1. If College Pro sounds too good to be true; is it?
This is usually the first thing we hear from parents when they find out their son or daughter is exploring the opportunity of running a College Pro residential house painting or window cleaning franchise.
Anything that sounds too good to be true usually is. College Pro wants to ground you, and your son or daughter, in the reality of the excitement and challenges of running your own business. It is not for everyone. However, for those candidates who fit, it is a tremendous, unparalleled experience.
Since 1971, College Pro has been committed to providing our student franchisees with a world-class, small business experience and training. Each year, our student managers paint and clean windows on over 25,000 homes. Over the years we have developed over 10,000 managers, hundreds of thousands of painters and technicians, and completed charity work and community service in every US state and Canadian province we operate in.
Our core purpose is "together, realizing potentials." The best way to realize potential is to ensure the small business experience we provide is REAL - that is when transformation really occurs, and we would not have it any other way. It is a real business, the business and training systems work and we are very proud to say that a significant number of our franchisees make money. It is our objective that everyone earns profit and achieves their goals. Some do not. That is the consequence that we live with when the business is real. We try to make sure we learn from each experience we have and make our system better each year and mitigate each year as an organization.
Our system is a franchise system and is governed by applicable laws in the US and Canada. In order to be a College Pro franchisee, a manager does sign a franchise agreement and does have responsibilities. We employ an "eyes wide open" philosophy to ensure we select and operate the best possible candidates, and each party understands what they are accountable for.
Our Selection Process: Each applicant goes through a rigorous series of interviews, reference checks and testing. The applicant then must be approved by both the College Pro GM and VP. We ensure the candidates we decide to offer a franchise fully understand and accept the commitment.
Parent involvement: Parents are key advisors, supporters and often initial financiers. We do our best to try to ensure there is understanding and acceptance by parents. College Pro GMs will often have lengthy and direct discussions with parents to ensure their son or daughter can handle the responsibilities of the job. We often find that parents offer the most straight-forward reference check out there! We do find that sometimes our candidates prefer that their parents are not involved in the decision-making process and, out of respect for our candidates, we try to accommodate their wishes.
Full disclosure: All agreements and expectations are fully disclosed and the candidate has significant time before they are required to sign the agreement and begin his/her training program. In the US, a copy of the Uniform Franchise Offering Circular (UFOC) will be presented to your son/daughter. A copy of the actual franchise agreement is located in this document.