Beth Yates Talks Burn-Out, The Best Apprentice, and a Nightmare job in the Decorating Trade

In this episode I sit down with Beth Yates, a self-employed painter and decorator, as she opens up about her journey from traditional employment to running her own successful decorating business. Beth shares the real-life challenges of being self-employed, from finding consistent work to managing clients’ expectations, while highlighting how social media marketing has been an important part of growing her brand and connecting with new customers. She also reflects on her experiences mentoring apprentices, balancing work and personal life, and some of her most memorable painting and decorating projects. Beth’s story is a must-listen for anyone in the decorating trade or considering self-employment. The episode wraps up with a fun quickfire round, giving listeners a glimpse into Beth’s personal tastes, insights, and personality beyond the paintbrush.

Key Takeaways

• Beth had no clear direction in high school.
• Her brother encouraged her to pursue painting and decorating.
• She has been self-employed longer than she was employed.
• Taking on an apprentice was driven by loneliness, not financial reasons.
• Beth considers her apprentice to be the best in the world.
• Balancing work and personal life is a significant challenge.
• Social media plays a crucial role in her business networking.
• She was a semi-finalist in a top tradesperson award.
• Good customer relationships are vital to her work satisfaction.

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Instagram: @lifeofafemaletradie_  

Facebook: Life Of A Female Tradie 

Tiktok: loaftpodcast  

Follow Guest:

Instagram: Bethyatesthepainter

Facebook: Beth Yates Decorating Service

Chapters

00:00 Introduction and Background

01:03 Journey into Decorating

03:08 Taking on an Apprentice

05:14 Balancing Work and Life

07:35 The Role of Social Media

09:09 Awards and Recognition

11:05 Challenges in the Trade

12:11 Learning from Mistakes in the Trade

12:39 The Value of Good Customers

13:21 Creative Projects and Bold Colours

14:16 Challenges in Wallpapering

15:26 Satisfaction in Restoration Projects

16:10 Stepping Out of Comfort Zones

16:42 The Preference for Interior Work

18:01 Travel Aspirations and Future Plans

18:53 The Challenges of Hall Stairs and Landings

19:36 Brush Preferences and Tools of the Trade

20:39 Networking at Trade Shows

21:30 Upcoming Jobs and Customer Communication

25:48 Thank You’s

Transcript

Beth Yates (00:10)

Hi, I am Beth Yates from Beth Yates Painting Decorating Service and I've been self-employed painter and decorator for seven and a half years now.

Laura (00:21)

Well, thanks for joining me today. let's roll straight into things. How did you get into decorating? Where did it come from?

Beth Yates (00:28)

That's a question a lot of ask me. You know it's funny, I had no direction when I was in high school as to what I wanted to do when I was older. Did A-levels, I picked random subjects, didn't do very well at them because I didn't even enjoy I was just there sort of 18 thinking what on earth am going do with myself.

Laura (00:29)

sure it is,

Beth Yates (00:48)

and I think it was my older brother who said to me what about painting decorating or something like that. think he'd seen two girls, their van, I think it was something called pink ladders or something, and he said that they were doing an outside and I yeah I'll do a test today or something at the college and yeah we had to do multi skills and painting decorating was what I was looking for and I had a bit of a knack for it and I enjoyed it so.

Laura (00:59)

Okay.

Beth Yates (01:16)

there really.

Laura (01:16)

So you started from quite a young age then,

Beth Yates (01:18)

yeah, I suppose 18, 19.

Laura (01:20)

So did you

do your qualifications then, like your city and guilds and things?

Beth Yates (01:25)

Yeah so level one then on level two I got an apprenticeship. My apprenticeship was with the college so that was when the college wanted to have their own apprentices. hated that apprenticeship.

And then there was a guy who had had many apprentices who needed a new one and I left my apprenticeship for his apprenticeship. my level two, did my level three and that was it.

Laura (01:43)

Okay.

The rest is history. Brilliant.

So how long have you been going now on your own?

Beth Yates (01:52)

I finished my apprenticeship in the August of 2017. Yeah 2017. So 2017 to now is yeah nearly eight years as well as yesterday but yeah it's mad that was that long ago.

Laura (01:57)

Okay.

Yeah, yeah.

Awesome.

Well done you. Yeah, it's a long time to be on the brush and roller all the while.

Beth Yates (02:12)

Thank you.

I spent more of my time self-employed now than I ever was employed from 21 to nearly 28 now.

