March 22 & April 12, 2026 • www. mcrecord. com • Morrison County Record • Spring Home & Garden Page 3
College Works Painting intern offers estimates for area homeowners
BY SHEILA MCCOY MORRISON COUNTY RECORD
An intern with College Works Painting to manage local home painting projects, Mattie Olson of Rice offers free estimates to homeowners in Little Falls and surrounding areas. She offers exterior painting of woodsided houses, interior painting and painting of other projects around the home, such as the fence, during the summer of 2026.
Although new to painting as a business, Olson has been trained by College Works and Sherwin-Williams to give homeowners an excellent experience from the business side of painting to the art of painting itself.
Olson said she learned about College Works Painting from Jaden Stiller when presented about it at her college. She is currently double majoring in strategic communication studies and global business leadership at the College of Saint Benedict in St. Joseph.
“ It sounded like an interesting opportunity and I had told myself to not say‘ no’ to opportunities like this fell into my hands,” she said.
At the time of the presentation, Stiller asked students who were interested to write their name and contact information on a card. A few months later, Stiller called and she, like several other students, went through five different interviews to see if they were a good fit for an internship with College Works.
The internship allows the interns to have hands-on experience in running a business, from talking with prospective clients and closing a deal to hiring and managing employees- all the while they are regular employees with College Works Painting.
“ As W2 employees, they don’ t own anything. They’ re tasked with the marketing, the sales, the hiring and management of franchise, but the company, we do more of the training and the teaching,” said Jaden Stiller, district manager at College Works Painting.
Besides making sure that their interns are trained and well equipped for the projects, Stiller said College Works Painting also carries all the necessary insurance liabilities, workers’ compensation, warranties and more that the interns are covered under.
Once Olson has booked the homes to paint, she will hire a crew that will perform the job. She also has several people in mind that she knows will do an excellent job. How many will be at a specific site depends on how large of a project it is. Olson expects to have a few crews going, when jobs are overlapping.
“ I will be going to different job sites during the summer to manage all the supplies and whatnot. It’ s exciting because I get to work with every aspect of business, to get a hands-on experience, so I can figure out what I’ m good at, what I like. Business is such a broad field and it’ s hard to get hands-on experience without really eating a lot of costs, so this is a great opportunity,” she said.
Looking forward to working with clients, Olson said she believes in transparency. During the initial free estimate, homeowners will have different options of what they would like to have done and what they can afford. There are also financial plans available, she said.
Stiller said College Works Painting has had a great success and high client satisfaction since the company was founded in 1993. Originally started in California,
Sheila McCoy / Morrison County Record
Mattie Olson, an intern with College Works Painting, is is offering homeowners in Little Falls and surrounding areas a free estimate of what it will cost to paint their home, from stripping existing paint to adding a new coat.
the program has since grown to be available in multiple states, such as Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas and Wisconsin.
“ Throughout 30 years, we’ ve maintained an eight plus rating with the Better Business Bureau and a 98 % customer satisfaction rate,” Stiller said.
The partnership College Works Painting has with Sherwin-Williams has been beneficial to all parties, from the internship company and its interns to the painting companies and the customers’ whose homes are painted with the Sherwin-Williams paint.
“ We train people in painting in the field, but then also, Sherwin-Williams takes care of our training for us. We have a contract with Sherwin-Williams, where we buy all our paint through them and because we do that, they give us very good discounts and they train
our painters for us,” Stiller said.
In addition, Stiller said, before sending the painters into the field, College Works Painting makes sure that their training is up to par.
Besides customers getting their home projects done, Stiller said the intern program provides an excellent opportunity for the interns to finetune their skills in the real world.
“ When you’ re in school, you’ re learning a lot of technical and fine skills, but the point of this job is to teach you soft, transferable skills within a business role, like leadership, communication, teamwork et cetera. These are skills that they can use for life, too, in many ways,” Stiller said. To schedule a meeting with Olson for a free estimate, call 480-243-5851.
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