{"id":6979,"date":"2015-06-02T06:01:56","date_gmt":"2015-06-02T13:01:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/add-vodka.com\/?p=6979"},"modified":"2015-06-01T10:04:46","modified_gmt":"2015-06-01T17:04:46","slug":"i-sold-t-shirts-to-pay-off-my-student-loan-debt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/add-vodka.com\/i-sold-t-shirts-to-pay-off-my-student-loan-debt\/","title":{"rendered":"I Sold T-Shirts to Pay Off My Student Loan Debt"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Like many college students, Jeremy Kalgreen had student loan debt <\/a>and wanted to be free of it. \u201cI hate being in debt,\u201d he says. But unlike many students, he found a creative way to both pay off his debt and launch what turned out to be a lucrative part-time business that morphed into something more.<\/p>\n

The T-shirts Kalgreen designed allowed him to pay off student loan debt<\/a>, about $15,000 worth, well ahead of schedule. And in the process, he learned some valuable lessons that can benefit new grads.<\/p>\n

\"T-Shirts\"Here\u2019s how it happened. Each summer, Kalgreen says, he tries to learn a new skill. (Lesson No. 1: Try new things.) One summer he tried learning how to silk screen T-shirts. But he wasn\u2019t very good at it, he says. An art student who was studying photography at the time, he did enjoy designing the shirts, but not actually making them.<\/p>\n

He heard about a website \u2014 Spreadshirt.com \u2014 where he could upload his designs and they print the shirts for him. He decided to create a few for his personal wardrobe. But the day he went to place his order, his car broke down and he couldn\u2019t afford the $90 or so it would take to purchase them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was an option to make my designs public,\u201d he recalls. \u201cI wasn\u2019t planning to do that but I thought maybe someone would want a T-shirt.\u201d His only thought at the time was that it would be cool to sell enough so that he could purchase a few for himself.<\/p>\n

Almost immediately he got a trickle of orders. It wasn\u2019t a lot, but in a relatively short period of time he was making around $300 a month. Then some bloggers saw his science-themed designs and mentioned them on their blogs. Soon the orders started really coming in.<\/p>\n

His first order of business? Paying off his student loans<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first thing I did was funnel all the money I was making to clear out what I owed,\u201d he says. (Lesson No. 2: Ditch the debt<\/a>.) Fortunately it wasn\u2019t a fad. \u201cIt stayed stable, and I made enough money to quit my day job school at the photo lab and delivering pizza.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

His T-shirt business, WearScience.com, is what he now does full time.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s important to note that Kalgreen took a cautious approach to his finances right from the beginning. He kept his standard of living very low even after he graduated from college in 2005. \u201cI was still living the life of a college art student with a couple of roommates,\u201d he says. (Lesson No. 3: Live like a student for as long as you can.) He knew sales could drop at any moment and he didn\u2019t want to find himself back in debt if they did. It took him roughly two years to pay off the loans<\/a>, but that was significantly faster than if he had followed the standard 10-year repayment schedule. (You can see how your student loans are affecting your credit by getting your credit scores for free on Credit.com<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

He also believes the fact that he wasn\u2019t good at silk screening worked to his advantage, because it forced him to look into other options. He got lucky: he stumbled on a business opportunity that didn\u2019t require him to invest a lot of money upfront on equipment, a website shopping cart, inventory etc. (Lesson No. 4: Keep costs down.) \u201cIf I had to do the traditional business model I would have gone bankrupt,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

With his business well established, Kalgreen now has a house (and mortgage) and family. But the lessons he learned while starting his business have served him well. He\u2019s managed to save and invest, and turn his passion into a career.<\/p>\n

Image: Jeremy Kalgreen<\/em><\/p>\n

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