Tyler Turk is a Fresno State Craig School of Business alumnus and the owner of Crated with Love, a business he started after a class project. Turk owns and operates his business in Fresno.

Conrad Kimball: What does your business do and when/why did you decide to start it?

Tyler Turk: Crated with Love is a date night subscription box that offers couples a date night every month. I launched Crated with Love in Dec. 2014. I saw it as an opportunity to grow my skills as an entrepreneur by creating a business that solved a problem in my own life.

CK: Why is it important to be an entrepreneur? Why did you decide to be one?

TT: Entrepreneurs are the ones who solve problems. I didn’t know what entrepreneurship meant. However, I always had dreams of owning my own business and coming up with creative solutions.

Once I took entrepreneurship classes at Fresno State, I realized it fit perfectly with my personality. When I was a kid, I pretended to own my own business. My brother and I pretended to own our own restaurant when we were little. We would come up with fake recipes and pretend to serve guests.

It was never about the monetary side of it. It was all about the idea of helping people with a problem.

CK: What was the biggest challenge for you and did you ever want to give up?

TT: There was never a point where I wanted to give up, but there were plenty of times where I asked myself, “Why did I do this?” or even more importantly, “Should I keep doing this?” There was never a particular moment, but you start a business with this perceived idea of what owning a business means, and too many times we think about the glamour side of owning a business — being your own boss or setting your schedule.

It’s a lot more stressful than I thought, and that has been the hardest point in owning the business. Most people don’t understand how much work it is.

CK: What was your experience as a student entrepreneur?

TT: It was the best thing that I could have done while I was at Fresno State. The lessons I learned while I was running my business were invaluable, and I was able to apply the things I was learning in my classes. Instead of studying just to take a test, I was studying to help my business.

CK: What advice can you give to future entrepreneurs or those who have just started a business?

TT: Be fluid. Be able to adapt. There is a 99 percent chance that it doesn’t go the way you think it will. There will be failures. There will be rough days and sleepless nights. You have to be able to adapt.

Once you’re through learning, you are through. As soon as you think you know everything that’s when you should give it up. Every day I wake up and ask myself what is something I can either improve in myself or in my business.

CK: Where will you be in the next 10 years?

TT: I don’t know. I say that on purpose. I don’t want to know. I never have a goal of where I’ll be in the long term, I am just worried about where I’m going to be tomorrow. I think more about how am I going to get 1,000 more subscribers this month.

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As the Latin proverb says: “fortune favors the bold.”

If you’re interested in entrepreneurship, consider joining the Entrepreneurship Club! All majors
welcome. The club’s Facebook page is @CEOfresnostate

Conrad is an entrepreneur by nature. He currently runs an online marketing business, UNICO Marketing LLC, while serving as the current president of The Entrepreneurship Club at Fresno State and finishing his last semester at the university. He says he has had more failures than successes, but is always looking for new ways to innovate. Additionally, he says that financial literacy is extremely important no matter the profession students choose and having the ability to live a life without worrying about a bank statement.