There were splashes of bright paint in the lobby, each wall beaming a different color. The DJ was spinning popular hip-hop songs as the smoothie machine buzzed in the background.
While the description fits a trendy eatery, this is the sight that greets employees of Student Maid almost every day.
“You know how you have the cool mom?” said Amanda Baltzegar, a 22-year-old human resources assistant at Student Maid. “We want to be the cool job.”
More UF students are deciding to plant entrepreneurial roots in Gainesville — building companies with the readily available student work force.
Four companies — Park Smooth, Student Maid, Pledge 5 and Study Edge — are all at different stages of maturity and provide case studies in how local student companies are benefiting from the endless supply of student workers.
Another benefit of starting a business in Gainesville is the Santa Fe Center for Innovation and Economic Development, which has housed or assisted more than 80 new businesses. About 10 of its 40 current businesses started by students or recent graduates.
CIED can provide startups with offices, classes and networking opportunities.
Bill Dorman, an entrepreneur-in-residence at CIED, said although the businesses the center assists are eclectic, they tend to face the same problems.
“We’ve found common threads in their conversations,” Dorman said. “Not about their particular businesses, but about the state of their businesses, expenses and common problems all small businesses face.”
To help the startups find solutions, CIED hosts a weekly meeting with all of the businesses it’s supporting. The meetings are similar to what you would expect to find at Weight Watchers — business owners discuss what’s working for them and what problems they’re facing and ask other businesses for advice.
Matt Carroll, a 2012 UF graduate and CEO of Park Smooth, said the networking and advice he gets is almost as valuable as having his own office in CIED.
“You get a lot of guidance,” he said. “The whole package is great.”
Park Smooth got its start in CIED in March.
Carroll described his website as an eBay for Gainesville parking, where residents with extra parking spaces can post availability and prices and be matched with interested drivers.
Users can also reserve parking spaces, including spaces in downtown and midtown, in advance.
Right now, Park Smooth employs three UF graduates and two UF students.
Carroll said one major benefit of hiring students is that they are willing to work for a lower salary than a seasoned professional.
“They want a high salary, benefits and things we can’t provide right now as a startup,” he said of more experienced workers.
However, hiring students does bring some challenges.
Student Maid, which CIED also assisted, relies solely on students for its cleaning services.
The company sometimes has trouble with scheduling, especially around school breaks and finals.
Baltzegar said that although it can be tricky for some students to work at Student Maid around school and extracurricular activities, the company only hires students with at least a 3.5 GPA to ensure they are able to balance their schedules.
“We understand that school comes first,” she said.
The 3.5 GPA not only reassures the managers at Student Maid, but also provides peace of mind to clients who have their houses cleaned.
Elaina Nichols, general manager, said maid services typically don’t have good reputations. People often assume maids could steal valuables or damage their homes. But with students, clients tend to worry less.
“They’re more trustworthy,” she said. “They’ll build personal relationships with clients, and the client will want to help the students.”
Student Maid wants to help, too. They organize, participate in and donate to local charity events like Family Fun and Safety Expo, benefiting Big Brothers Big Sisters.
While Student Maid prides itself on its philanthropic efforts, another local student-run company makes a business out of it.
Pledge 5, best known for organizing Gator Stompin’, encourages students to give back to the community, sometimes with social incentives.
Jason Bowman, founder and director of Pledge 5 and 2010 UF Ph.D. graduate, said the nonprofit organization gets people to donate time, old clothes and blood, and also offers opportunities to educate the community through awareness campaigns and free testing.
“Pledge 5 gets people in the habit of giving back and does it in a manageable way,” he said.
In exchange for donations, Bowman said those who give will receive free or reduced prices on admission to social events. If you volunteer for five hours prior to Gator Stompin’, you’ll get a free ticket to the bar crawl.
All of the work, including promotion, marketing, event organizing, website design, advertising and public relations, is handled by about four staff members, almost all of whom are students, and five to 10 student interns.
Bowman said he built his business model around the easy access to interns and has been impressed with their abilities and work ethic.
“At the end of the day, we have some of the brightest minds in the nation,” he said. “They really can make a difference.”
Creating those bright minds can take four years of classes, which can prove a challenge for some students.
Though the classroom can lack in-depth explanations of complex subjects, Study Edge, a tutoring company, hopes to provide students with a better understanding of the material.
What started as study sessions held at the Hillel last summer became a staple for UF students and expanded to Florida State University and the University of Georgia.
“The word ‘tutor’ has a bad connotation to it,” said Nicole Wampole, the chief operating officer. “It’s not easy to make it fun, which is why we hire young, fresh experts.”
Many of the “study experts” are graduate students, and two decided against medical school to continue teaching instead. Wampole, a 2009 UF marketing graduate, said Study Edge finds most of its teachers through the University Athletic Association’s tutoring programs.
“We want to give all students the opportunity to have what the UAA gives to athletes,” said Brittney Austin, a UF senior and director of marketing for Study Edge.
Undergraduate students also work to facilitate the behind-the-scenes work like public relations, scheduling and other office tasks.
Wampole said 95 percent of the company’s undergraduate employees are enrolled in the study classes and provide honest feedback.
The undergraduates are also better at reaching out to other students.
“It helps me market to students because I am a student,” Austin said. “I don’t think a 50-year-old could connect with my interests.”
Contact Shelby Webb at swebb@alligator.org.
