FAQs try to put everything in black and white and discuss the exciting and challenging parts of becoming a small business owner with College Pro Painters. It’s not the same as talking to someone. If you are serious, the best thing you can do is to talk directly to people about their experiences, both good and challenging. We encourage you to meet and talk to the GM or VP in your area.

1 . If College pro sounds too good to be true; is it?

Anything that sounds too good to be true usually is. College Pro wants to ground you in the reality of the excitement and challenges of running your own business. It is not for everyone. However, for those elite candidates that fit, it is a tremendous unparalleled experience. The best way to realize potential is to ensure the small business experience we provide is REAL – that is when transformation really occurs, and we would not have it any other way. It is a real business, and our business models and training systems work.

2. Who is College Pro

You can get a good sense of who we are by looking at our vision and reading about and watching the stories of our people. We have been around for over 35 years and are connected to a large organization called The Franchise Company (TFC) If you really want to know about us and hear our story – call or email us and we would be glad to take some time, listen to your questions and tell you our story.

3. What do you mean by "Hard work"? What will be expected of me?

The College Pro spring time commitment is equivalent to being involved in a Division 1 or varsity sports team, being an active member of student politics or having a significant part time job. Summer becomes full-time and how much free time you have will be dependent on how quickly you apply the knowledge you learned in your training to your business.

4. How much money can I make?

The amount of money a franchisee makes depends on a number of different factors, including how much revenue they bring in and how they manage their costs (labor, materials, etc.). The amount of money you can make is not capped by College Pro. You get out of the business what you put into the business.

We are very proud of how much profit our average franchisee makes, and we’d love to share it – however, College Pro Painters is a franchise and is governed by different laws that restrict us from making any sort of wage claims, as we don’t guarantee any specific amount of profit. All this information is publicly available to candidates who are in the selection process.

5. What kind of training do you provide?

You need look no further than our mission to tell you how seriously we take this: To provide exceptional management and leadership training to young entrepreneurs through real-world business experiences.

College Pro is a world-class learning organization that has been written about and admired for its development programs. Training leaders and managers to run effective small- to medium-sized business is one of our core competencies. People learn differently – some by watching, some by reflecting, some by doing, and some by reading – and we try to encompass all of the different learning styles in our training.

Our training takes place on weekends during the winter and spring months so as not to interfere with the students’ school schedule. We follow up our classroom training with work in the field. Our full-time General Managers (who were all franchisees in college themselves) work with our franchisees by going out into the field on their first estimates to coach them, as well as visit the franchisees and painters at job sites in the summer. In addition, our franchise managers have weekly phone meetings with their General Managers to consult on their business. We are heavily invested in our franchisees success.

6. Is this just for business majors?

Absolutely not! We’re looking for people who want to gain hands-on, real world experience in a lot of skills that are useful in all majors. You will gain real life experience working with people, leading people, communicating, negotiating, sales, conflict management, financial management, and more.

What about if I am graduating or a recent graduate? Can I still apply and is it right for me?

We challenge you to find any "entry level "career opportunity that compares to running your own business. How many friends do you know that go into their first jobs after graduating and dislike it? Or don’t know what they want to do? Or want to work and then travel before they start a career, but can’t get enough money to pay for it? This opportunity provides graduating students or recent graduates a chance to make money while they increase skills and make themselves more attractive to employers, or better skilled to run their own business. We would be happy to connect you to other franchisees who were in your situation and became a franchisee in their graduating year or after they graduated.

7. Can I really do all this while at school?

We understand that as a college student, your first responsibility is school. College Pro is a system that has been designed for college students while they are in school. The College Pro spring time commitment is equivalent to being involved in a Division 1 or varsity sports team, being an active member of student politics or having a significant part-time job. That is why we look for people who can handle it.

8. Do I need to have my own equipment?

Yes – however, College Pro assumes that you don’t have a bunch of ladders just lying around your house! College Pro will establish a line of credit for you at a local paint store (usually Sherwin-Williams) for you to use for initial purchases of equipment and supplies. You are free to buy your own equipment anywhere you want. You are running your own business, so you will need a way to get around in the summer and transport ladders and equipment to painting crews.

9. Do you give me painters? Or where do I get them?

You hire your own workers! College Pro will train you on the selection and training of your workers, as well as coordinating centralized recruiting efforts by placing ads in major school newspapers, advertising on on-line job boards, coordinating spring job fairs, and giving you a list of people that painted for College Pro in previous years. You are also encouraged to utilize your own social networks.

10. Where will I be working?

We assign each of our franchise managers a mutually exclusive area in which they run their business. We will do our best to accommodate each franchisee’s request for an area, and try to place them as close to their hometown area as possible (provided they want to work from home in the summer!). We have franchise areas in locations across a majority of the communities in the northern half of the US, and throughout Canada.

11. Are there any Awards?

College Pro recognizes our top rookie franchisees and top returning franchisees at our Annual Presidents Award Ceremony. We pay for a trip for our franchisees to receive this award at our National Award Ceremony. These Award Ceremonies took place most recently in Orlando and Montreal.

Our Rookie Presidents Award winners must produce at least $105,000 in sales in a year, and our Senior Managers must produce at least $135,000. Our Platinum Franchisees are our top franchisees, and receive special recognition and special opportunities. All of our award winners must also deliver a minimum of a 95% customer satisfaction to be eligible to receive their awards.