Laura (02:24)

Okay,

and you wouldn't go back to any sort of other employment or self-employment the way forward for you?

Beth Yates (02:30)

It was always the goal I had in my head from the very start to be honest. I didn't think there was many opportunities for a girl at the time. So was always the goal to be self-employed and I think it's very hard to go from self-employed to ever being employed by somebody.

Laura (02:36)

Okay.

Definitely, it is, yeah.

I've switched from self-employed to being employed and then self-employed again and definitely prefer being my own boss. So I know from following you on social media that you took an apprentice on yourself last year. tell me about that. Where did that come from?

Beth Yates (03:05)

I think it was a bit of restlessness from maybe we were on what year six at the time thinking and yeah I'll be honest about the reasons I took on an apprentice some people say for whatever reasons they took on an apprentice I was a bit at the time getting a bit lonely really with just working day in day out by myself wasn't for money reasons and you know at the same time a guy

Laura (03:19)

Mm.

Okay.

Beth Yates (03:30)

Once upon a time we'd never had a female apprentice and was a bit unsure about it. Took a chance on me and we got along really well and I sort of hoped to find that again. yeah, that was when I found Lily.

Laura (03:41)

Awesome.

fresh out of school, were looking to go into an apprenticeship and was looking around and

Beth Yates (03:49)

Well, she was a bit older to be fair, was, she was 21 when she met me. again, sort of hadn't quite found decorating until maybe she was 19 or 20. She had a retail job, did an evening class in painting decorating while she was doing her retail job. And she had said to the lectures, if you ever find somebody looking for an apprentice, just, you know, hold me up and...

Laura (03:51)

Alright.

Okay.

Fair play.

Beth Yates (04:14)

Yeah, she left a retail job for, come work for me.

Laura (04:17)

Wow,

awesome, How did you find managing it, if you don't mind me asking?

Beth Yates (04:18)

So.

Well the process to find Lily was not an easy one. She was the eighth trial and Lily came from quite far away from me. really struggled to get some of the kids who were at the local colleges to me to hop on a bus or do a weekend. All the trials that I did were all paid trials but you know whether it's something to do with the younger generation I don't know.

Laura (04:28)

Okay.

Right.

Mm-hmm.

Right.

Beth Yates (04:47)

got to Lily's trial, was my last hope at that point. But yeah, once I got her, I knew she was just absolute gold. In terms of Lily and the way she is just, again, absolute gold. I can't say I ever had an issue with Lily at all. She's just every apprentice's In business respect, I did struggle because there were lots of things that I just didn't

Laura (04:49)

Okay.

Yeah.

Beth Yates (05:10)

take into account. thought it would be a lot similar to my apprenticeship, which my boss did a few forms, paid me cash in hand, it only eight years ago. It's not like that at all now. yeah, it's a lot of, my God. register to be an employer. You've got to do all the payroll, pay slips, insurances.

Laura (05:11)

Okay.

Really? Okay. Bit more complicated.

Beth Yates (05:34)

There's just a lot of things that I did not foresee at all. But I can't complain I had the best apprentice in the world. I absolutely wouldn't ever regret having met Lil. So, yeah, she was solid.

Laura (05:37)

Okay.

Well, that was the main thing, wasn't it? Definitely. Yeah.

obviously being self-employed, it comes with its own stresses So how do you try and balance your workload and your personal life? for instance, personally, me, I only do four days a week because I need that extra day to sort out invoices, out quotes, et cetera. How do you manage your workload and your personal life?

Beth Yates (06:12)

I don't. No, you know from seeing me on social media and a lot of people do, I do have habit of burning out really bad. Last year I burnt out every other week I think. I am doing better this year because I'm doing four days a week as you said that Friday is just, it's so much better to have that admin day and not

Laura (06:12)

no!

Okay.

No.

Yep.

Beth Yates (06:33)

be just on the weekends doing quotes picking up materials and it just really does it makes the weekend just that a little bit longer as well.

Laura (06:42)

Absolutely. Yeah.

I'm glad you did that, definitely. Because I mean, we see every now and again people on social media saying that it's just constant work, late hours, et cetera, et cetera. And it's not good for anybody.

Beth Yates (06:57)

No, yeah, the balance is a real hard one. And you just know from experience that it's just not worth it to be working 50, 60 hours a week and then doing it. No, it's just not. No, four days a week is I like that. It's not always four days a week to be fair. Leaving the Friday and then something popping up. But it's there if I need it, which is is fine for me.

