Today we’d like to introduce you to Josh Kahen.
Hi Josh, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I am an incoming third year undergraduate student studying Economics at the University of California at Berkeley. Originally hailing from Palos Verdes, California I attended Palos Verdes Peninsula High School where I was a part of many different organizations and groups. During my time in high school, I found a passion for entrepreneurship. After working for a year tutoring at Kumon, I often felt unstimulated and did not feel like I was advancing my professional skills. I decided to quit working here and instead use my photography/videography talents to start my first business, JP Photos LA. At just the age of 16, I was attending weddings, bar/bat mitzvahs and high-class yacht parties capturing monumental moments and creating a name for myself in the Southern California community. I created merchandise, designed my own website and learned how to create effective marketing campaigns in order to generate more sales leads. After three years of running my own photography business, I decided I wanted to inspire others my age to utilize their talents and gain professional work experience while also earning an income higher than minimum wage. I created Student Wave, a revolutionary freelance marketplace that connects students with many talents with community members looking for services.
At UC Berkeley, I also decided to continue taking photos/videos and I served as the Photo Editor of the Daily Californian Newspaper for three consecutive semesters. In addition, I am also a Video Intern for the Cal Football team. In my free time, I enjoy traveling, camping and playing all kinds of sports with friends.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
For the past five years as an entrepreneur, I have been faced with a myriad of challenges. For the most part, balancing school and running a business is extremely difficult. There are only so many hours in a day and I often find it very stressful to do well in school, manage two businesses and also have an enjoyable social life. I have learned through college that in anything I do, there must be a balance. I have learned that utilizing a calendar, setting reminders and becoming more organized in general are all key aspects in maintaining a healthy and productive lifestyle.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Student Wave?
The Student Wave was co-founded by long-time high school friends Josh Kahen and Wyatt Chang in August of 2019. Josh and Wyatt graduated from Palos Verdes Peninsula High School in 2019. Josh went on to study Economics at UC Berkeley while Wyatt is playing football and studying Computer Science at Harvey Mudd College in Claremont. During high school, Josh found a passion for photography and created his own portrait and event photography business called JP Photos LA where he was a household name in his community. Using only Nextdoor, Facebook, and word of mouth to promote his services, Josh found that there was really no centralized way as a student to become a freelancer and promote his services in the local community. He wanted other high school and college students to be able to earn an income utilizing their talents in a flexible and professional manner to gain meaningful connections with the local community. During the summer after high school, he met with Wyatt and they created the first website for Student Wave. We offered the first-ever freelance marketplace where high school and college students could utilize their many talents (babysitting, tutoring, sports training, music lessons, home chores, etc.) to connect with local community members and earn an income. We seek to eliminate word of mouth recommendations and create a website where parents can find and hire a student in minutes. That first year operating, we grew to over 100 student professionals on the team in the South Bay and added local parent and USC Viterbi School of Engineering Professor Elisabeth Weiss to our team as a chief culture officer. During the pandemic, we created a new website where students could create their own profiles, set their own rates and also expanded to the Northern California areas of Berkeley and Palo Alto. We have entered several Startup Accelerators (Harvey Mudd INQ and Troy Labs) to further build our product. We hope to expand to more cities across California and are in the works of creating a mobile app so community members can find student professionals easier.
Are there any books, apps, podcasts or blogs that help you do your best?
My favorite podcast would have to be the Bigger Pockets podcasts about Real Estate Investing and Financial Freedom. As an avid investor myself, I have found a new passion for real estate and recently have taken on an internship at an Entrepreneurial Real Estate Investing Firm in Manhattan Beach. I enjoy listening to the various stories of people talking about their real estate experiences and learning about how they came to achieving stable passive income through rental properties or flipping houses. I find that real estate in itself is so exciting because it is an active investment unlike investing in stocks/mutual funds where you just click a button behind a computer.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: www.thestudentwave.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joshkahen/?hl=en
