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BMOC: Starting a Small Business at School

Many students do not wait until they complete school before they try to get their feet wet in small-business management. Quite a few go beyond the planning stage and actually run their businesses while still in school. For example, high school senior Jason Bernard runs his drawing firm, called Architectural Rendering, from his bedroom. Other young people look around, see thousands of students, and try to develop small businesses that would appeal to students. For example, some students assemble and sell "home emergency kits" for students returning in the fall. The kits contain items like pens, chocolate chip cookies, aspirin, and other college "necessities." The kits are sold to the parents and distributed to students the first week of class as a start-the-yearright gift from home.

Some students produce and sell calendars with pictures of beautiful women or male hunks on campus. Others sell desk mats with advertising messages on the sides. Some students become salespeople for beer companies, cosmetic companies, and other traditional firms. They, too, feel as if they are in their own business on campus, because they have exclusive sales rights but don't have to assume as many risks.

One student earns more than his professors by selling ice cream from a truck. Others try to learn the retail business by delivering pizza or other fast foods. Some students have started moving services, moving students' goods from home to school and back.

Dick Gilbertson considered a number of options when he was a student at Indiana University. He felt students might enjoy having food other than pizza and subs delivered to the dorms. His research showed that students preferred McDonald's hamburgers and Taco Bell burritos. Students said they were willing to pay $1.00 more for delivery of a Big Mac, fries, and a Coke rather than ride the mile or so to McDonald's. Gilbertson's company, Fast Breaks, now serves 13,000 students. Guess who his partner is? A professor of entrepreneurship at the university.

Jimmy Enriquez was busy getting a degree in accounting at the University of Texas when he started two companies. One is a construction-site cleaning business run by his sister. It has 15 employees, grosses about $4,000 a week, and has expanded to Dallas and Houston. The other business is a vending company that leases Foosball games. Foosball was dead when Jimmy and his brother Rocky set out. But they started Foosball leagues, let beginners play for free, and built a prosperous business. Jimmy's advice to potential entrepreneurs: "If you wait until you're out of school and working for somebody else, you're going to get used to that big car—and you're not going to want to gamble with that stuff. It's better to start a company when you're a student, while you're still used to driving a junker and living like a dog." Jimmy started a University of Texas entrepreneur club that now has 260 members. It is one of more than 350 entrepreneurship clubs on college campuses across the United States. The Association of Collegiate Entrepreneurs published a list of the top 100 businesses started by people under 30. All are worth over $1 million.

College campuses aren't the only places to find guidance in entrepreneurship. The National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship to Handicapped and Disadvantaged Youth in Newark, New Jersey, trains former drug dealers, street toughs, and special-education students to sell goods and services. Their businesses range from sneakers and lingerie sales to manicures and car repair. Maybe you should consider getting started now, too.

1
What are the advantages and potential problems of starting a business while in school?
2
What kinds of entrepreneurs are operating around your school? Talk to them and learn from their experiences.
3
What opportunities exist for satisfying student needs at your school? Pick one idea, write a business plan, and discuss it in class (unless it is so good you don't want to share it; in that case, good luck).







Nickels: Undstd Business 9eOnline Learning Center

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