When considering painting your home, a lot of people become very excited about working outside, rolling up their sleeves and getting their hands dirty.  The do-it-yourself culture has been inspired by countless shows on the HGTV and the DIY network, and countless projects are able to be tackled by the average homeowner who has little to no experience.  Exterior painting is not one of those projects, and is, instead, a very complicated, labor intensive, risky project.

Before I worked for, or even heard of College Pro Painters, I had a bunch of other jobs:  Tim Hortons, London Drugs, Footlocker, and a local restaurant called Tulios just to name a few. Each job helped me increase my skillset and knowledge in a different area. I enjoyed most of my past jobs, but always felt like I wasn’t being used to my potential.

“Only you can control your future”.   I know it’s a bit weird that I would start an article off with a quote from Dr. Seuss, but it just felt appropriate.  It’s concise, it’s straight forward, and it’s 100% true.  If you want something out of your life, frankly you’re the only one that can make it happen.  Though–that doesn’t mean you can’t have help.

 College Pro Painters provides numerous jobs for college students across North America.  Whether you are an engineer student or a Commerce student–if you want to have control in where you end up in life, the Franchise Manager role is something worth looking into!

College Pro found me in a first year economics class at UVic, and, after a few interviews, I was asked to join the team.  I thought College Pro would just be another summer job – working for another company and doing the regular assignments for the ‘man’, but, wow, was I wrong.

At first when I joined I figured I needed to run the business on my own.  I had no past experiences with running a business and had never painted before in my life.  Needless to say I was a bit anxious about how I was going to get this new summer job done.  I knew myself fairly well before I started this opportunity; I was a hard worker and fairly capable at handling new ideas and concepts.  I was pretty confident that this would be a challenge I could tackle and do well at.

Hi. My name is Charlie Ober and I have recently become a franchise manager at College Pro Painters in Waltham, Massachusetts. College Pro Painters is giving me the great opportunity to run my own small painting business with all the support and reputation of a large company.

I studied Business Management at Northeastern University in Boston, and College Pro Painters is an opportunity for me to apply what I have learned. It will be a chance for me to get involved in something where my success or failure is determined entirely on my skills and decisions.

The New Year is upon us, what was your resolution?  Why not focus on Building skills for a lifetime with College Pro Painters or College Pro Window Cleaning?  Becoming an entrepreneur can be a great first step for building your business skills.  Learning the core three fundamentals of College Pro’s Development program (Coaching, Conflict Resolution and Problem Solving) could be the first step you take in building skills that will provide a lifetime of growth in your professional and personal lives.

Many students today are interested in entrepreneurship and are intrigued by an entrepreneurial experience.  With a lagging job market, it is critical for students to set themselves apart through unique experiences.  Entrepreneurship is about learning all aspects of business, from finances, to strategy, to leadership.  College Pro Painters is an excellent place for a student to gain real entrepreneurial experience.  There are many jobs that a student can do over a summer break from school.  Some will give them industry experience, some will pay the bills, and some will help people develop.  College Pro Painters is an experience focused on developing skills and investing into your development.

The College Pro Painters program can be one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences a student can do.  Students who take on this business opportunity gain hands-on experience actually running a business, rather than just simulating the different parts to it.  The skills you gain include marketing your business, leading a team of painters, and working with customers.  Each of these skills are challenging, but what makes many students in the College Pro Painters program come back year after year is that these skills are also fun, as this article will describe!

To build a successful business it’s not simply enough to have exceptional technical skill. With the ability to connect with experts worldwide using cheap technology such as Skype, email and Facebook you can cheaply connect with “experts” across the globe for next to nothing. What really sets successful entrepreneurs apart is having exceptional soft skills, and those are the main focus of what you’ll develop as a franchise manager with College Pro Painters.

It started with an e-mail, a seemingly random one and probably the most impactful one I will ever have received in my life.   The regional General Manager with College Pro Painters reached out to the membership of my business fraternity, Alpha Kappa Psi, and my chapter president forwarded it out to the group.    The email read something about “college student opportunities” and “run your own business while in school”, and what they called an “informational session”.  The times were 8, 9 and 10 AM the next day to get information about it.    I had class at 9 the next day so the 8 AM slot would be my only chance.    Yeah right, I thought…this guy’s crazy thinking he’s going to get college students to an 8 AM timeslot on a Friday morning.    “I won’t make that,” I thought.