For the typical high school student, juggling school work, extracurricular activities, hobbies and family responsibilities can quickly become difficult. While some can only dream of running their own business as an adolescent, three Northwood students have nevertheless made it their reality.
The summer of 2020 was, for many, quite bland at times and often left people sitting bored on their couches staring at the ceiling. Stuck at home during the warm months with next to nothing to do, many people began to experiment with new clothes, new hobbies and new habits. Despite the lack of activity, the newfound free time also allowed space for self-reflection and opened a door to an abundance of new projects and ideas.
In July of 2020, one Northwood junior, Miguel Becquer-Ramos, finally had enough and decided to make use of the time on his hands by opening an auto-detailing business called Ramos Auto-Detailing.
“I decided that I wanted something to do, so I [said to] my siblings, aunts, and uncles, ‘Hey, I’ll detail your car for this much’ and then I detailed their cars and they were really happy with it,” seventeen-year-old Ramos said. “After that, they referred me to some friends and then it started kicking off so I figured I might as well make my own business.”
When it comes to auto-detailing, Ramos doesn’t play around. He says good auto-detailing is set apart from simply washing cars since it consists of “really cleaning out everything [in a car]—air vents, underneath the seats and every little area that most people usually don’t think of.”
Ramos promotes himself through both Instagram and Facebook, but doesn’t market using ads since he doesn’t want his customers to feel forced to come in. He also has a website for interested customers. Ramos runs everything himself, including managing the legal and financial affairs affiliated with the job of being an owner.
“With sole proprietorship, you run your own business; you don’t have any employees. You’re not an employee; you’re your own boss so you have to make sure you’re responsible for your businesses and what you do,” Ramos said. “It would be really unprofessional of me to accept a call and arrange a detail for tomorrow and then not show up or show up late.”
Typically charging based on the car size and level of cleanliness, Ramos often waits to evaluate the vehicle until he sees it in person. Like other auto businesses, he usually gives customers an estimate and then comes up with a final price later on. For a somewhat dirty two-door car, he says the starting price is more or less $60.
So what is the reason that Ramos started and continues to run his business? Is it for fun? Money? Ramos says it’s a bit of both. Detailing cars is something he enjoys, and it serves as an outlet for his stress, but it’s also a way he can make money to put towards college. However, continuing to run the business was something he had to think about due to limited time in his schedule at the moment.
“I took the time to just sit down and think about how I was going to manage my time properly,” Ramos said. “Technically speaking, I did drop an extracurricular, but I’d say it was for a good reason; I have a business and I really like it. It’s important to realize that you don’t need to be wasting your time on something you don’t like or want.”
In the future, Ramos definitely sees his business continuing to thrive since it is going well now, but may decide to drop it if he ever picks up another job somewhere down the road.
“I think I would like to see it grow more; it’s definitely fun,” Ramos said. ”To me, it’s kind of like a unique experience because not everyone starts their own business. When I decided to open one, it changed my whole life, really. I have to be more responsible now. It’s really motivating to see something that you created grow in a prosperous way.”
For others interested in starting their own business, Ramos says he definitely would encourage them but warns that success may not come at first.
“One of the biggest things people have to get through their heads is you will most likely fail,” Ramos said. “New businesses start and fail everyday—it’s not easy to be able to maintain a business. I almost failed; I almost gave up. Most people think that their business will skyrocket in a couple of days, but it can take up to five years for your business to get noticed and for you to start finally taking off. Starting a business is learning how to fail, or take failure the right way, and [have] patience because both of those go hand in hand.”
While failure is a possibility, it doesn’t mean that businesses have a zero percent chance of flourishing. Many are hesitant to start a business since so many companies both big and small have suffered immensely since coronavirus hit the U.S. back in March of 2020. But interestingly enough, this hasn’t been the case with all businesses; in fact, thousands of small businesses have popped up everywhere over the course of the pandemic. This is partly due to the fact that people have finally had the time and opportunity to try and devote themselves to new things, but also because of the general increase of online usage during the pandemic. Nine times out of ten, businesses started during the pandemic have managed to gain enough attention to stably thrive in recent months.
