It’s a great feeling to buy products from a small shop, where you know your business will benefit an actual person. What’s even better is when you know the person you’re buying from.

There are several students here at South who run their own businesses, and their products and services would make the perfect gift for a friend or a treat for yourself. They make earrings, braid hair, sell pins and so much more. Here are three of Fargo South’s student entrepreneurs.

Maryam Bindeyan is a freshman with an interest in many different DIY crafts. She recently started selling some of her handmade items on her own website, Maryam B Shop.

She has an impressive variety of products listed there: pins, phone charms, bracelets and rings, adorable felt items, and scrunchies, to name a few. Maryam delivers all items personally at school.

She said that a struggle for her is that she doesn’t have a way to use Paypal, so she can only accept cash, which fewer people are carrying around.

“I want to find a better website, with shipping, so I don’t always have to go through school,” Maryam said.

She’d also like to extend her reach with even more products for people of all different interests. Definitely check out her website, maryambshop.mystrikingly.com. It has a little something for everyone!

Maddisen (Maddi) Eisenlohr is a senior who makes earrings, which she sells and hand-delivers at South. If you see her around, ask her about purchasing a custom pair!

Maddi got started with encouragement from her mom, who makes bracelets. When asked what she thinks makes her business unique, Maddi said, “The style, I think. A lot of people make studs, but I kind of go all out. I like big earrings and big jewelry.”

She normally sells the simpler, single-strand earrings for $8, and the more elaborate ones for $12-15 depending on how much the beads cost her.

Looking into the future, Maddi hopes to continue her business as a side hobby. “I’ve been thinking of opening an Etsy with my mom. I just have to convince her, because she isn’t sure her bracelets will sell, but I keep telling her they will.” A possible mother-daughter collaboration? It could be an exciting next step for Maddi (and for everyone who loves her earrings!)

Shaylee Fletcher started doing hair by practicing on herself and her sister for hours at a time. Ever since then, her impressive braids have grown into a business.

She’s on Instagram @braids.from.shay, where she posts pictures of her work. Shaylee is a senior, and after four years of braiding hair for her volleyball and basketball teammates, she’s become experienced with lots of different hair types.

“[I’ve done] anywhere from my sister, who has pin-straight hair, to curly hair,” Shaylee said.

The price to have Shaylee braid your hair varies quite a bit depending on what style you want and how much work is involved for her, but it can range anywhere from $30-100.

A challenge for Shaylee is drawing the line between friends and customers. “Friends will think, ‘Oh yeah, you’re my friend, you’ll do my hair for free.’ But it doesn’t really happen like that. I still have to pay for my own products and my own tools and my time.”

She also wants people to know how personal small businesses are. “This is our own business. The money that we get from doing this and the experience we get from doing this means so much to us … We’re not a big brand name, we don’t have all these people backing us up. It’s us, that’s all we have.”