The Kid With The Rattle Can

The first parking lots Karter Otte ever striped, he painted with a rattle can.

A college kid at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, looking for extra money, walked faded lots in the night with a can of spray paint.

Once you start looking, faded lots are everywhere. Stalls you can barely make out. Crosswalks going gray. It gets hard to tell whether some places are still open.

Karter wanted to help, so he started knocking on doors.

That was June of 2024.

Two years later, the rattle can is gone, replaced by professional striping machines and oil-based Sherwin-Williams paint, the expensive kind, because it survives Nebraska winters. He prides himself in the work he does.

The company is Pickup Lines Striping, and yes, the name is a pun.

The work covers schools, commercial properties, and small towns across Nebraska. New layouts, restripes, crosswalks, ADA stalls.

This spring, Pickup Lines took second place at UNL's New Venture Competition, and the $12,500 prize went straight back into the business, on a professional Graco striping rig. Karter is running all of it while finishing his senior year as an agribusiness major.

"As simple as it is," he says, "I paint parking lots."

His Background

Karter grew up in a farming and ranching family in Orchard, in north central Nebraska. The rule of the house: if you're not up at six being productive, the day is already lost. Ranch work taught patience and delayed gratification. What goes in today might not pay off until months or even years later.

However, the lesson that stuck with him the most came from being around his grandparents when they dealt with people. Deep connections, relationships, and friendships mattered to his grandparents. It was always more than just business.

"Being able to treat people the way they're supposed to be treated is something I watched my grandparents do my whole life," he said. "I want to make sure people are treated right, and feel like they're not just dollars. They're a friend."

That "friendship treatment" shows in the business now, in small, unglamorous ways. The phone gets answered. Quotes go out on time. No invoice goes out until a phone call confirms the customer is happy with the work. They do what they say they're going to do.

When parked cars block a section, some striping companies charge a $500 fee to come back out. Pickup Lines just works it out with the property manager and comes back.

"I can't say that I paint a straighter line than anybody else, or do it faster," he said. "We don't have the biggest crew. But I do know that we answer our phones."

If you work with Karter once, you're a friend forever. Not just another business contact. Even if he's not striping lines, once you're in his phone, he'll pick up and make sure you're taken care of. That's just how he was brought up.

Don't Do Business Alone

Knowing what he knows now, I asked him what he wishes he would've done.

Without any hesitation, he said:

"That I should have started the business with a friend."

Karter's first summer, he was painting alone.

One night the job was a grocery store parking lot about an hour and a half from home. It ran long, the way striping jobs do. Things usually don't go as planned and the truck didn't end up pulling into his driveway until four in the morning. Exhausted. Karter sat there for a minute.

"Do I make good money? Yes. Was it worth being lonely at four in the morning? Absolutely not."

Never again. For him, doing it all alone wasn't worth it. It's not just about the money, it's about enjoying life and making good memories.

With some convincing, his best friend, Riley, came on board, and the two of them have run the company together ever since.

It changed how he felt about and perceived the entire business.

It went from late night blue collar work to hanging out with my best friend at 2AM. Jobs get done faster. Inside jokes and memories get made. It's a built in mechanism to hang out when school gets busy.

"Is it always fun? No," he said. "But it's extremely rewarding to do something hard with somebody you actually want to spend time with."

Karter is honest about how much this matters.

Without his best friend in the business, running it alone might not be worth it at all. In thirty years, he thinks, worst case, the two of them will look back at this as something that was incredibly fun.

Reminds me of:

“You will never reach the end of your life and wish you had fewer epic stories to tell.”

What Is Good Enough

The hardest part of the business has nothing to do with paint.

"It's 100% mental," he said.

Days without work feel tough, even when it has to do with weather. Rain all day on Wednesday or wind gusting 45 on Thursday, and there's nothing anyone can do about it but it still feels defeating.

Success is tough to deal with too. This summer the business did six figures in three months. Year two of business. He knows he's crushing it, especially while juggling school but there's doubt that lingers any way.

"Even when we hit the goals we set a few months ago, I have a really tough time celebrating them," he said. "That's been a battle my whole life."

"Is it good enough?"

I asked where the bar comes from. Whether there's somebody he's chasing.

"Who do I look at?" he said. "Me, but in ten years."

That guy has plans. Karter at 32 is working on something bigger, and this is just one piece of the puzzle.

At the same time, there's a baseline of stability he now feels.

"There are parking lots everywhere," he said. "I know there's parking lots in Oklahoma City. If I ever move, this business is coming with me."

The Guy At 16

There's a version of Karter who would never have believed any of this. Not the impact. The boots.

At sixteen, the picture of the future did not include being a blue collar guy. Then somewhere between the rattle can and the Graco, Karter looked down and found himself in steel-toed boots, paint on his hands, running a striping company with his best friend. And the surprising part wasn't that it happened. It was how much he loves it.

The passion didn't come first. The work came first, and the money, and the long nights with Riley. The passion showed up somewhere in the middle. Which is exactly what he tells other students it will do.

And to hear Karter talk about the business, this isn't a story with an ending anywhere in sight. He's hungry for more. He's just getting started.

The Last Question

I asked, "If we both passed away today, and there was another student with a similar background who wanted to start a business, what's the piece of advice you'd leave them?"

"Find something you can get interested in. Take a good idea, take it extremely seriously, and find something that will make money."

"Passion is often found in interest. And you can get extremely interested in things that you become good at."

The kid with the rattle can would probably not believe what this looks like now.

Questions People Ask

Who is Karter Otte?

Karter Otte is the owner of Pickup Lines Striping, a parking lot striping company serving Lincoln and rural Nebraska. He grew up in a ranching family in Orchard, Nebraska, and runs the business with his best friend while finishing his senior year as an agribusiness major at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

What does Pickup Lines Striping do?

Pickup Lines Striping paints and repaints parking lot markings: parking stalls, ADA handicap spaces, crosswalks, and full layouts for new construction. The company serves schools, commercial properties, and small towns across Nebraska.

Why does parking lot striping matter for a business?

A parking lot is the first thing every customer sees. Fresh striping keeps a property looking professional, keeps traffic moving safely, and keeps ADA spaces compliant and usable. Lines fade with weather and traffic, so most lots need restriping every few years.

What advice does Karter Otte have for student entrepreneurs?

"Take a good idea, take it extremely seriously, and find something that will make money." Karter believes passion is found in interest, and that you can get extremely interested in things that you are good at.

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