Archive for Services – Page 2

Simply Sold and Moving On

When people think of multi- millionaire estate tycoons, most don’t picture a 19 year old. However,  most people aren’t Akshay Ruparelia. This young man has redefined the housing industry, owning the 14th largest estate industry in the UK. His company, Doorsteps.co.uk, makes selling your house easier than selling your car. Furthermore, they take away the steep prices of real-estate agents and help you sell your house from the comfort of your own home.

Ruparelia is the son of two deaf parents and currently is their main caregiver. When he was young, he saw first-hand many business practices that he deemed unfair. He especially saw this in the housing industry. Shocked by the high commissions estate agents charged for such a menial task, Ruparelia decided to do something about it. In December of 2016, he launched his online website Doorsteps.co.uk. This site created a network of quality estate agents that could guide customers through the process of selling their house without the steep prices of normal agents. It cuts away the massive overhead pricings, and allows the buyers to be more involved in the process.

Ruparelia found the niche in the stagnant industry by changing the way his company approaches customer service. “Why, oh why, do we give away £20,000 worth of bricks and mortar in our properties to estate agents? For doing what exactly? Putting the house on the internet?” he asked. Instead, he envisioned estate agencies that put their customers first and charged dues that reflected that mindset. Thus, he charges an upfront price and doesn’t get any commission on the actual sale of the house. Ruparelia leads the charge of agents, selling his first house in the middle of his exams, and ensures that customers receive the service he envisioned.

This site is simple to use, and allows people to sell their houses without ever needing to leave their couches. People simply fill out an online survey or call the 24 hour customer service hotline, and they are connected with an experienced, self-employed estate agent. The agent speaks with them and helps them determine the best package that fits their needs. After the package is approved and  the listing is official, the agent posts the sale on different online sites. People sit back and watch their dedicated agent sell their house, all for less than one hundred pounds. ‘

As the teenager continues to take the industry by storm, he doesn’t forget his goals of a customer centered company. It seems this mindset is paying off, as his company is ranked in the top five for customer service. The press has described his company as the “Uber of the property world.” In an extremely competitive market, Ruparelia’s company has already taken 0.5% of the UK market and is valued at over 12 million pounds. With all of this success, Ruparelia shows no signs of slowing down as he continues to pursue simple selling so his customers can move on.

 

GCC Student to Full-time Entrepreneur

   Connor Grieb, a 2018 graduate of Grove City College is already self-employed, as the owner of SEO Vineyard, a digital marketing company. He first discovered his entrepreneurial mindset when he was twelve years old and started a snow removal business. This led him to buying a truck and plowing commercially Connor Grieb SEO VINEYARDthroughout his high-school career. This experience showed him how much he loved working for himself and he developed a growing desire to be an entrepreneur in the future. He also decided that he didn’t want to do work that relied on weather or a lot of physical strength. Some other things that drove him to be an entrepreneur include the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of others, the opportunity to be extremely successful, the uncapped financial opportunity, a flexible schedule, and less risk in the long run. During his college career, he discovered that through digital marketing, he could meet all of his needs and desires.

      He launched his company, SEO Vineyard during the beginning of his junior year of college. While taking classes, he was also providing services for 3 clients. Unfortunately, he could not manage any more clients with all of his school work. Therefore, he focused on maintaining a good relationship with his few clients. Since graduation, Connor has quadrupled the size of his business. He now has over 12 clients, which he has acquired in 4 short months. However, Connor notes that obtaininSEO Vineyardg new clients was not easy. There was an 8 week span where he didn’t add a single client or make an extra dollar, but through the support of friends and family, he continued to work hard and push through this hard time. He encourages other entrepreneurs to do the same because God has a bigger plan and things do get better. Also this past summer, he became an LLC, partnering with an accountant and an attorney. He did this to create a veil of protection for himself and his business.

