Seth Said It
Welcome to Seth Said It, the unapologetic podcast where real stories meet raw truths. Join Seth Mills as he dives into personal experiences, business growth, and the highs and lows of life’s journey. From lessons learned the hard way to the wins worth celebrating, Seth lays it all out with unfiltered honesty and a touch of humor.
This podcast is for those who value authenticity, aren’t afraid of a little controversy, and believe that growth often comes with a bit of discomfort. Whether it’s a deep dive into entrepreneurial struggles, personal growth breakthroughs, or just telling it like it is, Seth Said It is your go-to for real talk that inspires, challenges, and occasionally ruffles some feathers.
Tune in, stay curious, and remember: if it needed to be said, Seth said it.
Seth Said It
Turning Academic Years into Entrepreneurial Gold
What if you could turn your college years into the launchpad for your entrepreneurial dreams? Join me, Seth Mills, on this episode of the AstroCraft: Grow, Influence, Invest podcast as I share my compelling journey from a college student juggling classes to owning three successful exterior service-based businesses in Houston. I'll reveal how leveraging the support systems available to you, whether it's family assistance or mentorship, can be the game-changer in your academic and professional life.
Listen as I recount the pivotal moments that shaped my path, including the bold decision to quit my part-time job at Best Buy and fully commit to my business ventures amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Learn from my experiences on finding your niche, balancing school with entrepreneurship, and understanding the significance of having robust systems in place to keep your operations running smoothly—even when you're taking some well-deserved time off. This episode is your guide to making the most of your college years while setting the foundation for a promising future.
Welcome to the AstroCraft Grow Influence podcast. I am your host, seth Mills, and today I'd like to just reach out to the college students out there, because there's not a whole lot of us who are doing the things that we should be doing and the things we could be doing to set us up ahead. I've already recorded this once, but I had some issues, so I'm rerecording it. And so my number one thing, my number one piece of advice for college students, would be if, if you have some sort of support system, which I'd say I don't know the exact statistic, but 40 to 60% of college students, I would assume have help getting through school from family, parents, grants, etc. Now I'm a full-time college student. I'm also a three-times business owner here in the Houston area. I own three of Houston's more successful I'm not going to say most successful, but more successful exterior service-based businesses, and I also do 12 to 15 hours each credit semester or each semester of credits. So I think that I'm fairly qualified to speak on this. I am fortunate to have help going through school. My parents are paying for my college. They're not paying for any of my other bills, just because if, to be quite honest, if they were not paying for college. I don't know if I'd be doing it, and that's not a push on them or a push on myself, it's just I don't know how things would have happened had I had to pay for my own way including I don't know if I would have had the time to start the three companies that I now own. I think that if you do have the assistance of others, it is very beneficial for you to start doing your own thing, and by that I mean figure out your niche, figure out what you are passionate about, figure out what you can do to set yourself up in the future. Right, I'm 23. I had help coming into the industries that I'm in via a 22 year old entrepreneur who owns one of Houston's most successful exterior cleaning businesses and he does very well for himself and he was very, very generous enough to help me get started.
Speaker 1:Again. I don't know where I'd be without a few people that helped me get to where I am. However, it was just me. It wasn't free handouts In a sense it was, but in another sense, it was not. I reached out to a community group that I am in and I have been in since 2021 or 2020, I believe asking for assistance on a project, I believe three months after I opened my company maybe sooner than that and he reached out. He said, hey, I can help you. And I was like, okay, cool, and the rest is history. He's helped me build several different things, mainly whenever I first started. We don't talk nearly as much as I wish we would.
Speaker 1:However, I think that as a college student, if you're just working on school and you go out and you party and you drink and by all means, I have my fair share of fun too I travel at least once a year, if not two, three, four times a year and enjoy myself. For instance, I just got back from Vegas I believe it was the first week of August, so a little over a month ago, or right at a month ago, and I'll be going right back to Vegas on the first week of November, during the middle of my busy season. But I'll have systems in place to where I do have clients being serviced while I am out of town. Uh, but enough about that. I just wanted to touch on the base of college students.
