Last year my daughter (then a freshman in college) signed up for a summer internship with
College Works Painting , a program run by
National Services Group. She's now done and I thought I'd update you on how it went, in case any of your kids are interested in something like this.
Summary: The company is reputable, and the experience was a good one. DD learned a lot, although she ended up not making enough to cover her living expenses for the spring/summer.
She ran her own painting company after some training in marketing, painting and estimating. She bought equipment and paint, and hired crews to do the work. The training and marketing started in March, and so it interfered a bit with school work.
Once school was out she worked seven days a week interviewing and hiring, and going door to door seeking painting contracts.
By the end of the summer she had booked and completed $60,000 worth of painting jobs. CWP takes 40% of that, which left $36K. She spent 19K on payroll and 10K on paint, supplies and equipment. The result was about 7K for her.
Where she went wrong was with expenses that were too high. That is, she paid her painters too well, and bought paint that was too expensive. Her expenses were about 50% of the gross revenue whereas many of the interns had expenses of only 25%.
Bottom Line: A program like this is worth considering.
Quote:
). 
Linear Mode
