College Works Painting is an innovative business, set up in 1993. The organization provides meaningful internships for college students thinking about eventually starting their own business, or becoming an entrepreneur. The company gives selected interns the opportunity to set up their own house painting franchise, whilst providing a service to homeowners across 19 states. This two-pronged approach gives students a taste of the skills required for success, whilst also giving good value to the customer. College Works Painting bids very competitively for jobs, undercutting most other contractors, without compromising on quality.

This flagship enterprise is designed to teach real-world skills, applicable to any future business ventures. Rather than learning corporate-speak, whilst spending the summer stuck behind a bank desk, eligible students learn entrepreneurship skills the hard way. The selected few become branch managers, ultimately responsible for success or failure, with no hiding place. Hard work is rewarded, and the intern has the opportunity to earn money for tuition fees in a more constructive way than flipping burgers.

The Branch Managers are in sole charge of hiring staff, generating business leads, ordering supplies and ensuring that the job is completed to the customer’s satisfaction. The most important aspect of the franchise is marketing through getting out there and meeting people, an essential part of any sales driven business.

These skills and traits are extremely useful to the student if they wish to become businesspeople or entrepreneurs after they have finished their studies. Despite the tough nature of the work, the Branch Managers do receive help from the College Works hierarchy. The organization provides training, support, and an experienced regional manager providing an extra layer of help. Nevertheless, the student has a large burden of responsibility, and the going does get tough very quickly. Learning on the job is easily the best way to learn difficult skills, through trial and error.

The company employs 2000 college students every year, and the interviews are extremely intensive, ensuring that the best and the brightest are chosen to become branch managers. The painting crews are a mixture of students and experienced painting contractors, ensuring that there is a good mixture of skills and enthusiasm to ensure a good quality paint job.

College Works Painting promises to use only the highest quality 100% Acrylic paints, sourced from manufacturers such as Kelly-Moore, ICI and Parker Paints. Whilst the Branch Managers are drawn from a pool of the brightest and most talented students, the members of the painting crew are experienced painters. This ensures that the task is performed to a high standard, and a two-year warranty provides an extra layer of security.

Unlike many of the lower-end painting contactors, who cut corners by slapping a new layer of paint on top of the old, College Works pays attention to the critical preparation stage of the process. This part of the job, which takes three quarters of the time, involves repairing minor damage, removing loose paint and priming the painting surface. Failure to perform these tasks leads to a short lifetime for the coating, and the paint will soon begin to crack and peel. The organization offers a five-year materials warranty, and makes no labor charges for any problems occurring within the first two years. Most paint jobs will need a little minor maintenance, including sanding down small flaws and retouching, so the guarantee gives added piece of mind.

The company paints over 12 000 homes every year, and is one of the largest and most successful painting contractors in the US. The customer is guaranteed a high quality job, saves a little money, and contributes to the education of the nation. College Works clearly states on its website that it has a 97% satisfaction rate, a very good return, and one that any painting contractor would be proud of.

For the customer, the company offers a high quality job at an extremely competitive price. There is a slight risk, because you are employing an inexperienced company, but they are also keen to be successful, really do not want to fail and, generally, go that extra mile to please. There is a risk of finding a bad contractor whatever price you pay, and this company certainly does not take the money and run or use substandard supplies.

The main benefit to the selected Branch Managers is that the organization teaches students how to manage their own business and learn a useful trade. Unlike other franchise operations, no money is paid upfront, a perfect situation for impoverished interns. The work is not easy, and the student soon realizes the importance of a strong work ethic, good organization and the ability to multi-task. The most important lesson that the intern learns is the power of marketing. To make any operation work, they need to go and generate leads, rather than sit back and hope that the work comes to them.

These valuable life-lessons cannot be learned at university or in some of the corporate internships, where every meaningful decision is made at a higher level. With the College Works system, the onus is on the individual to make success happen. The intern learns to deal with the bad customers, the late suppliers and the million and one other things that can go wrong in any contracting business. Leadership and good management can only be honed through experience, and learning from mistakes.

Money is earned through hard work and application, and, whilst any young businessperson is going to make some mistakes, continued bad practice will see the business fail. This internship is not about receiving good grades from a professor. Success is measured in the only meaningful way, through dollars.

To summarize, College Works Painting is a unique organization that gives students the chance to do something constructive with their internship. The selected interns quickly learning how to run and set up a business, through generating leads, hiring staff and developing leadership skills. This experience will give budding entrepreneurs a taste of the character traits needed to start up a successful business.

Becoming a Branch Manager is extremely stressful, with long hours and tough targets, but that is the same for any new business venture. Setting up a business is extremely tough, so the College Works Painting program teaches students the value of hard work and organization. For any student wishing to gain experience, and make a fair wage for a day’s work, then this internship is an excellent choice. College Work’s franchise experience will look good on any resume.

For the customer, the scheme gives the opportunity to have their house painted for a reasonable price, whilst helping a student save a little money for their college tuition fees. The company’s attention to detail and professionalism gives excellent dollar value, and their use of high quality products, backed up by a strong warranty, gives a level of service unrivalled by most contractors.