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Review of the College Pro Painters Franchise Opp and Startup Costs

Unlike other franchise opportunities, College Pro Painters is geared toward the student leaders in North America who are looking to gain experience in owning and operating their own small business. The focus of this work is simple: a student franchise manager will help to paint and clean windows in commercial and residential settings. This organization hires its General Managers from their student franchisers, so if you’re a college student right now looking to break into the business world, this could be the opportunity you’ve been needing!

Isn’t College Pro Painters a Scam?

There are many who have not experienced success with this organization and have found it difficult to operate their own small business using their formula. What you’re essentially doing is becoming an independent contractor with this organization as a student franchise manager. As an IC, your compensation package is based on how much work you do and the amount of time it takes you to complete it.

For example: you’ve accepted $200 to complete a window washing job on your college campus. The job is extensive and requires a new tool, which costs you $40. Your net profitability for income has now dropped to $160. It takes you 3 days to complete the job, or 24 total hours. The effective pay rate for this job is $6.67 per hour. If, however, you could complete the job in 10 total hours, your compensation rate would be $16 per hour.

Because many students don’t realize the difference between hourly compensation and IC compensation per contract, negative reviews are created that say minimum wage laws are being violated and that this organization is a scam. It is not and you can earn decent money if you are familiar with the tasks at hand. Just last year, one student franchise manager made over $150,000 over the course of just 3 months!

Get Your Application In Now!

Every year, nearly 25,000 students apply to become first-time entrepreneurs with College Pro Painters. Out of all of these applications, only about 700 are selected to become student franchise managers every year. The seasons are broken down in this opportunity as well to help you run your franchise around your school responsibilities. For example:

Winter is all about familiarity and training. The winter season is the perfect time for this service industry to recruit new student franchise managers, train them, and get them orientated to the needs of their region. The typical process involves 2 or 3 interviews before the final selection is made. Once selected, the new manager has the opportunity to contact all of the alumni from previous seasons of work to gain their perspective, learn about the challenges they will face, and get the advice they need to find the most profitability.

Spring is all about establishing your identity. During the Spring session of school, you’ll begin to solicit for contracts from residential and commercial customers. You’ll work on hiring a painting crew if you feel that you’ll need one and you’ll meet regularly with your General Manager to discuss the ins and outs of what creates a successful franchise opportunity. Most student franchise managers work between 15-20 hours per week during this period, around their college classes, and much of the work tends to be on the weekends. There are also mandatory training sessions.

Summer is all about making money. Once school is out for the Summer, the workload for the average student franchise manager tends to increase. Most end up working an average of a 50 hour work week which can include nights and weekends, though most work hours are during daylight hours. You’ll be training your crews, continuing to solicit for more contracts, and oversee the production and quality of the work. You’ll also oversee your franchise’s finances, provide estimates, and then close down the business once the fall session of school begins.

How Long Can I Be a Student Franchise Manager?

Most students decide to take advantage of this opportunity for just one year. If there has been a high level of success involved with franchise opportunity, a second year of running a franchise is not that uncommon. Because the General Managers are chosen from the alumni, many student franchise managers work hard to establish a successful identity so that they may be in the running for a future open position.

Because this is a painting business, there are supply costs that are part of this opportunity. The average student franchise manager ends up investing nearly $18,000 in total for supplies, such as ladders, paint brushes, and other essential equipment. A 1% royalty is also assessed on each contract for the national telephone service for referrals, with the minimum charge for this royalty being $975. There is no franchise fee and nothing is actually ever paid out of pocket.

The breakeven point for the typical student franchise manager is $35,000 in total jobs. Once profitability occurs, a 21% royalty is required of profits above this point. In return for these royalties, the manager gets the equipment they need, a credit line at Sherwin Williams for paint, and all of the equipment becomes an asset for the manager. There are also no termination costs if a student franchise manager wishes to leave the business and up to 5% of the royalties can be negated if sales goals are met.

When managed correctly, College Pro Painters offers students the chance to gain valuable experience that will help them with future job opportunities. Sometimes a franchise opportunity isn’t very successful, but that can be simply because of market conditions for a year. If a student has equipment or assets already, these costs can be negated. It all adds up to an incredible opportunity and slots fill up fast. If you want a chance for your own franchise, then get your application in today!

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