Taylor Smith
- Member
- YPO
School Information
School: University of California, Berkeley
College Major: Engineering
Years at College Works: 2009
Career Information
Working For: YPO
Title: Member
Industry: non-profitWhat Has Been Your Proudest Accomplishment Post-CWP?
Starting an e-commerce/distribution business, being able to quit my job after only 8 months of running it, and having 4 full time employees currently that trust me to run a bootstrapped company with very little funding.
College Works Career Impact
In one sentence, what has CW meant to you?
College Works Painting was the best thing that ever happened to me – it changed the way I attacked challenges and solved problems, and I met a ton of cool people along the way.
How did your CW experience impact your career? Immediately after graduation? Now?
I knew that I could work for myself and that I didn’t need a larger company to succeed. It gave me the confidence to know that I could handle anything that came my way.
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?
Phil – we never worked together because you chewed me out for not leaving you a pre-consultation binder like I said I would. Learned a great lesson from you about setting expectations and follow-through. In order to win business you have to do both the former and the latter with grace.
What was the greatest lesson you learned from your CW experience?
The value of hard work. The most successful people in College Works Painting weren’t always the most charismatic people. The one common trait that top performers have is the ability to grind.
How have the friendships and networks you built during CW affected you?
Still keep in touch with a few of the guys, and we connect on a different level because we’ve been through the same stuff. Different (and better) quality friend for bouncing ideas off of, and getting stuff done.
If you had to come up with a one line slogan for CW, what would it be?
Jay-Z killed it in this one: I’m not a businessman….I’m a BUSINESS, MAN!
Advice
What advice do you have for potential CW participants? Current CW participants?
The experience you’ll get at College Works Painting is unparalleled. Don’t be a wuss. Try it out!
What’s your best advice for someone interested in entering your career field?
People in college think they know what they want but they really have no idea. Trying an internship like College Works Painting, that is broad in scope (sales, marketing, production, general execution), but very intentional about skills developed (leadership, management, commitment, ownership) allows people to have greater flexibility in the job market when they get to the point where they have a better idea of what they want to do. It’s totally hard to see for most of the children that y’all interview, but focusing on something like this to build broadly-applicable specific skills will suit people in the long run much better than building narrow skills in an industry they might not end up enjoying.
What’s your favorite memory from CW?
Closing my first deal – after not closing my first 8 or so, I could not believe they were actually signing the paperwork.