Laura (07:00)

It is.

No.

Hahaha!

Yeah

Awesome,

that's good. So social media wise, do you find that you get a lot of work through it at all or is it a big part of your business?

Beth Yates (07:37)

Probably not so much for Instagram. mean Facebook is one of those a lot of my customers are on Facebook. I didn't treat it that seriously at the start because I do get a lot of time wasters on Facebook. A lot of people who just sort of send you a message or they don't reply or they ask you how much to paint the kitchen and they only want the price through the But I've had some amazing customers through Facebook Messenger really.

Instagram for me is more of a networking thing, just to talk to people like yourself and really just lean into what everybody knows as the paint family.

Laura (08:10)

Yeah, definitely. It's

a good community, isn't it? Where you can just share your emotions and anything and no one kind of bats an eyelid in the way that they just turn around and support you, don't they?

Beth Yates (08:22)

nobody knows what you're going through more than a bunch of other self-employed decorators really. that's and you know, I've learned a lot through Instagram. I've changed a lot of what I do now. If I hadn't really took part in Instagram and really pushing myself to kind of talk to some people on there, I wouldn't probably have invested in dustless sanding. I'd probably still be using oil-based paints.

Laura (08:43)

Okay.

Yep.

Beth Yates (08:47)

I'd still be that dinosaur back then but yeah social media has kind of helped me in other ways.

Laura (08:54)

know from having a look over your social media, you've been put up for some awards over the last couple of years, haven't you?

Beth Yates (08:59)

so I was a semi finalist in screw fixes top trades person. And I was in the category of best customer service for the women's business women awards, that's the one.

Laura (09:13)

Awesome. How

did you get, who put you up for them? Or how did it happen?

Beth Yates (09:17)

Well, they were both self-nominated to be fair. If you don't put yourself forward no one's gonna know to be fair. So yeah, that was the Screwfix Didn't get through to the final on those but some of the decorators I knew on social media got went through to the finals. So that was nice, I was happy for them. And the Business Women Awards,

Laura (09:20)

if I play.

Good for you.

Yeah.

Beth Yates (09:42)

they had a gala event in London and I chose not to go because I didn't quite realize when I was applying that it was gonna cost like 350 quid per ticket to go it would have cost us about 700 and then a hotel in London and I kind of thought I'd to think

Laura (09:58)

Jeez.

Beth Yates (10:01)

And to be fair, the worst part is, I don't even know where the award is now actually, the award you get for just runner-up, I don't know whether it's any better if you're the winner, there's this little plastic it to me in the post, I had to pay for it of course. I realised that was a bit of a con to be fair. then I realised that some of them, mean Screwfix 1 wasn't too bad because you actually won money and it didn't cost you to apply and...

Laura (10:14)

⁓ no.

Wow.

Beth Yates (10:24)

There was no fancy gala, we have to spend loads of money. But some of them are, and I think I spoke to a few decorators online who, was it Stu maybe, the Scottish Improvement Awards, and he was like, well, I'm not paying that much for us to go in tickets and then a hotel there. That just feels like I'm paying to, it's just not, nah,

Laura (10:26)

Okay.

Yeah.

Yeah,

well.

So you mentioned, obviously now to come on board the fact that dustless sanding is a big part of your work. Tell me what do you use? What's your chosen brand?

Beth Yates (10:58)

So,

everyone online can get a bit funny about these things. I did do a lot of research and it wasn't a quick decision, I did take quite a few months and a lot of advice from lot of forums and things. I cheaped out on my extractor so I just got a Nilfisk extractor, quite cheap and they're very good, lightweight, it's essentially a glorified vacuum let's be fair.

Laura (11:01)

I know

Yeah.

Beth Yates (11:21)

Then I bought a Mirka Dios and a Mirka Deros so the wall sander and the woodwork sander. I wasn't the best at the time when I used to hand sand for getting the dust mask on. Yeah, yeah was a bad one. I I'll definitely pay for that a bit when I'm older but yeah just ah.

Laura (11:30)

Awesome.

⁓ yeah, no, tell me about that. It all goes up the old nostrils, doesn't it?

Beth Yates (11:45)

It'll be alright, I'll just sand it and then you... It's not... I'll still use it for sanding, it's a good one, I like it.

Laura (11:50)

Yeah.

