The Art of Balancing School & Business: Sebastian Madero
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The Art of Balancing School & Business: Sebastian Madero

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 At just 21 years of age, junior Sebastian Madero has already engaged in three business ventures. His first stemmed from a simple idea he had with a friend to create apparel to display hometown pride for The Key (Key Biscayne, FL). Most recently, Madero and his father have launched Rotisserie Chicken in Gainesville, which is a delivery food service that provides patrons with different chicken sizes, sides, and sauces.  But what makes Madero stand out most? He's a full-time student studying finance at the University of Florida and the owner and manager of a successful complete pet service in Miami called Key Walks. 

“Key Walks was actually my business partner's idea,” Madero said. “Everyone has a dog in Miami, so we saw potential even though we really didn't know anything about the industry.” 
 Back in early 2011, when Madero was a senior in high school, he began running Key Walks. The start up costs of dog walking were pretty much zero, but in order to effectively market their service, Madero and his partner invested $200 each for flyers and business cards. They started by knocking on people's doors. 
They were able to start building a loyal clientele. Many to this day continue to use the service on a daily basis.  
“The business grew organically, we knew if we did a good job people would talk. Slowly, people started asking for other services too,” Madero said. “Because we saw their dogs every single day, [our clients] felt comfortable with us. We started boarding soon at our home and eventually, when we noticed that we had 25 dogs in our house, we went ahead and opened a Doggie Daycare and Hotel with Spa Services on December 19th 2013.” 
This semester, Madero has had to sacrifice a lot of time for his work. He's spent more time in Miami than in Gainesville. But how has he managed to excel in his studies while working over 350 miles away? 
“Time management is key,” Madero said. “Everyone has the same amount of time in the day, you just have to schedule things and not waste time. The hardest part is sacrificing time; you have to put time into it because if not you won't succeed.” He added that it's hard to study and not think of ways to apply what he's reading about into his business. 
 Madero says that Key Walks is going great. They went from just dog walking to a full pet service that includes grooming, boarding, and now has a training program in the works. 
“Without the support of my family, friends, coworkers and clients, none of [the success] would have been possible, absolutely not,” Madero said. “Having people that believe in you and what you're doing and having people that respect you makes all the difference, it's a huge push forward.” 
Along the way, Madero recognizes he has learned many valuable lessons. “If you work on something, whatever it is, you work on it and you keep working at it. Even though at first it may seem like it's going nowhere, if you work smart things can grow,” Madero said. “The hardest and most important part is to continue moving forward. You got to figure out how to do things right and if you do it right it's going to work.”
Madero has no intentions on working with a big firm out once he graduates, he much rather invest his money and time in new projects of his own. 
Regarding any advice for potential entrepreneurs, Madero's advice is: “Don't quit, just find the value of things. Really, just see what is valuable to people and see how you can provide that to them; just give people what they want.”

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This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
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