How to Make Your Parents’ Salary, or More, Straight Out of High School
Photo from Canva
CT Wilcox
The world revolves around comparison, and from a young age we are constantly compared to others. Our class rank, our ACT percentile, even our MAP tests scores from elementary school are all rankings. When you look at the bigger picture, we aren’t being compared at all; we are competing. This competition is society’s way of finding out who is the best at the most necessary jobs a society needs, subjects including: medicine, science, language, technology, mathematics, education, construction, and design. We are thrust into a world filled with so much more than what we learn in school, and yet nearly 70% of all graduating high school students end up enrolling in college to continue their education in these subjects. Part of the reason is because college is a paved road of sorts for graduating seniors. Already uncertain about beginning life on their own, choosing college is a no brainer when considering it is the most likely way to secure a job in the future. A college degree provides assurance, but not everyone is made to study a single subject, nor pour effort into a single career path for their entire life. There are a significant amount of hidden careers that can be just as fulfilling (and profitable) as becoming an engineer, doctor, or teacher. All it takes to succeed at one of these jobs is a burning passion for the subject and determination to succeed. Both of these requirements turn non-traditional forms of work into pure enjoyment with financial benefits as well.
A fancy business term for sneaker reselling is arbitrage, which is buying a commodity that is cheap in one place, and selling it in another place where people are willing to pay a higher price for it. The internet has created “another place” for people to sell sneakers, all without leaving their homes. This makes it extremely easy to start sneaker reselling which can be very profitable when scaled to a significant extent.
One senior at Hamilton has been operating his own sneaker reselling business for the last three years, and this year (2021) alone he is expecting to make nearly $100,000. Initially, this individual had plans of going to college and getting a degree, but after discovering that his sneaker business was so profitable, he decided to go to a less expensive and competitive college where he could continue growing his business. He also looks at college as a way of gaining new information to grow the business he has, instead of trying to gain skills he can only hope would secure him a job in the future.
Anyone can do what this individual is doing; for example, he has been making significant amounts of money doing sneaker reselling since he was 16 and he never let his age hold him back. The main thing that kept him going was his extreme passion for sneakers and the love of growing his own business. Today, he has several Instagram accounts with one page totalling 14,000 followers, and during just the month of March, 2021, he did $30,000 in sales.
“Without the passion for what I do, I could have never made it to where I am. I could talk for hours about sneakers with anyone else who is interested in the subject. The people who try doing sneakers just for money don’t get to enjoy it the same way. You get to make friends doing this stuff and I certainly have made a ton of connections.”
Everyone has something to offer to the world. Whether a unique interest in a certain subject, a passion for sharing great ideas, or a great personality to share with the world, all of these things can lead to a successful career on YouTube. YouTube is a social media platform to the people that use it, but to creators, it is like a massive digital shopping mall for them to sell their product–which is content.
a r b i t r a g e
Many think YouTube is far too difficult to make money on, but those who have a burning passion for the content they share will find themselves growing faster than they think. Back in 2015, as a junior in high school, Matt Meagher started his YouTube channel about Madden Mobile, a football game on the iPhone that was popular at the time. His channel blew up to 200,000 subscribers within a year of him posting videos and he said, “Every year since I started YouTube I have made a six figure income.” This means that as a senior in high school, Meagher was making over $100,000 solely due to his passion for making videos, playing Madden, and connecting with his fans.
Meagher is now a very wealthy 23 year old living in California, and with over 2,000,000 subscribers, his YouTube channel is thriving. To this day Meagher still makes content about Madden and continues to enjoy making videos. This is all due to his passion for what he did and his determination to continue growing his channel through high school and college.
Overall, what seems difficult to most comes naturally with the passion to learn and succeed. It took years before the sneaker reseller described earlier started making enough money to consider doing it full time instead of going to an impressive college. If he had stopped after just a year due to a lack of enjoyment, he would have never experienced the potential possibilities that awaited him. This is the same case with YouTuber Matt Meagher. If he had stopped posting videos when he had gone to college because he was worried he couldn’t handle both workloads, he would never have reached the position he is in now. With passion and determination, a fun hobby or an out of the ordinary interest can become a full fledged career and provide direction in life that would never be advised by educators or parents.
