Painting. Not the one framed on your wall. Painting your walls. That’s Yoel’s business.
What I enjoyed most when speaking to Yoel Tabak was the seeming simplicity of his career—painting walls. In a world where many companies are based solely on technology, talking about a business built on an everyday need was a fun conversation to have.
Yoel pointed out to me, though, that he is constantly looking at ways to use technology to improve his business.
Going from being a rebbi in cheder to starting his own company that is growing day by day, Yoel learned on the job as a salesman, eventually partnering up and starting Artistic Paint.
Today, Yoel paints (via the company, not personally; more on that later) new construction projects, renovation projects, and some residential properties as well.
Yoel has a laid-back style of speaking and is constantly smiling and laughing—a style that suits his fast-paced business well. After reading this, you won’t look at paint the same way again. Enjoy!
—Nesanel
I was born in Williamsburg, and I’ve lived there my entire life. Growing up, I learned in Satmar and went to Monroe Yeshiva for mesivta.
“My father is from Borough Park and grew up in the Nitra kehillah. I’m the oldest of nine. My father has always worked hard to support the family, but when I was growing up it was hard to make ends meet. He started out at a lumberyard, and from there he went to Cubitac Cabinetry, a company that makes kitchen and bath cabinets. Now, he’s a salesman for Fabuwood.
“My personality is not to be content just sitting in my chair. I’m always thinking about doing something bigger than my current project. When I was in Yeshivah Ohr Torah in Monsey, I called my Uncle Yoeli, who was a manager at Golden Taste, which sells dips and spreads. I asked him to give me 20 containers of all types of dips so that I could sell them to the bachurim in yeshivah. I don’t know why he trusted me, but he gave them to me at a wholesale price, and I was able to sell them at the retail price.
“I also sold fish in yeshivah. The fish they served wasn’t very popular, so I would go to a takeout fish store and buy some for seven dollars and resell it for ten dollars. I was always trying to sell something to make a bit of money.
“After I got married, I went to learn in kollel. After I’d been there for a while, I began to notice that life was pretty expensive. I calculated our costs, then I looked at my kollel paycheck combined with my wife’s paycheck from her job, and I realized that we didn’t have enough to live on. I didn’t want to ask my parents and friends for money. Rent cost X, and groceries cost between $40-$50 a week. We were a young couple, and I knew expenses would only increase.
“Since I wanted to stay in kollel, I figured I’d start looking for a job that was involved with Torah, so I took a substitute teacher position in Satmar cheder. I started learning with the older kids and found that it was going very well. This was in 2014, when I was 20 years old; I made $12 an hour.
“Someone told me that I could make more money in Borough Park, so I started advertising my services. I went to the Borough Park schools, and they asked me how much I wanted to be paid. I asked for $15 an hour thinking that I was being smart. They accepted my offer, and I became very busy with all of my new clients. In hindsight, I can see that I had so many clients because I was seriously undercharging.
“After a few months, I was offered a position as a regular rebbi at a different cheder. In my first year, I had 35 students and was very successful. The students loved me and I loved my job. Then I got an offer to be a rebbi in a cheder for seventh grade boys. I started teaching 25 kids. That school was having problems with the building department, and they were kicked out of their building. In my first year of teaching there, the school moved 20 or 25 times. Every few days, we would pack up and switch buildings. It was really difficult to teach in that environment. It wasn’t easy for the boys to learn, either.
“The next year, I had only 16 students. The following year, I had 12 students. It was not a stable job. In my fifth year there, I had only five students in my class. I thought to myself, ‘What am I doing here?’ I asked my rebbe, the Satmar Rebbe, what to do. He told me that I should leave the cheder.
“I had been taking classes in real estate, but I was afraid to venture into that industry because I was worried about my parnasah. My plan was to be a real estate broker, and the Rebbe agreed that it was a good plan. When I told the cheder that I planned on leaving, the administrator told me that the school would shut down if I were to leave. I told him that the Rebbe said that I had to leave, so they went to the Rebbe and told him that if the cheder closes, it would be my fault. I went back to the Rebbe, and he asked me why I wanted to leave. I told him that I didn’t have the patience to sit with five students and learn. I wasn’t a private tutor. I wanted to grow, not sit. I felt that I had much more potential that couldn’t be realized by teaching there. The Rebbe gave me his brachah.
“I started to work in real estate. I also had a job as an English teacher in the afternoons. For the real estate, I would make a list for investors who were looking for specific propertie, and try to find them something suitable. I looked into markets in Brooklyn and Newark to see where I could fit in. I was struggling. I only made $500 a week from teaching, and I had a family at this point. I needed to pay for my car, my rent and my groceries. This was in 2020. I finally started making a few deals, but then Covid hit.
“No one was interested in buying. It was a crazy time. I hadn’t made any impressive deals. I thought it was probably the right moment to leave the industry, and I started to look for a side job. I called a friend who was working for a large bakery and asked if I could become a salesman for them. He said, ‘Are you crazy? I’m cutting my sales in half. I don’t need another salesman.’ I called another friend, and it was basically the same story.
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