unless you’re on site
  • Your best painter just quit
  • You haven’t taken a real week off in years

Final walkthrough: your company

Who it’s for

Built for owners who already have a company and want a better one.

A fit if

  • You own a painting company and you’re still running most of the estimates yourself.
  • You have a couple of people on payroll, or you’re about to.
  • You’re busy enough to be tired and not profitable enough to be comfortable.
  • You’ll do the work between calls, using your own numbers and your own jobs.

Not a fit if

  • You’re looking for technique training. This is about the business, not the brushwork.
  • You want done-for-you marketing, or someone to run the company for you.
  • You plan to watch the recordings and skip the homework. The group is the point.
  • You’re not in painting. Everything here is built on painting numbers.

How it runs

Eight calls. Real homework. A small room.

Wednesday nights, 7 to 9 Eastern, so it doesn’t cost you a selling day or a day on the job. Everything happens on video, so it doesn’t matter where you are. You show up with your own numbers, we work on them together, and you leave with something built instead of notes.

When
Wednesday nights7–9 PM Eastern, after the work day. Eight calls, Oct 14 through Dec 9.
Format
Live on videoCameras on. Not a webinar.
Group size
12 companiesSmall enough that you get airtime every week.
Between calls
HomeworkBuilt on your jobs, plus a group chat for questions that can’t wait.
Tuition
$5,000Due before the first call.

The eight weeks

Each week takes one flag off the wall.

Week 01

Vision, identity, and values

Why you started this and what you actually want the company to be in five years. Getting your values into words your crew would recognize, instead of something on a wall nobody reads.

Week 02

Business foundations, budgeting, and the org chart

Job costing, overhead, and gross profit per job. Building a budget you can hold yourself to, and drawing the org chart your company needs rather than the one it has.

Week 03

Positioning, branding, and your ideal customer

Who you’re actually for, what you want to be known for, and why somebody picks you over the guy who came in two thousand dollars cheaper.

Week 04

Marketing and lead generation

Where the work really comes from, what a lead costs you, and a follow-up system that doesn’t depend on you remembering.

Week 05

Sales process, estimating, and customer experience

Running the in-home appointment the same way every time. Estimating off production rates, presenting the number, asking for the job, and what the customer feels from the first call to the final walkthrough.

Week 06

Production, project management, and quality control

Scheduling, job packets, materials, and the daily huddle. Setting a standard that holds when you’re not on site, and cutting callbacks down to almost none.

Week 07

Hiring, training, and team development

Where good painters actually come from, how to pay them, what the first ninety days look like, and how people get better once they’re on the crew.

Week 08

Systems, leadership, and your scaling plan

Writing down what’s still living in your head, leading a team you’re no longer the best painter on, and a written plan for the next twelve months.

What you leave with

Documents, not takeaways.

Who teaches it

The two owners who built it are the two owners on the call.

Brad Ellison, Founder and CEO of Ellison Painting
Brad EllisonFounder & CEO, Ellison Painting

Brad started Ellison Painting and built the sales and marketing engine that took it to nine million: the pricing, the estimate process, and the lead flow behind it. He hosts Paint Radio for American Painting Contractor and sits on the PCA board, which mostly means he has spent a lot of hours asking other owners what actually worked.

  • Host, Paint Radio (APC)
  • PCA Board
Tim Bergsma, Co-Owner and COO of Ellison Painting
Tim BergsmaCo-Owner & COO, Ellison Painting

Tim co-owns Ellison Painting and runs the day to day. Tim has refined and perfected most of what works there. The structure, the systems, the culture people stick around for. On these calls he takes production, hiring, and everything that has to keep running when the owner isn’t in the room.

  • Operations
  • Systems & culture

Questions

Before you apply.

What does it cost?

$5,000, due before the first call. If you want to bring a second owner or a key person from your team, tell us on the application and we’ll sort out the pricing.

When does the next cohort start?

Wednesday, October 14, 7 to 9 PM Eastern, and every Wednesday after that at the same time. We skip Thanksgiving week, so the eight calls land on October 14, 21 and 28, November 4, 11 and 18, then December 2 and 9.

Is this just going to be your story for eight weeks?

No. We use what we built at Ellison because we know exactly what it cost and where it broke, but every week’s homework is on your company, your numbers, and your jobs. You’re building your version, not admiring ours.

What if I’m nowhere near $9 million?

Neither were we. The whole point is the road from zero, and most of what matters happens well before the big number. If you’re doing a few hundred thousand and want a real company, you’re exactly who this is for.

What if I miss a call?

Every call is recorded and posted the same day. But the group is most of the value. If you know you’re going to miss more than one or two, wait for the next cohort.

Do I need employees already?

No. Plenty of good owners start this with one or two people. But this is built for owners who want a company, not a solo career, and a fair amount of the material assumes you’re headed that direction.

Is my competitor going to be on the call?

No. We don’t put two companies from the same market in the same cohort. Put your service area on the application and we’ll sort it out before you’re in.

Is this only for painting contractors?

Yes. The production rates, the pricing, the hiring: all of it is painting specific. Other trades would get about half of it, and half isn’t worth your eight weeks.

Apply

Tell us about your company.

If it looks like a fit, we’ll call you to talk it through before anybody pays anything.

The application asks about

  • Your company, your market, and how long you’ve been at it
  • Crew size and where revenue sits today
  • What’s costing you the most right now
  • What would make eight weeks worth it
Open the application

Opens a Google Form. Takes about five minutes. You’ll hear back within two business days either way.