From Airplanes to Squeegees

Posted On August 15, 2012

MY UNIQUE COLLEGE PRO JOURNEY

By: Rachel Lyda - College Pro Window Cleaning Franchisee

If you asked me 20 months ago where I saw myself on this very day, I would probably answer something wistfully along the lines of, “sipping ice tea and sailing along the coast of Italy.” In fact, 20 months ago, as I dreamed of all the ways that wish could become a reality I could not have foreseen how spending the past two summers as a College Pro Franchise manager instead would shape and change my life.

Late one December night as I was packing for my 3-month study abroad trip to Germany, I took a break to research available summer business internships. College Pro was one of the first that came up and I immediately became intrigued after reading several personal testimonies from current or previous managers and also excited to find out more. What drew me to College Pro was that what they offered in an internship was real and tangible business experience without a start up cost that fit perfectly with my previous customer service skills and desires to learn and become a better businessperson. Within the next week, after a few calls to Matt Ackerman, the GM for College Pro painting in the Seattle area, I had set up an informational interview with Ben Degoede the GM of College Pro Window Cleaning, and boarded an airplane to Germany to begin the interview process over Skype. Over the next couple weeks, despite poor wifi connections, a 9-hour time difference and several interviews, College Pro decided to bring me on the team. While reading Google docs mentioning words like target market, proximal goals, turf drive and quarterly taxes in between living my life on airplanes traveling throughout ten different countries and studying, I had no idea what to expect when I touched down stateside again.

After jet lag had run its course, I vividly remember all my College Pro firsts. The first time I knocked on a door marketing, the first time I strapped the ladder to my work vehicle, the first time I broke-even financially and the first time I held a squeegee in my hand with the pressing fear I would be awful at cleaning windows. The fact that 3 months later, I would have produced nearly $20K in window cleaning, satisfied over 140 customers and provided jobs for 3 employees all before I turned 21 was not only a great accomplishment business wise, but a great accomplishment in learning who I was as a person. College Pro helped me become a better problem solver, a more efficient time manager, a good boss and has enabled me to be the business owner I am today.

Looking back on the past two summers, I recognize strengths and weaknesses, successes and failures, and stress and motivation as all being important facets in my College Pro experience. I have learned how to manage people as employees and as satisfied customers, set goals and reach them, and choose the right choice over the popular one. I have learned how to acknowledge areas of improvement and face stress without becoming overwhelmed. Out of all these experiences as a business owner, College Pro has most of all prepared me for real life scenarios in the business world and given me the opportunity to successfully pave the way for entrepreneurship in one of the toughest economies of our time.