Connor Hennessy

This week’s Student Feature Friday is Connor Hennessy, a senior at Holliston High School who has already found a way to gain full-time employment harnessing his passion for marketing. What struck me most about my conversation with Connor is that he already has a clear vision for how he wants to live his life and is working hard to accomplish his goals. Connor described working at his first job in 10th grade at a dog daycare. He described working there for one week and deciding that the job was not for him and that he wanted to be his own boss. “I want freedom, I don’t want to be tied down to a schedule.”

Since holding his first job in 10th grade he has worked hard to develop a client-base for managing social media accounts and marketing for several different companies. His perseverance and resilience allowed him to tried many different business ideas, fail at some of them, try again, and ultimately gain full-time employment working remotely for a company in San Diego. Connor stated that he didn’t want to wait until after high school or college to start doing something he loved. His advice to others, “try a lot to find you passion and do a lot of research on stuff you might find interesting.”

Q: How did you discover your passion for marketing?

A: I always had an interest towards social media, and more specifically the marketing that went into. I “tried it out” by offering free services to local companies. Once I got a taste of the business, and the freedom and flexibility it gave me, I was hooked!

Q: Several times during our conversation you mentioned “networking” and “connections”. Why do you feel this is so important?

A: This is so so important. There are so many opportunities out there in the world, especially as high schoolers, but without the initiative of trying, you’ll never see any of them.

Q: You described trying “8 business ideas before making a cent.” How did you develop such strong perseverance? What drove you to keep trying after the initial ideas did not work out?

A: I saw success happening all around me. All of my mentors that I got through networking, all my colleagues that were in the same boat as me. I knew it was possible, and I was determined to keep trying until something stuck.

Q: Can you describe your current employment as an “online grow specialist”?

A: I work with a well-known marketing agency full time. My responsibilities range from running social media pages to planning and running full-scale ad campaigns on Facebook, Instagram, and Google.

Q: What advice would you have for other students who are interesting in starting a business?

A: Try as much as possible. Take one thing you’re interested in, do a TON of research, and just try things. You’ll never know what could have happened if you don’t.