StFX student named NS Student Entrepreneur of the year
February 25, 2010 9:00 AM
StFX student Jeremy Flynn has been named the 2010 Student Entrepreneur Nova Scotia Champion from the Advancing Canadian Entrepreneurship (ACE) organization.
ACE is a national charitable organization focused on promoting student entrepreneurship and helping students get a solid foundation of business experience.
Those named provincial champions will meet next weekend in Halifax for a chance to be named regional champion and receive a $1,000 cash prize as well as participate in the national competition in Calgary in May.
The Xaverian Weekly recently got a chance to talk with Flynn this week about the award, his business, and what he plans on doing next.
XW: How did you qualify for the award? Jeremy Flynn: Basically I was nominated by someone who was aware of my business and I was contacted by an ACE representative who asked me to fill out a short application form. The types of questions were about your experience in entrepreneurship, the types of lessons you’ve learned, and also details pertaining to the business.
XW: What is the name of your business and what does it do? JF: The name of my business is Flynnweb and basically it is a small web and graphic design marketing firm. What we do is divided into two aspects: the graphical-related side and the web-related side.
So the graphic-related side is things like corporate identity like a brand name or a logo, and [we also do] marketing materials like advertising whether it is brochures or different campaigns for whatever industry you might be in.
The web-related side is obviously web-sites [but we also do] web site systems like content management systems so clients can host their own websites and things like that. I often end up doing a blend of both for clients.
XW: When did you start your business? JF: It officially started in May 2008. I started freelancing several years prior. I started practicing design and trying things out when I was about fourteen or fifteen. I just found it kind of fun and interesting to do when I was bored back then.
And then around the time I was sixteen or seventeen I actually started getting some interest in my work.
I showed my parents and my friends and family and then I ended up doing a couple of jobs on the side, things like a business card or a small little website and before long I started getting a little better and better at it and more people were interested in it.
By the time I was eighteen I had a pretty stable client base, I would say about twenty or so clients. I still hadn’t started a business at this point. I just kind of did it as a freelancer as a hobby and then I started to work for some marketing firms as a subcontractor.
XW: How did you react when you received the award? JF: I was very excited about it, it is a huge opportunity. If this is the type of thing that you want to do for your career, if you want to get out there and experience the business world on your own and starting your own business and things like that, then this is the ideal opportunity.
That was the first thing I thought about. I’m young, I’m still in school, I want to do this for a living, what more could I ask for? This is the type of recognition or exposure you need to start off well, so it was a huge opportunity.
At the same time, it’s a little nerve-wracking because [I am] representing Nova Scotia when I go to regionals so there’s a lot of eyes on me, to see how well I perform...It’s not really something I’m used to. But it is the opportunity of a lifetime and I kind of just have to grasp it and go with it.
XW: What comes next for you after this? JF: In terms of the competition, I travel to Halifax next week, and I do a presentation in front of a panel of judges who are different CEOs or business leaders across the province. I compete there and I’m judged against the Atlantic provinces, so those representatives from Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland and Labrador.
Depending on how I do there, if I win the regionals then I go on to nationals which are held in Calgary.
Personally, after this year I’d like to get involved with an advertising agency…where I can learn some more lessons. I do run my own business, but I mean a lot of the things I’ve learned are self-taught or just kind of applying skills and theories and strategies I’ve learned in my business classes.
I kind of want to go somewhere for a year and get a better understanding of how a marketing firm really handles itself. I’d like to continue my business on the side and I guess after that year I could determine if I wanted to return to my own business full-time and apply the skills that I learned from my time at another agency.
