ENGLEWOOD -- Northmont High School alum Michael Blackwell isbarely knee-deep in his sophomore year at Wright State University andalready he has solid plans to take his business global.
Out of his four-bedroom Greene County campus apartment, he runs asuccessful Web design company that can't keep customers away, notthat he wants it to. But the company has been growing so well thatit's seeping into all his other pursuits. His teammates on his clubhockey team call him 'The CEO.'
'I'm like, 'Whatever,' ' Blackwell said of his friends' repartee.
But in between preparing for midterms shortly and getting time inon the ice, Blackwell is juggling the launch or redesign of six Websites while getting his nonprofit company off the ground. 'Yeah, Ibarely have any time for anything else.'
And this is just to pay for tuition. He hopes his Web designcompany will really take off after college.
An interest in photography and 'playing almost every sport thereis' led him to seek work with popular local sports Web designersRivershark Inc., photographing local soccer tournaments when he was15.
'He expected us to hand him this $8,000 camera and let him goshoot, and we were like 'Yeah, right',' said the group's presidentGerard McLean. 'But he had a natural eye for where the ball would goand you can't teach that.'
The next year, Blackwell was hired as the full-time photographerfor Rivershark, shooting some of the most prominent soccertournaments.
With his experience growing with each project, Blackwell quicklyformed Blackwell Inc., providing photography, videography and Webdesign while he was still at Northmont.
Rivershark and its flagship Web site Tourneycentral.com were doingso well that McLean referred a few clients to Blackwell Inc.
'He's very, very intuitive and he's very grounded. You don't haveto give him a lot of directions,' McLean said.
'He's got a good balance of combining his artistic eye with asense that somebody's got to pay the bills.'
Right now he's working off referrals and low prices to which hecredits his success so far, but after college he plans to open anoffice and get contracts worldwide.
His Web site, which is also under construction, can be viewed atwww.blackwellmultimedia.com.
