College Crafters - College Admissions Counseling Firm

1. Introduction about the company and the entrepreneur/businessman.

I founded College Crafters with a friend in September 2020 during my first semester at
university. I am studying Economics & Business at Vanderbilt University, United States.

College Crafters is a student-led organization, with a team of mentors from world-renowned

universities such as MIT, Harvard, Stanford, Princeton, Columbia, Duke, & Oxford.

College Crafters is a mentoring platform where high school students can directly connect
with university students who have been accepted to their dream colleges and get
experienced, effective, and affordable educational and college admissions consultation.

2. How is your life as an entrepreneur/businessman? Happy? Sad? Exhausting?

Thrilling?AND WHY?

Life after starting College Crafters has been really busy. It is really hard to manage my own
studies as well as College Crafters. The emotions vary across the year. During the college
application deadlines, it is really exhausting and it all comes down to managing every
student and part of the application properly and effectively. And when the admissions results
are out, it gets really tense and it’s all about accepting the decisions received with mixed
feelings of happiness and sadness.

3. Why did you start this business?

After struggling through the application process myself, not getting the help that I needed,
and learning the hard way, I decided I did not want others to go through the same
experience that I had. With the intention to help my juniors with their college applications, I
decided to start a small business with one of my friends to not only help others but also get
some sort of income to contribute to my university fee.

4. What did you achieve in this business?

A few things I achieved from this business are meaningful connections as well as helping
deserving students get into the world's most renowned universities. Our firm has gotten over
120+ acceptances from top US and UK universities with $13 Million worth of financial aid
and scholarships.
5. What did you lose in this business?

One thing I feel like I lost in this business is having a work-life balance. Managing both my
university and this business has led to minimal social life, and most of my time is spent
working, which causes stress and anxiety.

6. Best thing about this business?

The best thing about this business is when I see the fruit of my efforts and my students are
able to get the recognition they deserve for working hard throughout their academic life.

7. Worst thing about this business?

The worst thing about this business is managing my emotions as well as students’ emotions
at the time of admission decisions. Rejections can lead to disappointment and it’s really hard
to get a backup plan for the rejected students and also help them strategize other options.

8. What are the biggest risks in this business?

One of the biggest risks in this business is that college admissions are really unpredictable,
and one bad year of college admissions can really affect the business, leading to less
enrollment as well as revenue.

9. What are the opportunities in this business? Any problems in this

industry/business that need a solution? Any gap that needs to be filled? Any area
where there is a need for improvement?

College admissions counseling is a huge but really competitive market. There are a lot of
opportunities as thousands of students from Pakistan are looking to apply abroad each year.
In terms of problems, when we saw positive results of doing this business our primary
motivation to contribute to our university fee changed to tackling the inexperienced school
counselors, and, providing guidance to both FSC and O-levels students. This will give a fair
chance to all students applying to colleges as this platform will provide them with effective
guidance regardless of their affordability and background.

10. Would you suggest others start this business? Why or Why not?

I would definitely suggest others start this business as long as they are motivated and have
sufficient experience with college admissions. This is less about conducting a business and
more about having the ability to responsibly lead someone’s future in the right direction.
11. What is the profit percentage in this business? You do not have to give a precise
number or how much money you make, only if you can share average percentage
profit margin people can make in this business?

As this is a services business, the profit margin has increased over the years. As we gained
more experience we increased the cost of our services and hence increased profit
percentage. The current profit percentage for this business is around 70%.

12. How much did starting this business cost you? (try to talk about the cost of
EVERY SINGLE THING)

Starting cost for this business was around Rs.30,000 and that too for Instagram marketing.
As we work remotely there was no cost for the offices. And other than that we managed our
own marketing, design, and promotions ourselves to save the cost.

13. What is the running cost of this business? The average daily expense? What kind
of expense?

The running cost of this business for this year is around Rs. 15 lacs, which includes
expenses of Instagram promotions and pay for the teams who work to give advice on the
application.

14. How much would it cost me if I start this business?

To be honest, if you have experience, you can definitely start with an amount of Rs. 25,000
to Rs. 50,000, given that work is done remotely at the start, or use a place where you don’t
have to give rent.

15. What are your future plans for this business? Growth? Expansion? Improvement?

We plan to expand our business to other countries including Bangladesh and Nepal, and
also take the platform to the United States and open offices and increase the enrollment of
our students. Currently, we only deal with 30 students per year, and after graduation, we
plan to expand and hire more counselors. In terms of improvement, we are currently
planning to make this business automated to increase collaboration and communication and
increase our reach globally through digital media.