Alumni Directory

Daniel Champagne

Certified Financial Planner
Barnum Financial Group

School Information

School: University of Connecticut

College Major: Business

 Years at College Works: 2006 to 2008

Career Information

Working For: Barnum Financial Group

Title: Certified Financial Planner

Industry: Finance

Brief Description of Duties / Responsibilities:

Comprehensive financial planning for individual families and businesses. Planning retirements, college funding, insurance, investments, health care, savings plans, tax and debt reduction strategies.

What Has Been Your Proudest Accomplishment Post-CWP?

Becoming successful in my career while still maintaining a very active and balanced lifestyle outside of the office.

College Works Career Impact

In one sentence, what has CW meant to you?

Learning what it really means to work hard while developing communication and entrepreneurial skills that you will find nowhere else.

How did your CW experience impact your career? Immediately after graduation? Now?

I believe College Works Painting was the #1 reason why I was hired at my existing firm. The skills I have communicating with people are 100% credited to my time with College Works Painting, which I believe are the foundation to any successful career in any industry.

What do you want to tell your clients about what it meant to work with them and how it has helped you get to where you are today?

Summer 2007 Diana & Jeff were my first booked job. The feeling of having that trust put into me is amazing, and I was so happy to deliver an amazing paint job for you. Also the before and after transformation of the house was spectacular. I keep those pictures in my portfolio to this day!

What was the greatest lesson you learned from your CW experience?

What hard work really looks and feels like. You don’t know what it means to be “busy” or have “a lot of work to do” until you go through this program.

How have the friendships and networks you built during CW affected you?

I developed a few strong friendships along the way, and even though we’ve gone down separate roads since, we’ve always stayed in touch.

If you had to come up with a one line slogan for CW, what would it be?

We give you the opportunity to acquire more transferable real life skills than any diploma can, and you make money doing it!

Advice

What advice do you have for potential CW participants? Current CW participants?

Don’t make the decision to TRY this program. Make the decision to do it, and eliminate failure as a potential option. Don’t let any excuse to not succeed get in your way. Find a way to make it work and don’t let other people and negativity cloud your vision of what is possible. Stay focused, and be aware of how you’re spending your most valuable resource…..TIME. A highly beneficial exercise is to log your entire day in 5 minute intervals for a whole week. Classify how you are spending your time as specifically as you can for that week (eating, showering, studying, walking to class, in class, reading, playing xbox, etc…) . You’ll be amazed how much TIME gets lost to unproductive activity, and this will eliminate the EXCUSE in your mind that you “don’t have enough time” to be successful with College Works Painting.

Many college students struggle to choose between an internship specific to their target industry or doing CW. What advice would you give them on this subject if they wanted to enter your career field?

Communication is #1 is every industry. It is the foundation of interviewing and being effective in any role. This internship puts you WAY outside of your communication comfort zone, and it is only in situations like this where you learn and become better. Being an entrepreneur and operating your own business is extremely difficult, especially at such a young age. Any future employer will recognize this, propelling you in front of the stack of 100’s of resume’s employers receive. The fact that it is house painting does not matter 1%. Sales is an essential skill everywhere. Many fail to recognize at first glance that College Works Painting interns are not selling a paint job to the homeowners, they are selling THEMSELVES. The paint job itself is a commodity. Just like gasoline or a gallon of milk. All else being equal, the homeowner will choose the contractor whom makes them most comfortable. Who they can trust to get the job done right, and will DO WHAT THEY SAY THEY WILL DO (this is rare in many industries, so do it and you will already be ahead of the game). Once you’re able to “sell yourself”, the painting part of it doesn’t matter anymore. This ability transfers to ANY career, as you must sell yourself in interviews, to future clients, bosses, etc…. Business is not an interest for everyone. However, anywhere your career takes you you’re working for some form of a business, even in a government or charity. Dollars come in and get allocated in specific ways to achieve the goal of the business/government or charity. Developing an understanding of the inner working of business will apply anywhere, again giving you an edge over your peers.

What’s your best advice for someone interested in entering your career field?

Work hard, invest in yourself, be a student of the business, never lose your integrity, always do what you say you’re going to do and sometimes more.