Ethan Wirt
- Founder
- 89-PAINT
School Information
School: UVA
College Major: Business
Years at College Works: 2002 to 2005
Career Information
Working For: 89-PAINT
Title: Founder
Industry: ConstructionWhat Has Been Your Proudest Accomplishment Post-CWP?
Taking lots of vacations, and the business survives without me.
College Works Career Impact
In one sentence, what has CW meant to you?
Proof I can do anything I set my mind to.
How did your CW experience impact your career? Immediately after graduation? Now?
I started a painting company that has grown into a multi-million dollar and rapidly growing company and that experience parlayed nicely into my new software/BPO company that has recently raised seed capital from very prominent Angel’s in my town.
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?
The Harmons, 2001. I hired some college kids from another school to paint for me that summer. Little did I know my future wife would end up getting stuck on their roof and I would have to save her.
What was the greatest lesson you learned from your CW experience?
Work smarter, not harder.
How have the friendships and networks you built during CW affected you?
So many fun trips. Rio, Vegas, Florida, Amsterdam, Utah, etc, etc. Some X-CWP’s just started a mastermind group, from all around the country that I’m in – and really looking forward to.
Advice
What advice do you have for potential CW participants? Current CW participants?
If it were easy, everyone would do it, right? Knocking on doors IS THE BEST thing I could have done in college(although I truly hated doing it).
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?
Do College Works Painting or a similar experience based internship – the skills are valuable and translate into any field.
What’s your best advice for someone interested in entering your career field?
Entrepreneurship is very hard work. Sometimes you might have to work really hard at something for 10 or 20 years before you have your “Overnight Success”.
What’s your favorite memory from CW?
Falling asleep on the helicopter to the Grand Canyon because we’d been partying so hard the night before in Vegas.
Last words of wisdom?
Work Hard, Play Harder.