Do you want a side hustle?

Dr. Clifford Hust, the faculty lead of OWU’s new Student-Made Side-Hustle Initiative, believes every student can benefit from a side hustle.

“A side hustle is a way to make money on the side with your own start-up business. It’s an alternative to working at a fast-food restaurant or something like that just to make ends meet. It’s a way to experiment. It’s low cost. Easy to fail. Easy to pivot. So, you can learn as you grow and learn as you earn too.”

Student-Made is an organization which enables students’ focus on being the creators and marketers of their products. Through their model, OWU’s initiative would provide students with a landing page and payment system for electronic transactions on the OWU Student-Made website. The program would also cover shipping and sales tax for the student entrepreneurs. 

By partnering with Student-Made, OWU creators would tap into a network of Student-Made universities who have partnered and sold over $180,000 of student created products and services. 

However, OWU is still in the pilot phase, and is seeking student-interest before bringing the program to campus next semester.

Hurst received approval for the entrepreneurship minor last semester and believes this is the next step in teaching real entrepreneurship. 

“Everything I’ve been teaching was to prepare students to start a business when they graduate. But then a light bulb went off, and it said why don’t you start a business while you’re a full-time student and it’s on the side.”

Hurst then asked his students if they would consider being more involved in rejuvenating OWU’s entrepreneurial community joined as Student-Made managers. Many students applied and now the six-student managers are currently laying out a smooth transition for 2026.

Student-Made Campus Manager and sophomore at OWU, Luis Canas, is enthusiastic about the possibilities for students. 

“I think it’s a really cool entry into learning entrepreneurship.”

Canas believes students will gain experience and bypass the hurdles most entrepreneurs face due to a lack of support. Student-Made provides a safe and supportive environment where students are free to experiment with their ventures.

“If you can shorten your timeline and learning curve just by being able to learn, throw your product out there, and see these things in real time… I mean, it’s absurd how beneficial it can be.”

While there is a participation fee each semester for creators, students won’t be charged for expressing interest during the pilot phase. 

“We’re going to ask for some skin in the game, to really take part. You can express an interest now with no obligation, but if you say in the fall, ‘Cliff, I want in,’ there is a $60 a semester fee.”

Hurst, Canas, and the rest of the Student-Made team need at least 20 students who want to become creators to validate the pilot. OWU freshman and founder of a hand-made reusable hair bow and gift bag business, Chloe McGee, submitted an interest form and looks forward to the community the initiative promotes.

“What I am excited about for Student-Made, primarily, is gonna be the community. It’s gonna provide me with other entrepreneurs that are trying to figure out how to break into the world of entrepreneurship and it will give me an opportunity to expand my business from what it already is.”

The QR code below leads to the Student-Made website and creator interest form.

If you want to enter the world of entrepreneurship, explore business, sell your creations, or experiment with little risk, fill out the Creator Interest Form below and help bring Student-Made to OWU.