After school, students go to work, practice or get started on their homework. While school and afterschool activities only account for part of their day, other students are busy serving the community with their businesses.
Junior Mylos Martin owns and operates a lawn care business. He started the business as a seventh grader and primarily worked in the Meridian Kessler neighborhood.
“I started the business by doing one job and getting paid a lot,” Martin said. That just made me want to keep it going.”
In the last several years, Martin’s business has expanded significantly. He added full-time employees and a website and works year round, providing lawn care services to families and businesses. He attributes his success to watching other businesses around him grow.
“My process was studying how every other company in my business does work and figuring out how I can do better work for more money,” Martin said.
Junior SJ Hobley also runs her own nail business. She provides manicures, Gel X and hard and builder gel nail sets. She started off doing a few friends’ nails, but, similar to Mylos, her business continued to grow.
“I wanted to learn how to do my nails to save money,” Hobley said. “People started asking if I could do their nails, and then everyone told me to start an Instagram page. That’s what started my business.”
These successful students must balance their schoolwork with scheduling clients and running their businesses.
“I mainly do nails on the weekends or weekdays when I’m not doing anything,” Hobley said. “I prioritize school over nails, but there have been a few occasions where I’ve missed school to do nails, like when a bride and her maids of honor needed nails for the wedding day.”
For Martin, business comes before school work each night because of his demanding schedule.
“I spend my time solely on business till whenever the work is done at the end of the day, but every day is different,” Martin said.
Running a successful business while in high school also questions the future. For Martin, continuing with lawn care could be more practical than further education.
“Business pays me enough to do whatever I want, so yes, I want to continue after high school,” Martin said. “I have all the money I need for stability now.”
These students have found a demand for something in their community and have put in the time and effort to create a successful business product.
