SELF-MADE STUDENTS Central students encounter new challenges while starting their own businesses. by Drew Merz & Ricky Sahgal designed by Loukas Bezanis
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t’s 5:26 p.m. and junior Ward Aldasoqi has his monthly appointment for one of his customers in four minutes. While keeping in mind how important punctuality is, he speeds out of his driveway, hustling to make it all the way across town by the half-hour. Pulling up to the white, brick Hinsdale home, just barely on time, he takes a deep breath and collects himself for his first appointment of the day. Ward fixes and cleans cars so he knows he is going to need to focus to get the job done. Aldasoqi got his entrepreneurial start by detailing cars, however, he is not the only student at Hinsdale Central to dip his toe into the world of business. Whether it’s washing cars or selling stickers, students have found creative ways to use their talents to earn some money. Some of these businesses started recently due to boredom during COVID’s quarantine this spring; however, some began long ago when they were young with a vision, or simply because they wanted to spend money they had not yet earned. Aldasoqi spends his days traveling from house to house. He works mainly in Hinsdale, Clarendon Hills, Burr Ridge, and Willowbrook. His customers can schedule an appointment over the phone or on social media sites such as Instagram. Detailing cars is Aldasoqi’s forte, he specializes in cleaning both the exterior and the interior of his customers’ vehicles. He brings tools like a power washer, brushes, soaps, and more equipment with him in his family’s minivan when he comes to clean. Since early May when he started, Aldasoqi has detailed roughly 150 cars. Similarly, senior Marco Grande has launched his own business where he
travels from client to client to maintain their lawn. Whether they are one-time customers or regular clients, Grande travels all over Hinsdale, Clarendon Hills, Westmont, Downers Grove, Willowbrook, and surrounding areas for his clients. On average, he puts in about 20 to 30 hours a week over the summer, but he said it has slowed down since the start of school. “On my phone I have an app that tells me when I have school, or I have a test coming up, I want to work but it’s tough to balance around it when I’m going to work out or football practice,” Grande said. Unlike Aldasoqi and Grande, senior Anna Coffey’s business is all conducted online. She has created her own line of custom stickers that have to do with a song, album or artist. Coffey draws out her design ideas on her computer and then, once she is satisfied with her designs, she gets them printed out onto stickers. She then takes advantage of promotion through social media and advertises them on Instagram. “I made it into an Instagram account because it is the easiest way to promote it to my audience,” Coffey said. It is not only the upperclassmen of Central who are following their entrepreneurial visions. Sophomore Anthony Lynch launched his own online Lego store at just 15 years old. First, he hunts for Lego sets he believes have the potential to be resold at a higher price. Once purchased, he goes through and sorts out each piece by size, color, and rarity. After the pieces are organized, he enters them into his page on the platform Bricklink. On this website, people can buy and sell Lego pieces, mini-figures, whole
sets, and even instructional booklets. Each of these entrepreneurs had a different path that had led them to their businesses. For Aldasoqi, from a young age, he always had a love of cars. After following YouTubers with similar passions he realized he could be around cars all the time and even earn a pWrofit from it. “Ever since I was 12, I’ve been watching this guy named ‘Ammo NYC’ on YouTube and obviously some people I know are detailers or were detailers in the past,” Aldasoqi said. He mentioned that his work d o e s not feel like a job to him at all because he enjoys what he is doing. He said that detailing cars is not just a means of income but an enjoyable pastime as well. “I’m interested in the operation. I’m able to actually put time and focus into it because I’m passionate about it,” Aldasoqi said. Like Aldisoqi, Lynch has learned a lot about his craft by watching YouTube videos of experts. He said he got a lot of inspiration from those who created similar businesses and filmed the process along the way. “I watch a lot of Lego YouTubers, and many of them... either had stored Lego pieces for a while, or just recently started them,” Lynch said. “So I think if they can do it, (who’s) to say I can’t. I’ve always loved Legos since I was a kid… I just woke up and thought I could monetize this.” When Lynch began his endeavor in February, his inventory consisted of under 1,000 individual pieces. Today, it has grown to more than 85,000 pieces. Coffey also started her business this year. In an effort to help fill her time during the COVID-19 lockdown, Coffey, along with the help of her father, turned her drawings into a profitable business. “You don’t really need a lot of supplies… you just need your computer,” Coffey said. Despite the pandemic keeping students from Central out of school for months, some student entrepreneurs were able to take advantage of the situation. “During quarantine, I had a lot of time, so I started painting and drawing again,” Coffey said. “I also wanted to try digital art and I love listening to music so I kind of just combined the two into one thing.” While Coffey’s and Lynch’s businesses can be conducted entirely online, for Grande and Aldasoqi, being in person must happen. Grande’s start originally came from being employed by senior Christian Schloegel, who had his own lawn care
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