From Connors experiences, he has learned a lot about himself and entrepreneurship. The biggest thing that he has learned is patience. He had to wait to graduate to expand his business. He had to wait for prospective clients to return phone calls. He has to wait to become successful. Through the process of starting and building his company, he has become more reasonable with his expectations and is taking things one step at a time. Connor also discovered that one of his strongest entrepreneurial traits is competition. This trait pushes him to improve and make adjustments to the mistakes he has made. He hopes to continue to attract new clients and expand his business.

Website

Email: seovineyard@gmail.com

Phone: 724-987-2881

Remote Intelligence

Phil Benner is an entrepreneur involved in more than one business endeavor. In the restaurant area, he was involved in the startup of The Budlong. Another company he’s involved with, though is in a very different area. This company was started by Phil Benner, Merlin Benner, and Rob Schwarz in 2013. Over the last several years, the popularity of Unmanned Aerial Drones has been increasing dramatically. This growing field presented enormous opportunity for application and innovation. They found ways to use this technology in many areas through high resolution imaging, integrated mapping, aerial services. Some of the areas they’ve worked in include Wildlife Habitat Management, Energy Development, Real Estate Services, Search and Rescue, Disaster Relief, Resort Mapping, and Industrial Applications. The services and applications of this technology they provide are a great example of entrepreneurial opportunity in new and advancing technological fields.

 

Check out their website or social media!

http://www.remote-intelligence.com/home/

SocialTables

Here’s a bit of a paradox for you: as the world seems to grow increasingly smaller through the use of communications technology  and we have an unprecedented level of access into each other’s personal lives through social media, we still somehow manage to feel alone. And, even as the internet becomes an increasingly viable way of forging interpersonal connections (leading the average Joe to spend an ever-growing amount of time online seeking to network), it seems that the real movers and shakers of society (corporate employers, innovators, politicians…) seem to be abandoning the online scene in favor of face-to-face networking events and social solutions. You see, it seems that the people at the top have realized something that the rest of us are only just starting to comprehend: real relationships happen in real spaces, in the places where we meet face-to-face, person-to-person.

Our generation is slowly coming to realize that, convenient as social media might be, it can’t replace actual interactions. And in an increasingly competitive market, those moments of interpersonal communication are more important than ever: it is important to get them right.

SocialTables is committed to helping their clients get it right. Whether you are planning a wedding, networking event, fundraiser, or corporate mixer, Social Tables is there to see you through each step of the event planning process to ensure that your guests won’t regret leaving the chat rooms behind. Since 2011, the company has helped plan more than 8,000 meetings and events in the Washington, D.C. area. With a staff of event planners and social scientists ready to hand, they help you map the venue, create digital mock-ups of the space, manage invitations,  RSVPs, and check-ins, and even create seating plans based on common interests or professional fields to ensure that your guests get the most out of the experience.

The founders recognize that social interactions not only meet a need for interpersonal contact, but are also the birthplace of great ideas, collaborations, and meaningful relationships. Thus, it is important that we get them right. The goal of SocialTables is simply to help you and your guests meet your goals. Maybe you just want to throw a party to show your guests a good time; or maybe you hope to bring great minds together in a collaborative social setting; maybe you just need to make sure that your next big meeting goes off without a hitch… Whatever you have in mind, SocialTables is there not only to help you iron out the logistics of your even, but also to help you create an electric social environment.

Koofers

In the 21st century, more than ever before, a college education is the single most important step young Americans can take towards securing a prosperous and stable future. Unfortunately, the cost of higher education is going nowhere but up: while many Americans have been saving for their education since birth, very few of us will be able to come up with the nearly $100,000 check needed to see us across the stage. And even if we are able to make up the difference through loans, scholarships, and grants, there is very little aid available to help cover the costs needed for success: many of us may find ourselves working several jobs just to cover the cost of textbooks, study materials, and practice exams, putting us even further away from paying off our debts and cashing in on the security our education promises.

