On Jan. 1, 2005, O’Tavais “OT” Harris was delivered at his house with the help of a firemen crew he wouldn’t recognize until he was 17 years old when he would intern at the same fire station that had showed up at his house in response to the 911 call. Harris, now 18, is achieving outstanding business goals and will be attending East Tennessee State University in the fall as an incoming freshman to further his educational pursuits.
OT had a knack for business ever since his childhood thanks to his mother. He mentioned he had begun assisting her with her office job at approximately six or seven years old, sending invoices and emails at an early age and picking up communicative skills along the way.
“We would get up at 5 a.m. on some weekends and be at her office,” Harris said.
Later down the line, Harris would see his skills flourish when he began his business as a high school sophomore. As a new entrepreneur, he encountered many obstacles, the main one being building his reputation as a CEO.
“Starting out, one of the obstacles was finding people,” Harris said. “You’re new, and you’re new to business.”
To overcome this conflict, Harris took on a different aim aside from sponsoring and personally reached out to clients on Facebook about job inquiries. With mentors, experience and brains, his project boomed with success and soon turned into OT’s Business Consulting, LLC, which has been up and running officially for three years.
“Valuing time, patience and energy that is being put into building something, I feel, is going to put you aside from competitors,” he said.
An eager learner, Harris interned at the Knoxville Fire Department in their Summer in the City program where he met memorable peers and officials. Unbeknownst to him, among them was a crew that he had met before. What started as a conversation about fire station terms ended in a reunion as the crew realized they had helped Harris be delivered at his house 17 years ago. He mentions he had facetimed his mother to share the exciting revelation.
Aside from maintaining his business, Harris has big plans for his future while in college. At ETSU, he aims to major in English with a minor in finance and Black American Studies. He plans to become a teacher or use his English degree to attend law school.
For any students interested in building their own business, as a word of advice, “You will have some circumstances and failures, but don’t take one failure as a complete failure.” Harris states.
For more information on OT’s Business Consulting, visit https://ots-consulting.com/.
