Setting Up a Business at the Age of 19
Once upon a time, there was a little boy that just turned 18.He was for first time at the university, a whole new world for him, but somehow, he was expecting that world and had many things already planned. He made it to get into one of, if not the, best university in his Country. This little boy, named Pedro wanted to get into another university, for many just as good as the one he is in right now, but with much less entries.
He was disappointed first, but now, you can see how glad he is he made it into the Universidad de Chile instead of the Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile full of people that doesn't even have an idea of how is the world outside their bubbles. But getting into this university full of people mixed from totally different parts of the country, many with money issues, many with communist opinions, as many with extreme capitalist opinions, was going to bring him some new challenges to life. Having such a culture mix was something really wonderful and made him manage to have almost every day, very interesting dialogs with different friends. But also with time, some specialized topics came to scenario and started to be a common theme around the whole university, and that would be in particular, education. And I don't mean education as Math, Physic or any other Class like those. I mean getting education for EVERY single Chilean in the country, and at an affordable price for every one that means yeah, you are right, free.
After three-four months enjoying all the great and interesting people around him something BIG started in Chile. And that would be protests. Protest from the people, from most of the people to the president and more than the president, the whole political system in Chile, asking them for free and quality education. So, there were days, some weeks one or two, without needing to go to class. Then weeks, then months. At the end, Pedro finished his first Semester very slowly, having something like mid-vacations. He liked all the initiatives, but was surrounded by a family and neighborhood from a class "that doesn't go to protests or such things". But indeed went to one, at least. Also got very informed and participated in many debates, but moreover used the time for something entirely different.
With all this time Pedro started meeting many members of his family. He was living with her mother since he was 14, because his parents got divorced. Once of these family members he was visiting more, was of course, his father! Andreas was an old man around 50 years old who was going through a hard situation at this time. He was a man that even being that old kept dreaming and believing in some fairytales, as Pedro always says he would until dying. The problem is that before getting divorced, he was working at many things, but many non-productive things, just for being happy and getting some easy-money. Andreas was very capable, but we didn't need him working, and he always hated working at an office as he before did. So after the divorce he was having difficulties finding a job. Also, beside he builded up his own house just with the help of one other man, for some hours per day only, he liked to hold to old stuff.
One of this stuff was his computer, which was REALLY old. About 8 years old. And of course was not working properly.That's when Pedro decided to find him a cheap Desktop Pc in exchange for his crappy dying laptop. After much searching, he decided to search info of how to make a PC, because buying a PC in Chile was incredibly expensive. After much research, much reading, he learned. And there's the key word of this story. He learned to build a PC, but even more, he discovered the power of autodidacticism. After getting a very low price, something about 50% the price of the right PC for his dad compared to a retail store, he presented the option to his father who thought it was a good idea, but preferred to wait until he got a job.After this, he managed to sell two PC to the just-founded company of his uncle. Also started working there for 2 weeks repairing PCs, doing upgrades and related work, always answering to the question "Do you know how to do it?" with a simple answer: "Not yet".
After some weeks learning as a fast as hell, Pedro decided to build up a company, but without legalizing it first. He decided to get into the internet, and started reading about how to build a website, how to register a domain, how to host a website, and much more related info, always reading a bit more than needed. At the end, he decided to start easy, having a website at [http://www.armatupc.webs.com], a free service provided from webs.com. Pedro did incredibly well with his job, earning around 1000 dollars in his first 3 months. After that he decided to increase all the prices in a 20-25%.
-Why? -Easy. He was starting to need some time for himself.-What do you mean with time?-Time for him to research about new stuff, because he became kind of addicted to this autodidacticism.Pedro started studying about solar panels, and bought a kit to build his own panel solar. It worked and wasn't professionally finished, because it was just an experiment. (Which is now placed without protection at all, just the solar cells, at the top of his father house giving him energy enough for having a 24/4 light in the front door and other four bulbs around the house that can be switched on and off). He liked that topic too, and though of getting rid of his current job and start to build solar systems for houses, but that's another story, where the end is: No, he didn't.At this point Pedro was selling just a few PCs, without doing any propaganda or neither talking about his business, just letting the world spread through the few that knew about his work. But that was going to end when he decided to spend his second semester learning English after the idea being proposed to him by his mother. Summarizing that part of the history, he just enjoyed it as much as few would believe and came back for summer vacations (Which in Chile for those who doesn't know, are between December and February).