Awesome.

So jobs wise, do you get a mix commercial and residential or are you mainly just residential? Yeah.

Beth Yates (12:04)

Mainly domestics, yeah.

It's where I'm most comfortable really, I think.

Laura (12:07)

Okay,

can you think of maybe a worst slash favourite and maybe a most challenging job that you've had? Let's start with the most challenging job. Yeah.

Beth Yates (12:17)

Most challenging.

I did have an answer for this, but it's gone out my head

Laura (12:25)

You can switch to one of

the others if you want, if it's easier. Go on then, let's go for that.

Beth Yates (12:30)

always give me worse ones.

I mean to add some last year that were bad, that were like gut wrenching bad. were, I had to run a look at these two bathrooms, ceiling and walls where they were started to peel and you knew what was just starting to peel. I okay, it's fine, I know the right prep, we'll give it a scrape, we'll do all the correct process and they peeled again.

Laura (12:34)

⁓

Yeah.

No.

Beth Yates (12:55)

not in the same spot but somewhere else and it's peeled again and peeled again and then you start working at in fact none of the paint in this whole place is adir, none of the plaster has been primed and you practically just need to strip the whole place and two of those and that was just that was a nightmare job. It does, it's so good and you think no we definitely scraped that too far it's

Laura (12:58)

No!

my god.

Breaks your soul, doesn't it? It just, yeah, it really does.

Beth Yates (13:23)

should be fine but because you've put those coats of paint on a surface even though it hasn't it's not previously been peeled and you've soaked it with layers of paint a couple days later some other spot it's gonna peel it just... God. Yeah no bathroom ceilings are definitely like a achilles heel for me especially last year. Bad luck. Yeah I've got plenty of bad stories I think because I set out when I was 21 and

Laura (13:36)

nightmare.

Beth Yates (13:48)

I don't know how I felt about it at the time, but I did think i knew it all, I think. So I learnt a lot over the years. did a salon job for some girls and all the mirrors for the salons, and it was the salon wall with all the mirrors, were glued onto the wall and mirror had about four sockets next to it. And then there were these glass cabinets, just like a little glass drawer thing.

Laura (13:52)

Okay.

Yeah.

Okay.

Beth Yates (14:13)

They said they couldn't take them off the walls because it just they're a nightmare to get on and they picked this really thick glittery wallpaper and My adhesive would just it would just a not stick it was paste the wall So, you know, it's just not pliable. Is it need to cut it around all these objects? I Then I hadn't realised One there were lights around the mirrors

Laura (14:26)

Ugh.

No.

⁓

Beth Yates (14:36)

So at one point when I sponged down one of the pieces and water touched some of the cables for the lights, big, big bang and light flash. I know, yeah, it was fun. I lost patience by the last piece. I'm taking this glass cabinet off. The paper's too thick to go around. There's only about that much of a gap between the mirror and the cabinet So I take it I put it back on.

Laura (14:45)

No!

Yep.

Beth Yates (15:00)

putting some better raw plugs at the time that I thought were better. The wall was quite crumbling and I hadn't took that into account. And then a couple of days after it fell off and smashed. And any money I made off that job, straight back to the customer to buy a new glass. So I learned from that one. So yeah, I could do all this to my worst job.

Laura (15:03)

Fair play.

⁓ no!

Ugh... gutted.

Bless you. I'm sure

we all could mate, I'm sure we all could honestly.

Beth Yates (15:29)

Yeah, my best jobs are always the ones that could be any type of houses, any type of jobs, but where the customers are just gold. I love good, amazing customers that you're just so comfortable around and they're just, I just love those.

Laura (15:37)

Yeah.

just leave you

to it, crack on with it and yeah.

Beth Yates (15:48)

Yeah, you have a good catch up with them away so and so and as this and they just become, you know, you come out the family decorator or something like that and you just, you know, they're to do everything you've asked for and yeah, those are the jobs really doesn't matter what jobs they are. I do like it when people are quite creative sometimes, but that's.

Laura (16:00)

That's what you want, definitely.

I was gonna say, have

you done any sort of out there colours

Beth Yates (16:12)

to be fair there was one last year that was it was pretty I mean she was quite a wacky customer to be fair and it was I think was it Percy Pig themed really probably was really she was a big Percy Pig fan yeah and it was like it's probably on my page somewhere but pink wood work I mean like bright pink bright pink

Laura (16:23)

wow.

