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Despite having college degrees and steady jobs, cousins Wahyu Lies Sundoro and Masrul “Arul” Harindra set out in 2004 to turn their talent for wordplay into a viable T-shirt business.

After more than 80 rejections from potential investors, the pair finally ran into some money and launched their own brand in Yogyakarta.

What got you guys into the T-shirt business? Why not just find a good career instead?

Wahyu: I remember what Sukarno said in his speech on Dec. 19, 1947, in Yogyakarta: “Yogyakarta has been famous for its free spirit, so keep the free spirit alive.” That inspires me a great deal. Yes, I want to be free and independent. I want to control, not to be controlled. In college, my goal was not to pass the exams and graduate and then look for a job. Instead, I wanted to create a job opportunity after I graduated. Opportunity is something to be created.

Arul: I once worked at a construction company but my heart just wasn’t in it. My entrepreneurial spirit needed freedom. That’s why I run my own business. Establishing my own business has always been my dream.

How did you deal with failures in establishing your business?

Wahyu: It turned out that those seminars I attended and the motivational books I read came in handy. I got so much inspiration from them. Basically, running a business is like riding a bicycle. If you don’t pedal, then it won’t go anywhere. But if we ride the bike, we can go places, despite the risk of falling down. It does not matter if you fall. The important thing is that you get up after you fall.

Arul: Since I like doing business, I enjoy every moment of my success and see my failures as a learning process. I read a lot of books, I attended many seminars and workshops. It all helped me in conducting my business.

As young people, what do you think of your generation?

Arul: To be honest, I’m quite concerned by the fact that a lot of young Indonesians do not have dreams of becoming “somebody.” They just wait for job offers or wait for help from relatives, and so on.

Wahyu: I see the positive and the negative things. The positive is that more young Indonesians are becoming businessmen. We can see them in HIPMI [Association of Young Indonesian Entrepreneurs] or in TDA [ Tangan di Atas, or Upper Hand, business community]. The negative is there are still a lot of young people involved in drugs. I have some advice for them: “Hang out with a blacksmith, you get burned. Hang out with a perfume seller, and you’ll smell good.”

What do you think of young people’s involvement in politics?

Arul: It’s great. Our politics will be filled with fresh and new thinking. Hopefully, their spirit and the older politicians’ wisdom can combine to do good.

What do you think young people should be like?

Arul: They should have dreams, the persistence to chase their dreams and the spirit to become better people. If all Indonesians can have those qualities, I’m sure it’s only a matter of time until Indonesia becomes a developed country.

Back to your work, how do you run your business?

Wahyu: Believe it or not, most of my T-shirts are bought by online orders. All I had to do was create a Web site and blog to advertise my product. Selling T-shirts through Facebook is also awesome. I never knew that Facebook could be such a great promotional tool. I always try to give my best for my customers.

However, above all, you have to love your business, you have to be the best at what you do. It should have economic value — which my T-shirts do — and finally, it must help others by giving them job opportunities. I have at least 20 employees and it makes me very happy.

Arul: The businessmen’s association I joined has given me lots of good advice. Through them, we can connect with other young entrepreneurs. I often get purchases from them, or at least recommendations from them.

What should the government be doing to help young people achieve their potential?

Arul: The government should provide more facilities for young people from low-income families. There are a lot of poor young people with great potential. The government must give them an opportunity to develop that.

As a young businessman, I found there’s a lack of government support for us. There is very little aid being given for business development. Even when there is aid, say capital from public banks, it’s very small. The thing is, the government should support young people to become more economically independent so that they won’t become a burden on the country in the future.

Wahyu: The government must know about the conditions young Indonesians face when they go overseas to become migrant workers — in Malaysia, for instance. They only become servants or unskilled laborers.

On the other hand, many expats come here and they have good salaries. I think the government must do something about it, starting from the elementary school level. The Ministry of Education should create a curriculum that encourages young people to become entrepreneurs.

Has your business done as well in Jakarta as it has in other cities in Java and Sumatra?

Wahyu: I just opened a new shop in Depok, actually. Hopefully, it will be the beginning of conquering Jakarta.