Georgia Southern students turn comic books into entrepreneurial endeavor
What started off as an enjoyable hobby for two close friends turned into a profitable business venture. Friends Eli O’Cain and Daryl Sullivan (pictured left) met during their high school career. Through their friendship they both discovered their love and passion for comic books. Owners of Brodinson Wallets, Sullivan and O’Cain make hand-crafted comic book wallets out of real comic book pages.
Originally from Canada, Sullivan is a multimedia communication major with a digital film emphasis, and is set to graduate from Georgia Southern in spring 2014. Sullivan spent two years at Mercer University majoring in engineering before transferring to Georgia Southern. “I wasn’t really feeling engineering anymore,” he said. Mercer didn’t offer a degree in film, so Sullivan came to Georgia Southern. “Being one of my closest friends, Eli really influenced my decision to come here,” said Sullivan.
O’Cain is originally from St. Simons Island/ Brunswick, Ga. He is a biology major with a religious studious minor and is set to graduate this May. Growing up near the marsh, O’Cain always enjoyed being around nature. “I always wanted to do something to help conserve natural environments,” he said.
The idea, and really their shared obsession with comic books, all started back in high school. Sullivan’s older brother bought him a comic book for a Christmas present. After he got his first comic, Sullivan started reading them regularly. “By this time me and Eli were best friends and had four classes together,” Sullivan said. “I would bring my comics to school all the time, and we would just read them.”
The comic sensation continued on into their college years when Sullivan bought a comic book wallet. After some wear and tear, the wallet began falling apart. “Eli had the exact same comic book that my wallet was made of, so I thought- I can totally make this,” Sullivan said. When the two friends hand-crafted their first prototype another idea hit them- they could sell the wallets.
Sullivan and O’Cain decided to announce on Facebook that they were making and selling hand-crafted comic book wallets. “We got a lot of interest right off the bat,” O’Cain said. “We were making all kinds of sales.” Soon enough, Brodinson Wallets was created and the two business partners were taking orders left and right. They were selling their wallets for just $5 each, and making a killing. “It really used to be our biggest selling point,” Sullivan said. “We would tell people the wallets were only $5, and they would pull out money right then and buy like four.”
After some time, Sullivan and O’Cain decided to raise the price. Last August, they began supplying their wallets to Blue Sky Market, a consignment store in Brunswick, Ga., who features local artists and craftspeople who create original pieces. “Blue Sky Market sells our wallets and keeps 35 percent of the profit,” Sullivan said. “They have been selling them like hotcakes.” Every time the boys go home, they drop off another batch of wallets to the store. “We will give [Blue Sky Market] 10 wallets and in a week they will need more,” O’Cain said. “It’s crazy.”
In the past few months, Brodinson Wallets has also launched a website. “We’ve pretty much exhausted the Statesboro market, so we are really trying to get the word out so more people can access our wallets,” Sullivan said. Andreea Bordianu, a friend of the two business partners, helped get their website up and running.
The website allows customers to view wallets for sale, special order a wallet, and make their purchase online. “The first sale off our website was to someone in Canada,” Sullivan said. “We’ve sold a lot in Statesboro and even one to England.”
In the future, the boys plan to continue to make the wallets as long as they sell. “It’s not too much work to make them, and we really enjoyed it,” O’Cain said. Sullivan and O’Cain aren’t sure where they will end up after graduation yet, but they still plan to keep Brodinson going. “It really just depends on where we both end up,” Sullivan said. “I’d like to keep it going as long as people want them. I think they’re really cool.”
Visit Brodinson Wallets website here.
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