Meet Valeriano Terpaken,

Originally from the Philippines, it was a change of environment and line of work when Valeriano came to Australia. After having worked for another painter and decorator and learning his way around the different jobs, to really take his skills and competencies to the next level, he enrolled in the Certificate III in Painting and Decorating at Orange College, graduating in December 2022.

In the tail end of his course, he commenced his own enterprise, VTT Painting and Decorating, and he now works with four different builders and has just taken on his first full time employee just over a month ago. Studying at Orange College gave Valeriano a more well-rounded knowledge of the industry, including the Australian Standards, safety measures, managing work flow and more detail about each of the technical aspects of completing the jobs. More significantly in Valeriano’s case, as a new business owner, knowing how to price jobs accurately, and organising sales, and how to work out the business side of the job was a major upskill that he was able to get from the trainers and the course at Orange College.

For Valeriano, he loves the job, and when you know what to do, that’s the easy part. The more challenging part is to manage other aspects of the business, such as building rapport with the clients and ensuring that everyone from the client to the staff are well-looked after throughout the whole process of the job. As Orange College’s trainers are experienced professionals, they give students a real leg up in all aspects of being a painter. It was hard to tease out any part of the job that Valeriano doesn’t love, but with more clients and more work to do, the biggest issue is meeting all of the deadlines – growing pains in a burgeoning new business.

You can follow Valeriano and VTT Painting and Deco here: https://www.facebook.com/vttpaintingdecorating/

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