How a Gen Z entrepreneur is bucking lazy stereotypes

Many new college graduates are struggling to find jobs in the current economic climate and the emergence of artificial intelligence in the workplace.

But one Gen Z graduate instead created his own job and it will be very difficult for a computer to compete with him. Andreas Karagounis not only created his own career, he wants to ensure that college kids get a leg up and work experience like he did.

While the incorporated Gen Z Junk Removal was started just last year, the real start for Karagounis鈥檚 company started his freshman year at James Madison University, flipping couches.

鈥淵ou buy couches, you fix them up, sell them and then, while the couches were sitting, we decided that we had a lot of open time,鈥� Karagounis told 蜜桃视频app.

But in the in-between, they found they had a lot of time on their hands and like any good entrepreneur, they pivoted to what the market told them and began doing junk removal with a pickup truck, eventually buying a trailer.

And what started as a college job for some extra coin in the pocket and beer money has now turned into a thriving business in Northern Virginia. Karagounis started Gen Z Junk Removal last March and now demos hot tubs and sheds and hauls them off for customers.

Very few can start a thriving business that employs others at just 21 years old.

鈥淚 think in high school I always just wanted to find a way to make money on my own,鈥� Karagounis said. 鈥淚 fell into junk removal. I don’t know how that happened, but it did, and it鈥檚 actually awesome. I love it. It’s a lot of fun.鈥�

Karagounis told 蜜桃视频app that a core mission of his business is hiring students and paying them a good wage for their work. The motivation came from see so many of his friends work summer jobs in college that paid meager sums.

鈥淎 lot of these jobs aren’t paying very well. So I wanted to make it a point that the guys that are working for me come in, they get paid very well, but it’s hard work,鈥� he said.

He said these jobs and his employees buck the stereotype that Gen Z doesn鈥檛 work hard, a usual day could include emptying out an apartment in the morning and then having a two-and-a-half hour shed demolition in the afternoon with 90-degree heat and D.C.-area humidity.

But it also offers some other hidden lessons for the young people readying to enter the job market.

鈥淭hey deal with clients every day, so they’re getting very good at talking to people, which is, in my opinion, the number one thing. Learning how to talk to people, I think that helps a lot,鈥� Karagounis said.

After a year of renting, he recently bought his first dump truck to complete jobs. He hopes to eventually expand the business out of D.C., Virginia and Maryland into other markets like Florida.

His advice to fellow entrepreneurs in Gen Z? 鈥淭he one thing is just to start 鈥� What do you use to take payments? How much does the landfill cost? How do you do pricing? This is all stuff you learn as you go.鈥�

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