Sophomore Jeremy Molina, a pre-med biology major, won’t be pursuing a science-related summer job — instead, he will independently run his own painting company for the University of St. Thomas area.
Molina started a College Works Painting internship in late February with help from freshman CJ Decker and realized the importance of the opportunity, even though it isn’t related to his field of study.
“I have to learn to be a leader — to delegate, to problem solve, to basically have the discipline to go out for nine hours each Saturday and Sunday as a college student,” Molina said.
To prepare for the summer, Molina will hire his own crew of painters to train. He will manage their payroll, generate leads, market his brand, give free estimates, write contracts and close on all sales. He has full reign over how many projects the company takes on; the only complication is painters’ schedules.
“Obviously we’re working on college students’ schedules; that’s what this whole internship is about,” Molina said. “So we give a general time when the job is going to be instead of an exact date; we can’t promise that.”
Molina will get some help from Decker, his district manager. Decker interned at College Works last summer and generated $107,000 in sales, leading to his promotion. Now he oversees and trains interns on how to effectively regulate a business.
“We just want to get them to the point where they’re acclimated to the processes of marketing and sales,” Decker said. “After they are trained in sales, it’s up to the intern how much they work.”
Decker manages St. Thomas student interns who will work in cities, including Eagan, Rochester and Wayzata. Molina decided to keep his business in St. Paul, covering the area south of Randolph Avenue between Mississippi Boulevard and Snelling Avenue.
After the district manager supervises the first two sales, the intern continues the process alone.
“We start right when summer hits,” Molina said. “So when I set up a paint job we set them up for either early, mid, or late summer. That way we have some leeway because we don’t know exactly how long the jobs are going to take.”
Molina’s own schedule is often a heavy load and requires managing many variables within the business along with his responsibilities as a student. He works wherever he can, whether it be at home, the library or a coffee shop. Though the business doesn’t require a space specifically for work, it does require a strong work ethic that Molina hopes to apply to his future career — even if it’s not in painting.
“Those are all different skills that I’m taking away from this internship that can apply to pretty much all spectrums of life,” Molina said.
Adam Kraft can be reached at adam.kraft@stthomas.edu.