Doing the High School Hustle

Students at 15 Indiana high schools – including Carmel, Fishers, HSE, and Zionsville – could turn summer self-employment into $10,000 in addition to whatever they earn on their own. It is an entrepreneurship competition called High School Hustle.

The Reporter spoke to Orr Fellowship alum and High School Hustle Executive Director Hunter Beale about the program that pays students in business skills and, potentially, $10,000 in prize money at the end of the summer.

According to Beale, co-founders Scott Lingle and Peter SerVaas had made enough money that they reached what Beale called an “inflection point” at which they wanted to foster the next generation of entrepreneurs.

Beale

“For both of them it started with a high school hustle,” Beale said. “That it was a small seed planted that would grow ever so fruitful in the future. That is exactly when it clicked that we need more high school hustlers.”

Last year the High School Hustle program had 20 students. So far this year they have approximately 2,000.

Beale said most high schoolers’ first businesses are what he calls “sweaty startups.”

“It’s the lawn mowing, gutter cleaning, power washing, girls doing hair and nails, or food catering,” Beale said. “The whole goal of what we would call a hustle is that you can learn it and make your first dollar within 48 hours. So it’s not complex. You only retain 10 percent of what you read; you retain 90 percent of what you experience. So how do we get them doing sales? How do we get them in front of customers? How do we get them making money? How do we get them learning the simple steps of business by doing? That’s the whole edge of high school hustle as we see it.”

According to Beale, some students are making over $100,000 in businesses they are running while in high school. While those extreme examples do happen, Beal says the goal is for students to make as many “$400 hustles” as possible.

“Timmy gets $400 cutting lawns; that counts as one hustle,” Beale said. “Then Timmy goes and does mobile car details. He makes 400 bucks. He now has two $400 hustles. We don’t want them to see failure or think that they’re gonna be the next Mark Zuckerberg off their first hustle. They’re trying to get as many $400 hustles as possible. That’s the threshold. We have pinpointed that as a successful hustle.”

Beale said part of the goal is for students to learn what they enjoy, what makes money, and what doesn’t make money.

“We don’t teach,” Beale said. “That’s one of the most important things. We do not teach. We only guide through questions. It’s Socrates’ method, and it’s really helping them level up because if we just give them statements, they’re always gonna ask more questions. But for us to ask them a question is to get their brains to think for themselves – to answer our questions that we can provide them. So that’s what we’ve basically created in a nutshell.”

This summer there is $100,000 available in 10 prizes of $10,000 each for top students.

There is still time to sign up for the summer program before June 1. The application is available online at highschoolhustle.org/applications/student-application.

By March 31 a student has to start one or two hustles generating at least $400 each in revenue. June 1 through Aug. 1, students will pick a single one to focus on and compete for $10,000 of the $100,000 prize money.