The Little Ghost

Snap Chat is one of the trendiest things around the world right now.  Its little ghost symbol has been become a cornerstone of pop culture and represents the new trend in social media.  Though Snap Chat is full of controversy from how deleted are the pictures that are sent to its used only for inappropriate purposes it can’t be denied that snap chat is taking the millennial generation by storm.  From February 2013 to November 2013 the amount of daily messages increased from 60 million messages per day to 400 million messages per day!  Snap Chat’s beginnings fit right in with traditional technological achievements as it was launched from co-founder Evan Spiegel’s dad’s living room on July 2011.  Snap Chat began as a class project and is now a trendy social media app that is valued at over 10 billion dollars!  Snap Chat is the tool of the millennial and is replacing Facebook as our new main method of our main outlet of social media.  As Snap Chat continues to add new features to keep people entertained their next step is to figure out how to make profit on this multi-billion dollar app.  Continue to watch out for the little ghost as snap chat continues to grow and infiltrate our culture.

Caine’s Arcade

Caine was a 9 year old boy out of East LA who loved making things.  As a kid he had to go to his dad’s work over the summer at an auto parts store.  Caine had a passion for arcades he loved fun and games and wandered how he could make his summer more enjoyable.  He won a little basketball hoop at an arcade and the idea for his arcade had been realized.  He created a basketball game with the hoop he had won and the cardboard in his dad’s shop and it became the focal point of his arcade.  Caine had a very solid business plan for his games that any consumer would love! For 1$ you had 4 rounds but for 2$ you could get a fun pass that gave you 500 plays!   Caine fell in love with arcade and spent every weekend manning the arcade with his custom “staff” shirt, his prizes, tickets, his games, and an eager appetite to see people play his games.  Unfortunately in the beginning like mos entrepreneurs it didn’t take off right away until one man bought a fun pass.  One day a film maker, Nirvan, had to make a quick stop to by a door handle when he discovered the hidden gem of East LA Caine’s Arcade.  Nirvan so astounded by the detail and the creativity of this kid when finding out about this fantastic fun pass deal he became Caine’s first customer.  But Nirvan didn’t stop there.  He asked Caine’s dad if he could make a short film about Caine’s arcade and if he could throw a surprise party for him.  He said yes and the viral sensation of Caine’s arcade began.  Through the internet from social media to Reddit this video took off and Caine was about to get a few more customers.  This 9 year old boy began a movement and inspired a generation to be creative and do something crazy and be proud of it.  I am inspired by Caine and his imagination.  He shows that as entrepreneurs you got to just do it, be creative, and have fun and you never know where you might end up.  If you want to watch the short film and learn more about Caine and his story click on the picture above.

Jaylen Bledsoe

3.5, That is how many million dollars Jaylen Bledsoe’s IT company is worth.  Now as impressive as that sounds what if I told you that he grew his business to this size in only 2 years? Now what if I told you that Jaylen Bledsoe started his company at the ripe old age of 13?  That’s right Jaylen Bledsoe is a 15 year old IT millionaire that employs over 150 people.  Jaylen is a high school sophomore who created Bledsoe Technologies.  What they do is summed up in a statement on their about page, “We are focused on assisting Small to Mid-Size Businesses establish high usage of Technology within their organizations, as well as establishing a strong web presence.”  Jaylen not only runs a million dollar in his free time he also is: the student class president, president of the parent student association, served as the chief technology officer of St. Louis Volunteen, a program to promote teen volunteerism,  he is even partly responsible for bringing vegetarian options to his former middle school’s cafeteria.  Not only is this young man running a multi-million dollar business with over 150 employees he is going to school being a kid and changing and having an impact on the people right around him.  His dad, a proud father i’m sure, said it best in 2012 when asked about his son, ““I don’t see many eighth graders do the things that he does but it’s all his doing.”   Jaylen’s advice to other young entrepreneurs, “Take risks as a minor, there’s nothing you can do that will shoot you down for too long. You can always jump back up and keep going.” Words of wisdom from such a young man.

To talk about young entrepreneurs and ignore people from our own roots of GCC would be a shame and an injustice so I’m going to give a shout out to a grover who is making a difference in the entrepreneurial world.  Gray MacKenzie  and Andrew Dymski are the co-founders and CEOs of two successful start ups out of Pittsburgh.  Their companies are Guava Box and DoInbound which both deal with inbound marketing, but in different aspects. But they haven’t always been dreaming of running their own marketing company.

How He Got Here

As a college student Gray and friend, and co-founder Andrew, joined the GCC lacrosse team.  As the team dreamed and set goals they had a strong conviction and desire to make the national tournament, something we had never done before.  As they began to play and understand the necessity of receiving one of the at large bids for the tournament Gray and Andrew put together a website and started marketing their team creating a large buzz around what the team was doing.  Through social media, videos, blogs, and quality content the lacrosse team began to receive heavy notoriety.  With the grovers producing on the field and their social presence GCC managed to make the national tournament reaching their goal!  They realized that they had something going as they looked back and realized that through their marketing of their team they had turned a “nobody” into a “national contender” in less than a year and a half.

How They Started

After realizing the power they had in the marketing world with their lacrosse success they decided to see if this was a career path that might be viable.  Gray and Andrew took their idea to the streets, so to speak, and started talking to companies and people to see if this crazy idea they had was worth their time and money.  As it turned out people loved the idea and their company emerged from the minds of two young guys from a small christian college.

Where Are They Now

Andrew and Gray are continuing their great work in the marketing world and are becoming one of the local leaders in inbound marketing.  With their Four steps of: Attract, Deliver, Close, Delight,  they are making an impact in their market.  As GuavaBox continues to develop DoInbound, their second firm, has risen from the struggles of running an inbound marketing agency.  DoInbound is a program that creates an easier and more functional project management tool.  With Their two businesses and desire to succeed Gray and Andrew are going to be taking the world by storm. To learn more about Guava Box and what Gray and Andrew are doing check out their website at http://www.guavabox.com/inbound-marketing-agency-story .