Featured Photo by Kerstie Wolaver
Story by Kerstie Wolaver
In a townhouse garage somewhere in Rutherford County, three young entrepreneurs are hard at work. Where normally a car would be protected from the elements, Jake Schwankhart, Noah Kopecky and Eli Wurzelbacher tend to their growing business, selling sneakers to customers from Florida to California.
Schwankhart is 20. Kopecky and Wurzlebacher are 18. All three, no surprise, are business majors at Middle Tennessee State University. They carry full academic loads while also running successful businesses that the trio said are grossing thousands of dollars each month.
These young men sell sneakers through consignment sales, social media platforms and by direct sales to repeat customers in the area.
Schwankhart reminds his peers of a teddy bear because of his full beard and a happy disposition. When he turned 18 he set up a limited liability corporation named Sole Riders LLC, and selling sneakers is his full time job while he goes to school.
Kopecky has been selling shoes since he was 14, and in the years since he has developed two different forms of income through consignment stores and online sales. Along the way he’s learned valuable lessons in how to succeed in business, he said.
“I didn’t have any help starting up. My mom didn’t even want me to do it at all. There are a lot more risks with it than people realize,” Kopecky said.
Kopecky, who offers a wide smile to all, grew up in Swan River, Manitoba, Canada and played hockey until he moved to the United States and got into shoes.
Kopecky sells most of his shoes through a consignment shoe store, Run It Back 615 at the Avenue. His inventory is on display and the store takes 15% of his sales.
The young salesmen acquire the majority of their inventory through bulk deals and traveling to shoe shows. What isn’t sold through consignment at shoe stores is sold online, or directly to consumers by special arrangement.
Before coming to MTSU, Kopecky said that he sold most of his higher end sneakers through his brand account on Instagram but has not found time to create and post as much content since fall semester began.
“I’ve really had to slow down and focus more on school than selling,” Kopecky said. Most of his sales now are through consignment but he makes more money on social media because more buyers view the product.
The trio expressed worries about balancing life as full time college students while also keeping their businesses afloat. With two of them being freshmen, university has proven to be challenging.
“It’s a learned practice,” Wurzelbacher said. “Juggling school while also traveling as much as I do.”
Wurzelbacher doesn’t sell through consignment the same way that his roommates do. He relies on bulk deals, as well as trading shoes with collectors. All of his customers are returning customers, and most of them he knows personally.
Wurzelbacher gets most of his inventory from sellers in Memphis and often buys collections of shoes from people who just want to get rid of their stock.
“You find these people who have been collecting sneakers like baseball cards and one day they just decide they want to get rid of everything. They’ll give it all to you for dirt cheap just because they don’t want it anymore,” said Wurzelbacher.
His biggest fear is scamming and robbery. Confirming the legitimacy of sellers with large collections is a must, he said.
He never picks up new shoes alone and no one ever picks up from his house. He noted selling sneakers can be dangerous. Multiple people have threatened him for shoes and he knows of other sellers who have been robbed of large sums of money.
It’s riskier than most realize, Wurzelbacher said.
Driving to pick up these large collections of shoes has become somewhat of a learned practice for him, “Last week I woke up at like 5 a.m., drove to Memphis to pick up some shoes and had to be back for class by 2.”
Kopecky and Wurzelbacher fear being scammed.
“There’s a lot of bad people in this business, they scam young kids like us out of money all the time,” Kopecky said.
Schwankhart has expanded his business into teaching others how to sell shoes through consignment. He meets with his “students” through Zoom calls and email exchanges.
Schwankhart’s third method of shoe selling is a software called SneakerConsign. The program, of which he is a part owner, gives stores across America access to available shoes. The program also ranks shoes by brand and popularity, which allows consignment stores to get the best price and best profit for different shoes. Schwankhart explained that his schedule is a lot more steady than his roommates as he has time set aside for all of his responsibilities.
“It’s simple, but difficult in the way that it takes a lot of sacrifices,” Schwankart said. “I’ll have to step out of hanging out with my friends to take a 45 minute phone call pertaining to shoes.”
A negative side is missing quality time with friends and family because of his business responsibilities. He also always has his eyes on what the economy is doing. “My biggest fear is literally the economy,” Schankhart said.
“It’s that fear of failure that gives me the most motivation to succeed.”
To contact Lifestyles Editor Destiny Mizell, email lifestyles@mtsusidelines.com. For more news, visit www.mtsusidelines.com, or follow us on Facebook at MTSU Sidelines or on X at @MTSUSidelines.
