For most college students, running your own business is something you dream about doing one day. For junior Michael Fitzpatrick, it’s more than just a dream; it’s a reality, and a successful reality at that.

Fitzpatrick started Thirsty Clothing, Inc., which originally made UW-Whitewater-based T-shirts for students to wear in January 2010.

But Fitzpatrick has since expanded his T-shirt business far beyond the UW-Whitewater campus, reaching out to several different state schools as well as schools across the nation, including Duke University, Indiana University and Texas University.

“I’d say we’re doing pretty [well] right now,” Fitzpatrick said.

The idea to start the T-shirt company did not come out of the blue. Fitzpatrick said he thought of the idea when he was trying to promote his other business, Audio Trio DJ Service. Using Facebook, he held a competition for who could create the best shirt design for his employees to wear. A prize of $50 was offered to the best design and 20 people submitted their work.

“I was just inspired to put some spice into the college atmosphere [and] bring some unity,” Fitzpatrick said. “With our company being called Thirsty Clothing, we bring out the party in you. It proved to be something that was needed in the marketplace.”

The love for the social atmosphere was part of Fitzpatrick’s motivation to start the company. He said he loves to plan things. The business is pretty much event planning on Facebook, he added.

Many UW-Whitewater students may recognize Fitzpatrick from Facebook events dealing with T-shirts.

His first shirts read “Got Thirst?” and “Whitewater Thirsty Thursdays,” but more recently, he has responded to specific events, such as last semester’s hate crimes and the recent disaster in Japan.

Alpha Phi Omega fraternity asked him to make a shirt last November that read “Whitewater is for lovers” in unity against hate crimes. The words were surrounded by two hands in the shape of a heart.

“That had over 500 orders in Whitewater in under 24 hours, which was a record,” Fitzpatrick said.

Fitzpatrick said they have also made several sports T-shirts, such as their national champion football T-shirts for the Warhawk football team, which also did well.

His most recent shirt, which reads, “Pause for the Cause,” relates to the recent disaster in Japan. The shirt was released last week and all proceeds will go to the Red Cross to help the relief effort in Japan.

“We’ve really dug into a lot of different things,” Fitzpatrick said.

Having a job while in college is hard enough for most people, but Fitzpatrick said he loves running his own business.

“As far as balancing, so far, I haven’t had too many issues,” Fitzpatrick said. “It’s been stressful at points, but I think everyone’s had stress in college. I’ve been doing it for quite a while.”

Originally the company ran off social networking sites on the Internet, but Fitzpatrick said he recently bought a building in Fort Atkinson to help the business.

After graduation, Fitzpatrick said he hopes Thirsty Clothing will be self-sustainable so he can move on to his next business idea.

“I consider myself a serial entrepreneur,” Fitzpatrick said. “That’s what I want to do after college. I’d rather not see it fall after I left.”

Other business ideas include owning a club, a hotel, or getting into the real estate business, specifically a rental building for the elderly.

This summer, Fitzpatrick said he is looking to hire eight to 10 interns. He is also working with the Milwaukee Brewers to see if he can sell shirts at home games that might not be Brewers apparel, but a funny T-shirt having to do with Milwaukee or baseball.

Not only does Thirsty Clothing create T-shirts, but Fitzpatrick has started an initiative to raise money for the Sean Kimerling Testicular Cancer Foundation by selling bracelets that read “Save a Nut.”

The bracelets sell for $3 and 50 percent of the profits will go to the foundation.

For more information, visit www.thirstyclothing.com, or find their Facebook page by searching “Thirsty Clothing Inc.”