Kyle “Kelay” Kelly’s Temple University dorm room serves as his office and his new Toshiba laptop is like a partner that helps him visualize ideas for his business.
Kelly is a Temple sophomore studying business law. He is also the founder and CEO of his company, Kelay LLC.
“Preparation, commitment and focus -those are three parts of my personality and, they really contributed to where I am,” Kelly said.
Kelly’s business provides his clients a unique way to advertise on the Internet. He creates online flyers to promote events and parties.
The flyers are then distributed through an extensive e-mail list collected through Kelly’s Web site and the company’s promotions.
Kelly’s service is cost-effective, and it allows the flyers to be more widely distributed than standard paper flyers.
“I also like paper flyers, and I still make them for customers. But online flyers are much cheaper and [have] unlimited distribution,” Kelly said. “You can send [them] out through thousands of e-mails and instant messengers to your friends or possible audiences. And you don’t physically have to be anywhere to distribute them.”
Interested customers start by visiting the company’s Web site, www.kelay.com, and contacting him via e-mail.
The price of online flyers ranges from $80 to $300, depending on size, color or special designs.
For example, flyers with animations have higher prices. According to Kelly, he can create one flyer in three days or less.
“So far, the business is doing fine. I got many, many, many positive responses when my company launched the business as a part of a promotion at Philadelphia College Festival on Sept. 20,” Kelly said. “And I met with a lot of potential audiences in the future.”
While Kelly devotes much of his energy to expanding his business, he also finds the time to contribute to the Philadelphia community.
His company sponsors Diamond Digital Nexus Inc., a non-profit organization that donates computers to schools on Diamond Street.
A percentage of Kelly’s profits is donated to Diamond Digital Nexus Inc.
A turning point in Kelly’s life came in April 2003, when the idea to start his own business just popped in his mind on the way to class.
“Since I am a Business Law major, I think about business ideas all the time. You know, one day when I was walking, I just got ideas. I thought ‘maybe I can follow through one of these.’ Then, I picked one up, because that service is new, a lot of people do the Internet and I wanted to make the new standard,” he said.
Funding was the biggest problem Kelly faced when he first started his business.
He needed approximately $2,000 for the registration of his company and for advertising promotions.
To earn the money, he spent an entire summer working.
“I worked every single day to raise money [to achieve my plan]. It was all right because it was summertime, and I had a vision,” Kelly said. “When you have an idea of something you want to achieve, you will want to do anything.”
Though he sometimes struggles to balance his company and his studies, he makes it through with help from his loved ones.
“None of my business would have been possible without continuous supports of my friends and family,” he said. “They work really great. They are definitely helpful for me.”
Toshi Horiuchi can be reached at thori1978@aol.com
Be the first to comment