Version of the story originally in the Western Carolinian
WCU students, Stephen Rider and Liah Vaartjes, have cracked the code on staying motivated while chasing their goals.
He is a full-time political science major and she studies recreational therapy but there is one thing that sets them apart from fellow students – they own two decal businesses together.
Rider and Vaartjes founded their first business, Invective, in 2021 from their apartments. Invective, LLC makes custom merchandise like clothing, glass wear, logos, and more. From their website, Rider’s vision for this company was “creating accessible branding for small businesses to utilize while trying to survive the economic downturn caused by COVID-19.”
The idea came together when Vaartjes approached Rider about wanting to start a craft business within her home using her Cricket machine. With the help of Rider and figuring out the legal matters, the idea started on Etsy to later move into the Invective they have today.
Now, these two college students have bought High Point Decals from a friend with a focus on decals for businesses, projects, vehicles, or just personal use. Together, they create the merch and run the two companies.
For most college students, life moves faster than the eye can see. There are endless deadlines, homework assignments, tests, group projects and so much more. The pressure gets heavier and heavier as we figure out what we want to do, how to get involved and what comes next. The two entrepreneurs may not be like the rest but they are driven to make something of themselves and to break the traditional college student mindset.
“Business is one of those things that never stops so I could be in the middle of hanging out with friends and we get an order that comes through that needs to take priority. It is kind of constantly in the background; managing a business, at least to me, doesn’t have a defined stop or start to your day,” said Rider.
He doesn’t have much time for other things. His priorities lie in the businesses, but he is a part of Kappa Sigma Fraternity. He also recently published his novel “Dear Wantrepenuer.”
Resources for students and start-ups
Rider highlighted how he used the program Small Business and Technology Development Center (SBTDC) that is in the Forsyth Building at WCU. The center helped with tips on how to run a business and how to manage it.
Elena Gupta, regional center director at SBTDC, talked about resources and services through the center.
“The Business Launch initiative is a specialized service of the SBTDC that helps entrepreneurs evaluate an idea, form the idea into a business model, and launch the viable idea into a new North Carolina business. The SBTDC established this initiative in 2019 to help early-stage innovators, particularly those around university ecosystems, move forward with forming a business and to keep our state on the forefront of tech business creation.” This can be found on the SBTDC website.
After continuing with the center, Gupta suggested checking out the website’s “services” section which says counselors will guide entrepreneurs through “organizational strategies to business operations or marketing, helping businesses propel forward faster,” depending on the type of business.
Along with the SBTDC, Vaartjes said that students could talk with professors since they are an available resource as college students. She recommended looking into online resources like YouTube if someone wants to learn how to start/maintain a business.
From a Fit Small Business article, studies show that “5.9 million entrepreneurs and business owners are under age 35.”
Motivation and drive
I then talked to Vaartjes and Rider about what their motivations are and what advice they would give to students who may be stuck wondering what to do next.
The two do not want to be stuck in a traditional 9 to 5 office job, instead they want to do what they love and be free with their own professional decisions with the reins of the business in their hands.
“After I’m done with classes and everything, I focus on the business side of things,” said Vaartjes. In between her classes, she works on her schoolwork throughout the day which makes her workload more manageable and helps lessen the stress. Most of their work is online so she can take her responsibilities everywhere she goes.
“What I would say to others is just like find little spaces in your day because you don’t have to spend all day long working on the business but as long as you chunk out subsections sometimes then that’ll be it,” she said.
Questions turned to Rider, who talked about the opportunities at hand and wanting to experience life to the fullest.
“It felt like there was so much time to seek opportunities… that’s kind of where the original motivation came from… to me it’s a desperation of I really don’t want to spend the next 40-50 years of my life working for someone else and having to go to this job. I think that there’s so much more experiences to have as a human and so I’d like to try to make money now and make money passively so that I can enjoy the rest of my life,” said Rider.
Rider stressed that you just should try doing the things you imagine, whether that be a start-up, filming a movie, writing a book, etc. He sees it as pushing yourself to make your dreams a reality and you might surprise yourself with what you can accomplish.
Related story: Bethany Davidson: Successful entrepreneur and college professor
