A Northbrook family’s summer cottage in Michigan did more than provide Ryan Hultman with a place to relax this summer. The 15-year-old credits the retreat with inspiring him to start a second business.

“My dad’s been going up there his whole life and my grandpa has been going up there since he was a little boy,” Hultman said of the Michigan getaway.

It wasn’t until a few summers ago that a family trip to the cottage sparked Hultman’s inner entrepreneur.

Looking at a framed poem in the house, the Glenbrook North High School sophomore said the script made it look like the poem was titled "Yo North."

“From that point forward, it became an inside joke and has turned into a tradition to read it every time we are ‘Yo North,’” he said.

As the tradition grew, Hultman began thinking of making T-shirts with a ‘Yo North!’ emblem imprinted on them. Last Christmas, he made it a reality by ordering the printed T-shirts for family members. That’s when he felt itch to start a business.

“I thought that it would probably be something meaningful to everyone else who has a special place to visit—a retreat—as well,” the teen said.

Through a Facebook page, Hultman sells 100-percent-cotton T-shirts, available in hot pink, sport gray and black, with a Yo North! logo written in white. In place of the ‘T,” Hultman substituted a green image of a pine tree.

At 15, Hultman is already an experienced entrepreneur.  He started Letters by D-Sign, a photography business, about a year ago, which he now runs out of a room in his family’s basement.

“I have been taking photos of letters that I then customize into words for people,” Hultman said. “I frame and mount the letters myself.”

From last names to initials to sports teams, Hultman makes customized orders for clients.

“I originally started it [the business] so I could buy my own laptop,” the high school student said. “Having successfully achieved my goal, I am now saving my money once again.”

While his parents helped him out with the startup funds for Letters by D-Sign, Hultman has since paid them back.
“I broke even after my first art show last summer and that was really exciting,” he said.

Some of the money he made with his first enterprise went toward launching Yo North!—and so far, Hultman says business has been going well.

While word of mouth—and Hultman’s Facebook page—are his only methods of attracting customers so far, he says that ultimately, his goal is to place his shirts in Michigan and Wisconsin stores. This July, he was also able to sell his designs from a booth at Northbrook’s Art in the Park event.

“People are interested in the shirts when they see them,” he said. “I tell them it’s a state of mind; it’s an attitude.”

Hultman hopes to reach out to others who have a special place that they may want to represent on a T-shirt.

“For me, its Michigan,” he said. “Others have this same feeling about their visits to Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, Canada or some other special place.”

Hultman has lived in Northbrook his whole life, with a younger sister and parents who both attended Glenbrook North High School.

“It’s been a journey, bringing my dream to reality,” he said. “I am so thankful to have it as an escape from all the pressures. . .of every day life.”