⁓ wow.

Beth Yates (16:34)

you know most of time I'm just painting woodwork white really and then this really bold wallpaper around the room that was nice I like doing stuff like that it's a bit different

Laura (16:43)

How do you feel about wallpaper?

Is it one of your likes or dislikes?

Beth Yates (16:50)

Yeah, it's probably one of my likes to be fair. It's that more challenging than painting. You you've got sometimes a bit of anxiety when you don't know the papers, but that relief of when you put that first paper up and you think that was a dream, wallpaper, you think of the whole room in this paper and that's just going to be lovely, that is. And then when you've got those papers that are a bit hard to work with, that first piece that you put on, you learn a lot and you think that can't be stretched, that can't be...

Laura (16:51)

Okay.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yep.

Beth Yates (17:16)

cut with a knife that's yeah fun fun yeah definitely yeah but I am at the point now and coming up on year eight I guess where I do like challenges a bit more a lot if it's something where I think I don't know whether I've done that before or something that just is a bit different because I don't want putting in a bit of research to think I mean I've done

Laura (17:19)

Tricky, yeah. Definitely.

Okay.

Yeah.

Beth Yates (17:44)

a couple of weeks ago, a couple of months ago. She had a very dark mahogany door and usually with people I'd just be like, she wanted it stripping down to light oak. Yeah, know, you don't know what the colour is underneath and I don't know until I start the job. She wanted it to match the oak bannister and I was a bit like, I don't know about that. And I did actually strip it and I hadn't used paint stripper for years.

Laura (17:54)

wow.

Beth Yates (18:09)

and also now that I've got the just the sander I just put an 80 grit on and just put some effort in it got into all the profiles and it looked amazing it actually turned out to be oak underneath all that dark mahogany wood stain so yeah that was that was a challenge because it was it was like a restoration job really but um I enjoyed it yeah yeah it was

Laura (18:18)

Wow.

No way.

Yeah, I like them. Yeah, I bet that was really enjoyable.

Beth Yates (18:36)

the customer come home and this is what I always love when the customers come back and go wow and you think yeah that's exactly what I wanted that is

Laura (18:42)

Absolutely,

yep, just a bit of recognition, we'll have that.

Beth Yates (18:46)

Yeah, I can see the work that's been put into it and they just go, yes exactly what we wanted that.

Laura (18:51)

Amazing.

did you put a clear stain on it or anything?

Beth Yates (18:54)

Yeah, yeah, just I think I did a raw oil on it. Just so it was as close to the rest of the oak in the room as possible. Yeah, so I was pretty chuffed with that one to be fair. I would have leaned away in previous years and been, I don't know, and I don't know, it's not really a... Sometimes people go, oh, can you strip this? But no, I was really happy with that one to be fair.

Laura (18:57)

Okay.

Yep.

Sounds a good one. Yeah, nice one.

So

you're in a bit of an era of stepping out of your comfort zone then, would you say?

Beth Yates (19:25)

Sometimes,

yeah, I sometimes I don't know about that. I am, mean, don't get wrong, I love doing simple jobs, because it's stress free, simple, you can't, but you don't necessarily get some of the gratification out of it, sort of that.

Laura (19:35)

Yeah.

Beth Yates (19:44)

I don't know quite what the word is.

Laura (19:45)

Yeah, like the

satisfaction, when you've done?

Beth Yates (19:47)

Yeah, yeah,

if you just fresh coat of grey on the walls, fresh coat of white on all the woodwork, the ceiling, yeah easy peasy and you know I'm gonna think it looks nice and neat but that bit of something that just recharges me and thinks yeah that was great you know but yeah you can't always get a those.

Laura (20:02)

Yeah.

Not all the

time. guess when like the summer comes around as well, you get the opportunity to do front doors or garage doors and just different stuff, Instead of...

Beth Yates (20:15)

Yeah, I do avoid outside work to be fair. Yeah, even in the summer. I just think the weather's just absolutely naff.

Laura (20:16)

Do ya? Yeah.

To

be fair, is risky. You've got to be able to judge it quite well, haven't you? I I don't do a massive amount of outdoor work, but, because when you work on your own, you've got to keep in mind the safety aspect of it all as well, don't you? Because you don't want to be doing a whole outside of a house and you're right at the top of the ladder with nobody around. So there is that to take into consideration. Yeah.

