Archive for Services

Caleb Nelson: Romeo Rickshaws

The 14-year-old boy, Caleb Nelson, overheard his father contemplating ideas to draw more visitors downtown. His father is a real estate agent and hotel owner in Utah. Caleb came up with the idea of a pedicab service and pitched it to his father. After much convincing his father agreed and invested in two pedicabs for $10,000. Caleb gathered employees (his friends) and received training to learn how to properly drive and operate the vehicles. His business started by providing rides opening night for the Utah Shakespeare Festival. Most rides were from the hotel room or venue to customers’ cars. Caleb’s clever business idea added another element to downtown Cedar City. His idea encouraged people to tour and enjoy the city. His business has been booming ever since and instead of charging a flat rate, tips are encouraged. Caleb’s business, Romeo Rickshaws, is now a flourishing tourist attraction.

 

(Jordan Allred | The Spectrum via AP) Caleb Nelson, owner of Romeo's Rickshaws, poses for a photo at the Beverley Taylor Sorenson Center for the Arts in Cedar City, Utah, July 27, 2017.

 

Read more about Romeo Rickshaws here

Kenan Pala

The young entrepreneur who I found is named Kenan Pala and he created his business called kids4community. This is a non-profit organization that works with charitable organizations that engage children who are five years or older. The purpose of this is to introduce the concept of charitable work to young kids. One thing I found interesting is how he came up with this business idea. He said in an interview that he was on a leisurely run with his dad and had an “aha moment” when he saw people aiding a baby seal who needed help but not homeless people. This sparked his passion for helping people who are in need when he saw that happen. Kenan was also very involved with volunteering for his community but noticed that it was hard to find work to do because of his young age. I thought it was a great idea because it is creating a positive impact on kid’s lives and at the same time is helping the community. This is also beneficial for parents because instead of finding a babysitter and paying money to watch your kid, you can just send them to this, and they will be busy and accounted for. This young man is very inspiring because he was very determined to make this successful. When he encountered problems at the start with having enough volunteers, he just focused on his vision of helping the homeless. His passion outweighed the conflicts he encountered which eventually led to success and growth of the business. The one question that I have is how he can expand this to other states across the country. I hope that he is able to keep his business growing so that he can have a positive impact on kids and the community.

Interview with Kenan Pala, Creator of Kids4Community - Kidpreneurs - Young  Entrepreneurs with Big Ideas!

Floral Farm

Have you ever wanted to create your own flower bouquets? 

      Camden Kidwell is the leading example of a young entrepreneur. He is a recent homeschool high school graduate and instead of going to college this fall he took the entire spring and summer to create his own flower farm and bouquet business. He started Swallowdale Flowers in June of 2021, and named the business after swallows which nest in his family’s barn. Swallowdale Flowers is unlike any florist business due to the fact that the customers can walk around Camden’s garden and create their own bouquets using his flowers. He has provided his customers with the ability for them to customize their own bouquets, which is unlike any other flower farm or floral business since the vast majority offers only premade bouquet arrangements. He does make bouquets though, on a weekly basis which he sells at 6ixNorth, a local artisanal craft store in his hometown. Another unique feature is that he runs his business from home – outside – where customers can be in nature and experience what it is like to be on a farm.

      Additionally, Camden has recently been asked by a local event planning company to collaborate with them on a wedding. An acquaintance asked Camden to make a corsage for his homecoming date at the local high school. Camden continues to grow his business and network through his community. He is an example of why one does not need to earn a degree to become an entrepreneur. Swallowdale Flowers is the definition of a startup business, because he never received any help beyond that from his father. Camden Kidwell’s story shows us that all it takes to become an entrepreneur is a willingness to be disciplined, take risks and have an imagination. He is an inspiration and a role-model. 

Please find Swallowdale Flowers on Social Media:

@swallowdale.flowers

https://m.facebook.com/Swallowdale-Flowers-101528278889912/?refid=13&ref=page_internal&__tn__=%2Cg

Cameron Johnson: An Entrepreneur Since Nine

When Cameron Johnson was 9 years old, he started making invitation cards for family celebrations. Cameron then realized that people really liked his cards, so he decided to start selling them. His little business was surprisingly profitable. At 12, he used his money to buy Beanie Babies, which he then sold online at higher prices. This venture was much more successful, making $50,000 dollars in under a year. Just a reminder, he was only 12 years old! Cameron then came up with My EZ Mail, an online service that would forward e-mails to a specific account without showing the recipients’ information. In just a few years, it was making $3,000 dollars monthly in advertising revenue. Another business of his was giving him $300,000 a month. In total, Cameron Johnson started twelve successful businesses before he graduated from High School, . When he was 15, he became the youngest American to join the board of a company in Tokyo. After graduation, Cameron went to Virginia Tech, but he soon realized that business was his true passion. So, he left after less than a semester to pursue a new company, CertificateSwap.com,  with his friend. This business sold gift certificates for lower prices than those on eBay. He and his partner eventually sold the business for a six-digit account. While he has sold all of his internet businesses by this point, Cameron still invests in many other start-ups, and he now gives lectures on entrepreneurship.

One thing that really impressed me about Cameron Johnson was his ability to adapt to the internet, which was still in its early years when he started working. Him choosing to be an entrepreneur instead of going to college also taught me that you should follow your passions. But personally, I think he was most impressive at coming up with products and ideas that people would want by considering their perspectives.

Jon Schlossberg – Even

In the United States 55% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck. Which leads to many problems such as payday lenders and overdraft fees. Jon wanted to help these people out by giving tips on budgeting and saving. It would also let people get an advance on their paychecks without the severe interest rate that other companies use. In 2017 he created his app Even. Walmart made his app available to their employees and more than 250,000 people signed up, 75% are using it every week. Now it is gaining popularity and having to keep up with the demand.

