24-7, Their Way

Aw-ul pay, awful hours,
awful bosses—who needs it?
Not these young entrepreneurs.

MARA REINSTEIN

JEWISH NEWS INTERN

y

ou are a working student. Walking into your
workplace, you place your hand on the door han-
dle and reflect on the five hours of painstaking,
clock-watching effort ahead of you. And sudden-
ly, you think to yourself, "Who am I? Why am I doing
this? And where was I when Kathie Lee was handing
out those checks to child laborers?"
Some local students, however, have found an alter-
native to the grind of minimum wages, long hours and
tyrannical bosses. In their work world, they are the
bosses. They've started their own businesses. And in
the process, they've gained expertise, knowledge, com-
munication skills and a whole lot of money — for their
education, of course.

/—

Michael Krasman, Joel Ashman
and Brian Levine: Expanding horizons.

elcome to the information superhighway. Your dri-
vers will be Joel Ashman, Michael Krasman and
Brian Levine.
Since January, the three University of Michigan
sophomores have ignited their own multimedia business,
which they call Infinite Horizons.
The business specializes in four areas: desk-top publish-
ing, CD-ROM, World Wide Web design and video produc-
tion.
'We can do everything from letterheads to business cards
to promotional videos to digital animation to setting up a
World Wide Web home page," Mr. Ashman says.
Mr. Ashman, 19, is the founder of the enterprise. A
computer bii -FF since age 7, he has tested software in com-
puter stores, designed high-school yearbooks, and last
year completed graduate-level work in computer design
at U-M.
When he decided to invest money into a permanent
business, he rounded up two of his friends, Mr. Krasman
and Mr. Levine, both of whom have extensive multi-
media knowledge.
"We all have an interest in computers," says Mr.
Levine, who works at a computer lab at U-M to give ad-
vice to the technically challenged. "And our experience
helps the company grow."
Infinite Horizons, Mr. Ashman says, is more than
a job one 'just walks into." The three students work
year-round, in Arm Arbor during the school year and in Farm-
ington Hills during the summer. Eventually, they would like
to set up permanent office space to be more accessible to their
clientele. : ,'

' 24-7 page 60

Annie Schlesinger and Jon Layne:
Goodies specialists.

