{"id":2090,"date":"2013-05-02T19:07:22","date_gmt":"2013-05-02T19:07:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/jsuflash\/?p=2090"},"modified":"2013-05-02T19:07:22","modified_gmt":"2013-05-02T19:07:22","slug":"greg-selkoe-from-parents-basement-to-million-dollar-company","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/2013\/05\/02\/greg-selkoe-from-parents-basement-to-million-dollar-company\/","title":{"rendered":"Greg Selkoe: From Parent\u2019s Basement to Million Dollar Company"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Greg Selkoe Owner & CEO of Karmaloop<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Taylor Bembery<\/strong><\/p>\n

Blue & White Flash\/Variety Editor<\/strong><\/p>\n

Most college students and young adults are always looking for ways to make money, but many never explore the option of starting their own business. Greg Selkoe, however, did not let age or circumstances keep him from making millions.<\/p>\n

Selkoe, a Boston, Mass. native, started his business in his parent\u2019s basement and transformed it into the million dollar popular clothing retail company, Karmaloop.com.\u00a0 His business ventures began when he was trying to sell ads to support a friend\u2019s website.\u00a0 It eventually turned into a way to give popular clothing brands a larger consumer base.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought these guys must have a lot of money because all the celebrities are rocking their clothing line and when I called them up they actually didn\u2019t have a lot of money,\u201d said Selkoe. \u00a0They didn\u2019t have any money because all of their products were sold in the U.S. and when you don\u2019t live in New York and LA, it was tough to sell their clothing to people who lived in other places.\u201d<\/p>\n

The clothing brand companies did not have a reach outside of big cities. \u00a0With the high demand and low supply of the clothing brands, Selkoe thought that this was an area he could take advantage of by starting Karmaloop.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s truly a lifestyle brand that sells clothing,\u201d said Selkoe<\/p>\n

Selkoe stated that he used customer outreach to start his company.<\/p>\n

\u201cI reached out to our customers. I didn\u2019t have any money when I first started out. So what I would do is go to people who bought. \u00a0I was at home with my parents and the whole office was in my parent\u2019s basement,\u201d said Selkoe<\/p>\n

Selkoe stated that young entrepreneurs have to take risks.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve taken a lot of different risks, some of them successful, some of them unsuccessful. One of the risks that I took was basically starting the business because I was working another job so whatever money I had went into the business. I was in a total financial ruin, so starting Karmaloop itself was a risk. The thing about being an entrepreneur is you have to try different things.\u00a0 You can\u2019t be afraid of risks, you never know what the risks are, sometimes they may or may not work out,\u201d said Selkoe.<\/p>\n

Through his roadblocks and obstacles, Selkoe has been able to reap the benefits of his hard work and resilience. His dedication to building his business and community involvement has been talked about on several news mediums and documentaries.<\/p>\n

\u201c[My greatest accomplishment was] Being invited to the White House, I was selected as one of the top 35 entrepreneurs, 35 and under during President Obama\u2019s first term. Thirty-five entrepreneurs from Facebook, Apple, and other companies we\u2019re involved and it was cool to be a part of a group of distinguished people,\u201d said Selkoe.<\/p>\n

Selkoe gives this advice for people who want to start their own business but do not know where or how to start.<\/p>\n

1. Make sure your idea is good. Many times people have the same ideas and they are already out there.<\/p>\n

2. Figure out where you are going to get the resources to start your business. Resources are not always cash; you can find mentors with leverage. You can also use your dorm room as your office.<\/p>\n

3. Never give up. When you start a business it is not always going to succeed. There are going to be a lot of people who doubt you. A lot of people are going to say your idea is bad. You might run out of money, have road blocks, have issues, hiring employees might not work out but you cannot get discouraged.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t have a lot of cash when I started. \u00a0I lived at home. You need to put all your resources into the business and not waste them on material things. People start a business and start flaunting. \u00a0It should be the exact opposite, you need to avoid that. When the business first started I took the bus, I stayed at the cheapest hotels. I did everything to make sure that it wasn\u2019t for my image, but it was to build the business,\u201d said Selkoe.<\/p>\n

Selkoe stated that he is working on more brands, Karmaloop TV and just building and improving Karmaloop. \u00a0Not only is he excited about doing new things, he is also interested in helping people and influencing more than just clothing but a whole culture.<\/p>\n

To keep up with Greg Selkoe, you can follow him on Twitter: @Selkoe<\/a> and visit Karmaloop.com<\/a> for the latest eclectic clothing.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Taylor Bembery Blue & White Flash\/Variety Editor Most college students and young adults are always looking for ways to make money, but many never explore the option of starting their own business. Greg Selkoe, however, did not let age or circumstances keep him from making millions. Selkoe, a Boston, Mass. native, started his business in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2090","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-variety"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2090","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2090"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2090\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}