Profiles
Aaron Yager
His name is Aaron Yager, and he's a veteran entrepreneur of 8 years. He has been an independent businessman since he was 10
years old. You might ask what would cause a ten-year-old to become interested in business? A stereo actually. When he was 10
years old, Aaron told his grandfather that he wanted a stereo. His grandfather made a deal with him. He would give Aaron a job
in order to pay for it.
The job was reporting. If Aaron would read for one hour a day and then write a report after each book he read, his grandfather would pay him a salary. After reading a number of books he was able to get his stereo and he was bitten, by the entrepreneurial bug that is. He learned early that there were things that he could do that others would pay for. He decided to start a business. He looked around his neighborhood and wondered what kind of work he could do. He started AJ’s Odd Jobs. He provided all sorts of jobs from running errands to lawn mowing to mulching to roof & gutter work for his neighbors. With the neighborhood full of older families who had more money than time, it worked well. A few years later at 13, Aaron got into computers, literally. His parents had a Dell 486 computer and he wanted to know how it worked. So he took it apart! (Don't try this at home!) With the assistance of a couple of books, he had the computer back together and working in two days. He then asked his grandfather to take him to a computer show so he could pick up the components he needed to build his own PC. Once he mastered the art of building computers and understanding software, Aaron started what has become Impact Technologies. He started out helping neighbors with their computers. When one person unexpectedly gave him $15 for his help he decided that he could make money doing this.
He started out with a rate of $15 per hour and three years later charges $57 per hour. He markets his services through direct marketing and word of mouth. His typical customer is over 30 who is fairly inexperienced with computers. His services now range from teaching how to build your own computer and how computers work, to application training on software such as Windows ’95, ’98 & NT and MS Office. As you might imagine, he also teachers people how to use the Internet, with which many people are still not familiar. Knowing that service is the key to success in his industry, Aaron not only provides training services, he remains on call so he can help out any customers who get into a bind. Although Aaron does most of the instruction and training, he has a small staff that includes an office assistant (whose services he shares with his parents in their business) and a number of programmers who work for him on a contract basis.
Did we mention that Aaron did/does all of this while being a full-time student? He graduated from his high school earlier this year and he is now a full time student at the California State University at Fresno, majoring in business. Just in case you get the idea that being a student and entrepreneur makes for a boring life, Aaron still has lots of fun. He’s regularly in the gym (he’s currently competing in a national workout competition) he watches movies (his favorites are Braveheart and The Matrix) listens to music (Mozart and Limp Bizkit) and of course he dates. Aaron sees himself as an idea guy, so he’s not exactly sure what he wants to do in the future, but he knows that he wants to do something that helps young people achieve success. An early example of this can be seen when a couple of friends came up to Aaron and asked what they could do for income rather than the $5 an hour they were making at their current jobs. After brainstorming for a while, one of the friends said, "Hey! I love automobiles and I’m really good at detailing them. I know all of the tricks of the trade to get them perfectly spotless." "That," said Aaron, "is where you can start." The two friends decided to go into business together and Aaron worked with them to create a business plan that helped them lay out how to proceed and what they would need in terms of investment, marketing, pricing and other areas.
Aaron’s advice to any young person thinking about starting a business: "Find something you love to do and have fun doing it. The exciting thing about being an entrepreneur is that you control everything. Make your own dreams come true." He also notes that people frequently do just enough to get by rather than doing the best that they can. In business, and everything else for that matter, Aaron says "Why do anything if you are not going to do it to the best of your abilities? Don’t accept mediocrity." This lesson has driven Aaron since he read his favorite book years ago I Dare You! by William Danforth.
Whatever Aaron decides to do once he leaves CSU, we have no doubt that he will be very successful.