In Business Minded People Pt 1. I talked about college being the hub of business ideas and startups. Now it’s time to get to know our very own entrepreneurs:

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Monica Carranza – runs a marketing company that provides services such as website development, search engine optimization, and marketing campaigns for small businesses in the area. She helps business owners get their business across Facebook using their ad system and Google Adwords so they can rank up on the search engines.

Monica come’s from a hardworking immigrant family, her family is her motivation to run the business. Her goals are to provide for them and give back to her community through her marketing services.

I asked the UMDCP Comm major to describe the most challenging part about running a business to which she told me “fear of failing”. However, failing for Monica  is part of the process.

Monica’s advice to anyone thinking about starting a business is simple – never stop learning, read, network, and find a mentor.

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Ryan Deputy – is producing a phone game called Twisted Diction, which will feature the word play phenomenon called “spoonerism”. The app will create various spoonerism puzzles for users to complete with levels reaching the thousands. Never heard of spoonerism? Here’s an example: “fighting a liar – lighting a fire”. This play on words can be pretty addicting.

Ryan and his roommate Noah started keeping a list of all the spoonerisms they could come up with. That’s when they realized that the list is pretty much endless. The goal for this duo now is to reach out to the world to help complete this list: “We need all the help we can get, so start thinking!” Ryan told me.

Ryan, who is also a UMDCP Comm major found one particular course especially helpful for staring his business – Comm 3980  Digital Media & Democracy.

The class was helpful for his business because it taught him how to maximize his social media presence and grow a following.

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Mark Dubois Davis – works as a Partner/C0-Founder for a startup called “Face Friendzee”.

Face Friendzee is an application designed to video chat between multiple parties, where users are able to share videos, webpages, and play games all on the same screen.

It’s similar to Skype, but the difference is that it gives users the ability to watch YouTube videos, Netflix, live news coverage, and more, all  in a group on a 4-split screen.

I asked the Smith School of Business student what it takes to “make it” in the business world. Mark told me that this was one of his favorite questions, he said that the first thing to do is to become an expert in the field. If you’re an expert, people will start coming to you for information and predictions.  Next up is networking, attending events, joining clubs, gathering as much information as you can through as many people as you can. Mark’s final piece of advice is to be the best version of yourself.

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Jonathan Brand – runs a dog walking company called Yo Yo Pet Sitting Services. Jonathan was inspired through his art class in Montgomery College where he learned how to design a company logo. Jonathan decided to bring his logo to life.

Jonathan combined his love and care for animals with his knack for business and created his very own pet sitting service.

Jonathan has been developing his skills in business, communication, and digital media through his classes in the UMCP Comm program.

Jonathan’s advice for anyone who wants to start their own business is to take it one day at a time. Figure out what makes you happy, your passion, and then go for it. Make yourself an assignment every day, and slowly you will see your business idea turn into a reality.