SELF- MADE STUDENTS

Central students encounter new challenges while starting their own businesses.

byDrew Merz & Ricky Sahgal designed by Loukas Bezanis

It’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

10 | Profiles 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 does 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

Sophomore Anthony Lynch browses Bricklink in his office after an interview for his Lego business

Photo by Luke Salvatore

Profiles | 11

business. Schloegel grew what was once Aldasoqi is not the only one who uses it into the company,” Aldasoqi said. just a small part-time lawn mowing social media as a form of promotion. It With his earnings, he has purchased business into a year-round landscaping and has been a huge help to Coffey as well. his own BMW sports car and said he maintenance company. After learning the She advertises her stickers using a website has no intention of stopping there. ropes, Grande parted ways and created his called RedBubble. On that site, there is an When asked about his goals for the own business, MG Landscaping. Although online market where other people can buy future he said he would like to buy a still employed by Schloegel, his main focus is her designs and sell their own designs. truck and eventually open his own shop. now on his own company. Schloegel helped All of these entrepreneurs have reported However, for others revenue and profits inspire him to start a business on his own. having to deal with some challenges also come down to how they manage “He taught me what tools we need, through their business endeavors. their client load and time. Aldasoqi tries how to conduct an efficient plan to get the “The clients can be some of the to be aware of his work/life balance. On a job done, pricing, (and) getting a client meanest people, even when you’re typical weekday, Aldasoqi has anywhere base,” Grande said. “I owe [my mentor] right… there have been times when from one to three appointments. With Christian everything, honestly. I had the I have been sworn at,” Grande said. each car taking on average an hour, he skills to do it before but he taught me Grande said he feels that managing said he still finds time to complete all his how to actually do it right.” client expectations is an important skill. school work and make time for his friends. Grande has also taken multiple “You don’t like to be wrong but “It is a little bit hard to get to see my business classes at Central and said it’s not worth the fight, even if you’re close friends every day, especially mixed that the most helpful classes for him right, you’re still going to lose. You’re with COVID,” Aldasoqi said. “But I still were Accounting and Business Law. not going to get hired back, so I’ve talk to a decent amount of my friends. I “Accounting taught me haven’t really cut anybody off.” how to balance my budget Also, as a result of the and checks,” Grande said. “Business Law has taught me just overall running a “It doesn’t matter how hard quarantine, Lynch saw a huge jump in his sale of Legos. He said that people were bored company, basic logistics, what are the steps involved, the work is when you truly during quarantine and were looking for something fun to do. and not getting arrested for doing it illegally.” After taking those two love it.” “Sometimes I’ll spend four or five hours parting out sets when I thought it was only classes, he has been able to going to take two hours,” Lynch expand MG Landscaping. He has recently purchased more equipment so -Marco Grande said. “I try to go to bed early, but sometimes I’ll stay up to about one or that he will be able to do a wider variety of services for his customers. He said that one of the hardest parts of starting a business at such a young age is proving to customers that the quality of your product or service is equal if not better than competitors. “Showing them that even if you’re only 17, you can do the job well, is so difficult,” Grande said. He said he feels that one of the most effective ways to let people know about his business is through the use of personal business cards. He also had t-shirts made with his custom logo in hopes that it would help spread the word about his services. Brand and name recognition are part of the challenges many new business owners face, but for Aldasoqi, he has found some advantages, such as being mobile. He brings his equipment with him to wherever the customer requests. He also uses social media to communicate with and recruit new customers. His customers typically contact him and make appointments through his Instagram account. There, he advertises customer options and some of his previous work. learned to pick my battles,” Grande said. While customer service is the pinnacle to all good business, Aldasoqi said his challenge is being his own toughest critic, feeling that he could have done more. “Sometimes it’s been as simple as not being able to have the job come out as good as I wanted it or expected it to,” Aldasoqi said. Although Lynch did face some challenges, he said that he has learned a lot too. “One thing that I definitely learned was to be smart with my money,” Lynch said. “I bought stuff that I probably shouldn’t have in the beginning just to grow my store but now realized that the filler parts would be on the shelves for years.” Aldasoqi put all of his revenue into savings, only withdrawing when he sees it necessary. He plans to spend more of his earnings in college. His most common expenses consist of purchasing better equipment, reupping on supplies and filling gas. “I probably save about 90 percent of my money and the rest would go to... gas and food and just reinvesting two [in the morning] because if I start it, I can’t do anything else until I finish it.” It has been less difficult for Coffey to manage her time because her business is all online. Coffey said she is able to work entirely from home or anywhere she wants. She said she feels that the flexibility has really helped her manage her time. As for the future outlook, all of the young business owners said they plan to continue to grow their companies, including the seniors who have college as part of their future plans as well. “The money that I’m saving is going towards my future,” Grande said.

12 | Profiles