Palmetto State Armory

Palmetto State Armory was founded in 2010 by former military veteran Jamin McCallum. After returning home from service, Jamin noticed that there were many problems in the modern firearms industry in America.

As an avid business man and gun-enthusiast, Jamin decided to do something about this problem. The main problem that he recognized was that there was not a firearms company with good customer service for your average, everyday gun owner. In 2010, Jamin opened his first retail store and committed his business to revolutionizing the firearms market in America by providing a firearms company that was centered around excellent and even better customer service.

This business model provided a real shake up to the sleepy firearms market, which was in need of new ideas and new processes in order to make it more accessible and successful. People immediately gravitated towards Jamin’s company and he was able to grow his business over the next few years with the help of friends and other military veterans.

His company started out as an ammunition and magazine company and he quickly grew the company to manufacture his own line of firearms. Some of Jamin’s best products are his AR15 and AK47 product lines, which are affordable, quality products that are backed by the company’s excellent customer service and commitment to quality and excellence.

Jamin is an impressive entrepreneur because he was able to recognize a real need in the market, and was able to use the skills that he had learned in the military and in business to start a successful company. Palmetto State Armory is a great company and proves that companies can become successful if they focus on their customers and commit to making their products as good as they can be.

Hotel Bacteria? No problem.

Many people who travel become sick either during or after. Hotels are one of the most dirtiest and most bacteria filled places on the earth. One never knows when the last time the hotel correctly washed the room, changed the sheets or even dusted. People worry where the sheets have been, who has slept on them, and what has been on the sheets. Well there is now a solution to this long lived problem. Introducing Cleansbot, a portable device that people can bring everywhere on the go.  This hand held robot kills bacteria on any service but most importantly hotel sheets. CleanseBot is a smart robot with artificial intelligence and 18 sensors built in. It uses FOUR UV-C lamps to blast away 99.99% of germs and bacteria.  All one has to do is set the CleanseBot down on the bed, turn it on for either 30 or 60 minutes and it sanitizes and disinfects the hotel’s bed sheets and blankets. Not only does CleanseBot kill germs, bacteria, and dust mites, but UV-C light has been proven in many studies to actually help prevent the spread of airborne viruses, too.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cleansebot/worlds-first-bacteria-killing-robot?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI56GL0fKb3wIVBUSGCh1_pQcREAAYASAAEgI1mfD_BwE&ref=4k18os&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=bb234-green-1a

A Young Success

An entrepreneur who has achieved high levels of success at an early age is Ricky Gutierrez. He was born on January 2, 1995 in Arizona. As a kid, he sold all kinds of small items to his friends and peers at school, which inspired Ricky’s gravitation to entrepreneurship. He attended Arizona State University for entrepreneurship and technology management. By the age of 20, he bought his own house. Ricky founded the company TechBud Solutions, which is a peer to peer groups that is designed to help motivated individuals stay connected and allows them to assist each other with their endeavors. He has also gained a large YouTube following of nearly 400k subscribers over the course of several years. This is where he shares advice about his expertise on penny stock investing, real estate, and even cryptocurrency. Ricky is a prime example that major success does not have to come later in life.

Box

Maybe Aaron Levie’s story will inspire us in ENTR 101 to take the elevator pitch business ideas to the next level. During Aaron’s time at USC he was assigned a project to come up with  a business idea. Taking this project he examined cloud storage options and after putting in the extra effort and contacting organizations on how they were storing their data and content, Levie came up with an idea.

He saw that the cloud storage market was fragmented. He saw an opportunity and built an online file storage business as a tool for businesses and individuals to access and store documents and files. After his fall semester junior year, Levie took a leave of absence to launch Box.

At Box’s beginning stage, it was a cloud that companies and individuals could pay to store their their files in the cloud. Being bold, Levie secured an angel investment from Mark Cuban himself after sending a cold e-mail to the billionaire. In 2007, Levie and high school friend and now CFO Dylan Smith, pivoted the business to focus on selling to businesses. By 2012 their cloud had spread to Europe, opening an office in London.

By 2014, this college business idea was being used by 40% of the Fortune 500 companies. Inspiration to the immense potential of a forced business idea project to a globally used and known company.

Gecko Robotics

 

Valuing safety first, Gecko Robotics was co-founded by Jake Loosararian with the intent to help save lives that are at risk when inspecting boilers and tanks at industries. Gecko Robotics is a company that founded in 2016 and has since then grown from 15 employee to 50 and a net worth of $7 million continues to expand more. There are multiple Grove City College Alumni that are involved in the company such as Loosararian, Ian Miller, Josh Moore, Alex Watt, and potentially more. These men took the core values, incredibly devoted work ethic, and pursuit for solving problems that Grove City College engraved in them during their college years and applied it directly to the company.

The services that are offered by Gecko Robotics are boiler inspections, tank inspections, and scrubber inspections. The boiler inspections offer the services to detect when degradation forms in water walls from ash and soot – blower erosion graphitization, under-deposit corrosion, thermal fatigue cracking, and creep damage. With the cutting-edge technology, the robotic inspector can gather thickness data around the complete surface of each Water Wall Tube. Inspecting tanks can be catastrophic and life threatening which is why consistent scheduled inspections are the key to preventing tank failure. Finally, the scrubbers used give ultrasound and visual inspections so robots can inspect both the cones and vertical walls to identify patterns of wall thinning.

Reviews from industries that have used Gecko Robotics have only positive words to say about the company. Companies that would could have had a detrimental loss or an outage that would have impacted the productivity are indebted to the services for their safety, reliability and technology. Even Steve Westly, entrepreneur and  CFO of the State of California, and other successful entrepreneurs are investing in Gecko Robotics because they see the growth that is to come for the company.