Speaker 1:If you are in college, you don't have a job or you have a part time job and you don't really need it that you're only spending that money on partying and going out with friends. Figure out your niche, figure out what you love, what you're passionate about, and go after it. Quit that part-time job, hell. I quit my job on the spot at Best Buy when I first started opening this company, in the middle of COVID, because they were forcing me to go get a COVID test and I said no, I'm good, sorry, I don't believe in COVID, don't believe in COVID tests. It's just another flu. But anyway and I do understand, some people get it worse than others. However, with that being said, I quit my job on the spot and I had no source of income coming in. That's when I started pressure washing driveways and I've now built it into not just pressure washing but window cleaning, christmas lights, and I'm now getting into permanent lighting as well.
Speaker 1:Um and so, quitting my job on the spot and pursuing what I wanted to do has propelled me and it's far exceeded my expectations of what it would become, and I will no longer. I have no intention. Obviously, life will always take its turn, but I have no intention of ever working for somebody else in my life, in my life, and I guess that's what I'm trying to portray onto you guys is while you're in school. You have anywhere from one to four years to figure things out, whether you're a sophomore, freshman or senior junior, you have time, and if you don't need the extra money to pay your own way through college, essentially Take that money, use it to build something. Whether you're into YouTube, make the best YouTube videos you can make, be the best YouTuber in the world. It may not happen overnight, it may not happen in three months or a year. It will happen.
Speaker 1:Eventually, though, you will start catching the recognition that you deserve and that you're so passionate about, and if it's not YouTube, it could be pressure washing, for example. Like me, I wouldn't say I'm passionate about it, but I enjoy it. It's relaxing, it's satisfying. So, in a sense, I am passionate about it, and I just focus on becoming the best pressure washing window cleaner, christmas light installer in the Houston market, and my customers have been so graciously helpful to assist me in building my dream and building the company that I run. Now I've got two part-time guys. I'm working on making one of them full-time, and the rest is history.
Speaker 1:I mean, you just have to want that, you have to have the ambition. You just have to want that. You have to have the ambition. And let me tell you, I will be the first one. There are going to be bad days. You are going to want to quit. You're going to want to tear that company to shreds, throw it in the trash and throw it in the garbage truck. You just can't do it. You got to push through. So I guess what I'm saying is go after it. It is 2024. If you're a college student, go after it. If you're not a college student, or recently graduated, or you're in high school, you can still go after it too. You have so much time on your hands.
Speaker 1:Again, it's 2024. I don't care if you're 23, like me, or 20 or 18 or 50. You have time to chase the things you're passionate about. You may have to take a little bit of a life adjustment in your living style, but it's worth it. It's worth missing the parties and again I'm targeting mainly the college crowd here and the seniors graduating high school but it's worth skipping out on the parties. It's worth skipping out on the drinking and the quote unquote what people call fun, if you're building something that will propel you in your future and I mean I'll be the first to tell you I'm making. It takes, it took me about four years to build it, but I'm making more than most college graduates are. I'm making probably more than a lot of 27 to 32 year olds are too, and it's because I have an ambition, it's because I'm focused on growing my company and I'm focused on enjoying life in my future years here and I don't want to retire and when I'm 58 to 65, I want to retire when I'm 40 and I can enjoy life with my family and my kids. Should I have kids? Hopefully I should. Hopefully I do. But again, life works how it is going to work. So I just I'm trying to build me and my family a great future, and if you're in college or graduating high school, you definitely can. If you've already graduated, or if you're older, you can build a good life for yourself too, or a good retirement fund anyway, and so I just I guess what I'm saying is it's 2024. Push yourself, go for it, have ambition, and I appreciate you listening to my little TED talk.
Speaker 1:I do plan on releasing more of these episodes here very soon. It's been quite a long time since I've published something I believe March, and I know I said it in that video, or that podcast too, that I'd be releasing more often. I'm going to try and do these mini episodes anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes an episode, at least weekly. I don't know if Buzzsprout will allow me to publish such short videos, so in the event they do not, then I will host the podcast over on YouTube full time, but we will see once I try and post this video. But again, thank you for listening. This is AstroCraft Grow, influence, invest podcast with your host, seth Mills, and I hope you guys have a wonderful week ahead. It is currently Monday, september 9th, and I will see you guys next week.
