Summer school: What 6 entrepreneurs learned from their first gigs

Summers are not just for backyard barbecues and lounging by the pool.

For a handful of local entrepreneurs, summer jobs were crucial to developing their sense of the workplace and far more valuable than the minimum wages they earned.

Andrew Bleckley – citedesign
Summer job: Carolina Panthers training camp worker

My favorite summer job was at a Carolina Panthers summer training camp my freshman year at Wofford College. It was in Spartansburg, S.C., which is where I grew up. My dad worked for the hospital that was close to the college and heard they were looking to hire more people for the summer to work at the training camps.

In the mornings, the coaches and players were out and I’d come in and clean their dorm rooms. I’d take out the trash and clean the bathrooms. Real glamorous. In the afternoons, I got to experience the training camp. The pay wasn’t great, but being able to experience that was pretty cool. It was minimum wage, which then was probably about $5.25 an hour, but it paid for things for my first semester of college. I think growing up learning the value of money is a cool thing.

The lemonade-stand entrepreneur type is how my parents raised me.  If you want something, you’ve got to work for it. I learned how to take what you do on a daily basis and apply that to making your own business.

Jennifer Whitlock – Help Desk Company
Summer job: Burger flipper

The first job I had was working at Burger King in Richmond when I was 15. I had to get a work release to allow me to work. My French teacher at Freeman was taking a group of students to Europe for a three-week trip, and I wanted to go and my parents said if I could raise half the money, they would pay the rest. I worked the drive-thru and cooked the burgers.

I liked having money but didn’t like having the polyester uniform. I worked for $3.35 an hour, and the trip was a few thousand dollars.

I was raised to know that if you want something you work for it. I think I learned I definitely wanted to go to school. I saw if you don’t apply yourself and go to college that’s kind of where you’re going to be. It was a juggling act, but it taught me how to do that.

My kids are in elementary school and they work now. They have chores they have to do as their daily contribution to the family. They take out the trash and clean their room. They can do additional chores where they can earn money. There’s a lot of pressure on kids, so I thinks it’s too early to tell if I’ll make them work or not. I think there needs to be a reason for them to get a job.

Christine Walters – ComedySportz
Summer job: Cruise ship worker

When I was 20, I worked on a ship for a cruise line called Americruise that used to sail out of Connecticut. It was a job and a half.

I was a server and cleaned the rooms. It was crazy work. I’d get up before the crack of dawn and go downstairs and set up the dining room, serve food and do the laundry. Then I’d change into my cleaning attire, clean seven or eight cabins, set up for lunch, come back, set up for dinner. We were done by 8 p.m., then we’d be able to go out and play. I did that for about six months.

I had to be self-motivated.

Damon Harris – Wrecycleit
Summer job: Obituary copywriter, hearse driver

I was working at a funeral home as an obituary copywriter in Providence, R.I. It was called Bailey Funeral Home. I started in the 10th grade, and I’d do it every summer. This was 1992 or 1993.

I could walk there, and I didn’t have a car then. It was my first real job. A family would bring a picture in and they would write a description, and I would make sure it was run on time. This was before email, so I physically ran it to the newspaper guys at the Providence Journal. I’d drop it on their desk. I thought it was really cool.

The second summer I was promoted to hearse driver. I had the car for the whole day. I liked driving the hearse. It was almost like power. I did this every day and made $12 to $13 an hour and would usually make $250 a week.

I worked directly under the owner. He was an older guy, and he had this business for 64 years. It was the first black-owned funeral home there.  It was cool. People could come in and be totally distraught and leave smiling.

It taught me really quickly that it takes work and it takes energy and effort to own your own business. I learned work ethic and how to be efficient. Being a young man, I didn’t know anyone who had a real business for more than 50 years. He was the first person I saw who was an entrepreneur. He was up at night, in early in the morning and never late. It wasn’t easy working for an old-school guy. He had me up at 6 a.m. and wearing a suit and a tie to drop off the obituaries when no one was there to see you. I also had to wear white gloves while I drove the car.

The most important lesson [owner] Mr. Albert Bailey taught me is that in life you have to take it one step at a time, no matter how small, be held accountable, take care of your family and never complain.

Champe Granger – Grease Monkey
Summer job: Book buyer

I spent one summer buying Spanish, Portuguese and Italian books for Alderman Library at the University of Virginia. I’m from Charlottesville, so I always did stuff on campus. It was a work-study job. They had these buying guides and I’d check to see if the library already owned certain books. Sometimes they would order second or third versions. I’d do the research online to see what the library already owned and determine what needed to be added. You had to speak enough Spanish to be able to do the research and understand what they already had. It was a requirement of the job. I spoke Spanish and at the time had a minor in Spanish, so it was good for my resume.  It was also a learning opportunity for me.

I was amazed at how many books they bought. It was probably hundreds of books a month just for one buyer. It would be 50 books one week and 100 more the next week. To me, it was an eye-opener. I think that was my first professional environment.

I only did it for one summer for about 20 hours a week. I’ve worked since I was 16, so it was definitely something I wanted to do to have spending money.

I liked the job and I liked the guy I worked for. He was a faculty member.

I think working anytime is a good thing. It opens your eyes to different types of people and different aspects of the financial world. I think it had a positive effect on me. It gives you more of a can-do attitude. You’re not as afraid to try things and interact with people. All kids should have some type of job.

My parents really left it up to me [to get a job]. I got a certain allowance in college, but if I wanted more than that I had to make it happen. They gave me $20 here or there, but beyond that I was on my own.

Robby Peay – BizPort
Summer job: Wine distributor

I didn’t have a summer job in high school because I played baseball all summer, but in college I worked for a wine distributor called JP Distributing here in Richmond in 1995. They distributed wine to grocery stores, convenience stores, things like that. I worked in the warehouse, taking wine shipments that came in via truck, and I would take boxes and break them down then put them in these stacks. People that placed orders at night would pull from the stacks. It was a five- or six-hour job in a warehouse with no air conditioning. I was 18 and did it for a couple of summers.

I’d get a list of seven or eight grocery stores in Richmond that I’d have to drive to and drop off the wine. I had to get up at 6 a.m., but it was a good job. It taught me to be self-motivated and disciplined.  I made $6 an hour plus mileage for driving to the stores.

I had no supervision, and you could start whenever you wanted — you just had to finish by the end of the workday. I loved it. It was a great job. I didn’t have to wear a uniform. I think it was probably the coolest job I had.

When you work, you learn how tightly businesses have to be run in order to be successful and be profitable. It definitely drilled it into me. I never had a job where I had to get up early in the morning.  If I didn’t get up early, I’d be working to 6 or 7 at night, and that affects your private life.

It definitely made me want to be a business owner. It’s controlling your own destiny.

I have two kids, a 3-year-old and a 15-year-old. My parents’ philosophy was if you’re not involved in extracurricular activities like band or sports, if you’re just going to school, then you’re getting job. That’ll be my philosophy.