Everyday, trending brands release new shoes and clothes that will be swiped off the market quickly and for high value, with few perspective buyers actually able to add them to their shopping carts in time.

For West senior and young entrepreneur Oscar Perez Luna, it’s those short-windowed opportunities that have allowed him to start his own company, Soled Out. Perez’s company combines his personal love for shoes and clothes with his passion for business.

“Before a company such as Nike, Adidas or Supreme drops a product, I follow pages that will leak what product is coming out. I then do my research to see if the product is worth buying and if people really want it. If so, I will go and buy the product as soon as it gets released and then resell the product on Instagram and Grailed later to make a larger profit, from those who weren’t as lucky to buy it in the first place,” he explained.

Perez has worked since eighth grade to build his business. While it initially started out on a small scale it has grown immensely over his past years in high school. His overall profit capped off at around $3,500 last year.

The startup company also served as Perez’s sophomore IB personal project. The project acted as a good way for himself to take a deeper look and even discover what he wants to do in the future. “Early on you could tell his project was extremely important to him and he treated it with full professionalism,” IB coordinator Ms. Marie Beach said.  “The personal project is designed for students to discover their passion and possible career pathways, (and) Oscar used that to his full advantage to build on his dreams and aspirations.”

In addition to the profit, Perez loves the time commitment.  “I honestly like it because I don’t have to work a nine to five job,” Luna said.  “Instead, I can sit down and look at stuff on the computer for 20 minutes here and there and still make money. Plus it’s something I actually like doing.”

Just like most entrepreneurs, there’s a lot of the life lessons that must be learned along the way which have included being less materialistic and learning to keep products cycling through. “Four years ago, I probably would have wanted to keep a lot of the items I sell, but in reality, I now know that it is important to keep things moving in order to have a successful business,” stated Perez.

He plans to keep the business going through college and utilize the values and lessons he’s learned through Soled Out, far into the future.  Perez hopes to have his own start up company  after minoring in Business in college. Don’t expect him earn an entrepreneurial degree, though.  “Business is a saturated field and I’d like to diversify,” Perez said.

“Not only have I learned how a lot about business, and how to run a small business, through it all, but I also have had a lot of fun while doing it. It definitely has pointed me in a future direction as well,” concluded Perez.