Washington teen has eye for business with apparel website
Published 3:50 pm Friday, December 20, 2024
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How many 18-year-olds do you know who are like Will Glover?
The Washington High School senior is a very good soccer player, helping the Pam Pack reach the third round of the Class 2-A state playoffs. When he’s not at school, hunting with his father or taking photos of nature, he’s also becoming a very savvy businessman.
He and his father started a clothing apparel store online — backhomeoutdoorsnc.com — about a year ago. It all began when he picked up his mother’s camera and started taking pictures of nature and animals he saw while driving around in his truck or walking.
“So every time I went road around in between school, I would take pictures of animals off the side of the road, right? Glover said. “And I got bored one day and I got on my phone and downloaded an app and started editing pictures with the app. And I was like, ‘Man, that’d be pretty on the back of a T-shirt.’
“Put it on the back of a t-shirt and here we are.”
An eye like that doesn’t just come out of thin air. His mother is Catherine Glover, executive director of the Washington Beaufort Chamber of Commerce. His father, Brent Glover, is also a successful businessman and a big help and inspiration to Will. He helped his son with setting up the business but ultimately let him do most the work so he could learn to make it successful.
“So his love of hunting, he started hunting with me pretty much when I could take him four and five and that’s just been a passion,” Brent Glover said.
“That’s where, I mean, that’s where you feel comfortable at home. Back home. And so it’s been fun for us, as his parents, to come alongside him and help with the business aspect, but also watch him take a long-standing passion for the outdoors, hunting, fishing, and then take a new passion of photography that he’s really gotten into and blend them into something creative.”
It doesn’t stop with the website. He also sells merchandise through Nauti Life, a store in downtown Washington. He and his father also go to different trade shows to show off the merchandise and to promote the business. Both have helped to not only get eyes on the product but also be able to see and feel the product in person while getting more attention to what his business is all about. That includes everything from taking the photos to getting the shirts made, shipping, the financial end and everything else that comes with it.
“So, I’ve tried real hard to incorporate him into everything, mainly anything business-related, more than just the art aspect of it,” Brent Glover said. “And that can be anything from, when an order comes in on the website, it will be very easy for me to go into the office, grab a shirt off the shelf, address it, go to the website, fulfill the order, ship it, bring the receipt back, log it in as an expense, track the financials.”
Will wants to continue to see the business grow. He has aspirations to get his product into stores like Walmart and Academy Sports. He wants to attend East Carolina University’s School of Business while maybe one day making enough money to have his own physical store.
The sky is the limit for the teenager. Who knows, maybe we’ll see him on the TV show “Shark Tank” pitching an idea or on a billboard between Washington and Greenville showing off his business.
“I want to make this, I want this to be it,” Will said. “You know, I want to eventually, I wouldn’t say have enough money saved up to build a store. Way, way down the road.
“(His dad) has got different goals than I do. See, I want this to be my thing. But obviously, you have to have a certain amount of money to do that. So I’m going to get another job when I go to college. I’m going to major in business.
“I’d be really excited to be in Raleigh or somewhere and walk down the street and see a shirt on somebody that we don’t know. And be able to ask them, ‘Where’d you get it,’ and ‘Why’d you buy it?’ And have them say, ‘I bought it because I like it.
“I mean, I can’t think of anything more satisfying.”