Trevor Carlson knew very early that he wanted to be an entrepreneur. When he was in fourth grade, his frustrated teacher said "Trevor, you know, if this was a job, you'd get fired." He replied. "That's okay, I'm going to own my own business."

As things turned out, he was right. Trevor would go on to earn a degree in retailing from the University of South Carolina, and is now not only the founder of two companies, but also featured in Forbes’ 30 under 30 for 2025 as one of the people "reinventing how we shop, on and offline."

Carlson, a California native, co-founded Sidio in 2019. The company manufactures and sells Sidio Crates, modular storage units designed to adapt to whatever customers want to put in them.

The company’s initial mission came from Hollywood. Carlson’s business partner works in the television and movie industry, and he and Carlson came up with Sidio Crates as a better way to keep crew equipment organized. When the pandemic hit, they shifted to focus on adapting the crates for outdoor enthusiasts, to help organize gear for camping and other activities. Sidio’s clients now include Apple, Anduril, Tesla and several major universities. Its 2024 revenue topped $6 million.

Carlson’s road to success began with childhood dreams, but took shape at South Carolina. He chose the university after visiting and being impressed by the beauty of the campus, Columbia’s college town atmosphere and the programs offered by the College of Hospitality, Retail and Sport Management. He played rugby with the Gamecocks club team and took classes in hospitality and tourism as well as retailing, and was constantly hustling.

"My career kind of started at South Carolina when I started focusing on e-commerce," Carlson says.

While working part-time at McDaniels Automotive Group in the accounting department, the eureka moment came. "While entering in the costs and the sales prices for all the add-ons and accessories (including splash guards) my wheels started turning about selling my own automotive accessories or add-ons."

He came up with a brand name, built a website, and REK GEN was born. He even worked with a fellow South Carolina student to   create the first ads for his new company.

While still a student, Carlson went to the SEMA (Specialty Equipment Market Association) show in Las Vegas to show off his new products. He was a hit and was, as he puts it, "off to the races." He landed some big clients and by the time he graduated from South Carolina, REK GEN was thriving and he was able to decline job offers and focus on his own company, making his fourth grade prediction come true.

REK GEN is still thriving and has become a family business, with Carlson’s father, brother and uncle involved. Carlson himself is mainly focused on the continued growth of Sidio. Its sales have been almost entirely online, but Carlson hopes to place the products in more brick and mortar stores, as well as expanding into international markets beginning with Canada and Australia.

Carlson credits his success to the quality of his products as well as good advertising and marketing.

"People do love our product. We get 40 to 50% return customer rates. I also learned from the beginning that the look is a big deal for us. We would focus on promoting the product, but at trade shows and things like that a lot of people would tell us they love the colors and love the look of them. So we keep that in mind for Instagram ads, for example. You're seeing something. It's a very visual type of marketing," he explains.

Carlson is based in his home state of California now but has fond memories of his time at South Carolina and the lessons he learned. He recalls coming up with pitches for simulated brands in Professor Jeff Campbell’s class as valuable practice for the real thing, and appreciates the advice and support of Mike Moody and Kevin Ayres (Ayres being an entrepreneur himself as well as an instructor).

Asked to offer advice for current and future Gamecocks hoping to follow his path to self-made success, Carlson recommends something the College of Hospitality, Retail and Sport Management emphasizes constantly: networking and learning from others. He recommends reading books by industry leaders but also grabbing every chance to exchange ideas in person.

"It's a great community of people that are doing startups, all kinds of different brands and products. Meeting people on the marketing side helps too. Anyone like me loves talking about it. I'll talk about it all day."