The economy is faltering. An ever-increasing minimum wage yields fewer jobs. State revenue shortfalls drive costs of college education upward. With all these factors in mind, it’s good news to find a company that gives college willing students the challenge of entrepreneurship through a summer internship.

College Works Painting, headquartered in Santa Ana, Calif., is part of National Services Group. It offers a limited number of managerial jobs running seasonal house painting ventures. The company provides a proven framework for the young entrepreneur to work in, much like a franchise does.

College Works students manage their own painting business over the summer, under the guidance of a District Manager. Ninety students statewide, among them, David Ryan of Illahee, were selected from over four thousand applicants for an internship.

Since Ryan is leaning toward a degree in business, he’ll get real world experience. He will design and implement a marketing program, conduct sales approaches, estimate projects, work with customers, and recruit, hire, train, and manage employees.

Once he books his first jobs, he will be guaranteed a line of credit with a major retail supplier, where he will receive volume discounts. This will permit him to buy the necessary materials to run his operation, without impacting his personal cash flow. Good decisions and hard work will be rewarded by receiving a percentage of the profits from his jobs. The better he estimates and manages his operation, the more he will earn.

The average net profit over a summer is projected to be just short of $10,000. High achievers have earned as much as $30,000. On top of that, he earns two credit hours at school.

His training began over spring break when he spent days learning the hands-on skills to train a crew. Training stressed quality, integrity, and thorough prep work. By the end, he was working with the district manager learning how to estimate work. At the end of spring break, he stood ninth among the student managers in the amount he booked for work this summer.

Ryan had adjusted his workload at Western Washington University to be able to spend Fridays and Mondays in Kitsap County, working to find prospects, so that he could hit the ground running when the Spring quarter ended. He plans to have a very busy summer.

Experienced, successful managers of previous summers are offered the opportunity to become a District Manager, whose job it is to hire and supervise crew managers. Their skills in selecting the right people will reflect in individual income, since it is a performance driven system.

Ryan’s territory extends from East Bremerton to the north end of the county. Another student is assigned Port Orchard and West Bremerton. A third is in the Gig Harbor area.

Naturally, summer is the best time to paint your house around here, and if you need it done this year, there are a number of students ready to do a professional job.

To inquire, call College Works Painting (888) 450-WORK or visit www.collegeworks.com.