Samuel Eberhart

In one sentence, what has CW meant to you?

College Works Painting gave me valuable business experience and responsibilities that developed my confidence prior to graduating that very few internships could have offered.

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

College Works Painting gave me the general foundation that I needed to manage a business. My experience with College Works Painting also forced me out of my comfort zone.

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?

I do not remember the client’s name, but the house was somewhere in Mesa, Arizona 2008. At that point I had been marketing for over a month with no sales and my confidence was fleeing. This gentleman answered the door and I quickly through out my sales pitch to him, that his foundation needed to be cleaned up and protected, also that while the paint on his fascia still aesthetically looked good that I advised him to get the fascia repainted in the next 2 years in order to re-protect the wood from the rough desert heat. He said, “No Thanks” and began to shut the door on me, rejecting me. As he was literally shutting the door on me, I noticed that I was standing on an Arizona State University door mat and I asked him “Are you a Sun Devil Alumni?”. He instantly perked up and smiled and acknowledged that he was an ASU Alumni. I then asked him what his degree was and he told me he was a Business Major. I then told him that I was a business major their too and that I was still in school. He then opened his front door a little wider and started asking me what I aspired to do with my degree and I explained to him that I wanted to be an entrepreneur. Just so happens, he was an ASU Alumni and a current successful entrepreneur. I then explained to him what CWP was all about and he quickly realized that he was just like me at one point, just getting started. He eventually invited me inside to sit down and invited me to give him my best sales pitch as practice, even though he acknowledged that he still wasnt really interested in getting his house painted at that time, but he wanted to at the very least give me an opportunity to give him my best shot. He played devils advocate and ran me through the ringer and gave me feedback throughout the pitch. I ended up leaving his house with a $1000 deposit check, confidence and even sold me to some of his neighbors that had already shut the door in my face. I could have given up when he started shutting the door and I had my head down and saw his doormat as one more opportunity to build rapport and not only ended up getting my first booked job, but also my second. To this day I owe some of my confidence to that gentleman giving me a fair shot.

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

College Works Painting taught me that it does not matter what widget you are selling, whether it be a $1500 house painting service or $1 Million piece of Industrial Thermal Processing Equipment for Aerospace Manufacturers, many of the entrepreneurial practices & principals are consistent. One example is the importance of building rapport.

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

My team in Arizona during 2007-2008 started with 6 or more of us. After a few months only 3 of us were left including myself. We all became very close thanks to our District Manager JoAnn Ricks. My other 2 team members were Glenn Roehl & Kyle Larson. We all trained and worked together, learned from each other, helped each other, shared resources, would assist each other with door to door marketing, then we would go straight from marketing and call our leads together. We held each other accountable. What amazes me to this day, is that after working together voluntarily all day, we would then voluntarily spend our free time together, usually watching sports or playing video games. Of all of my friends that I went to Arizona State with, the only 2 that I am still best friends with and am in regular contact with are Kyle Larson and Glenn Roehl, both from College Works Painting. We all live in different states, work in different industries and hold completely different positions. While first in foremost we remain friends, we also are always there for each other to lean on, vent to, give and receive advice and share our nationwide business networks with each other. We even use each other occasionally as references for one another.

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

“Providing Young Aspiring Entrepreneurs the Infrastructure To Succeed”