5 Books Every Student Entrepreneur Should Read

1. Losing My Virginity by Richard Branson

2. Ride of a Lifetime by Paul Teutul

3. Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh

4. Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell

5. Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich

Starting a Clothing Company in College

Starting a clothing company is something that any college student can do while in school for a minimal initial investment. Many clothing companies have been started by college students, and we are going to help walk you through the initial steps to get started so you too can start your own clothing company.

            The first thing you will want to consider is who your customer is going to be. You need to know who the end buyer of your clothing line is so that you can plan accordingly. After you have decided on who your customer will be and figured out how you are going to market to them, you will need to come up with a brand name. This is something that should be unique and relevant to the industry to intend to be a part of. After settling on a brand name, you will need to hire a freelance graphic designer to design a logo for your company, as this will be your brands identity. As a college student it is usually better to work with an experienced freelance designer rather than hiring a marketing or advertising agency because you will likely have a relatively small budget and the freelance route will be much cheaper. You can also consider websites such as 99 Designs where you can choose from what multiple designers create and you only pay for the one you choose to use.

            The next step is to work with a designer to create designs for the apparel. This will take time so while you are working on this step it is the optimal time to start sampling different garments to print on. It is generally cheaper to purchase shirts online from a wholesaler because they are cheaper than purchasing them from the screen-printing companies. If you are starting with tee shirts you should order at least 5 to 10 different blank shirts to compare the quality, fit, and size of the shirts. By the time you have settled on the brand and style of blank shirt you are going to print on, your designer should have your first designs completed for you to review. You may need to make some modifications and should work with your designer until you are one hundred percent satisfied with the final product.

Now that you have your initial designs in hand, it is time to start comparing the price and quality of various screen-printers. Like we mentioned earlier, it is usually cheaper to purchase the blank shirts online from a wholesaler, so make sure that the screen-printing company you choose to work with will allow you to bring in your own items and wont make you purchase the shirts from them. You can usually stop in and look at some of their previous work or have them mail you a sample and then get a quote on how much their service will cost based on the quantity of shirts you are going to print. Once you have modified the design and are set on what you are going to print, you will want to have some samples printed before you have them print a large quantity. Although the unit cost will be expensive, you are more than likely going to make changes to the size of the design or how it is positioned on the shirt so it is much safer to pay for the samples rather than risk having hundreds of shirts you aren’t satisfied with and cant do anything about it. After you have a sample that you are happy with its time to print in bulk. A good chunk of the costs associated with printing occur in the set up-costs, so the more shirts you print, the cheaper your unit cost will be.

Most of these steps also apply to any embroidering you may do on hats or other items. Now that you have your initial clothing line printed and in your possession, you are now at the point where you need to start implementing your marketing strategy in order to sell it to your customer. Hopefully you are successful in selling your stock of inventory and at that point whether you plan to print more of the same designs or create new designs for consumers, you will start the process over and continue to grow the company. There is a lot more to it than these initial steps, but this will at least help you get off to a good start and build a good foundation for your company.

Business Spotlight: Recycle Rite, Inc.

                  If you live in Cedar Falls, IA, the town where the University of Northern Iowa is located, you quickly realize that the city doesn’t offer recycling and you are left with limited options to dispose of recyclable items. Those options include throwing your recycling in your vehicle and hauling it to a drop off center or throwing it away with your garbage. Brian Hoyer, founder and CEO of Rite Environmental which provides recycling services to residents of Cedar Falls, Waterloo and the surrounding areas, realized that this was a problem and took advantage of the opportunity in 2011.
     
          Prior to starting Recycle Rite, Brian would do anything he could to make a buck which included mowing lawns as well as purchasing soda from local grocery stores and selling it at town events during the hot Iowa summers. Growing up as a native of Cedar Falls, he also had a paper route which he expanded by acquiring the routes that were attached to his in order to grow his route while being as efficient as possible.
       
          Following high school Brian decided to attend the University of Northern Iowa where he currently goes to school part time as he runs Recycle Rite. One day while attending an entrepreneurs meeting on campus, people were talking about the lack of recycling options for people in Cedar Falls and the surrounding areas. He realized that there was an opportunity that was not being taken advantage of and left in the middle of the meeting to start figuring out how he would capitalize on this
opportunity. After conducting research, he noticed that there were a lot of residents who were unhappy that the city did not offer curbside recycling. After calling the local newspaper who featured him in a story, word of mouth spread and he had his first customers. At this point he bought a truck and trailer, through a logo together to put on a sweatshirt and started collecting recycling, following the same collection schedule as the city’s garbage trucks and not requiring residents to sort their recycling. After getting things going, a few competitors emerged trying to solve the same problem as Recycle Rite. However, due to late entry and customer service that just did not match that of Brian’s company, the competition started to withdraw, leaving him the lone recycling service in town after nine months. When asked about whether or not he was worried about the city offering curbside recycling in the future he said that he has the word of the mayor that as long as he is on office, the city will not offer recycling.

