Northwest Registered Agent® is excited to announce the first winner of our annual $5,000 Northwest Registered Agent Academic Scholarship for Entrepreneurially-Minded People (NWRAASEMP). It may seem like this post is just for us to brag and promote how we gave out a scholarship with such a long name that it has its own acronym, but it’s really to showcase the individual who earned it. And when we say earned, that’s what this year’s recipient did. He’s a hustler, an earner, and his name is Ian Novak.
Mr. Novak hails from the busy city of Houston, Texas. Throughout his education Ian loaded up on numerous AP classes and an array of extra-curricular activities that make a person wonder how he found all those hours in a day. While attending a rigorous preparatory school, Ian was the captain of his varsity rugby team and logged plenty of community service hours, and although Ian started Boy Scouts later than most, he still attained the rank of Eagle Scout by his 18th birthday.
Now, everything listed above seems pretty standard for most scholarship recipients: good grades (a 4.22 GPA?—we don’t even know how that works), community-minded, Eagle Scout, etc. But what really stood out to us were two things: Ian started his own business with a friend when they were in 8th grade, and he doesn’t take himself too seriously. We ask a lot of questions on our scholarship application and his answers cracked us up, so we know he’s got a good sense of humor. Additionally, and more importantly, Ian and his buddy started a lawn care company that has grown to gross revenues of nearly $20k a year. And he did so with a small business owner’s mentality, making sure to save 10% of all his revenue for business expenses. With his savings, Ian was able to maintain and reinvest in his equipment to keep the business alive. That’s more foresight than a lot of older small business owners have.
All that said, we received dozens of scholarship applications from qualified applicants this year who excelled in every aspect of what we were looking for in our inaugural NWRAASEMP scholarship winner. With all of the excellent applicants, choosing the winner was no simple task. However, when reading Ian’s application, it became clear that he has made a habit of going above and beyond what is asked of him, and that’s exactly what we think it takes to start and maintain a business.
We’re really happy that our NWRAASEMP scholarship will help Ian in his academic endeavors, and we couldn’t have more confidence in his future.
Congrats, Ian!
Want $5,000 to Put Toward Your Future?
If you or someone you know is graduating from high school in 2020, plans on attending college in the fall, and has displayed some slick entrepreneurial mindedness, check out the annual award’s details on our website.