20 year-old hopes to grow new online business into a global leader in the e-commerce industry, despite challenges he faces.
Pensacola, November 25th, 2009: For nearly 5 years, Paul Anthony Tolbert has struggled with Depression, a condition that affects many in the United States Annually. Despite continuing efforts to overcome this illness, he’s recently launched an online retail website selling personal computers & consumer electronics. Tolbert has always expressed interest in starting his own business, and earlier this year he
decided to put his thoughts into action. His store, Red Mouse Computers opened in Mid-November after months of planning and crafting his passion for tech gadgets into a strong, viable business model.
At age 15, Paul was diagnosed with Clinical Depression & Social Anxiety, a situation he calls “extremely debilitating”.
“It was very difficult to motivate myself. I became isolated, withdrew from friends and family, dropped out of high school, even had a past suicide attempt. Over the years I’ve seen different doctors, put on various medications but nothing really seemed to help. It was very frustrating.”
In March of this year, Tolbert turned 20 and says that approaching this milestone was “a huge wake-up call” for him to take a hard look at his life. “When my 20th Birthday came and went, I began to realize that I’m nowhere near where I want to be”, says Paul. “Most young adults my age are in college, have jobs, even their own residence. I still lived at home, didn’t finish school nor had a job. I didn’t even know how to drive a car! Suffering from depression took nearly everything from me. I thought to myself ‘I can’t let this continue’. I have to do something, even while I’m still dealing with my illness.” The ailing economy was also a factor for Tolbert to try and turn things around for himself. He wanted to be able to contribute financially to his household in case his mother was ever laid off from her job. After brainstorming, he came up with the idea of launching an online retail business.
“I thought this might actually be a good way to go in regards of starting my own business. I can work from home and sell products that I love, which is electronics. I enjoy dabbling with computers; doing upgrades, repairs etc. I’m on mine constantly”, says Paul.
Paul still continues to seek professional help for his depression and anxiety, taking prescribed medications as well as attending therapy sessions.
“Every day is still tough, but having this business really helps me to stay active & hopeful. I have no doubt that I will eventually overcome my issues. Seeking help for mental illnesses can be difficult, but it’s really important to do so.
His website, www.redmousecomputers.com, had its grand opening on November 15th and has seen a few sales so far. Tolbert hopes to continue this success, with plans to eventually grow Red Mouse Computers into a global leader in the e-commerce industry, despite challenges he faces. “I want my business to offer a simple and pleasurable shopping experience to customers. Many consumers these days are more budget-conscience with their purchases and want their dollars to go further, especially for the holiday season. They’re also looking to make shopping as hassle-free as possible. Redmousecomputers.com helps them with both these objectives.
About Red Mouse Computers:
Red Mouse Computers is an online e-commerce store specializing in the sales of computer-related products, consumer electronics and accessories. Founded in 2009, our company’s mission is to establish a strong reputation as a leading force in the e-commerce industry by committing ourselves to offering a large and diverse product line for consumers looking to incorporate the latest technological innovations into their lifestyle.
Interview with young entrepreneur Artia Moghbel (22)
Artia is one of these entrepreneurs that started very young, found a problem they could resolve and turned it into a business. Age is really not a problem if you find an idea and you stick to it long enough to pay off. Here is what I found out:
Cristian: Hi Artia and welcome aboard. Tell us a few words about you.
Artia: I’m 22, and have been running SchoolRack for almost six years now. I started the company by myself when I was in high school as a side project, maintained it while I was in college, but now run it full time with a fantastic team of friends and co-workers.
Cristian: So you started your first business at around 16 -17.
Artia: I knew from a pretty young age that I wanted to start a business and the sooner I could get my hands dirty, the better. It all started when I realized how easy it was to build a website, and figured the Internet was the best place to start. I began experimenting with HTML, PHP, and MySQL and was finally inspired to build SchoolRack one day at school. It was my first major web project, and needless to say, it was very gratifying once I saw it all come together.
Read the rest of the interview with this entrepreneur.
Young entrepreneurship stories
businessreport.com has prepared a 10 pages PDF report on young entrepreneurs and how they started their business. “There are those young people who one day stumble upon a problem. Perhaps they weren’t allowed to keep their pet rabbit’s first litter. Or their iPhone cracked when it collided with the pavement. Or, disheartened by an overabundance of competitors to care for neighborhood lawns, they specialize in the care of sago palm trees. Maybe they grew tired of having no resources for making up notes from a missed class or seeing poorly designed Web sites while surfing the Internet.”
You will read about:
Kayla Morrison • Matt Dardenne • Trey Bartsch • Kristen Morrison • Joe Martin • James Spencer
Ages: 22 • Company: Red Six Media
Brian Rodriguez
Age: 25 • Company: Gatorworks
Shayla Price
Age: 23 • Company: Career Voices
Josh Duke
Age: 24 • Company: EverythingLSU.com
Courtney Howell and Brandon Williams
Ages: 23 and 22 • Company: dope.
Kyle Bashay
Age: 22 • Company: Ireptheboot.com
Charles-Robert Miller III
Age: 18 • Company: iPhixiPhone.com
Michael Marcin
Age: 15 • Company: Sago Palm Specialists
Ellen Gambel
Age: 10 • Company: Hoppy Days
Young entrepreneur finds treasure in used vending machines
Kira Bindrim published an interesting story on Crain’s New York Business about a young entrepreneur that found his treasure in used vending machines.
Tony Adam - a young entrepreneur from Harlem needed money for his college scholarship. Not only that he started a profitable small business but also, The McKelvey Foundation—created by late Monster Worldwide Inc. founder Andrew McKelvey—gave Mr. Adams $40,000 for college as part of its Entrepreneurial Scholarship program.
Tony began buying used gumball and snack machines online two years ago for which he paid about $500 apiece. “persuading stores to rent out floor space for his machines. After trying unsuccessfully to sell business owners over the phone, he went door-to-door in different neighborhoods throughout the city, looking for businesses with heavy foot traffic and hungry customers.
“I got a lot of nos before I got my first yes,” he says.
Read the story of how he succeeded to convince stores and post $5000 in revenue in the original article.
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