I Started My Business Out Of College — Experts Weigh In

It’s that time of year again… graduation! But with so many recent graduates saturating the workforce, not all new grads are looking to go the conventional route. We asked some small business owners who started their businesses right after graduating about their journeys. Here’s what they had to say…

“I am the owner of a start-up tutoring company, Suprex Private Tutoring, and I started my business straight out of college after I received a MBA. 

I decided to start my business immediately after I got out of college after doing several internships at corporate offices. I felt that I was ignored by many of the upper level managers and when I suggested innovative ways to improve productivity; instead of being listened to, the management still asked me to complete the task the conventional way. 

In the end, I realized that I would not make a difference in the corporate business world and that if I started my own business, I would be able to make a difference to many people!” –AJ Saleem, Suprex Private Tutoring

“My name is AJ and I started my business a little after I graduated from college when I couldn’t find a job in my field. At the time, I was working through college at a Radioshack and graduated from the University of Central Florida. 

Right out of college, I couldn’t find a job in my field (advertising and public relations,) then Radioshack filed for bankruptcy and I was let go. It was either sink or swim at this point, and that’s when I decided to start TechOTG. 

At TechOTG, we provide phone repair, tablet repair, and computer repair but at your convenience. Our techs come directly to you and perform the repair at your home, place of business or public venue. There’s no need to go anywhere.” –AJ Santos, TechOTG

 “I graduated Fresno State University last Friday with a degree in Entrepreneurship. I started my company, Crated with Love (cratedwithlove.com), while in college. 

As a passionate entrepreneurship student, I knew from the second I took my first class, that I wanted to start my own business. I decided to start my business during college because it allowed me to apply what I was learning in the classroom with what I was doing with my company. In addition, because of my age, there are much less responsibilities and financial priorities, meaning I can take on more risk. Because of this combination, I have been able to ship over 10,000 boxes to couples all over the country in less than a year!” –Tyler Turk, Crated With Love

“I started my business during my senior year in college. It’s a financial planning business where I focus specifically on millennials and recent college graduates. I started it after realizing that the finance industry widely ignores younger people unless they have some large inheritance or trust fund to invest. I wanted to create a company that could serve this overlooked population (a population that I’m a part of) and provide both financial education and advice to the up and coming generation of professionals.” –Jaycob Arbogast, Arbogast Advisers LLC

“I graduated from law school in May 2015, but I went straight through from undergrad, so I feel like I was in the same boat as recent college grads. I started my own business while I was still taking my final exams as part of a startup accelerator program called StartCo. I would take my exams in the morning, work the rest of the day, and at the end of the week, I had to bring my cap and gown to the office so I could go walk the line during my lunch break. 

I decided to start my own business because, after 3 three years of law school and interning, I knew that practicing law wasn’t right for me. I needed something more exciting and hands-on, so I decided to take some of the industry knowledge I learned through my internships to start my business, Feather. Feather is an online marketplace for in-home senior care. I became familiar with the industry through studying and working in Elder Law, and I knew there was opportunity of innovation in the industry.” –Rachel Fuller, Feather

“I graduated from Amherst College in 2013 and started my business shortly thereafter: Smarter App Technologies (or ‘Smarter’ for short!). We are a time management consulting firm geared towards high school and college students, assisting in time management skills development, productivity and stress management, and study planning. I started the business because it touches on all the topics I love, and I wanted to take my future and economic success into my own hands.” –Monique Thomas, Smarter App Technologies

“My name is Ian Crueldad and I started my company Internpub, right before I graduated from the George Washington University in 2015. The company received investments as well in 2015. It is an online platform for anonymously rating, reviewing, and discussing internship experiences. 

