No Painting Experince

I am writing this letter today to explain my experience this past summer working as a Franchisee for Student Works Painting. First I will go through why I decided to join, then go through my expectations going in, and finally how the summer turned out.

This all began when I saw a clipboard being passed around one of my lectures. All I read on it was the amount it said I could make over the summer. I missed the little presentation as I was late to class, but was instantly inclined to put my name down and find out more information. When I found out the business I would be running was a painting business I was a little confused and unsure how I would make any money painting. Personally I do not necessarily enjoy painting nor did I have much experience. However, I decided to give it a try because it sounded like a life changing experience. Learning the ropes of how to run a business myself and all the character traits I would learn and enhance would be indefinitely beneficial even if the summer did not turn out the best financially. Eventually I want to run my own business, both my parents run small businesses of their own and are very successful so I saw this opportunity as a way to get my feet wet and some experience.

After being chosen as a franchisee and signing on I spent the next while just focusing on school. Once training started and the business began to form, the goals and expectations were set fairly high. I had big hopes for the summer and felt prepared to take on the challenge. I knew it was not going to be easy and that I would have to put in the time and effort. Initially it was a bit overwhelming until I figured out how I wanted to organize and do each task. Once a rhythm was established, everything seemed much easier and less stressful. I had to do this for each new element of the business. Recruiting, Cold Calling, Marketing, and Production I was always nervous to start and may have procrastinated sometimes, but after I got up and just did it a few times I saw how simple everything is and felt much more comfortable going forward. The toughest part was finding a balance between each area of the business and also having enough time for school and sports. There was minimal free time in my schedule once the preseason started, but it was worth every hour come production.

Overall I felt my summer went well. Obviously the first year, first time I was not the best at it or most prepared. Now that I know the ropes and have been through everything I think coming back I would do a lot better. For starters I would follow the guidelines set out by Student Works. Like a lot of other franchisees, I was either too lazy or thought I had better methods. Well they did not always work and I will be sure to follow all techniques and methods next year when I come back. My biggest downfall was concentrating too much on production and not enough on marketing. Once my production started I was solely focused on managing the painters and making sure each job was running smoothly. The up side of that was I had six very good painters and my initial jobs were done very well, I earned referrals and reference letters, it all seemed good. Then I eventually ran out of work because I did not go cold calling or marketing for over a month. I quickly learned why you must always have a balance and be on top of things. If you respond quickly smaller issues like paint spills and upset clients get taken care of with ease and before it becomes a big concern. Basically when I stayed in touch with painters and clients and addressed any problems immediately, the jobs ran smooth and my days were more enjoyable.