Let’s travel back to 2020, the COVID-19 lockdown just commenced and students are bored out of their mind attempting to find solutions to boredom. Searching for new hobbies to occupy time, many students began small businesses to increase productivity.
School-wide events for students to showcase their newly found craft such as MarketMarket, ArtMart, and RamChella have picked up in an impossible to ignore momentum throughout the 2023-2024 school year.
Starting a business is extremely demanding of time, but getting your foot in the door and beginning to accumulate traffic towards your business is the toughest part.
Here are three student-run small business owners at Millikan, showing the ins-and-outs of managing a business along with school.
Flowers By Joana by QUEST junior Joana Terriquez Silva sells custom natural flower arrangements. Since Joana Terriquez Silva concentrates on flowers, holidays bring in lots of traffic for her business. Joana Terriquez Silva says, “My favorite memory is my first Valentine’s as a florist. I got to experiment as a florist with my own creative ideas.”
Properly handling flowers comes with unavoidable delicacy, so bumps in the road are common when it comes to handling a small business like Flowers By Joana. “I have learned that you have to be prepared for unexpected challenges. For example, some flowers may have been harmed from my wholesaler so I have to prepare for setbacks.”
Kookies N’ Kay by PEACE junior Kayleeyen Suon sells baked goods such as cakes, brownies, and specializes in cookies. Kaylee says, “When creating a name I wanted it to be unique to me so I decided to change the C in cookies with a K because it’s my first initial.”
Running a business forces you to adapt crucial time management skills. Kaylee says, “As of right now I find myself focusing on school because it’s what’s more important to me at the moment, but by next month I might find myself focusing on my business instead.” Balancing school and a business could easily cause you to fall behind in your classwork, so it is important to properly manage where you spend your time.
Stitches For The Sea by QUEST senior Ava Catalanotti sells crochet decor, specializing in car hangers and wall garlands. Stitches For The Sea is a non-profit, processing all proceeds to the Coral Restoration Foundation. “All of my items are made with cotton yarn, the finish of it is much more neat than acrylic yarn,” Ava Catalanotti said.
Unlike other businesses mentioned, Ava brought Stitches For The Sea to Etsy. Etsy is an online marketplace for those making handmade items such as Ava. Although Ava prefers to sell in person at artist markets. “I did MarketMarket and ArtMart, it was really cool to have people buy what I made in person,” says Ava.
Running a small business is nothing but impressive, but to juggle assignments, tests, and extracurricular activities is truly inspirational. Importantly, these are not the only small businesses run by Millikan Students. If you own a small business and would like to be featured I welcome you to promote your business in our comment section.