That’s where Koofers comes into play: in 2008, Glynn LoPresti, Patrick Gartlan, and Dan Donahoe – three young professionals with background in Computer Science and Finance – decided enough was enough and set out to find a way to lighten the financial burden of College education. But while others before them had looked at the problem through the lens of tuition and enrollment fees, the founders of Koofers saw an unmet although equally daunting need: the miscellaneous cost of success. It’s all well and good to provide the financial support necessary to get students into college, but what about their needs once they are there? We’re all students, so none of us need to be told about the stress of trying to find the necessary funds to keep ourselves in books and school supplies. It’s really hard to be successful in school if you are working 60 hours a week just to pay for the tools you need to keep you in school!

Koofers provides students with FREE access to those tools. It is a consumer internet platform that provides access to testbanks, practice exams, professor rating data, flashcards, and scheduling software at absolutely no cost to the students who use it. It is funded through textbook sales and commissions from employers looking to hire students so that those who already struggle to make ends meet to cover tuition won’t find themselves struggling to keep their grades up because they can’t afford study tools. It is a free one-stop-shop that offers students the needed resources to not only get them into school, but also to see them through to graduation.

The site also offers an “enterprise Campus Recruiting solution” that connects employers and recruiting firms with students looking for internships and full-time work opportunities. By charging prospective employers for the use of this system, Koofers is able to offer a wide variety of services to students free of charge! The recruiting program also ensures that the students working so hard to put themselves through school don’t see all that effort go to waste: through Koofers, students are not only supported through their schools years, but are also given access to a community of professionals and employers eager to help them put their education to work!

Founded and run by recent college grads, Koofers understands that college acceptance and tuition is just the first step in the uphill financial battle that so many Americans face in trying to procure and education. If tuition is the canoe, then school supplies are the paddle: without one, the other is useless. While federal grant programs, trusts, and loan programs get students on board, only Koofers provides them with the tools they need to navigate their way towards a brighter future!

Jack Kim- Benelab Search Engine

Jack Kim is a young entrepreneur that is still in high school in Seattle. He is the founder of a search engine called Benelab that is designed to make philanthropy easier by generating donations. Jack’s project is not-for-profit and he plans to donate all of the revenue generated by Benelab. Jack quickly learned the power of a search engine’s ability to generate wealth from very little traffic through his work with search engines in the past. After developing an outline for his idea, Jack got a team of his high school classmates together to start working on the project. So far, Benelab has been incredibly successful at generating wealth, and all of this wealth is then donated to different charities and organizations to help the less fortunate. Benelab provides an easy yet effective way of enabling everday internet users to participate in philanthropy, even if they do not realize it.

“Many people think of charity as something limited to the rich or “good”, but in reality it’s something that can and should be incorporated into anyone’s daily life – you just have to know how.” – Jack Kim

Convenient Store At Your Door

Yakir Gola and Rafael Ilishayev launched goPuff when they were only sophomores at Drexel University in 2013. GoPuff is your convenient store on wheels, bringing over 3,000 items ranging from snacks and drinks to necessities and electronics – straight to your front door in 30 minutes or less. The idea came to them as car-less freshmen roommates constantly asking for rides to get basic necessities or cigarettes. There were apps for full-blown grocery shopping or gourmet food, but what about just a plain old convenient store run? – and goPuff was born.

Image result for gopuff

Before they had even fully launched, they were already getting orders from fellow college students and residents of Philadelphia. At first, the roommates worked 17-18 hour shifts with their (new) cars to deliver the snacks and goodies, but with time came employees and they now have dozens of drivers in twelve different cities across the US.Image result for gopuff

Gola and Ilishayev don’t see other food delivery services as their competitors – they see the brick and mortar convenient stores as their primary competition. Competition is a loose term however – in 2014, they already had 25,000 customers in Philadelphia alone just a year after launch.

