Is Gaining Sales and Management Experience a Scam?
By Tim Packard
Feb 10, 2012
How can an inexperienced college student change the definition of a scam? Well, some students claim it is if they didn’t get compensated for the work they performed in the internship. Well, guess what, in an internship there are paid and unpaid internships. And in this one “you are trained” to manage a crew of worker, in essence you are self-employed, by scheduling times for your painting crew to start and finish, order paint supplies, and so forth. 
College Works Painting internship is one where you will learn to operate a house painting business similar to a plumber, carpenter or electrician. They have their support crew to do the job while you are in the neighborhood selling to homeowners. It may sound like a daunting task as we hear only of complaints by former interns. Well, the truth is there are also just as many if not more former interns who have done very well in the internship. Some have earned $10,000 to $30,000 for 3 to 4 months of work. It may have involved long hours but what career doesn’t require that to succeed beyond your expectations in life.
Almost every field from Performing Arts to Sports requires you to put in some time and some of your own funds to be successful. Try a internship in the entertainment industry where it is not uncommon to work 12 to 16 hour days FREE or for small wages. Is that a scam? No. Early on in the majority of people’s lives, many of them had bosses or managers they complain about. Is life a cakewalk? No. Not even for a US President’s daughter or son and that is what many college students need to learn about the real world. Things are not supposed to come easy. This is partly the parents fault as society has coddle their kids too much in the most recent generation so once the student get some work, their expectations are not realized.
I remember my very first job and boss at a drugstore. The guy was always pissed and didn’t care if it was me or some innocent consumer. I think to myself now. Wow, he must have been a bad father to have or he was treated the same way by his dad. Nonetheless, I persevered from minimum wage to double my salary. Being a first job for me, of course it was hard but looking back I am glad I gained that experience.
That is the same that can be said from numerous students who participated in the College Works Internship. There are countless success stories from past interns who now have a successful career in other fields by gaining marketing and management experience at College Works. Watch the Videos to see for yourself versus focusing on the complaints. Just about any job has some drawbacks when you are not fully in charge. If your objective in life is to work for someone else in a low level staff position, then it may not be the internship for you. On the other hand if your objective is work for yourself as soon as possible right out of college in a managerial position, this experience will get you closer to that goal. A College Works scam? No, but it is a student internship to help you in the future.
Losing money? No. Gas money is in almost cases the responsibility of the worker; especially someone who is new. Expenses on supplies are tax-deductible and can be sold second-hand later in worst-case scenarios.
- Do all of these students lose money? No. Obviously this internship program would not have survived since 1993 if a considerable amount made zero money
- Do the majority of them lose money? No. Again see above.
- Am I required to work long hours? Yes. Homes are primarily painted during sunny weather so you want to get out there in the morning hours with your supplies and crew and move on to the next home.
Why Do I Hear Some Student Painters Calling it a Scam? Some students may have had a 6-to-8 hour workday attitude, not very organized with their crew and/or were not effective communicators. Almost all businesses have been labeled a scam such as Walgreens, Sears, Best Buy etc. There is always going to be a person who voices their complaints similar to the glass half-full or half-empty syndrome.
The whole gamut of guidance and mentoring is free of charge too. A lot of interns who participated in and fulfilled the internship claimed it was an ideal experience. Ultimately, interns build upon and perfect their communication, leadership, supervisory, and management of time, skills. The college students more or less are skilled and then, from the supervision of their mentors, create a small firm which they direct during the summer.
Its not like some other program out there. I made about $12,000 over the summer season, which I believe is decent for an internship. Particularly, I was considering many other internships I inquired about and found out they are not paid. With these internships, your income is the training, experience, etc. and the possibility that you could be be provided a job with the company upon graduation. College works offers you that along with the ability to run your own business, should you want to go that route.
College Works is a long established and reputable firm that has offered thousands of college aged adults unsurpassed management training and coaching over the years. College Works Paintings student workers are given the training and tools needed to not only be taught the intricacies of operating a business but to expand and refine customer service and business operations expertise in a real world work setting. On prime of this, they provide high quality painting services (backed by a 24 month guarantee on work and a 5 Year Guarantee on supplies) throughout their term with the company in addition to gaining invaluable experience in customer service and enterprise operations.
College works can also be a career chance. A lot of interns return to work with the company for lots of years after. The underside line is it’s straightforward to jot down this program off as a rip-off as a result of there are so many others which might be similar and very well may be scams, or might demand the students to shell out start-up expenses or “purchase in” to the company virtually like it’s a mini franchise. This is not the circumstances with college works. I might suggest, in the future, earlier than making posts, that you simply educate yourselves on the corporate/ program in question.
Like a lot of opportunities seeking to entice driven younger college aged adults, many college students discover themselves thinking is their a”College Works Painting Scam or not?” I say and others say NOT!
2 Scams to Watch Out For
Scam #1: I’ll need the cash in the Beginning
That is the most typical con submitted to the Better Business Bureau. Your contractor explains that as a result of them having to purchase supplies and rent construction equipment to have the work initiated, he wants, around 30-percent to 50 percent of the work expenses at the outset. Once you’ve given up the cash, one of two things can happen: He goes away and never to be heard from again, or he begins doing shoddy labor understanding you can not truly fire him because he’s in got 1000′s of your dollars.
Easy Ways to Prevent: Never prepay greater than $1,000 or ten-percent of the project, whichever is the smaller amount. That’s the legal maximum in several states, and an adequate amount to classify you as a genuine buyer so the contractor is able to fit you into his timetable; which is the single-most valid purpose of an up-front payment. As to the supplies and other miscellaneous costs, if they are an expert their suppliers will give them access to the necessary tools on credit.
Scam 2: We Bumped into Some Unexpected Issues
The project is already in process, even perhaps complete, when this one hits. All of a sudden your contractor informs you that the work and expenses will be a lot higher. He holds responsible the invention of structural issues, akin to a termite problems, or omitted beam or blueprint modifications that you simply completed past the project commencement.
The additional charges can possibly be totally legit, but some dishonest contractors purposely sell customers with lowball estimates to secure the job after which they identify reasons to raise the price soon after. When you’re not sure whether your contractor is giving you the whole truth on the matter of improvement, you may get an impartial opinion from another contractor and even your local building division.
Methods to Protect Yourself from a Scam: Before signing the contract, be certain it features a clause to change orders -mini-contracts containing a little description and a firm price-for anything that must be added to the job currently in process. The extra work, whether or not it’s related to unforeseen building issues or homeowner problems, can proceed only after the change order is endorsed by both homeowner and contractor.