Teenage entrepreneur, Grayson Murray, opened his online store “G-slides” in June of 2021, selling personalized footwear, specifically slides. This new interest sparked due to the boredom of quarantine. “I felt like I wanted to do something productive, and I wanted a way to make money,” said Murray. He started promoting and generating ads in August, a successful attempt at boosting and sustaining his business. Murray promoted his line on instagram, finding it an easy way to reach his target audience.

Murray found his brand having a “steady improvement but generally consistent growth.” “[My ads] show up when you see sponsored stuff in your feed.” Murray typically makes $500-$700 a month from sales. “Once I started running ads, [I got orders] almost immediately because I can set how many people I reach.”

“G-Slides is going to change a lot, in not too long I’m probably going to redesign the website and put out a bunch of new stuff and rechange the general demographic of it,” said Murray. He feels that G-Slides doesn’t really reflect his own style, it’s more of what is “hyped- up.” Murray has plans to launch a new, more personalized clothing brand called “Hidden Hills”.

For his new brand, Murray found inspiration from brands such as Palm Angels and Chrome Hearts. He is hoping to sell hoodies, jackets, sweatpants, and t-shirts on his new online store. Murray finds that most of his sales come from people out-of-state rather than local. “I feel like the stuff I sell isn’t that popular at this school,” said Murray.

Murray has gained a lot of insight from launching his first brand. “G-Slides is kind of a stepping stone and a learning experience, figuring out how to do things. I took what I learned from that and went on my own brand. It gave me enough money to be sustainable and keep running so I might as well.”

Murray gives out important advice towards aspiring business owners saying, “You can figure it out, it’s not that hard. Just do your homework, do the research. If something doesn’t work out and isn’t working right away, don’t freak out, there’s probably just something that you need to fill out. Don’t just quit because something small didn’t work out.”