A phone going off at an awkward time would be an inconvenience to most people, but to Gavin Long, these poorly timed calls are an opportunity. Whether his phone begins to ring during class or he discovers them as missed calls later on, they help drive business, making his dream of self-employment ever closer.
Gavin Long, a Junior at RHS, began his entrepreneurial journey this spring when he founded Long Event Rentals, a company specializing in furniture rentals for significant events. Long achieved his dream without prior knowledge, choosing to start a business, a bet that has already begun to pay out.
While many students spent their high school years working retail and food services jobs, Long decided to pave his path. Instead of relying on ever-changing schedules and strenuous hours, Long wanted to be his own boss. He explained his motivations for creating his company and his longing to work for himself.
“I don’t think anyone begins a company and doesn’t look forward to making some money, but really, I’ve always wanted to work for myself, buy my own ticket. The dream of not having to work for somebody else is really important to me, and I will work my hardest to keep it alive,” Long said.
Starting a company, even for a seasoned entrepreneur, can be daunting, so for a high schooler, the idea would appear impossible. Challenges like applying for an LLC and establishing a company’s EIN might sound like they need a business degree to resolve, but Long found his way around the problem.
“I just went on Google, researched everything I know from there, and with that we were able to get up and running. It’s pretty crazy how much info is out there for free, you don’t need a ton of experience to take your first steps,” Long said.
After a business owner takes their first pivotal steps, an even more significant challenge is advertising and finding a customer base that knows and respects the company. While Long acknowledged these challenges, he explained that the support of the Revere community has almost allowed him to skip this trying step.
”The community has been awesome. Facebook has been huge; there have been people sharing it all over the place. Some local restaurants and stores have even let me put up flyers or cards in the area and that’s helped tremendously,” Long said.
With a name like Long Event Rentals, it is safe to assume that the company is family-run, and while many new businesses share that status, Long hopes the company will always remain in the family.
“While I really haven’t really thought that far into the future, I do want to keep it a smaller business, keeping it in the family rather than becoming a larger corporation. One day it would be awesome to hand the company down to my kids,” Long said.
Much of Long’s wish to keep the business in the family stems from the support he received from his parents at the beginning of this endeavor. He explained how his parents supported him in getting the company moving.
“Aside from the insane amount of support they’ve given me, the biggest thing is that they’re over 18, so they are in possession of the company. When I turn 18, that will transfer over to me, but for now, they are the reason this is all possible,” Long said.
Kathy Long is Gavin’s mother and a co-owner of the growing business, but it is due to her commitment to her son and his dreams that Long Event Rentals could ever have materialized. Kathy explained her initial thoughts when Gavin brought her the idea and that she knew he would succeed from the start.
“As a parent, of course, you have your doubts when your kid comes to you saying he’s going to start his own business, but when I realized how passionate he really was about it, I just had a feeling it was going to work out really well for him,” Kathy said.
While it may seem like a minor part of the process, Long’s parents’ decision to temporarily list their names in Gavin’s place when founding the company was risky but only proved their confidence in their son. Kathy explained why she felt comfortable listing her name for the company and taking on any liability that should come with it.
”I just have a lot of trust in Gavin and his ability to make things happen. I know that should anything come up he will do everything in his power to fix it, that’s just the kind of person he is,” Kathy said.
The other half of the duo that made Long Event Rental Company possible is Kevin Long, Gavin’s father. Kevin is a general contractor working for himself; he explained how he has always instilled values of hard work and independence in his son and how he believes it has helped the business grow.
“Ever since he was really little, I would take Gavin with me on jobs. I think those experiences kind of gave him a sense of hard work, and how success was built into it. It also kind of showed him the freedom that working for yourself offers, that really appealed to him,” he said.
While Long Event Rentals is still in its early stages, and calls still come in slowly, vital signs of success are on the horizon, and with Long’s commitment to hard work and independence, the heights of a tent will not be the highest peaks of his success.
For more information, visit LongEventRentals.com or call 216-202-0503
To read more about small business’s in the Revere community CLICK HERE
