Some college internships offer students excellent financial benefits and invaluable experience, but some offer a little bit more.

College Pro, a corporation that sells exterior residential and light commercial painting franchises, provides college students with the ability to not only make money, but to actually run a business.

Joe O’Connor, a sophomore accounting major and a franchise manager for College Pro, said there’s a lot involved in running a day-to-day business.

“College Pro will give you all the training necessary to learn about running your own franchise,” he said. “You buy the necessary materials, hire your own workers and adopt unique methods of your own for running a business.”

OMIS major Andy Pelz said learning the business aspects on his own was the best part of being a College Pro franchisor.

“All the business fields are learned as a franchisor,” Pelz said. “You get control of every aspect: marketing, sales, operations.”

Caleb Brunz, a senior district manager for College Pro in the Minneapolis district, said College Pro offers the ability to learn the skills of running a business.

“Our workers learn all the aspects of running a business from financial management to people management, conflict resolution and marketing,” he said.

College Pro was founded in 1971 by a student looking for a good summer job, and it began full-time franchising in 1978 throughout Canada and the United States.

College Pro has many United States bases, including one just outside of Chicago. For those who want to become franchisors, the job is year-round, beginning with a three-week training term Jan. 1. The operating term, in which franchisors do the actual managing and running of the business, begins May 1 and lasts until Sept. 1, when all financial activity is reconciled.

College Pro franchisors also hire all the painters that do the actual work through telephone calls and advertisements, and Dan Olsen, a junior elementary

education major who works under O’Connor, said the painting internship is excellent for anyone looking to have a good job while still enjoying their summer break.

“Working as a painter gives me the opportunity to work with friends and work outdoors,” Olsen said. “You don’t have to have a summer job where you’re always looking out the window. And with a boss that is on your level and good guys all around you, the job sounds like more than one that offers a great salary.”

O’Connor agreed.

“The people that you hire are going to be about your age, so you work with people that you can relate to,” he said. “A really good part of the job is hours. You work a 40-hour week from about seven o’clock in the morning until four o’clock in the afternoon. The benefit there is that your weekends and nights are completely free.”

O’Connor believes working for College Pro helps people to decide which business field to pursue.

“I am a business major, but I’m not sure which path to take,” he said. “College Pro helps me discover every path, and from then, hopefully I’ll decide which one to choose.”

Anyone interested in finding a summer internship as either a College Pro painter or franchisor can call 1-800-32-PAINT for more information.