Brendan Cox
From social media marketing and selling phone cases, to graphic design and matching teens with odd jobs, serial entrepreneur Brendan Cox has founded a string of businesses – more than 10 – and he is still only 19.
And he can recall exactly where his entrepreneurial journey began, in seventh grade. “I was jealous that my sister could make money babysitting, but I couldn’t babysit because I was a guy and most parents preferred female babysitters,” he says.
Cox began scouring the internet searching for the ‘best ways for teens to make money’, with selling candy in school consistently among the top search results. “The next day I went to the dollar store where they sold a sleeve of three packs of gum for a dollar,” he says. “In school I sold each individual pack for a dollar, and made $56 in profits on my first day. At that point, I was hopelessly addicted to the world of entrepreneurship.”
At the age of 14 he bought an Instagram account with 100,000 followers for $900, and made his money back within a week, via advertisements and brand deals. Cox expanded his network to managing five Instagram accounts with over a million followers, only selling them recently due to time constraints.
Around the same time he launched Kicks Cases, which involved the design, marketing and importing phone cases. He says: “I designed the cases on Photoshop and had a manufacturer in China who shipped them to me.”
Over the next two years the business attracted a massive social media following and the phone cases were listed in two New Jersey sneaker stores. The business generated over $50,000 in revenue and was highly profitable: a typical case cost $1.50 to produce, $3 to ship, and generated $15 in revenue.
The graphic design skills that Cox acquired from Kicks Cases led him directly to his next venture, a full service graphic design business, Cox Visuals. He explains: “Instead of hiring a graphic designer I watched YouTube videos and taught myself how to use Photoshop to make phone case designs, promotional flyers and social media posts.”
He launched Cox Visuals in 2015 after a small Brooklyn-based clothing brand had contacted him after spotting his phone cases. They wanted to know the name of the graphic designer.
“I explained that I did it myself, they hired me and outsourced all their graphic design work to Cox Visuals,” he says. “Since then I’ve worked with large startups such as Habits 365, Social-Study App, and Shock Apparel.”
In August 2017 Cox set up Teen Assistant, a business that connects teens with odd jobs, such as moving furniture, assembling furniture, loading U-Hauls, and yard work.
“There was a huge demand for people who were willing and able to take on odd jobs of all sorts in my hometown,: he says. “I was always helping my neighbors or friends’ parents out with jobs that they couldn’t do or just didn’t have the time to do themselves.”
The business takes a percentage of the client service fee, which contributes to a marketing budget, apparel for the workers and any equipment needed by the teens to complete the jobs.
Startup costs were relatively modest, and funded by Cox’s Kicks Cases revenue. Within the first two years of launch Teen Assistant had generated over $200,000 in revenue. Before heading off to college Cox sold the business to another local entrepreneur who was looking to take on the challenge of running this business.
What makes Cox’s business achievements even more impressive has been his ability to balance his studies with running his businesses.
“Honestly, I work better under pressure,” he says. “I can’t sit still and I’m constantly working on something at all times. The need to budget my time in order to do well with both priorities helped to add some structure to my weekly planning.”
He is equally unfazed by the reality of dealing with business failure. “As an entrepreneur, failure is almost unavoidable and often an important part of your learning curve,” he says.
He had his first encounter with business failure as an eighth grader, and an Instagram account called @WorstCalls that featured all the worst sports calls by referees in professional sports leagues, including the NBA, MLB, and NHL.
Cox invested around $10,000 into growing the account by hiring a social media management company and within four months it had an audience of over 300,000 followers. He began monetizing the account through sponsored posts and PPC (Pay Per Click) advertising, but Instagram deleted the account for violating their terms.
“Obviously, this was a huge loss. I’d invested a lot of money in building this brand and it was gone in an instant, without warning,” he says. “I did everything to try to get the account back, but nothing worked, so I put it behind me and just moved on.”
Cox is currently studying entrepreneurship at the University of Scranton where he is heavily involved in the Entrepreneurship Program and working with several members of program staff. One of the available resources is the Wayne House, an on-campus building that allows entrepreneurs to run their businesses and collaborate with other students who are entrepreneurs.
He says: “I’m looking to enhance the services within the Wayne House Entrepreneurship Center with the goal of getting more students involved in running their businesses with the resources that are offered in our program. After graduating I plan to continue my own entrepreneurial endeavors: I’m constantly studying consumer audiences and technology trends that could be key to a successful business model.”
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