Welcome to MOTIV Premium Painting's Blog!

Greetings, Dear Readers,

My name is Isidor Siskos (Izzy) and I am the owner of MOTIV Premuim Painting.

I am thrilled to welcome you to my blog and I certainly hope you'd find the future topics helpful.

EDIT: 9/28/2023 I love writing and there is so much to be said. I do apologize ahead of time if I am not posting too often but I promise to populate this page as I can.

If you have a house painting topic you'd like me to write about, feel free to reach out to my biz email motivpp@gmail.com

(L to R) Alex, Tsveti & Izzy at the beach

Siskos Family Background

Our family consists of three - Tsvetelina (the pretty momma), Alexander (the wild child) & Izzy ( the keyboard warrior/biz owner).

We came to the PNW from Connecticut in 2019. We are originally from Bulgaria, EU.

Well, our son was born in the US, but technically we are all from BG.

Connecticut was really draining our lives in a negative way, so the three of us plus my mother, packed up our belongings and drove all the way to the most beautiful corner of the States. We really love it here and are very excited to live our new lives surrounded by all the lovely people and gorgeous mountain & water views. There is really no other place like the PNW in the entire country. I know it!

About MOTIV Premium Painting And How It Started.

I, Izzy S., am the sole operator of this biz from my family. I also have the pleasure to have hired this wonderful employee named Riley (about whom you will hear in another post dedicated to him) and together we are the painters doing all the heavy lifting. Riley has a passion for painting and learning the ropes of the premium side of things - from paint application to education about customer relationships. HE IS A NATURAL, coming with customer service background and industrial coatings application. So thrilled to have him working with us!

I renamed my painting business to MOTIV Premium Painting somewhere in 2021.

However, I started my first house painting venture in the summer of 2018 as Red Robin Painting in Connecticut after I...…. Ready?...….. got fired from my painting job as a lead painter.

YUP! Getting fired was the BEST thing that could happen to me and I am no longer embarrassed to say how I started my business. It can take so much risk, energy and stress to go out of the regular job comfort, that many people (maybe even myself) would have a really hard time pushing themselves to do such a thing. So, yeah, although I sincerely disliked my boss, Thank You, Man! It was well worth it!

Anyway, I did not like how "Red Robin Painting" sounded. I wanted to rebrand to something more unique and branded and definitely not use my name as in "Siskos Painting". I didn't want my future employees to feel like they work for ME and that it is all for Siskos's benefit, but quite the opposite. Riley, by the way heard about this and loved it!

Also, by including PREMIUM I wanted to hint the type of experience and results we strive to deliver to our clients.

Funny thing - I was not aware Red Robin was a restaurant chain (yes, poor research on my part) and I occasionally would get calls for a burger and/or fries order *laughing thinking of this* I started hating it but stuck with the name for 3 years because I couldn't decide on the new one.

So, after a long brainstorming period, I finally came up with MOTIV. Literally under the shower (Ha!)! And so, MOTIV Premium Painting came about and it hit the right spot sooo well, I had to let the Red Robin fly away.

By the way, MOTIV is pronounced as MOTEEV and here is a link to help you get it right. If you are reading this, please don't pronounce it as motive or as in motiv(ation).

WE thank you sincerely!

What's With The "Premium?"

Premium in the name, like I mentioned above, was placed to hint A LOT ABOUT US and who we are as professionals. I am not going to talk about quality of craftsmanship and how crisp our lines are, nor how extensively we mask.

I want our clients to hear about the headaches we are not going to give them and have no doubt they have hired the right folks.

In our company, nailing communication at every level is a big deal.

We pride ourselves on being prompt—no endless waiting for calls or estimates here.

Furthermore, never hearing back, never showing up for an appointment or simply not doing the simple things we are expected as a professional company is my nightmare that I avoid as diligently as a vampire avoids the sunlight!

Understandably, our prices are higher than the bunch in the area and that is partly because most painting businesses are production based and for us prep is everything! Production based painters are naturally less expensive as they do things fast, may skip some steps and quality of craftsmanship tends to be lower. Furthermore, I want to keep people like Riley around and I want to make sure that working with us feeds his family as well and allows him a life he deserves.

Adding On To The Value

Adding to the PREMIUM aspect of our company I'd like to use this space to introduce you to our "Estimating Process."

Traditionally, it is expected that once you reach out to a tradesperson, they will hop in their car and drive right over to your house for a free estimate. We can't blame anyone but just the fact that this is the way it has been done for many years. However, times have changed and this rather simple process has one major flaw. It could end up wasting a lot of time for you and us if we don't get hired (not to mention gas has gone way up).

That is why we have discovered and implemented a completely different approach of "estimating". It is more of a consultation than estimate. It primarily involves you and me (Izzy) on a phone call. I ask for pictures or a video (even better for interiors) initially. Then, we schedule a time for our Discovery Call (phone consultation) where we simply let you do most of the talking guided by our questions. We are only by your side as your advisors, someone you can build the confidence in that you are being heard and your vision is understood. If we can provide you with a ballpark and you like us and the numbers, only then we come out to see you. Keep in mind, if we do come out, we expect a deposit or a deductible fee until you finalize your decision. Simple and time saving.

You can check out our interior painting pricing or exterior painting pricing by clicking/tapping on the links.

What Will The Future Posts Be About?

At this moment, I am thinking of writing about topics from "How to Prep Your Walls Before Painting" to "Color of The Season/Year" and anything in between.

Other topics will be for Kitchen Cabinet Painting, Interior & Exterior Paint projects, Staining, Power-Washing etc.

Thank you for reading and stay tuned!

Izzy Siskos MOTIV Premium Painting