Recent College Grad Ditches Wall Street to Sell Sticky Notes & Donuts
Hi, my name’s Michael Russo. I am a self-motivated and socially responsible, published and award winning entrepreneur. As a business student earning a degree only 25 miles from New York City, I had full intentions of working on Wall Street or in a Big Four accounting firm after graduating from Molloy College in May of 2016. That’s what the majority of my graduating cohort is doing now, but I’ve found myself in a totally unexpected and unique (to say the least) situation. Almost a year later now, I am selling sticky notes and donuts. You’re probably wondering now, “How the f**k did that happen?” Well, let me tell you.
It all started in my junior year when I was in a Business Management class focused on Entrepreneurship. Long story short, my professors in the class became my mentors and collaborators; I interned for one professor at his start-up tech firm and the other professor ultimately invested in my future ventures. They pushed me to form a Start Up Club at school, enter business plan competitions, execute on this idea I had called Sticky Quotes, network my tail off and not be afraid to go off the beaten path. I ended up leaving a “promising” internship at Morgan Stanley that same year to pursue this path we call Entrepreneurship.
Sticky Quotes was my first venture, started in early 2015. It’s pretty simple, I create sticky notes with pre-printed inspirational quotes designed to motivate people when they least expect it, even in the most random of places. I entered in a business plan competition in college and won first place ($5,000). This allowed me to fully launch and validate the business, helping to ease the pressure of starting a real job search during college because I had a potential winning idea on my hands. Sticky Quotes started selling fast on Amazon and my Shopify store, and even in ~20 independent gift shops along the East Coast. As I entered my final semester in the spring of 2016, Sticky Quotes was sustainable enough to the point of convincing myself that Wall Street and the Big Four accounting firms weren’t the only paths available.
Before I get into my next venture, All American Donuts, I’m going to shamelessly promote my podcast I’m relaunching really soon. This content is relevant though and chronologically necessary, I promise. So, right before I graduated, I started a podcast called The Motivation Movement, in March of 2016. Naturally, it was only right to start this new project because I always bite off more than I can chew. But, I’d rather choke on greatness than swallow mediocrity, right?
I had invested all the money I had in Sticky Quotes, final exams and presentations were rapidly approaching, I was getting all of my graduation requirements in order and had no swipes left on my meal plan. I was literally eating a diet composed of Fig Newtons and fruit snacks (thanks Mom), and was drinking 2 pots of coffee a day (there’s people at Molloy who can vouch for this). It was also my first semester being a Resident Assistant in my dorm.
The podcast only lasted about a month and a half, but it meant a lot to me. It was an outlet for me to speak my mind, and served as a platform to inspire people. Recently, my thinking has been: no more excuses, time to get back at this. So, in the coming weeks, get ready for a steady stream of 5–10 minute motivational podcast episodes, a few a week. Still working out all of the logistics, but stay tuned for new updates, topics, guests and more. Podcast promotion over, promise!
I ended up graduating college on time with a double major in Business Management and Philosophy, cum laude. My professor from Entrepreneurship class invested in Sticky Quotes and it was off to the races. Predominantly an e-commerce business, the drivers behind Sticky Quotes success are social media and guerrilla marketing. People love inspirational quotes, and love sharing them, in person in random places and then on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. A typical day for me consists of engaging with my customers directly on email and social media, working with retailers for product development feedback, sourcing and creating inspirational content to share with my audience and basic functions such as financial records keeping, public relations and more. Another component of Sticky Quotes is our custom sticky note business. Instead of just boring yellow sticky notes with a company name on them, we create content driven, branded sticky notes that inspire and engage employees, customers and everyone involved! Currently developing product packaging and a display stand to enter the physical retail space (big box), launching at the National Stationery Show at the Javitz Center in NYC, May 21st — 24th! Come visit Booth 1114 if you’re around!
Just as we entered 2017 I had the opportunity to start a new business, All American Donuts. All American Donuts is a mobile donut cart business serving public and private events. We bring our awesome mini-donut cart machine to street fairs and weddings and make delicious donuts on site! My investor in Sticky Quotes (also my Entrepreneurship teacher from college), is also my partner on this venture. Consistent with our branding (All American), our mission is to employ and train Military Veterans to operate our mini-donut carts and eventually become franchisees running their own business! Spring and summer of this year will be our first season in operation, where our goal is to test different size venues and private events to gain data to evaluate which channel is most profitable and sustainable for our company.
Similar to how I never thought I’d be selling sticky notes and donuts when I was a college student, I’m not sure what the future holds for me. I know I will continue to pursue Entrepreneurship, always aim to innovate and just be creative. The self-actualization aspects of being an entrepreneur are most the most important part of what I do, as cheesy and cliché as that sounds. Being able to take an idea and manifest it into reality is what I believe people were meant to do, whether it’s writing a book, painting a picture, creating a song or a business. That process is definitely a passion of mine, which is helpful in achieving my goals. Being hands on, in control and engaged in all aspects of the business, even just the small things, is very rewarding to me. Finding the right people to collaborate with and delegating work, analyzing your strengths and weaknesses, are again, very challenging, but rewarding actions.
This was my first post on Medium. In the coming weeks, I’ll be posting a ton of content. Here are just a few of the articles I’ll be releasing soon:
- Plagued by Procrastination
- You Are Who You Spend the Most Time With
- Learning From Other People’s Mistakes
- The Allegory of the Cave
- Say Yes More Often
- Expect the Unexpected, and More
- How to Fail Hard and Fail Fast
In honor of my first post, and in appreciation of you taking the time to read this post, here’s a discount code for Sticky Quotes. Use discount code SMILE30 for 30% off!
Be sure to check out my podcast! The Motivation Movement is about inspiring people when they least expect it. So, if you’re down to spread good vibes, you’re in the right spot my friend! LET’S GO!
