In 1965, at the age of 17, Fred DeLuca borrowed $1,000 to start Subway. He started the restaurant as a way to earn money for college and it blossomed into a chain with 32,041 locations making $9 billion in sales yearly. There are many instances of young entrepreneurs being successful, including ones closer to home.
Northwood alumnus Jerry Silvestri started Atlantic Allure, a t-shirt company, in 2015. In addition to Atlantic Allure, Silvestri has ownership of multiple Twitter accounts that he uses for social media marketing, but he considers his first authentic business venture to be his t-shirt company.
“In the past six years I have grown, bought, and sold over 50 accounts on Twitter,” Silvestri said. “It is an incredible business that the average person doesn’t even know about. For about four years, I did marketing for other companies, websites, apps, things of that sort…. I decided it was time to take it to the next level. Why advertise for companies and make a small percentage, when I have this entire audience that I can use to grow my own brand?”
Every business has to begin with an idea. Silvestri’s idea came to him after sustaining a back injury while playing soccer and returning to the U.S. from Italy.
“I sat down and put together a list of possible stores I would be interested in running, what would be the most sustainable, cost efficient, profitable and most important of all, what’s a brand I could build that will last,” Silvestri said. “T-shirts is what I ended up going with. Everybody loves t-shirts, everybody needs t-shirts. It’s a piece of clothing that will never go out of fashion, at least for a while.”
Silvestri offered some advice for young entrepreneurs looking to launch their own businesses.
“Don’t try and copy others, don’t try and follow the money, don’t do something because your parents think it’s a good idea,” Silvestri said. “Create a business that you are 100 percent invested in. Your business needs to be your baby…. It comes with a lot of stress and hard work, but when the success comes, it makes it all worth it.”
Hempsmith, a sustainable hemp clothing company, was also founded and continued by Northwood alumni. Coming to fruition in 2014, Hempsmith’s goal is to “provide fine, ethical products and work to protect this garden planet by returning hemp to the people.”
Class of 2016 graduate Arlo Estill is currently the company’s driving force.
“We sell a lot of t-shirts, we do a lot of printing and embroidery and a ton of tie dye,” Estill said.
His passion for hemp and his brand is evident.
“I found that pretty much everyone has a clothing company, but other companies just put plastic dyes on 100 percent cotton, and it’s not really competitive,” Estill said. “My brother and I wanted something that could differentiate Hempsmith. [Hemp] is very sustainable, versatile and it’s going to change the world.”
Hempsmith inspired Estill to study textiles at North Carolina State University to further his understanding of the quickly growing business. After college, he plans to make Hempsmith his full-time job.
“I can’t wait to hit the road and start touring festivals and selling shirts all the time,” Estill said.
On a smaller scale, juniors Jaela Harris and Anisha McFadden recently began J and A Tops, a business for handmade, crocheted “bohemian-chic” tops and headbands. They began the business this past summer for reasons many students can relate to.
“We didn’t have anything else to do, and we wanted to make a little money,” Harris said.
McFadden and Harris primarily utilize their Twitter account, @TopsnThings, to advertise to their customers.
“We were very successful at putting our name out there, thanks to Anisha,” Harris said.
Starting a business as a young person does come with its struggles. In a primarily adult-oriented world, obstacles seem to become much bigger for teenagers with no formal training or education in business.
“Time management is definitely hard, because tops take a long time to make, and another thing is people put in an order, but they don’t necessarily pay for the order, which makes it difficult to continue making tops,” Harris said.
McFadden shared Harris’ sentiments.
“Another thing people don’t understand is that we actually have to buy the yarn and hand make them for people,” McFadden said. “It’s not like we are going to pick up the tops and resell them. It’s definitely a quality thing, and [our tops are] better than Forever 21. I think people need to understand and respect business, even something as small-scale as this.”
Atlantic Allure ran into problems in its early stages too.
“The biggest problem I came across when starting the company was finding a good screen printer,” Silvestri said. “In two and a half years of running the company, I have had five printers. They want to nickle and dime you, push you around, act like what they’re doing for you is more than what you’re doing for them. Of course, being a teenager only escalates this, as people see a chance to take advantage of you.”
Despite the hurdles, being a young entrepreneur can be very fulfilling both financially and through the experience that can be gained.
“I started Atlantic Allure with a $1,700 investment and now carry over $50,000 worth of inventory,” Silvestri said. “If you put in the time, do your research and stay on top of things, the rewards will come.”
– By Ava Johnson
