The question of “why” comes up all too often. I’m just a college student, so why did I choose to start a business while still in school? So many thoughts come rushing into my mind… Isn’t that something I should do after I graduate? Aren’t I too young? Do I even know what I am doing business wise? …and the answer to all of them is simply, “nope!” I don’t have to wait until after I become a “real adult,” I’m not too young, and honestly I have no clue what I’m doing. But that’s the fun part!

Pretty soon, I’ll be graduating magna cum laude from Miami University with a degree in Marketing and a minor in entrepreneurship. Coming into college, I always knew that I wanted to be a marketing major. I’m not quite exactly why, but I’m guessing the fact that I could express my creativity in a professional manner (while still wearing cute clothes!) was what really attracted me. I knew that I had a business mindset, but didn’t want to be constrained to numbers like accounting, finance or economics. During my sophomore year of college, I took an entrepreneurship class just for fun, and ended up LOVING it. The class was all about business models, and it was one of those classes that I had to read a ton of material for homework, but it never really felt like work. After that class I choose to declare entrepreneurship as my minor because it was the perfect creative compliment to marketing. Little did I know at the time that this decision would come in handy as I began to pursue starting my own business.

As I mentioned in the first blog post of this series (you can find that post here!!), I bought my first DSLR as a junior in college. I knew that I had a passion for photography and thought it would be a fun way to express my creativity. I didn’t expect to start a business, but I did hope to make enough money on the side in order to pay off the camera by the following Christmas. Before I knew it, I was getting inquiry after inquiry and could hardly keep up with the editing.

About half-way through the summer, I found an online community called The Rising Tide Society. Here, I found some of my favorite small business owners + photographers, event planners and other creatives. This group of creative entrepreneurs provided advice and other tidbits of information that I began to collect after I read Facebook posts, blog posts and articles. They served as a source of encouragement, motivation and inspiration. That dream of being a photographer that I thought was so far off in the distance, wasn’t actually as far as I thought.

I began to realize that owning my own business was the perfect combination of my areas of study at Miami. I was learning about all of the components necessary to create a successful business and I understood the steps and considerations necessary to market my business. Ultimately, I chose to form my LLC for a variety of reasons. I had this dream of becoming a wedding photographer and I knew that I had to create a business the right way. Mainly though, I’m a planner and I wanted to create a sustainable and successful business. That meant legalizing myself and taking the necessary steps to become “official.” My business will officially turn one on October 11th this year, and it’s crazy to think about where it will be in 5 months.

So why did I decide to start my business in college? Well, the answer is simple. I had all of the tools necessary to do it, and I wanted a solid foundation in which I could build my business and ultimately serve my customers with love and grace. Anyone who knows me knows that I am not a rule breaker. I can’t even skip class without feeling guilty! So I wanted to make sure that I was taking all of the necessary precautions to begin building my dream business.

Now that you know why I chose to start my business, stay tuned for next week to learn the why behind my business 🙂