With people encouraged to take risks and innovation being nurtured, students are finding courage to try to start their own companies while in high school.
High school entrepreneurship may be more common than ever, but that does not take away from the hard work and time that goes into starting companies. Entrepreneurship is the process of designing, launching and running a new business. When in the beginning stages, the company is small but with smart marketing, efficient use of money and a little bit of luck, business can grow into successful ones.
Senior Charin Song and her friend (disclosure: the reporter of this story is working with Song as co-founders) started the eco-friendly phone case insert business PicSert. The idea of this revolutionary phone case idea is to take one single clear phone case, and swap in professionally designed case inserts with different designs efficiently.
PicSert is unique in that their fundamental business plan revolves around being environmentally sustainable. The environmentally sustainable clear case phone inserts reduces the amount of plastic wasted in traditional phone cases. “I hope that this business can act as a sustainable model for future businesses,” Song said. “It is baffling that only eight percent of plastic is actually recycled, so I want to be able to help change that.”
The founders spent this past summer curating designs with the help of one of the graphic designers on their team, senior artist Evan Chang. Chang designed all the phone case inserts digitally, personally curating colors and patterns. “There are a wide variety of designs and colors, making it perfect for any user,” Chang said.
The PicSert team launched the finished website at www.picsert.com at the end of summer. “Everyone should get one and we can help make the earth a greener place one case at a time. Shipping throughout the nation is free, and shipping internationally is only one dollar,” Song said.
The special thing about PicSert cases are its ability to change case inserts in accordance to moods and feelings. “Although it is just a startup business right now, I am optimistic that this product can be widely used to conserve resources while at the same time people can express their style through these phone cases,” Song said. “I am very excited for how the business will turn out.”
Behind every success is a strong support system. “I wouldn’t have gotten the courage to continue without the help of my friends and family at all. I am very thankful for them,” Song said.
Overall, Song treasures the product that she is selling. “I love PicSert and I hope you all will too. Give PicSert a chance to start to live greener.” Song said.