Connor Cameron founded his ‘students at work’ business back in 2018. Having had the lightbulb idea of connecting people with an income to spend on odd jobs and students, he created Stakk Jobs, giving jobs to students at his high school and within his community. Two years on, and Connor’s business has grown to accommodate hundreds of students in need of a little extra cash.

Impressed by the initiative of this young entrepreneur, Kebloom spoke with Connor to learn more about Stakk Jobs and its beginnings:

1) Please introduce yourself.

Hey guys. My name is Connor, I'm from Sydney Australia and I'm 18 years old.

“…people looking for help can fill out a quick booking form and we have a list of over a hundred students ready and willing to work, which we vet to then get them onto jobs..”

2) What is the name of your business & how did you come up with it?

My business is called Stakk Jobs. To be honest there isn’t really a great story behind the name. When I first started the company, I was trying to figure out what a great name would be. But, after a couple of days trying to come up with something, I decided to go for something super simple.  I shortened the phrase ‘Students at Work’ into Stakk and added a K for no apparent reason, other than it looked better than just the one K.

3)   Tell us a little bit about Stakk Jobs?

I started my business two years ago at the start of 2018. I was talking to a mate of mine about how difficult it was for students like us to find work, despite how willing we were to help out. This idea then sort of snowballed and within a month I had hired a developer to build me this website that could take bookings. Then we were able to to get students booked and helping people out around their house. 

It has really grown since then. Now, people looking for help can fill out a quick booking form and we have a list of over a hundred students ready and willing to work, which we vet to then get them onto jobs.

“I started selling cokes out of my locker when I was in grade 7 and if it wasn't for that, I wouldn't have started my three future businesses after that.”

4) Who are your customers?

I guess we fill this gap in the market of people who are usually over the age 30 - 35. These people lack time but have the money to hire people to help out around their homes, usually for gardening and cleaning.

5) Who supports you with your business?

It’s really just me running the business at the moment. I have had quite a bit of help from other students who started off working for Stakk, who have then begun helping me with the backend. I've also been quite lucky in that a lot of the very talented entrepreneurs and venture capitalists in Sydney and around Australia have been willing to help me out with my venture. Many of them have chipped in with advice here and there and that has also been super helpful.

6) What would you say are your ‘superpowers’?

It's really far from superpowers, but I have started a couple of businesses before this one. So, I found myself in a position where when I found a problem it was something I figured I could fix. I think that’s something that got me to where I am today.

7) What skills have you developed through your business?

As a solo founder you find yourself having to cover every aspect of the business, so through that I guess I've developed a pretty broad set of skills.

Marketing is something I really took to when I started the business and I've actually helped out a couple of other businesses within marketing. The other thing with managing such a large workforce of students, people management has been something that I've really been forced to develop. It's definitely not something that one can perfect early, but I’d like to think I'm getting there.

8) What is your ultimate goal?

I don't know if I've got really one ultimate goal with this business. However, one thing that's kept me on the straight and narrow from the start has been the Northstar objective of becoming the leading employer of high school students in Australia and hopefully the world. So, if I had to pick one goal that would be it.

9) What advice would you give to other young entrepreneurs?

I don't think there's really one piece of advice you could give someone on how to create a successful business, except maybe: ‘just start’. That’s what I did. I started selling cokes out of my locker when I was in grade 7 and if it wasn't for that, I wouldn't have started my three future businesses after that. If you don't start then you won't really know if it's something that you're passionate about doing.

…and anything else you’d like to add!

If anyone out there would like to connect with me, my handle on Instagram and Twitter is @Connoracameron and my business email is Connor@stakk.com.

Feel free to reach out to me I'd love to chat.

About the Author:

Ellie McRae is the blogger, interviewer and content creator for Kebloom! When she’s not writing kick-ass articles, you’ll find her studying marketing and drinking copious amounts of coffee. Find out more about Ellie here.