Brilliantly Simple
Caleb Alton, an Accounting major, is an eclectic mix. He was born in Arizona, raised in Texas, graduated in Guam, and served a mission in Iowa and Canada— “I’m American,” Caleb laughs, “That’s as specific as I can get.” He’s started a business with a partner, written his Honors 320 essay from the perspective of Mother Earth, and composes music on piano and guitar. He works with numbers every day, but his taste for the poetic is equally evident. “It’s creating the story of an emotion and putting it onto paper,” he says. Spreadsheets and storytelling collide in Caleb’s life.
“In learning that accounting can be a little left-brain dominant, I tried to purposefully…find a department that was enriching to the right-side or creativity side,” Caleb says. “If you combine both aspects, even if you’re not that great at being creative, doing something to keep that part of you alive makes it fun.” Caleb loves that “the Honors program activates that right side of the brain,” and he encourages students to find an outlet to keep an interdisciplinary balance between analytical and creative thinking.
Unconventionality has been a key theme of Caleb’s experience. “I’m not like the typical accountant from the Marriott School of Business,” he says. Usually, accountants will hire on to one of four large accounting firms. He interviewed, but wasn’t getting traction. Then in March of 2022, his friend Jared asked if he wanted to start a company together—something Caleb had always wanted to do. The pitch? Permanent home Christmas lighting.
Caleb and Jared created Prism House Lighting LLC. They researched the Utah market and prototyped an affordable product. Rather than a strand of bulbs or lights requiring a track, they use a continuous strand of LED lights for a seamless look and easier installation. Caleb showed me the lights, controlled by a third-party mobile app. They’ve created programs for Valentine’s Day, Christmas, “Go Cougs,” and more. “We’ve been going by the motto of ‘brilliantly simple,’” says Caleb. It’s just one product, but the results are dazzling.
Photos: Prismhouselighting.com
Since Caleb’s business venture became his Honors Leadership Development Experience (LDE), we talked about leadership lessons he’s learned. “You can’t assume that everyone knows what you’re thinking,” says Caleb. That goes for communication with his partner Jared, clients, and contractors. “So, with our contractor it’s like, ‘Okay, I want you to insulate the wires and weatherproof them, and then when we come back he’s done an excess of weatherproof,” he remembers. They realized that they “need to be specific about…putting a limit on things.” Caleb’s advice is to package communication so it’s not all bad or all good, but a strategic and honest mix of both.
Caleb and Jared’s business has relied on interdisciplinary thinking for success. “My partner is a bit more business-focused in terms of strategy,” says Caleb, “so I’ve wanted to incorporate ways to include not just a product, but having the service itself be a part of experience design.” While Jared works on engineering the LED lights, Caleb plans how to market their product as a go-to for celebrations beyond Christmas. He’s started a vlog for the startup too. Along with his accounting experience, Caleb is using creativity to build his LDE project.
In addition to that, Caleb’s business experiences inspired his creative Honors 320 essay. As he thought about his startup struggles, Caleb originally wanted to write about consulting. How would his business experience have been different if an experienced entrepreneur had given him advice? Caleb feels it’s a duty to share our experiences. Professionals can choose to support the next generation of startups.
Starting here though, Caleb found he was writing too much about consultants, so he changed his essay to be about the human experience of sharing freely. He thought, “Okay, how can I make this a unique or a different essay?” Caleb changed his main character to Mother Earth, the figurative giver of life. “How would Mother Earth respond to humans as we’re going about sharing?” Caleb asked. His essay says that if humanity were sharing more freely, communities would sprout from the earth as if planted—because the seeds have been there all along. In the conclusion of the essay, Mother Earth wasn’t “stubborn or upset,” but asking readers to “choose to be grateful for what we’ve been given and to share it.”
In the spirit of his essay, Caleb wants to share his experiences with others who may benefit from lessons learned. Last week he joined a student panel to share his Great Question essay experience with the HONRS 110 class. Along with a few other Honors students, he will be speaking about his LDE in a Chocolate Chat on March 3rd from 12:00-1:00 PM in the Honors Reading Room. Caleb’s startup has been a true Honors experience, he says. “Being an entrepreneur really is interdisciplinary.”