{"id":1376,"date":"2023-11-17T10:44:32","date_gmt":"2023-11-17T15:44:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ufcp.ca\/franchise\/?p=1376"},"modified":"2023-11-22T11:28:41","modified_gmt":"2023-11-22T16:28:41","slug":"a-day-in-the-life-with-cameron-knox","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ufcp.ca\/franchise\/blog\/a-day-in-the-life-with-cameron-knox\/","title":{"rendered":"A Day in the Life with Cameron Knox"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cameron Knox started with University First Class Painters in 2023 as our North Vancouver franchise manager. After a summer of hard work, Cameron achieved our 2023 Western Rookie of the Year!<\/em><\/strong> He attends the University of British Columbia Okanagan Campus, where he\u2019s currently in his third year of a Bachelor of Business Management degree, with a minor in psychology.<\/p>\n

Q: How does a typical day start?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI usually wake up for work around 6:00 am-6:30 am, and I\u2019ll make breakfast along with my lunch for the day, otherwise I\u2019m right out the door. If I need paint or supplies and I wasn’t able to get them ready the day before I\u2019ll head to the paint store before I get to the site. Once I\u2019m on site, my crew and I will go over the previous day\u2019s progress and get ourselves set up for today. If I don\u2019t have any estimating or other admin stuff to do, I\u2019ll get my painting clothes on and help the guys out for the rest of the day. Once the painting day is over, I\u2019ll go door knocking for a few hours. After that, I\u2019ll get home to make dinner. This past summer I was training for a triathlon, so I like to get in a run or bike after work.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

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Q: What do you do in between your sites?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I\u2019m not helping the guys out on site, I\u2019m meeting with customers and estimating new work. If I have some admin things to get done, whether it be payroll, checking out new resumes or following up with new leads, I like to get it all done in between working on site.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Q: What happens when the job is done?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cOnce a job wraps up, if I’m not on site I\u2019ll reach out to the customer to see if they\u2019re available for a walk through that day or the next day. I\u2019ll walk through with my crew first to make sure things look good before the customer and I have our final walk through. If there\u2019s anything the customer would like touched up, we\u2019ll take care of it. Once the customer is happy, we\u2019ll take payment and move our gear over to the next one.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

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Q: What do you like to do after work?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cOutside of work, I like to go outdoors as much as possible. I like to mountain bike, run and fish. My family lives back in Barrie, so calling with them and staying in contact is really important.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Q: What happens when it\u2019s a rain day?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t get too many in BC, but when they do happen, I like to get any pressure washing jobs that were lined up done, or any pressure washing I need to get done before we start painting on a project. I\u2019ll do payroll if it’s a Friday or Saturday. If not, I\u2019ll take advantage of the day and go mountain biking or go out to Whistler with my uncle.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Q: What has been the most rewarding aspect of running your own painting business?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI went into the summer with no experience running a business. I found it really rewarding learning how to do everything that goes into my own business\u2026 learning all the important pieces that go into operating a successful business. My uncle runs a restaurant, so it was really cool to talk about the day to day of things with him. I also found finishing a job and having happy customers really rewarding.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Q: What was your biggest learning curve in running your painting business? <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d say that hiring the right guys and managing them was my biggest learning curve. Having never been on that side of hiring and training employees, there was a lot of learning that went into it. It was a lot easier once I got that first employee trained; I found the second, third, and fourth, came a lot easier throughout the rest of the summer.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

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Q: What was your favorite experience\/moment\/story with UFCP\/running your business?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cFinishing up the first job and realizing that it\u2019s not just about painting a house. You see that the customer really appreciates what you\u2019re doing for them. That was a really big shift for me in the way I saw this job; going from a focus on selling a job to improving the customer\u2019s home. I realized it wasn\u2019t me vs. the customer when I was selling to them, it was finding out if I was the right contractor for them before we went forward with the work\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Q: Has anything you\u2019ve learned with UFCP benefited you outside of work? <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe hard work ethic translated over to school and life in general pretty well. Knowing that you can work super hard for a prolonged period of time, knowing you\u2019re capable of doing that degree of hard work. Even in my classes, you can tie together the stuff you learn with how things work in a business in real life\u2026 you see the accounting we\u2019re doing in class and the accounting we do in our businesses is hugely helpful. \u201c <\/em><\/p>\n

\u201c.. the sales skills were also a good thing to have under your belt. I found learning the psychology behind selling was interesting, and a good skill to have outside of business. It was also interesting to start recognizing the same tactics and skills that others are using to sell to you.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Q: What advice would you give to yourself if you were starting your first summer with UFCP again?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI would tell myself don\u2019t be afraid to ask questions and make sure you\u2019re clear on how everything is meant to be done correctly. It\u2019s also really important to have a positive outlook on things, don\u2019t get yourself down if something goes wrong, you\u2019re not helping yourself if you do that, pick yourself back up and go. It\u2019s also important to have fun with it, you\u2019re not working overtime at a fast food restaurant; you\u2019re managing other people, you\u2019re managing a business. It\u2019s a pretty sweet job, you\u2019re spending lots of time outside. It\u2019s really rewarding, unlike any other job I\u2019ve ever had.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

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Once he finishes his degree, Cameron plans to keep with his entrepreneurial spirit and start his own business. After a successful 2023 painting season, Cameron will hit the ground running with his North Vancouver franchise in 2024. With all he\u2019s learned this past summer, he plans to train for another triathlon, along with pushing his franchise\u2019s revenues north of $200,000 in 2024!<\/p>\n

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Do you want to be part of the UFCP management team? Apply today<\/a>!<\/em> <\/strong><\/p>\n

We are looking for student managers in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, PEI, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and British Columbia.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Cameron Knox started with University First Class Painters in 2023 as our North Vancouver franchise manager. After a summer of hard work, Cameron achieved our 2023 Western Rookie of the Year! He attends the University of British Columbia Okanagan Campus, where he\u2019s currently in his third year of a Bachelor of Business Management degree, with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":1403,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\t\n