How to Start & Operate a Curb Painting Business (Address Numbers):

By Curb Numbers LLC       1) Appearance is everything.  If you are clean cut and presentably dressed both when you hang flyers to solicit business and when you paint the jobs, you are 90% on track for success.  I heard of individuals who started hanging flyers in an older established affluent area of town with many retirees at home during the day and very safety conscious.  The man had a Mohawk haircut with tattoos visibly showing with a sleeveless shirt and shorts dropping below the waist, with his girlfriend similarly presenting herself - facial jewelry, tattoos, revealing attire.  I'm not making personal judgments on any of the features I just mentioned, just stating that customers likely will, especially in areas where business is likely to be most lucrative - both affluent and older neighborhoods.  Needless to say, the couple was stopped by a police woman who told them that it was illegal to solicit door-to-door and they must stop.  First, they were not soliciting door-to-door (at least not in the traditional definition of knocking on doors, just hanging flyers).  Second, neither knocking on doors nor hanging flyers was actually illegal in the city - the police just told them that and they took her word as correct and stopped.  Easier for all if they had been presentable, right?

     2) Make sure you do not conflict with any local laws, if any exist regarding curb address number painting.  The curb is city property (or county property if you live outside city limits), the only rare exception being private streets owned by the residents.

     3) Make sure you do not conflict with any Homeowners Association (HOA) covenants.  This is also very rare - most have no objection to a service which if you conduct business legitimately, there is no negative side to. Curb numbers can only help in address identification.  Most areas will have at least some curb address numbers already painted. It is wise to stick with the color combinations already dominant in the neighborhood.  Pay special attention whether the neighborhoods have a sign at the entrance(s) stated "deed restricted".  In this also rare case, few curb numbers are likely to exist, so you will not have much luck anyway unless you approach the HOA and try to contract to do all the curb numbers as a group deal.

     4) You can promote that the numbers help 911 vehicles, especially at night being in the direct path of vehicle headlights, but stop there. Do not in any way say or imply that you are sponsored by or have any connection to 911 services,

or the city, any charitable organization, or that you are a "starving student", etc. Let the work sell itself - any attempt to do the above will be easily distinguished as being unethical and will not only get less business, but often bad publicity.

     5) Do not ask customers to leave money out for you before the job is done. It is illegal to my knowledge in every State to accept payment before work is done. For customers not home, simply leave an invoice requesting payment taped to the door for pickup by the next day.

     6) Do not ask for cash only.  This is not only unnecessary, but will lead to less business because of trust.  I typically get about one or two bounced checks in an entire year which I just either redeposit if I know the funds are available (merchant check verification by phone) or if not ask to be sent a money order (to include the small fee my credit union charged for the bounced check).

     7) Do not paint or repaint all the curb address numbers automatically without permission first (or advertise that you are going to do so).  This faulty and outright stupid method is typically followed up with a "suggested donation".  I know hanging flyers will comprise the vast majority of your time, as a 3% to 7% response rate is expected and such rates should profit you well, so you should be able to spend much less time painting the 3 to 7 resulting jobs than you spent hanging the 100 fliers to get the jobs.  At a fast walk you could likely hang about 100 flyers per hour so a 3% to 7% response rate would result in 3 to 7 "yes" responses for each hour, or at $20 each, $60 to $140 in work for every hour invested hanging flyers!

     8) Use  Eco-friendly (100% CFC free) paint, especially as these paints now are no more expensive than other paints of the same quality not CFC free.