SFA students learn side hustle tips from local business owners

Stephen Kinnaird, Stephen F. Austin State University alumnus and Kinnaird Guitars owner, shows members of SFA's Nelson Rusche College of Business Economics Reading Group and participants in the college's new "Economic Success Stories: Entrepreneurship According to Founders" business practicum one of his custom-made guitars. Inspired by the book "Side Hustle: From Idea to Income in 27 Days," by Chris Guillebeau, students visited three Nacogdoches-area businesses during the fall semester that started as side hustles: Fredonia Brewery, Kinnaird Guitars and Java Jacks.

NACOGDOCHES, Texas -- Nearly 20 Stephen F. Austin State University students majoring in a variety of subjects spent the semester learning how local entrepreneurs launched their successful businesses initially as side hustles.

The students, who are either members of the Nelson Rusche College of Business Economics Reading Group or participants in the college's new "Economic Success Stories: Entrepreneurship According to Founders" business practicum, are exploring how to build their own businesses.

Inspired by the book "Side Hustle: From Idea to Income in 27 Days," by Chris Guillebeau, students visited three Nacogdoches-area businesses that started as side hustles: Fredonia Brewery, Kinnaird Guitars and Java Jacks. The key takeaway from the book and these visits is that everyone should start a side hustle, said Dr. Ryan Phelps, associate professor of economics at SFA and faculty advisor for the Economics Reading Group and the "Success Stories" practicum.

"The business owners shared their origin stories along with the trials, lessons and successes that shaped their journeys," Phelps said. "These visits were powerful reminders that business strategy pros are often running small and mid-sized businesses right around the corner. These entrepreneurs create value by deeply understanding and serving their customers."

At Fredonia Brewery, Paul Murray, owner, and Jack Sullivan, operations manager, SFA alumnus and lecturer of mathematics at the university, shared how the brewery grew from its origins as a side hustle in the Nac Brew Club into the thriving business that opened downtown in 2017.

"We learned that Fredonia Brewery takes pride in being more than just a place to enjoy local craft brews," said Vivian Bivens, Economics Reading Group president and senior finance major from Granbury. "It's a space where the community can come together and where customers often become family."

Stephen Kinnaird, SFA alumnus and Kinnaird Guitars owner, said the idea for his business started when he became fascinated with the craft of lutherie after visiting a guitar-maker's workshop in Atlanta in the early 1970s. He then applied his carpentry skills and music degree to making stringed instruments by commission before hiring his first employee in 2007.

"At Kinnaird, it's all about the experience and the relationships that make truly custom design possible," Phelps said. "Kinnaird Guitars started with curiosity and grew into a passion for workmanship. Their success has spread by word of mouth, and they have thrived through adaptation and creativity."

At Java Jacks, owners and SFA alumni Brent and Sarah Patton shared their coffeehouse expertise along with the story of how their side hustle became a successful business.

While working as a sound engineer traveling across the country in the late '80s and early '90s, Brent explored community-based coffeehouses that were tailored to local tastes and had "exotic names." Back in the Pattons' then hometown of Houston, craft brewing was emerging and world food stores were selling specialty coffees, but independent coffeehouses were scarce. They found a small family grocery store that sold roasted coffees, and the Pattons decided to adapt that business idea to Nacogdoches, especially SFA students.

After two years of looking at properties, creating "what if" spreadsheets and talking to bankers, the Pattons opened the first location of Java Jacks on East College Street in 1996. Now in a two-story building on North Street, the business has grown into a local institution and community hub. It also has its own side hustles: another Java Jacks location in Lufkin and Camino Real Coffee Roasters in a separate location on North Street.

"Sarah and I had to find our own way," Brent said. "We joined a trade network of coffee professionals, the Specialty Coffee Association, and they uplifted everybody trying to launch their own coffeehouses. They educated us on both the coffee side and business side."

Sarah described the hard work required when preparing to launch a business.

"You're doing all the labor to get things moving yourself," she said. "You're studying the product and how to run the business. You have to know your product and how to get people to come visit - how to create a neighborhood coffeehouse that's approachable."

The semester's side hustle exploration wrapped up with a presentation by certified financial planner, business strategist and SFA alumnus Taylor Kovar, who is serving as the first entrepreneur-in-residence at the university's Arnold Center for Entrepreneurship.

In "Confessions of a Serial Entrepreneur," Kovar discussed how he went from earning a finance degree during the 2008 economic downturn to helping his brother build a software business to buying his own businesses including Premier Pediatric, for which he achieved national accreditation and significant revenue growth. He now focuses on his wealth management business, 11 Financial, and his passion project, Standpipe Coffee House, both in Lufkin.

Kovar advised students who wish to start a side hustle to focus on a hobby.

"I look at a hobby and decide how I can make that profitable," he said. "I see opportunity everywhere. Try things while you're young and don't have a mortgage."

He also told students to start networking while they're in college.

"When I was in college, I was married and working, and I didn't have time to network with professors, peers and the community," Kovar said. "I would have been more successful if I had taken the time to network."

For more information on the Economics Reading Group, select the "Student Resources" tab at sfasu.edu/ecofin. For more information on the Arnold Center for Entrepreneurship, visit sfasu.edu/ace.