Beth Yates (20:30)

Really?

and

It's the weather for me.

just haven't ever thought the weather, the past couple of years, the summers we've had have all been shambolic. It's been crap. Yeah, a couple of hot days here and there and you know, could book something in for a simple garage door or a front door and it... Nah, not a

Laura (20:55)

about a week and that's it. Yeah.

Beth Yates (21:07)

I'll just do interiors, I'll get plenty work from interiors

Laura (21:12)

So I'm gonna do a little quick fire, this or that question round. just to kind of dig into you as a person so we can learn a bit more about you. totally random. start off with an easy one. Dogs or cats?

Beth Yates (21:24)

Okay.

dogs

Laura (21:27)

Beach or a city break?

Beth Yates (21:29)

Ooh, both. do wrong.

Laura (21:30)

Yeah? Have you done much

travel in yourself?

Beth Yates (21:33)

We have, but I want to do more. I want to do more. We are going to Japan in November and we have our first big holiday because we've just done, we've done a lot of beachy ones the past couple years but still exploring and I'm just at the point now where I'm like I am aware that I'm 28.

Laura (21:35)

Yeah. What's on your list?

Nice.

Beth Yates (21:58)

and like my life may change over the next five years or so. But yeah, these are the times to do those big long haul holidays and it won't be a big beachy one, which means I'll feel like we'll probably need to have a holiday after this 12 days exploring all of Japan really.

Laura (22:14)

Amazing. Yeah, that's somewhere I'd

like to go, definitely. That's cool. Tea or coffee? Tea, okay. Halls, stairs and landing or wallpaper in a whole room?

Beth Yates (22:19)

Yeah.

Take.

Laura (22:27)

Wow, yeah, to be fair, they're both a nemesis of mine. Yeah.

Beth Yates (22:33)

I mean,

hall stairs and landings are like, I feel like I bread and butter because a lot of people will do their own decorating at home, paint a room, but I don't think many people attempt the hall stairs and landings.

Laura (22:36)

Yeah

Yeah,

I've just done, I think I've just done two on, two in a row. think the other day, what did I, I think I had to sand it was a triple hall stairs and landing and I had to sand about 80 spindles.

Beth Yates (22:58)

by hand as well. Yeah, so you can't really do it with a cylinder to be honest.

Laura (22:59)

By hand as well, yeah. No, and

it was detailed ones as well. So I had no fingerprints left for about a week. Driver or passenger?

Beth Yates (23:10)

driver.

Laura (23:10)

Yeah,

same. Angled brush or a beaver tail? What's your preference?

Beth Yates (23:12)

Yeah.

Probably an angled.

Laura (23:20)

Definitely. What brushes do you tend to lean towards? Have you got a favourite?

Beth Yates (23:21)

Yeah.

Yeah, I do to be fair. The most expensive ones obviously. To be fair, it's probably either an Axis Silk Touch, which I quite like. And then, and I think they're quite similar, but either an Arrowworthy and a Paint Warrior. And those really, I'm not really somebody who buys many of other ones. I just like them.

Laura (23:26)

Hahaha

Okay.

Yeah. I'm the same.

I stick with Arroworthy mainly and then a few Paint Warrior ones. You try different brushes every now and again though, don't you? And it's...

Beth Yates (23:56)

Yeah you do, yeah sometimes it's what I'm not for as well really so yeah they are to be fair the the Axis ones are pretty pricey I think yeah they're much of the same really to be fair they're they're good brushes I like them but usually just try and get round the reps and get a free one

Laura (23:58)

That's true, because they are expensive, aren't they?

Are they? Can't say I've used them.

Yeah, I think that's why we all go to the

decorating show. Are you going this year? Awesome.

Beth Yates (24:19)

thought, yeah, let's go and get it done. Oh yeah,

yeah, yeah, I had a really great time last year, I'll... I never know which day, can't go on really though, because I always think the first day is just crazy busy.

Laura (24:26)

Yeah, it was good.

Yeah,

I don't... I think I went on... I think I went on the first day this year. Oh, I went on the second day the year before. But... Can't say I noticed too much difference, but there was a lot of college kids there this year. Last year, sorry, I noticed. Which I thought was pretty cool, to be fair.

Beth Yates (24:39)

Mm.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah,

yeah, I mean, we used to go with our college. so that was always an experience I had of it. It's, you know, in fact, I bought my first tour bag and bits and bobs from probably P &D show in 2016 or something or other years, long time ago. so I've, and then I went for a period I didn't really go, didn't see the point of it. And then again, it's just really nice network to just see people that you've

Laura (24:55)

Did ya?

wow, that's cool.

