While college is meant to serve as a path to a career, many students are making their own way while earning their degrees.

Among those students is Bradley Saville, a Wichita State sophomore who earns his living through independent video and photo work.

Saville established his business, Video Midwest, about three years ago.

“It started out a drone photography business for real estate marketing — for potential buyers to be able to view,” Bradley said. “It then expanded to photography and shooting videos for events.”

Saville is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in media arts with a focus in filmmaking and a minor in marketing. He said he’s found that several of his classes teach new skills that he can apply to his business.

“I recall learning about color correction in a class I took last semester that inspired me to continue learning about it, which is essential for professional video production,” Saville said.

The videos he produces for weddings and other events can be produced into longer videos for at-home use or shorter videos for social media.

Saville currently runs Video Midwest on his own, but he has high hopes for the business moving forward.

“I see the future of the business. I’m hoping to start hiring other people to help with work, and that way, I can start directing,” Bradley said. “I am a one-man band at the moment though.”

Saville said his business has consistently grown since he first started it while he was working as a customer service specialist for Best Buy. After about nine months, he decided to quit and focus on growing Video Midwest.

“I realized I wanted to put more into that and more time and effort into the aerial photography, because I knew I could make good money,” Saville said.

The business has come with highs and lows, he said. While the learning curve associated with his work can be frustrating, he said it’s incredibly rewarding.

“The most rewarding thing about it is getting to do what you love everyday along with setting your own guidelines and schedule,” he said.

Looking back, Saville said he realized research was the driving factor that got his business off the ground.

“Research — checking out other companies, what kind of work they’re doing, what kind of pictures they’re taking, is an important learning process,” Saville said.

Saville also had to do quite a bit of practice in Adobe Photoshop, considering he wasn’t initially very familiar with it. He said he made time for practice to work on his craft and better his business.

Saville is just one example of a student who runs their own business on top of balancing the regular responsibilities of a college student. He demonstrates the knowledge and passion entrepreneurs develop when pursuing their dreams.