After holding several internships over the years, I met far too many fellow interns who were in the dark about the details of their internships before they started. Universally, this lack of information meant that neither the interns nor the employers were able to get the most out of the arrangement. Therefore I created Internpub to help solve the internship dilemma many interns are continuing to face.” –Ian Crueldad, Internpub

“After graduating from the University of Florida, I found myself working closely with high net worth families who usually made their wealth by having an entrepreneurial nature. Being around these kinds of people day in and day out rubs off on you especially after going through business school… 

Entrepreneurs solve problems. One of the most common problems I hear recent college graduates complain about is how expensive rent is- that got me thinking as I drove down on the most expensive areas of my town where there were multimillion dollar homes that never seemed to have a car in the drive way. I set up Money Mentor as a course to teach young entrepreneurial professionals how to live in local mansions, in exchange for being the homeowner’s eyes and ears while they are away from the home. The homeowners get a trusted young professional who’s caring for their multimillion dollar investment 24/7 meaning that is one less thing they have to worry about, and the young professional gets to save money on rent. Win-win. 

What convinced me to get it started was when I realized that my responsibilities are bare minimal at this point in my life; I don’t have a spouse, kids, a mortgage, thus my living expenses are the lowest they will (likely) ever be. If I can’t get it started and going now- imagine trying to do it while raising (and financially supporting) kids. Hats off to all you business owners who took the leap later on in life- you inspire me!” –David Melnyk, Mansion Mentor

“My name is Andrew Reeves and I am the founder and CEO of Luxe Translation Services. This is a translation company translating over 200 languages. I used to be a freelance translator in college and I did translations between English and Spanish. This was just a side job that would put a few hundred dollars a month in my pocket. Through this work, I met a lot of people in the industry and made great relationships. During college, I had a vision for a company that would do multiple languages, but I just didn’t have the time to operate such a company yet. Right after college, I had more time and decided to expand my business by hiring freelancers like myself who spoke different languages to translate in their own languages. This is still a work in progress but my vision is to build this company to an internationally recognized name, translating over 200 languages.” –Andrew Reeves, Luxe Translation Services

“My company helps injured victims of accidents in their cases. I started this company because I was in a car accident myself and I was unable to work for two years. I knew firsthand the frustration of being injured and not being able to pay your daily expenses. I did not have a family to support but I could only imagine how much more difficult a family would have it if the breadwinner was injured and needed money. I find my work rewarding and cannot imagine doing anything more satisfying.” –Jesse Harrison, Zeus Legal Funding

“During my last year at college, I knew that I didn’t want to pursue a career in my chosen studies – finance and law. I enjoyed learning about them, but didn’t want to be shoehorned into a desk job the minute I left education. So rather than waiting for that to happen, I decided to take the initiative and start my own business. I’d worked for a large removals company while I was at college to help me afford my fees, so I decided that I’d rent a van and try to target the low hanging fruit in the removals market – customers who were looking for local moves rather than international. I built a simple website and ran some ads using Google Adwords, and so far everything is going great! I know that if any point my business falls through or I lose enthusiasm, I have my qualifications to fall back on. But right now I’m happy with my business and hopefully we can keep growing!” –Max Robinson, Fife Man Removals

“We are faced with challenges that affect each and every one of us every single day, with entrepreneurship as the solution to problems. During my four years of university, I consistently carried around a journal where I would write problems, issues, challenges, annoyances, etc. on paper and would think about solutions to these problems. More than 99% of the time, I would never come up with a solution; until one day I noticed that students have a need for storage, while there is an abundance of underutilized space in our communities. Before graduation, we have developed an extremely talented team that has developed an online platform for the P2P, sharing economy model for space and storage. Storedby.com is an online marketplace that connects individuals who need storage with individuals in the community who have underutilized space, whether an individual needs a closet for their storage or a driveway for their car, Storedby allows verified users the opportunity to connect for space. Post-graduation, I have decided to pursue my passion for entrepreneurship full-time as my risk-tolerance is relatively high and there is a need for our platform in the marketplace.” –John Publicover, Storedby Inc.

Ready to start your own business or need help with maintenance? Give us a call at 1877 692 672 or visit us at www.MyCorporation.com.