Rocky’s Youngest Businessman

Sage Trytten, Jose Villalpando and Blake Riott

It all started October 1, 2016, in Mr. Schauer’s history class when Jose came up with the idea of being an entrepreneur. Excited by the idea, he told his friends and began the process of starting a business.

Jose already had a lot of experience creating shirts for companies and clubs here at Rocky, such as Diversity Club, FCCLA, and DECA. So when it was time to produce his own t-shirts, Jose played around with ideas to put on the shirt. He began to go through demo shirts and experimented with spray paint..

Jay, being Jose’s nickname, was the right fit for him to put on the shirts but why bell? Having the thought of bluejay in the back of his mind he wanted to change it up. Bell was different and it went with Jay the best. Thus, having a bird with bells in its mouth was the logo.

This whole process took a year to prepare and, according to Jay, was an “extremely hard challenge” to complete. Along the way they picked up their tax licenses and everything came together.

In order to get their brand out there, they sent out free shirts and promoted themselves on social media, and even on the radio.

Their plans for the future include expanding more options and styles of clothing. They stated that they were coming out with sweatpants, hoodies and even a cologne.

Their goal was for the future is that they want to, “Create something for everyone and be well known.”

In addition to creating a booming business, they wanted to give back to the Fort Collins community. For every product purchase they donate $1 to the homeless.

Check out their work at: https://www.officialbelljay.com/