Creative Paint
07717194794
Creation of Creative Paint.
Hi my name is Clarke, I have over 17 years expirience in paint refinishing, a DeVilbiss Diploma for Spray Paint Refinishing, a Senior Paint Technicians Certificate from Thatcham Research centre and NVQ's in Motor mechanics.
I started Creative Paint back in 2012, it was a big step for Karen my wife and I, our little boy had not long turned one and the closest workshop I could find to rent was nearly 40 minutes drive from our home at the time, the transition was pretty easy though, my, at the time employer was very understanding in what I wanted to do and allowed me to work nearly part time hours for them as long as I got all there work completed on time, enabling me to gradually build up my business to a point where it would support itself and my family, I was expecting the long haul of about about 3 years if I was lucky, but when I found my self at near break point for managing a job and my own business in little more than a year, something I never even dreamed of, it was time for some long hard thinking and lengthy discussions with Karen, we both agreed that we had to take the next step and so, in March 2013 I cheerfully skipped to work and handed in my notice, we have never looked back, in fact it has been nothing but forward, a year and a half later we found that as the work load was expanding so quickly, we desparatly needed to move to larger premisses to accommodate it, having done this now I can keep work turning over quickly and comfortably, for sure it has had its up and downs but I can honestly say that I have no regrets.
Why do I do it?
I had initially wanted to concentrate mainly on refinishing of Kitchens, Furniture and similar things, having worked in the motor trade nearly all my life, I wanted to change things up a bit, I was doing the odd car here and there if I could fit them in to keep the money flowing, but I found after becoming my own boss my love for working with cars came back with an entirely new passion, I am getting more satisfaction from what I do because I am working one on one with the customer it makes the whole experience more personal for my self and hopefully for the customer too, from small little dents to complete make overs it is important for me to make sure my customers are at ease with what is going on, if they have had an accident then they are likely to be upset about what has happened or if they are looking to have the car restored it is because they love there car and that is what it is all about, we love our cars, we want them to be beautiful and sometimes we just want to feel young again, strangely a car, motorbike, tractor, bus or lorry can have this amazing ability to do this for us, yes we have all seen it and said “I can remember when” or “my dad/grandad had one of those” and then it all comes flooding back to us just like it was yesterday.
What is planned for the future?
My next goal is not to change what I do but to attract an even wider audience if you like, I have built in the past three different rally cars for my self to compete in and I am in the process of starting on a fourth, so I have been thinking about this a lot lately, there are people who would like to get involved in motorsport but don't know how, I will be looking to help with preparation, roll cage installation and obviously paint work, there are links to useful sites for guidance on becoming involved in the sport and local motor clubs that you could join, so why am I doing this I hear you ask, well I was young once I know what it was like to try and get involved, it was probably easier for me because my Dad was already involved, but, it was hard nobody was overly helpful to a youngster back then and the internet was scarce but even now it is difficult, we need more young talent in the sport and if I can give just one a leg up then I will, I'm no fountain of youth I don't have all the answers but I do have experience and that can be worth a million wine gums!