Beth Yates (25:20)

talked to online for so long and yeah it was nice we went for a meal on the last one which it was really nice just to have a meal with a great bunch of people so I enjoyed that.

Laura (25:26)

Did you?

Awesome. Wicked.

Have you got any interesting jobs coming up?

Beth Yates (25:36)

Well, we have Kim's job next week. That's a bit meh. White washing. don't want to be a white. Yeah. To be fair, Lisa. bold colours coming off bold colours. We're doing a pink next week, to be fair. Yeah, I mean, to be fair, this is one of the issues I have sometimes.

Laura (25:42)

⁓

and in bold colours.

Nice.

Beth Yates (25:56)

I do put it in my t's and c's but nobody ever listens to it which is I ask people for the paint colours for like minimum of a week in advance and I don't think I've had a customer in the past, I don't even know how long it's been, who's actually given it to me a week in advance. In fact I only my paint colours for Monday tomorrow, yesterday.

Laura (26:05)

Yep.

No way.

wow.

Beth Yates (26:20)

So I'm constantly chasing up people like, I've got the colours for next week, I've got the colours for next week. yeah, so don't tend to know the pain callers till last minute, which is a shame, but yeah, potentially. I mean, sometimes to be fair, brewers are quite good. If you do ring them up before nine, sometimes they pretty much deliver it in the same day, which saves me a bit. But yeah, it doesn't mean I can't really source.

Laura (26:24)

That's crazy.

So then you have to go and get the paint in the morning.

Yeah.

nice.

Beth Yates (26:46)

through potentially online or any other shops really to get the best price.

Laura (26:48)

Yeah. Do

you order a lot of paint to be delivered or order it online?

Beth Yates (26:56)

I mean, usually through local suppliers really to be delivered on site. do usually if I've had it say a Friday or Saturday, I do usually make the trip on a Saturday to just go. I don't live that close to a paint shop really, so it's usually an hour's trip. But sometimes I just do it on a Saturday. I don't want to go to a paint shop.

Laura (27:01)

OK.

Yeah.

right, okay. I can see

and I.

Beth Yates (27:18)

Wolverhampton Town Centre, there's always a football game on that's just... Yeah, it's terrible and so yeah, that'll have to be a phone call in the morning. I will. Yeah.

Laura (27:22)

causing mayhem. Yeah.

⁓ fun. There's always something.

If you could be another trade of any kind, what would you choose?

Beth Yates (27:38)

If I could be another trade of any kind. Do you to say electricians? They're the people that make all the money, aren't they? Yeah, yeah, I think electricians to be fair. I feel like they're the good-looking trades people as well. electricians sometimes. Yeah, maybe

Laura (27:44)

Apparently so, apparently so.

Hahaha

What apart from the money, what would appeal to you of the electricians side of it?

Beth Yates (27:58)

My baby.

It's not so messy is it really? don't really know the job that well to be fair they might have to crawl but think plumber's messy plastering's messy building's messy painting sometimes can be messy. Carpentry I think the amount of solid oak doors that I'm coming across in people's houses at the moment I wouldn't fancy picking them up and taking them up the stairs. yeah, luck electric!

Laura (28:04)

Well, that's true.

Yeah

That's a good point. Yeah.

Good choice, So where can people find you on social media, et cetera?

Beth Yates (28:35)

I'm not on TikTok so struggle on that, forget it. I'm on Facebook, Beth Yates Decorating Service and I'm on Instagram as Beth Yates Decorating Service I think or I might be Beth Yates the painter, I can't remember.

Laura (28:36)

No, me too.

We'll find you. I'll put your

handles in the description anyway so people can click on it and go straight to you.

Beth Yates (28:54)

Yeah that's the one.

There's not too many Beth Yates decoratings, so, obviously. Pink logo, you won't miss it.

Laura (28:59)

That's it. ⁓ there we go.

Awesome. Well, short and sweet, but thank you very much for sharing your time with me this afternoon. I'm sure we'll chat again and hopefully bump into you in November as well at the decorating show. All right. Well, thanks again for your time and I'll speak to you soon. See you later. Cheers.

Beth Yates (29:10)

Thanks for having me on

Yeah, sounds good. Well, thanks, all. Bye.