Getting a job is something that many high schoolers partake in. Whether students hold jobs at grocery stores, restaurants, or as paid interns, high school is an opportune time to get a job and develop skills necessary for being an adult.
Before the pandemic, getting a job was increasingly difficult for students due to a demanding school workload and a more competitive job market. Coronavirus has only exacerbated this. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, in the middle of 2020, while the pandemic was ravaging the world, the youth employment rate was 46.7%, down from 56.2% 2019.
Naturally, students have had to make do with the limited options provided to them. Some have small payment opportunities, like dog-walking and babysitting, others have found higher paying, more reliable jobs like working at a grocery store. Some students have even begun their own online businesses.
Meghan Spring, a Roosevelt junior, said her decision to start her own online jewelry selling businesses (@makingsbymegs on Instagram) was influenced by the pandemic. In an interview, Spring says, “right now is a really good time to start this kind of thing because you have so much spare time, and it’s really rewarding.”
Roosevelt’s academic day used to end at 3:35 pm, but due to the pandemic, synchronous learning now ends at 11:50 am each day. Spring found herself with a lot of space in her schedule and wanted something to fill her time.
Since opening her businesses around December of 2020, Spring has seen an increase in sales. Although most of her customers are friends or friends of friends, she says her business’s success is largely thanks to an entirely online platform for marketing, selling, and transporting her products.
One might think that being limited to an online platform would be a hindrance to a business’s success, however, Spring views it differently. “I think I reach a lot more customers,” she says referring to the advantages of using an online platform. “Obviously a lot of the customers I have are friends of friends and they wouldn’t know about me if it wasn’t for social media… it’s definitely better to use social media in my opinion because that’s where my target audience is.”
When asked about whether or not she recommends other students start online businesses, Spring advised, “If you have something you’re passionate about that you enjoy doing, right now is a really good time to start this kind of thing… It’s a good creative outlet especially when there’s not a lot of those left right now.” Spring recommends that students take advantage of this time to pursue something they’re passionate about.
Spring sees her business as more of a hobby. Although she treats her job with professionalism, it’s more of a pastime and less of a step in her career journey. She found something she was passionate about and decided to pursue it in an entertaining and skill-building way.
Even though she overall recommends starting an online business to students, there are some disadvantages in her opinion. She says that she never truly knows her clients unless she is friends with them. The trust and relationships that she would be able to build with customers if her business was in-person are different than the relationships she builds online.
She gets irritated when customers don’t credit her work on social media after they purchase her jewelry because, as she says, “that’s really my main source of new customers… you don’t really have control over what other people post so they buy your jewelry and just never speak to you again.”
Spring thinks that in the future, the online business model will become the new norm. “I think because of the pandemic, it’s become necessary for businesses to move online because you don’t have that opportunity necessarily to go in-person.” While having an online profile, whether it’s a website or social media account, is a great idea, it’s still not an opportunity that many small business owners are taking advantage of.
According to The Balance Small Business, while 92% of small business owners think that the most effective marketing strategy is having a website, only 54% have actually implemented it. This is likely because over a third of small business owners believe that their business is too small to deserve an online platform.
Since the pandemic, Roosevelt students have been adapting to almost every new aspect of life that COVID-19 has brought upon them. Starting an online business is a great way to channel creative energy into something that one is truly passionate about. Spring is just one of many students who have started their own successful businesses. She thinks it’s time students start taking advantage of their creativity and free-time. Check out @makingsbymegs on Instagram.