Take another Northwood student, Brynn Dodge, for example. The junior took to opening her business called shoprusticthreads through Etsy on Jan. 1, 2021, selling a variety of macrame products for under $20 each. She says she got the idea from wanting a macrame rainbow to hang from her car mirror but found none online since they were “out of stock everywhere.” Deciding to learn how to make one herself, she was happy with the end product and therefore decided to open a business.
“Before opening my business, I started an Instagram and TikTok account for [my business],” Dodge said. “I posted as much as I could to build an audience before I launched. It was kinda scary to tell my friends about it, so I initially just told a couple of people that I was close to. Now I have over 3,000 followers on TikTok, so that is my main source of publicity.”
Unsurprisingly, the growth and stability of many small businesses relies on social media presence. For small business owners, having social media platforms is key to expanding their audience and is an important marketing strategy. Many businesses have had to rely solely on social media due to coronavirus restrictions, which makes it all the more crucial for the owner to gain a substantial following. Since a significantly large number of people had tuned in to what she was selling, Dodge was able to sell far more than she intended in her first few months of production.
“My first goal was to have 10 sales within my first month of being open,” Dodge said. “I ended January with 18 sales, so that was a positive way to start out! I made over 32 sales as of February.”
Dodge’s current goal is to sell to all fifty states in time, as well as grow her social media following.
So yes―starting a business can be an entirely exhilarating and rewarding experience. But as Ramos explained, it also requires having the available resources and countless hours of hard work, determination, and perseverance.
“I initially set up my business during winter break, so that part was fairly easy,” Dodge said. “I didn’t really anticipate that stress that would come later, especially during my hardest semester of junior year. The hardest challenge I’ve faced has been balancing my schoolwork and everything that comes with my business. Luckily, everyone around me has been so supportive, so I always have people encouraging me to keep going.”
If creating an elaborate plan for a business seems too complicated, fear not; you can always start small.
Dacia Case, a sophomore at Northwood this year started a small business this past summer because she wanted something to do when she was bored. She sells custom hand-embroidered products such as shoes and backpacks under her business name kicksbyday.
“I thought it would be fun to sell embroidered shoes because lots of my friends had shown interest in doing so, and I had embroidered my own Converse before and got lots of compliments on them!” said Case, who was inspired by a friend who sells custom-painted Air Forces on Etsy. “I enjoy embroidery a lot, even though it takes forever.”
Similar to Dodge, she sells her products using Etsy and self-promotes through both her personal and business Instagram accounts. She claims doing so helps her to better “interact with customers and find out what the people want and are interested in.”
While Case hasn’t sold quite as many products as Dodge, she started her business primarily for the fun of it. Eventually, she hopes to start selling custom-painted items as well, like shoes and records, once she sells more embroidered products.
“The hardest thing is finding the time to sit down and embroider the shoes,” Case said. “Each pair of shoes takes around four to six hours and can start hurting your fingers after a while.”
Despite the long hours she spends making her merchandise, Case feels that she has “learned how to stay patient, organized, and responsible” through the process of maintaining a business.
Regardless of the size a small business may be, it requires an extensive amount of time and effort to put together and manage. Fortunately, it can be fun, too. So be sure to stay on the lookout for the many talented young entrepreneurs within Northwood’s walls who are waiting for their chance to come into the entrepreneurial spotlight.
If you’re interested in supporting one or all of these three students’ businesses, you can find their social media platforms listed below:
Miguel Becquer-Ramos (auto-detailing)
Instagram: @ramos_auto.detailing
Facebook: @ramosdetailing919
Website: ramosautodetailing.net
Brynn Dodge (macrame products)
Instagram: @shoprusticthreads
TikTok: @shoprusticthreads
Etsy: shoprusticthreads
Dacia Case (embroidered products)
Instagram: @kicksbyday
Etsy: kicksbyday
