Fresno Social Media Consultant is Also a Teen Entrepreneur

For 19-year-old Aaron Chavez, a national fundraising website, consulting business and blog with 2.8 million followers didn’t come easy. But it did come with the help of social media. The Fresno teen dropped out of his freshman year at Reedley College to focus on his entrepreneurship, after earning $20,000 in one month through his social media consulting business.

Now, this Fresno social media prodigy has laid that venture aside to focus on Sevenly.org, his for-profit company that raises money on behalf of nonprofit organizations. The site has taken off since Chavez and his 26-year-old partner from Southern California launched it in June.

On Sevenly, Chavez and his partner sell 50 to 60 t-shirts a day, each week featuring a different shirt and benefiting a different charity. Seven dollars from each $24 shirt sale benefits a new charity each week.

At Fresno State’s Lyles Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Eric Nasalroad (a former instructor of Chavez) said that it isn’t uncommon for young adults to launch startup businesses. However, he noticed that Chavez possesses something special.

“He’s the kind of guy who starts big businesses that will grow,” Nasalroad said of Chavez. “That’s very rare.”

Chavez admitted that social media plays a big role in his success. Sevenly was set up to go viral, using Facebook, Twitter and other social media tools to spread the word. “That’s what’s making it blow up big time,” he said. From a 17-year old who started out with a Facebook-based blog titled “I’m Proud to be a Christian” while still a senior at Dinuba High School, to a big businessman and Fresno social media king, Chavez is the perfect example of a business owner who utilizes social media to the fullest – and sees wild success as the result.