A Slippery Rock University student is well on his way to building his own business as a resilient competitor. Gavin Beck, a senior finance major from Meadville (Meadville HS), is responsible for the starting up three separate successful business ventures through Prestige Shine Detailing, William & Charles Capital and Beck’s Lake Rentals, all based around Meadville.
“In being a young entrepreneur, I would say that the seed was planted long before any of these businesses were a real thing,” Beck said. “From a young age, I’ve always had this type of mentality and work ethic. I was knocking on neighbor’s doors, shoveling and mowing, landscaping, and doing other odd jobs here and there. I was always doing something to try and find what I was looking for; a job.”
With the introduction of the COVID-19 pandemic in his freshman year of high school, Beck realized something.
“I wanted my career to be bullet proof,” Beck said. “Once COVID hit, I saw that job security was a major factor in the workforce. I wanted to be able have my own career and not deal with other external forces.”
After his freshman year, Beck decided to focus more on business, prioritizing his career over sports.
“I was a multiple sport athlete, but I decided I wasn’t going to continue playing football,” Beck said. “That way, I could focus more on business. I started an online business that year, so I was drop shipping, doing print on demand, even a jewelry business. There was always this hustle and sales mentality in me.”
By the time he approached high school graduation, Beck had already begun seeing tangible success. Over the course of just three months, he and a friend earned roughly $15,000 detailing cars out of his driveway through Prestige Shine Detailing.
“Our parents looked at us and said that this was just a summer gig, and that we could resume our work when we got out of school,” Beck said. “They pushed us to go and focus on our education.”
Beck enrolled at SRU to enhance his knowledge and fortify his career even further. His entrepreneurial drive never slowed as a college student. He’d take calls from clients between classes and work on his business website.
Despite forming strong friendships and connections on campus, Beck realized that a traditional college experience didn’t fully align with his goals.
“I was rooming with one of my friends from high school, and we made a lot of different connections tying me to SRU,” Beck said. “We had a really great community, but I didn’t feel like it was the right place for me to be. I had to figure out where I was going from that point forward, and I knew that being on campus was a limitation for me and what I wanted to do. I wasn’t going to be able to knock on doors, or make phones calls when needed, or do the jobs that would need to be done.”
Feeling as if the cards were stacked against him and his dream, Beck considered withdrawing from the University. But then, the faculty gathered around to support him.
“My advisor sent me over to Dr. (Thuy) Bui in the finance (program),” Beck said. “She believed in the businesses I had built and said that there was a way to make everything online. From then on, I finished my second semester online and the business took off in the summer.”
Now in its third year, Prestige Shine Detailing has expanded far beyond its driveway beginnings. The business operates from a full location in Conneaut Lake, with a mobile detailing van and an expanded list of services, including paint corrections, ceramic coatings, paint protection film and window tints.
Beck’s team consists of him and his co-owner, as well as two full-time employees.
“The team just keeps getting bigger,” Beck said. “The services are more advanced and the customer list is growing in size.”
Now, as his graduation approaches in May, Beck looks back at SRU with an appreciative mindset.
“I can’t thank the finance professors and faculty enough for how flexible they were able to be with me and my business,” Beck said. “If it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t have been able to make it at SRU. Online school is not as easy as some people think it is, and the flexibility of the staff at SRU made it manageable.”
For Beck, success has come from a willingness to adapt, something he credits, in part, to his experience at SRU.
“Here, you have relationships with everyone, and I’m very thankful for it,” Beck said. “If I had to come back and do college all over again, I would still come to Slippery Rock.”
More information about the finance program at SRU is available on the program’s webpage.
