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StudentPainters.Net won a Super Service Award from Angie’s List in 2009. The award was presented “For achieving and maintaining a Superior Service Rating on Angie’s List throughout 2009 as determined by Angie’s List members in the category of: Painting – Exterior.” This means that our clients felt strongly enough about the quality of our services that they took their own time to write about their experiences with us on Angie’s List and share with other Angie’s List members what it’s like to have their house painted by StudentPainters.Net.

The award was presented by the Seattle Chapter of Angie’s List to StudentPainters.Net on January 1, 2010. Angie’s List is a website that enables its members to post ratings and reviews online of services that they have used for the benefit of the other members looking for similar services. These types of customer reviews are considered by many to be the least biased and most valuable kinds of company reviews, especially available online. Many people look to Angie’s List for information any time they need some sort of contracting work done on their houses. We love having our customers share their great experiences with us on Angie’s List so that our prospective clients can see what working with us is like.

StudentPainters.Net is an entrepreneurial development company that seeks to train the future business and community leaders in business skills in a real world setting. The fact that we have been given a customer service award by a customer review site shows that we are truly accomplishing our goals of training and empowering our Branch Managers to provide professional, high-quality services to our clients. This helps our student managers learn business skills that will continue to reward them over the course of their lives.

Future success begins with small brush strokes

College student helms painting crew as foray into the business world

By ANDY NYSTROM

It’s as if Julie Hill was born to be a businesswoman.

          As a child, she earned some cash by running a lemonade stand and by selling her beaded-animal creations at a coffee shop. Then at Inglemoor High School, she became immersed in Dennis Rockwood’s marketing class and continued on to study at the University of Washington as a business major.

          This summer, the 19-year-old Kenmore resident is running the show as StudentPainters.net’s Bothell/Woodinville branch manager. In the future, this go-getter hopes to be running a real-estate development business.

            For now, though, Hill is glad to be putting her classroom knowledge into action in the business world.

            “I have to get people to have confidence in me that I can do the job, hire a crew and see the job through to the end. I think you really have to be determined to have things turn out the way you want them to,” Hill said while three of her employees prepared to paint a Woodinville home on a recent afternoon. “And this is a great start ... To be able to find out about running a business without having to go out and run your own business right away.”

            At StudentPainters.net, which is a 24-year-old organization that features a Seattle-based Northwest Division, Hill is in charge of marketing, pricing and hiring, and keeps an eye on cost control and profitability on local jobs. This summer, Hill’s crew has painted seven homes and is shooting to finish 20 by the end of August. The average price of each job is $3,500, which includes paint, labor and other costs.

            If it weren’t for Rockwood’s class at Inglemoor, Hill might not be motivated to do such a thorough job at StudentPainters.net, she said.

            “He always told us stories about his real-world business experiences,” said Hill, who added that Rockwood was an encouraging but demanding instructor who had his students do meticulous business reports and marketing plans. “He held everyone to really high standards. He said, ‘If it’s not suitable for the real business world, then it’s not suitable for my class.’”

            Hill, who endured a “crazy” string of interviews and had extensive training for her job during the spring, said that some of Rockwood’s intensity has rubbed off on her.

            “I try to be really friendly with people, but I always mean business,” she said with a laugh. “There have been a few painters who didn’t (meet) the quality standards ... And we had a couple of meetings where I wasn’t very happy during them.”

            But Hill still kept her cool and got her painters focused on giving their customers, and themselves, satisfaction by doing a solid job. After all, Hill knows what it’s like to rebound from a tough situation to achieve success. Case in point: As a member of the DECA student marketing association at Inglemoor, she qualified for the national competition as a sophomore; the next year, however, Hill nearly quit DECA after she failed to make nationals.

            After regaining faith in her marketing abilities, Hill was back on board as a senior and placed second at nationals in the business-services marketing division.

            “I think that was a confidence-booster for me, and it was an awesome way to finish off senior year,” said Hill, who had to take a test and perform role plays at the DECA competition.

            In addition to shining with DECA and participating in Future Business Leaders of America activities at Inglemoor, Hill received the Washington Award for Vocational Excellence, which is a grant that pays for two years of her education at UW. Through her job at StudentPainters.net, she receives internship credit and money that will go toward school as well.

            During the spring, Hill was granted early admission to UW’s business school, and she’s looking forward to working toward a degree in business administration and stepping into the role of business owner some day. She’s well on her way after finishing first in marketing management at this year’s state DECA conference, which is a college-level event.

            "I don't mind working for other people, but I kind of like the idea of working for myself," Hill said of life beyond UW and StudentPainters.net. "I want to see that I can do something from scratch and say, 'Wow, I completed this from start to finish -- I did it.' It's exciting."