After the summer he decided to start his business once more, which he did, but whit higher prices, selling fewer computers but earning almost as much as before. He also started doing works such as implementing Wi-Fi components into houses, doing a whole configuration of access points, routers, switchers and others into large houses with connectivity issues, putting all the cables and equipment needed by himself. After some time he was checking domain names in Chile, which are the (at least in Chile) famous.cl ending domains. He wanted to get the armatupc.cl domain, which was already owned but not used. But wasn't able to pay what the guy would probably have asked for. After some time he decided to check a domain that was surely taken, but hey, it only took 10 seconds to check a domain. He checked just this one:
He was disappointed first, but now, you can see how glad he is he made it into the Universidad de Chile instead of the Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile full of people that doesn't even have an idea of how is the world outside their bubbles. But getting into this university full of people mixed from totally different parts of the country, many with money issues, many with communist opinions, as many with extreme capitalist opinions, was going to bring him some new challenges to life. Having such a culture mix was something really wonderful and made him manage to have almost every day, very interesting dialogs with different friends. But also with time, some specialized topics came to scenario and started to be a common theme around the whole university, and that would be in particular, education. And I don't mean education as Math, Physic or any other Class like those. I mean getting education for EVERY single Chilean in the country, and at an affordable price for every one that means yeah, you are right, free.
After three-four months enjoying all the great and interesting people around him something BIG started in Chile. And that would be protests. Protest from the people, from most of the people to the president and more than the president, the whole political system in Chile, asking them for free and quality education. So, there were days, some weeks one or two, without needing to go to class. Then weeks, then months. At the end, Pedro finished his first Semester very slowly, having something like mid-vacations. He liked all the initiatives, but was surrounded by a family and neighborhood from a class "that doesn't go to protests or such things". But indeed went to one, at least. Also got very informed and participated in many debates, but moreover used the time for something entirely different.
With all this time Pedro started meeting many members of his family. He was living with her mother since he was 14, because his parents got divorced. Once of these family members he was visiting more, was of course, his father! Andreas was an old man around 50 years old who was going through a hard situation at this time. He was a man that even being that old kept dreaming and believing in some fairytales, as Pedro always says he would until dying. The problem is that before getting divorced, he was working at many things, but many non-productive things, just for being happy and getting some easy-money. Andreas was very capable, but we didn't need him working, and he always hated working at an office as he before did. So after the divorce he was having difficulties finding a job. Also, beside he builded up his own house just with the help of one other man, for some hours per day only, he liked to hold to old stuff.
One of this stuff was his computer, which was REALLY old. About 8 years old. And of course was not working properly.That's when Pedro decided to find him a cheap Desktop Pc in exchange for his crappy dying laptop. After much searching, he decided to search info of how to make a PC, because buying a PC in Chile was incredibly expensive. After much research, much reading, he learned. And there's the key word of this story. He learned to build a PC, but even more, he discovered the power of autodidacticism. After getting a very low price, something about 50% the price of the right PC for his dad compared to a retail store, he presented the option to his father who thought it was a good idea, but preferred to wait until he got a job.After this, he managed to sell two PC to the just-founded company of his uncle. Also started working there for 2 weeks repairing PCs, doing upgrades and related work, always answering to the question "Do you know how to do it?" with a simple answer: "Not yet".
After some weeks learning as a fast as hell, Pedro decided to build up a company, but without legalizing it first. He decided to get into the internet, and started reading about how to build a website, how to register a domain, how to host a website, and much more related info, always reading a bit more than needed. At the end, he decided to start easy, having a website at [http://www.armatupc.webs.com], a free service provided from webs.com. Pedro did incredibly well with his job, earning around 1000 dollars in his first 3 months. After that he decided to increase all the prices in a 20-25%.
-Why? -Easy. He was starting to need some time for himself.-What do you mean with time?-Time for him to research about new stuff, because he became kind of addicted to this autodidacticism.Pedro started studying about solar panels, and bought a kit to build his own panel solar. It worked and wasn't professionally finished, because it was just an experiment. (Which is now placed without protection at all, just the solar cells, at the top of his father house giving him energy enough for having a 24/4 light in the front door and other four bulbs around the house that can be switched on and off). He liked that topic too, and though of getting rid of his current job and start to build solar systems for houses, but that's another story, where the end is: No, he didn't.At this point Pedro was selling just a few PCs, without doing any propaganda or neither talking about his business, just letting the world spread through the few that knew about his work. But that was going to end when he decided to spend his second semester learning English after the idea being proposed to him by his mother. Summarizing that part of the history, he just enjoyed it as much as few would believe and came back for summer vacations (Which in Chile for those who doesn't know, are between December and February).
After the summer he decided to start his business once more, which he did, but whit higher prices, selling fewer computers but earning almost as much as before. He also started doing works such as implementing Wi-Fi components into houses, doing a whole configuration of access points, routers, switchers and others into large houses with connectivity issues, putting all the cables and equipment needed by himself. After some time he was checking domain names in Chile, which are the (at least in Chile) famous.cl ending domains. He wanted to get the armatupc.cl domain, which was already owned but not used. But wasn't able to pay what the guy would probably have asked for. After some time he decided to check a domain that was surely taken, but hey, it only took 10 seconds to check a domain. He checked just this one:
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