          He has since expanded to a 5500 square foot sorting facility and collects recycling in a truck that pulls a trailer designed specifically for hauling his containers. Recycle Rite has been in business for two and a half years and has been profitable every year the company has been in business. Brian has also recently expanded with Refuse Rite, a refuse residential service, as well as Sweep Rite which is a street sweeping company. Both of these companies, along with Recycle Rite, fall under the parent company named Rite Environmental.

School Comes 2nd: Why did you decide to start Recycle Rite, especially since you were a student?

Hoyer: I have always been passionate about working for myself. As far as recycling is concerned, I found a niche and recycling happened to be a niche I could fill. Overall I am just really driven by having business success.

School Comes 2nd: What is your major at UNI and do you think that the classes you take are relevant to success as a start-up?

Hoyer: Logistics is critical. Early on it is important to get beyond excel and other basic programs and use accounting software such as QuickBooks. Along those lines you need to make sure that you document everything and keep up on accounting so that you build your business on a strong foundation. It is very difficult to back and make corrections when something wasn't done right from the beginning. If there is one thing you do, hire an accountant so you don’t get stuck cleaning up a mess.

School Comes 2nd: What are some fundamental things you would suggest student entrepreneurs get right from the start?

Hoyer: I am majoring in business administration. As far as classes are concerned, I don’t think that they are relevant when it comes to running a business and real-life business management. I think that success comes from being able to deal with people as well as keeping everything organized. Other than that, learning definitions and looking at graph’s and theories don’t really apply much when it comes to making things happen.

School Comes 2nd: How do you get the name out?

Hoyer: Word of mouth plays a large role because once someone in the neighborhood signs up for the service it generates curiosity and then others feel the need to “keep up with the Jones’s.” That relates to our tagline which is “your neighbors recycle rite, you should too.” We also advertise on television which has been our best source of marketing with over one account added per day since our commercial began to air.

School Comes 2nd: How exactly does your company make money and what does your service cost?

Hoyer: The first way we generate revenue is from service fees paid by the
customers on a monthly basis. They can have their recycling picked up once a week
for twenty dollars per month or once a month for ten dollars per month. The second
way we generate revenue is through reselling it because it becomes a commodity
after it is processed.

School Comes 2nd: What is your mentality when money gets tight?

Hoyer: I believe that you need to be willing to bootstrap it until things turn around. I started with $700 that I borrowed from my girlfriend and a $500 Christmas bonus that I got from the funeral home where I was working and everything ended up working out. There are also opportunities for funding if you look for them. After I eventually wrote a business plan, I entered in a statewide competition that I ended
up winning which resulted in a check for $5000. I would suggest that you should refrain from going after investors unless absolutely necessary because if you can get out of the tough position you will be much better off down the road.

School Comes 2nd: What has been your toughest challenge thus far in your journey as a business owner?

Hoyer: I would say the toughest challenge has been maintaining cash flow and hiring the right people. Turnover is expensive because it takes so long to train people. Company culture is also very important to the success of the company and Recycle Rite has had many employees so we have found that the company operates better when everyone gets along and is happy to be at work. It can also be tough to keep on legalities such as workman’s comp insurance and taxes because at times you aren't going to know everything so you may learn the hard way but it is important to learn and move forward.

School Comes 2nd: Do you have any good stories that come from being a business owner?

Hoyer: We had a customer of a competitor call us thinking that we were our competitor and they were complaining about the service. I then gave them the number of the company they thought they were talking to and they ended up calling us back a few minutes later because they cancelled their subscription with the other company and wanted to sign up with Recycle Rite.

School Comes 2nd: Do you have an exit strategy?

Hoyer: I plan on evaluating everything when I am 30 and decide what I want to do at that point. It may be that I am ready to sell it and move on to something else or hire someone to manage all of the day to day operations while I still remain the owner.

School Comes 2nd: What advice would you give to other student entrepreneurs or students who are thinking about starting a new business?

Hoyer: The best time to start a company is when you are young and in school because you have nothing to lose and the worst case scenario is that you graduate with a degree and go onto get a full-time job with a different company. For that reason, if you even have an idea that you think might be stupid you should still go talk to someone who has experience in entrepreneurship. It is also important to have a focused idea because when you think to broad you get overwhelmed and realize that you can’t do everything, but once you master one segment you can always grow later. Lastly, just get started and don’t get bogged down writing a big business plan.

         Brian recently been recognized as one of 2013’s “20 under 40 in the Cedar Valley”
and is the youngest person on the list due to his success in business as well as
making a difference in Cedar Falls. If you would like to learn more about Recycle
Rite, visit his website at www.recycleritecf.com.