Student Painters a 'Dream Internship' for LT Grad

When La Grange Park native and Indiana University student John King was looking for summer internships, he came across an opportunity that would give him way more experience than some places: managing his own local painting business.

“Other internships I was applying for, I didn’t know if I would have a major impact or if I’d be a guy getting coffee,” he said. “With this I’m controlling your own destiny for the summer. It’s kind of the dream internship.

King is a branch manager for Student Painters, a national company that hires students to run local operations for the summer or work as one of the painters.  He wanted to come back to the area and fill a need where other Student Painters branches don’t exist.

Student Painters offers low prices and has a deal with Sherwin-Williams to use its certified paint. The company also points out that the money is often going back into students’ education.

The 2011 Lyons Township graduate is a rising junior at Indiana, where he studies business with an emphasis in management and entrepreneurship, two areas in which he’ll get lots of experience this summer. His dad owns an architecture firm in Clarendon Hills, and King said he’s always been interested in running his own business, too.

After learning about Student Painters last December, King went to training in January and came home nearly every other weekend to work on marketing, make sales and complete estimates. He also spent that time interviewing candidates for painting positions, and now has a team of five people to help him.  

Student Painters requires a branch manager to record $15,000 in sales before the branch can get started in the summer. King has already reached more than $30,000 in sales and said his personal goal is twice that. Striving for more than the norm, he also won’t leave a paint job without an “Excellent” rating (the company requires a “Good” rating, two rungs lower than “Excellent”).

“It’s up to me how successful it’s going to be,” he said. “If i work hard enough that can happen.”