By Dylan Sapp
Correspondent
To further its goal of preparing students for life in the public sector, the College’s Entrepreneurship Club, in coordination with sophomore class council and senators of Student Government, organized an event with a guest speaker on Thursday, Feb. 7 at 8:30 p.m. in the Business Building Lounge to highlight the importance of side hustles, or forms of income that supplement a full-time job.
The event, titled “How to Make 60-65k your first year out of college,” promised that great things were inevitable for students who were willing to work for their success.
TJ Pingitore, the guest speaker, is the founder of Upstart Garden, a community of entrepreneurs located in Red Bank, New Jersey. Upstart Garden helps individuals create successful companies by offering strategic consulting, targeted workshops, speaker panels and other events that help young startups.
Students were asked to share examples of side jobs they have been working on throughout college. They shared various experiences—everything from starting apps to creating YouTube channels. The event stressed the importance of constantly being on the lookout for new work opportunities.
“Don’t be afraid to work,” Pingitore said. “It’s tiring, but it’s worth it, and what you start to realize quickly is what you don’t want to do.. you need to figure out what you don’t want to do before you know what you do want to do.”
Harrison Kelly, a senior business management major and president of the Entrepreneurship Club, spoke highly of Pingitore as a speaker and entrepreneur.
“I met TJ through a mutual connection who had graduated from the College, and we got together and he was talking to me about this new business that he was starting and from there we talked about side hustles and opportunities like that,” Kelly said. “I usually try to set up guest speakers, ideally three to four a month, having one every week consistently. We brought (TJ) in last semester, and then we wanted to bring him back because he did so well.”
Dustin Marino, a freshman interactive multimedia major, valued Pingitore’s insight on internships.
“I like how he talked about getting started early,” Marino said. “I wasn’t even thinking about internships yet, and it got me thinking; maybe I should start looking at those things.”
