THE FOUNDING STORY
Going to college in a small North Carolina town introduced us to something that very quickly became one of my greatest interests– the many unique makers, crafters, artisans, and other small business owners that make up the fabric of a small town’s identity, culture, feeling, or “vibe”— whatever you might want to call it. My future co-founder & I would adventure all throughout the state searching with seemingly endless curiosity to find out what made each downtown distinct from another. This sprouting passion led us to hear the inspirational stories of so many entrepreneurs & small business owners– gleaning as much creative energy as we could from their missions to revive once depressed mill towns into vibrant new sources of creation & community.
Throughout this time, I also started to meet students on my campus who were starting their own businesses– mostly as artisans making jewelry, or woodwork, or pottery, or paintings. The reason why I think I felt a calling to this– is because it triggered the same reaction in me that all those small NC towns did. It now composed a very real part of the fabric of my campus in my eyes– and I felt this as core to its identity, culture, feeling. I thought everyone else on campus should know about these student-run businesses getting their start right here! As it turned out, these young entrepreneurs were struggling to get the word out to the rest of campus about what they were doing, and there weren’t any support systems in place to help them showcase their creations. This seemed like huge potential going untapped for influencing our campus culture in a new & inspiring way.
We wondered how many more students on our campus of 6,000 were looking for some support, recognition, or maybe just a boost of confidence to pursue a passion that also had a chance of being a viable business... and thus began our journey. Meeting with a few more creatives, working out some logistics, and passing out promo flyers everyday in the dining hall brought us to our first Holiday Pop-Up Market with 15 student founders a few months later in 2017. With over $3,000 in sales within a few hours, we knew this was the start of a movement that had to continue… and it did with our 2018 Holiday Pop-Up Market that brought 35 student-founders, 500 visitors, and $8,000 in sales. Several more pop-up events like this followed later that year.
Going back to the concept of small North Carolina towns and their own unique identities, I was getting more and more intrigued during this time by what creative students on other campuses might be doing– were they starting business too? Are they similar to the ones on my campus? How might their campus cultures have a unique influence? Soon came 2019, and with it our graduation and an unclear path forward for Student-Made. Lindsay and I were living out in Boone, NC on a farm of all places, and we got to know Appalachian State University pretty well. Talk about a different culture than our campus… everything was Blue Ridge Mountain inspired, super artistic, and totally hippie. We thought what an awesome fit this campus would be for Student-Made.
We weren’t planning any more pop-ups on our campus, and we weren’t exactly sure what form this little idea of ours would take, if any at all. One day that June, a drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway (as begins any monumental life event, right?) was where our “BANG” moment occurred to to make Student-Made Store an online marketplace that could exist across several campuses. In 2020, after launching the online shop back at our own campus, and then University of South Carolina– we were thrilled to make it back to Boone again, this time to bring Appalachian State on board!
It seemed like a dream to be able to discover and work with SO many talented, inspiring, ambitious students across all these different campuses. At this point, all the schools were featured on one online shop– and we soon began to see fellow students, professors, alumni, and members of the local community flock to support what students were creating. The theory was proven– our campus was not the only one that seemed like it needed this. With a mighty team of two, that meant our jobs included processing orders, maintaining the website, handling social media marketing, coordinating pop-ups (remotely), figuring out shipping, taxes, and finances, and even working one-on-one with each Creator to advise on their products. Great idea, a lot to manage we began to realize. We were running thin trying to keep all this running smoothly.
Not much later, we introduced the 2nd major component of the Student-Made Program you see today– campus manager teams. We looked at all the roles we were coordinating ourselves– website, social media, events, content, community-building, finances– and developed 7 positions to be filled by students on campus, working together in a real-life startup environment for incredible hands-on experience, maybe even in a future career path of theirs. These teams gave our student Creators the resources they needed in person, right there on their campus to allow for better access to valuable opportunities to connect with their campus community.
Introducing unique manager teams for each of our campuses spawned the realization that– since each of our campuses have this unique culture & feel that was such a big part of our original inspiration, shouldn’t they each have a unique online shop presence that reflects what makes their Creators, businesses, and community different from each other? To date, we have launched 9 unique online shops helping showcase over 400 talented young entrepreneurs. Our goal is to give each of our students the support that allows them to be a full-time college student, and still pursue their business. We are so grateful to be at a place now where we can offer student-founders such a strong program with so much potential for them to grow– through a professional shop with support in uploading their products, an easy shipping solution so they can ship to customers across the country, one-on-one content help to get great product photos and promotional content for their brand, consistent access to pop-up shops on & off-campus, a strong community to be part of with other young founders on campus, sales reporting & advising, and a continuously growing network of campuses to expand their customer base.
This winding journey of building Student-Made continued to unfold, and with every turn came a major shift, uncovering more great opportunities and endless potential. Now that we had student-manager teams and a group of about 20-30 creators on each of our campuses– developing a strong, unified, collaborative community became one of our primary focuses. How can we bring these students, all working for the same missions & goals, together? And, if we are all working together to promote the same mission, how much stronger will our impact be? What systems do we need to put into place to create this natural collaboration and support? The potential was limitless, and so was our energy to build a program that was sustainable, authentically impactful, truly engaging, and provided a supportive community that could last these students a lifetime.
Student-managers across all of our campuses communicate on a daily basis, and meet formally each month to share ideas, successes, and even failures (which are probably the most important to talk about!) All of these experiences help bring them closer together, develop new skills and grow their confidence. Student-creators feel this same kind of connection to their Student-Made community on, and off campus, reminding them they are not alone in this entrepreneurial journey, and that there is an entire network that is constantly growing, cheering them on!
Our goal for the future is to continue building out and expanding on a simple idea that we had years ago, walking around our college campus. An idea to provide a platform for students to share their talents, to encourage campus communities to empower students with their support, and to establish a network of creative minds eager to learn and grow alongside each other. The more campuses we bring into Student-Made, the more inspired and determined we are to maintain the small-community feel we started this company with. It’s all about the people for us… from our leadership team, to student-managers who help operate the day-to-today functions of the program, to the student-creators who are working to produce products and establish their businesses. The power of Student-Made comes from all of those people working together and feeling connected.
We used to be afraid of the unexpected twists and turns that came with growing this company, but now we welcome them with a BIG smile, wholeheartedly knowing that major shifts lead to major potential. And isn’t that the fundamental truth of entrepreneurship? We want that spirit to exist at every level of our company– an openness to change, excitement about new possibilities, and a deep joy for the journey through it all.