While it’s unfortunate that their services don’t extend to Grove City, they are constantly expanding and setting up camp in more major cities across America. So the next time you’re in a big city with a hankering for Ben & Jerry’s, goPuff’s got your back.

Respawn

On March 1, 2010 Activision reported the firing of two senior employees to the Security and Exchange Commission. One of these employees was Jason West the Infinity Ward president, game director, co-CCO, and CTO. The other was Vince Zampella the CEO and co-founder of Infinity Ward.

They were dismissed and replaced by Activision, the same company who helped fund their own company Infinity Ward during the golden days of their Call of Duty franchise.

-Jason West on left and Vince Zampella on right

On April 12, 2010, the Los Angeles Times wrote an article about West and Zampella’s new ambitious venture. They were forming a new game developing studio called Respawn Entertainment.

West and Zampella got funding from Electronic Arts (EA) while keeping all intellectual property. After hearing about West and Zampella leaving and starting a new project, a bunch of their old employees from Infinity Ward left to join thier LLC, Respawn.

In June 2013, they debuted Titanfall their new and revolutionary take on first person shooters. The game was released on March 11, 2014 only for xbox. By October 5th of 2015 IGN reported that Titanfall’s sales passed 10 million globally (awesome for a game only on xbox). Recently they have been even more successful with their multi-platform sequel, Titanfall 2.

-Respawn developing team

Official site: http://www.respawn.com/

Los Angeles Times article on Respawn: http://articles.latimes.com/2010/apr/12/entertainment/la-et-ct-callofduty12-2010apr12

IGN article on 1o million in Titanfall sales: http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/10/05/titanfall-sales-pass-10-million-globally

 

StyleSeat

Have you ever received a bad hair cut? Melody McCloskey has, and she turned this experience into a business. McCloskey in the founder and CEO of StyleSeat, which is an app that connects hair stylists and customers looking for a haircut.

McCloskey was tired of the hassle of booking hair appointments. She found it frustrating when she called a salon sometimes stylists wouldn’t answer the phone or when they did, you just received a random appointment with a random stylist that wasn’t even good at what she wanted to be done. McCloskey decided to fix this problem with her app. StyleSeat makes it easy to book hair appointments with specific stylists. You can search for stylists by where you are and even by what the stylist specializes in. This is such a wonderful tool not only for people in need of a haircut, also stylists. Stylists can promote themselves for what they are really good at and what they prefer to do.

Melody McCloskey really stood out to me because she experienced a problem and made it into a successful business idea. This is such a great entrepreneurial quality to have. I love how she tapped into an industry that pretty much everyone utilizes and made it better. The cosmetology industry is already a saturated industry, but McCloskey found a way to innovate and come up with something new.

 

 

 

College Hunks Hauling Junk

College Hunks Hauling Junk is the genius brainchild of Nick Friedman, an American Entrepreneur, dedicated to helping both people that need a hunk and hunks that need people. With his childhood friend Omar Soliman, Friedman built the company from the ground up. They first started with one van and a few strong buddies to make some extra cash in the summers between semesters. A few years after their college years they decided it was time to go all out and make College Hunks Moving Co. a legit thing. Freidman and Soliman put countless hours, nights, and weekends into organizing licensing regulations, figuring costs, and finding the necessities such as vans, uniforms, logo brandings, and most importantly; hunks. They first started hiring several college buddies and then hired buddies of buddies and finally branched out to all kinds of hunks. Football players, basketball players, trackletes, swimmers, and even mechies all started finding this awesome summer job geared towards college kids to help not only them out with their financial situation, but to also help their community with heavy lifting that would be more difficult for both the older and younger generations. The company itself has grossed billions in the past decade and has made Friedman famous in the Entrepreneurial world. Friedman has been featured in the Top 30 Entrepreneurs under 30 by INC Magazine along with iconic figures like Mark Zuckerberg. Today the company continues to grow across the nation; spreading to smaller towns and larger cities to get junk out and get good into the community by uniting its youth to needs.