Alumni Directory

Filip Matic

Founder/CEO
634properties

School Information

School: University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

College Major: Other

 Years at College Works: 2019-2021

Career Information

Working For: 634properties

Title: Founder/CEO

Industry: Real estate

Brief Description of Duties / Responsibilities:

Oversee and direct employees across the investment portfolio.

What Has Been Your Proudest Accomplishment Post-CWP?

I’ve stopped believing in accomplishments the way most people do. They feel like artificial milestones, things we use to make ourselves feel good about progress that, in reality, might not be all that significant. At the same time, they have the ability create a sense of comfort that leads to complacency. No matter where you are in life, there’s always someone doing better. For me, the one thing that actually feels rewarding is knowing how far ahead I am comparatively to others in the general population. That perspective keeps me motivated.

College Works Career Impact

In one sentence, what has CW meant to you?

An opportunity to find myself.

How did your CW experience impact your career? Immediately after graduation? Now?

College Works Painting was able to get me out of my shell. I was able to find the things I was truly passionate about. I was able to see that there is nobody there to get you to the goals you want. You have to do it yourself. Sure there will be people there to guide you, but no one will do it for you. This will apply to your whole life.

What do you want to tell your clients about what it meant to work with them and how it has helped you get to where you are today?

Allen Kluz was my favorite client. He was the first client that i booked that was over 10k. His job was a 14.2k close. I personally never thought anyone would ever pay that kind of money for a paint job on a house, but that was obviously not the case. They booked with me on the initial estimate, and were more than happy to pay me the amount I was asking for the job. I remember I did that estimate in a snow storm actually, it was a complete white out and the snow was up to my shins. I was still a beginner and I remember telling myself during the estimate “Why am I even doing this right now, I’m like an hour away from home, it’s so cold, its snowing and raining out, these guys aren’t even gonna book with me I’m just gonna write this up and go home.” I was on a super huge losing streak at that time, but when i went in and they said, “were going with you”, I couldn’t of been happier. Extremely understanding client, super kind, I learned a lot from that job.

What was the greatest lesson you learned from your CW experience?

Time management was huge. You never truly realize how many hours you have in a day until you plan it out fully down to the minute.

How have the friendships and networks you built during CW affected you?

College Works Painting opened me up to a lot of people I was not used to being around. So it was nice building some of those connections. A lot of them which I believe will end up being life long connections. Those people also have connections so it is nice to see how far that net goes when it’s thrown.

Advice

What advice do you have for potential CW participants? Current CW participants?

If you think you’ve got it all figured out I promise you, you do not. If you think you don’t, good. College Works Painting helps so much with facilitating intervention with every aspect of a company. You will find what you like and what you don’t like with college works. There’s not a thing I did in College Works Painting that I could say wasn’t worth my time. Everything they offer you, will be something you experience in the real world.

Many college students struggle to choose between an internship specific to their target industry or doing CW. What advice would you give them on this subject if they wanted to enter your career field?

If you want to go into an industry specific internship and you think that’ll better your career, go for it. Like I said before, make those mistakes early on, they’re less costly right now. But the thing you need to realize is there is not a single internship that I’ve ever heard of that gets you into every single aspect of a business like College Works Painting does. There is a very good chance you go into college works just for one summer, and you realize you don’t want to do what you initially thought you wanted to do. The beauty in that, is you’re learning that extremely early on in your life, you can pivot your career goals the way you want. Most importantly you’re not learning this when you’re in your late 20’s early 30’s and a quarter of your life has already gone by. You will also be exposed to every single aspect of a business like I said earlier, so you can learn which way you should pivot for your future. If you take your industry specific internship and realize you don’t like it, you were only exposed to that specific industry and don’t really know where else to turn.

What’s your best advice for someone interested in entering your career field?

Do as much as you can while you’re young. You’ll make the most mistakes during that period. They’ll be less costly in the beginning and will save you millions if not billions down the line.