Booming business: Miami’s secret side hustlers

Junior primary education major Georgia Palko worked at Bagel and Deli, but was looking for some extra cash. After calling her dad with a bright idea, she moved forward with her plan to sell sweet treats on Valentine's Day. With around $50 worth of strawberries, a college house kitchen and a side hustler mindset, she sold 300 strawberries to mothers and lovers.

“I’ve grown up doing lemonade stands, doing whatever it is — walking dogs, mowing lawns — doing whatever I can to start my own business of some sort,” Palko said. “When I got to Miami, [my dad] was like you need to find something that people don't have or people need at school.”

Palko said she thought of chocolate covered strawberries and pretzels because everyone loves them. She advertised to consumers with a Canva-made graphic on Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram and GroupMe.

After Palko informed Aldi of her plans, they readied 17 packs of strawberries for her. Then, she sanitized her kitchen and got to work preserving and preparing the strawberries. She learned how to do this from Youtube and ChatGPT.

To get her friends to help deliver the treats to lucky recipients, Palko paid them with extra strawberries from the batch.

Palko ran a similar scheme for St. Patrick's Day, selling gourmet oreos, chocolate pretzels and “leprechaun bait.” She said she aspires to experiment with dairy-free and gluten-free treats as well.

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While Palko runs a business out of her college house, other Miami University students run their business ventures or side hustles out of their residence halls, regardless of university policy.

“Students may not use residence hall rooms, public spaces, sorority suites or common areas to conduct any commercial or business venture,” according to Miami’s student room regulations.

Director of Residence Life Rob Abowitz said many years ago a student started a tutoring business that eventually became a problem.

“I said, if people aren't lining up in the hall of the residence hall to get their tutoring, okay, but [the student] actually followed through and made it a real business. When he set up the LLC for this business, he listed his residence hall as the address,” Abowitz said.

Although students are not allowed to run commercial businesses or side hustles out of residence halls, the resident assistants (RAs) do not always prevent it from happening.

A first-year interior design major operates her own nail business out of Stanton Hall on top of her other two jobs. She charges between $20-60 for a set of nails. Her clients often get french tips or little flowers on their nails without any problems.

“My RA is pretty chill, but she doesn’t really look in our dorms at all,” the first-year said. “She’s like, ‘unless you’re really causing a problem, I don’t really pay that much attention.’”

This side hustler said she was motivated by money and family.

“[Before college] I was like I have to make money somehow, because I don’t want to rely on my parents,” the first-year said. “I have three sisters and one of them is in college. I was like, I don’t want to ask my parents for money all the time because they’re spending lots.”

Cara Muhlenthaler, a sophomore marketing major, also has no trouble running her spray tan business out of Minnich Hall. She said the RAs don’t care as long as it doesn’t happen in the bathroom.

“As long as it’s in our dorm [room] though, it’s fine,” Muhlenthaler said. “There’s signs all over our bathrooms, like ‘no spray tanning in the bathrooms.’”

With advice from other girls in the dorm spray tan business, $400 and excel skills, Muhlenthaler and her roommate bought a spray tan starter kit and began to book appointments.

After trying multiple websites with paywalls to establish a booking site for customers, they decided to stick to texting group chats and an Instagram account for client outreach. Most of their clients are friends or other girls living in sorority dorms.

During sorority recruitment and before spring break, the business partners created deals for their clients, since those are especially competitive times for the spray tan business. Rather than the usual $20 cost, they charged their customers $15.

Muhlenthaler and her roommate are not the only girls who manage spray tan businesses out of their dorms. There is competition everywhere, and they collaborate with other side hustlers, exchanging clients and supplies.

“I’m always worrying that there’s more competition … each sorority dorm I feel like has a girl that does this for you,” Muhlenthaler said. “There’s actually another girl that does it [in Minnich Hall], and we actually help each other out.”

At an institution built around the business mindset, these side hustlers embody the Miami entrepreneurship experience — whether they are permitted to or not.

whitmokz@miamioh.edu

duganec@miamioh.edu