The Road Not Taken

Arshan Ommid

Jennifer Baxter

More stories from Jennifer Baxter

One night he is a DJ for a private event, unseen behind the booth with the tunes. The next morning he is working at Fry’s repairing anything from a damaged phone to a laptop. After work he goes home to fix up old cars. Senior Arshan Ommid has already figured out what he wants to do with his life and he is doing it.  

“I run a couple different businesses. For a start I do mobile iphone repairs, desktop and laptop computer repairs; anything that involves any kind of hardware,” Ommid explained.

Ommid already does jobs that a 30-year-old would do and he has not even graduated high school yet.

Ommid’s twin brother Armaan even said he thinks “it’s impressive that [Arshan] is already making a respectable projectable salary before he is even out of high school.”

Throughout his entrepreneurial journey Ommid also found that there were things that “threw a wrench in the road.” Ommid believes that one of the most detrimental things on his journey was “the lack of experience [he  and [his] peers have.” To overcome this, Ommid looks for experience anywhere he could.

“I like to take advantage of the opportunities that are presented to me, whether it is through an internships, fundraising or whatever,” Ommid expressed.

People should take advantage of everything that comes to them and gain experience that will help anyone in life. When Ommid first started his journey, he started small, as do most young business starters.

“I started small with $100 dollar, $200 dollar bikes, and slowly I gained capital and experience,” Ommid explained.

Then he slowly made his way up to bigger things making more money, which also came with risks.

“Then I got into cars, when I had built more capital, I went into being a DJ,” Ommid stated.

Another important thing in life is to make sure that you include your passion in your profession.

“I love music so I thought why not find a way to make money doing something with music,” Ommid said.

This passion is not only evident to himself, but also to his teachers.

Ommid’s English teacher, Corrie Myers said that, “Arshan is someone who has been passionate about his business for years. If you have ever talked to him outside of class or even in class he is passionate about his entrepreneurship and the ideas he has.”

Passion is an important part of Ommid’s career. His friend Dara Shapouri also believes that he is on the best path possible for his life.

“I believe he is on the best path towards [what] he is striving for.  By identifying what he wants in life and setting reasonable goals in order to achieve them in a growth inducing way,” said Shapouri

By creating attainable goals and meeting them one at a time, Ommid was able to find his own success.

While this worked for Ommid, this path is not for everyone.

“You need to consider every option. You need to consider your safeties and your reaches,” Ommid expressed.

Ommid believes that you should make decisions based on your passions.

“What I suggest is that before you decide to make a decision, find what you are  good at and what motivates you,” Ommid advises.

“Arshan is someone who has been passionate about his business for years. If you have ever talked to him outside of class or even in class he is passionate about his entrepreneurship and the ideas he has.”