Chester Schmid is a friendly senior at Fairfield University who seems to know everyone on campus. If you asked most people to describe him, entrepreneur might not be the first word that would come to mind. But on the contrary, he is exactly that. Schmid told the Fairfield Mirror last year about his great idea for a website, which was currently in the works. “[It’s] a secure, web-based, social networking tool that promotes student employment by connecting students with local employers,  [We allow] for both employers and student employees to create user profiles so that they can list various jobs in their given communities.”

Smchid, center, with collaborators Charlie Hicks (left) and Kevin Hill (right).

After hearing through the Fairfield Grapevine that Schmid was back at work on his project, I got in touch with him to see how it was coming along. He took a few minutes out of his day to chat with me about his trials and tribulations with his business in the works, ModernAllowance.com. Essentially starting from scratch after re-thinking the original prototype and struggling to get funding, Chet describes his uphill efforts with his website: “Its like you got a brand new dress, but you have no ball to where it to.”

Q. I know that you’ve been devoted to this project since last year. Explain your attachment to it.

A: I want to teach kids how to rely on themselves for financial freedom. Why not build this economy form the ground up? Why not start with us [students] at the bottom? I genuinely want to help the kid that can’t afford his books. He can afford himself that opportunity to work easily and quickly with Modern Allowance. I just need money to get the site up and running. My parents are like, ‘Get a job!’ It’s not worth stopping, though. This is an important cause.

Q: Take through of a timeline of Modern Allowance.

A: Last year we launched a prototype (originally named PennylessStudents) but we took it down because the site didn’t match the technology that we envisioned it to have. I built that website on my own, you know? It was [bothering me] because it wasn’t it really done. When we heard of this Fairfield Business Competition in January that’s where we really turned our efforts. We focused more of our attention on that and now what I’m trying to do is pitch the idea.

Q: So you’re frustrated that you can’t seem to get this going as quickly as you want. What can we do to help?

A: It’s frustrating to know that there is such a demand for this site and the only thing stopping it from happening is just running through the entrepreneurial process of setting it up. If I got the site built, it would sell itself. But I’m not a programmer. I’m not Zuckerburg. I need investors.

Visit http://modernallowance-com.kickofflabs.com/ for updates and information. Schmid emphasizes: “I’m just a kid who wants to solve a problem, and I just want people to know about it.”