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The Bug Expert

By Amy Fennell Christian

Insects may bug you, but they equal money to 17-year-old Randy Meissen of Salisbury, MO. A collector since he was very young, Randy sells insects to schools and other collectors and makes a tidy profit.

Accidental Entomologist

Randy’s business began about three years ago when his Future Farmers of America (FFA) advisor made an offer to pay students $2 for each insect they brought to him.

"He wanted to start a collection for teaching," Randy explains. "He asked for 100 different species and I went home and found that I already had about 75."

From that first collection, Meissen Entomology Company was born.

"I thought that if my agriculture teachers need insects, maybe others in the state of Missouri need them too," Randy says. Randy was right: last summer he sold three collections and netted about $2,000.

The Planning Process

To get Meissen Entomology off the ground, Randy followed these steps:

1. Identifying the Market — Randy and his FFA advisor sent brochures and talked to other advisors in the state to gauge interest.

2. Determining What to Sell — Once he found there was a market for his product, Randy questioned FFA advisors in nearby towns to see what their "perfect collections" would include.

3. Perfecting the Manufacturing Process — Randy developed a better way of preserving his specimens. In teaching collections, bugs are passed around for examination. Insects pinned in a box don’t last very long, so Randy found that imbedding them in plastic protected them during class activities and formed an indestructible paperweight, too!

4. Developing an Advertising Plan — Randy needed to get the most for his advertising dollar, so he used:

• Magazine Advertising: Randy joined the Young Entomologists’ Society and took advantage of their new member offer of a one-time free advertisement in their national magazine;
• Display Booths: Randy was one of 1,000 exhibitors at the recent National FFA Convention in Kansas City, which drew more than 60,000 attendees from across the nation;
• Website: Randy developed a Website to sell collections and individual specimens (www.Crosswinds.net/columbia-mo/~insects/meissenentomology); and,
• Appearances: Randy began making insect presentations at schools.

Unexpected Help

Through Meissen Entomology’s Website, Randy has found a market for his bugs that he didn’t know existed: holiday shoppers who want butterfly paperweights. He’s also learned that there’s a strong national interest in his products.

"People in my town can go out in their backyard and find a Black Ground Beetle or a Milkweed Longhorn Beetle, so they hesitate to buy. People on the Internet live other places so they can’t find these bugs themselves and come to me," Randy explains.

Personal appearances have also helped Randy combat potential customers’ lack of trust in a high school businessman.

"Demonstrations have helped me," he explains. "After a demo, people say, ‘Boy, this kid really knows his insects.’"

Put to the Test

Randy recently placed first in insect identification at the Missouri State Science Olympiad. Meissen Entomology also won the 1998 Agri-Entrepreneurship Award, including its $1,000 prize, for which Randy sent in a 20-page application that included pictures, a business plan, financial statements, and a résumé.

Randy’s proven expertise helps when he’s gathering inventory.

"When you know what you’re looking for, it’s astounding what you find," he says. "Unless you’re in tune with insects, you’ll miss out on a lot of them."

And judging by the success of his business, Randy is definitely in tune.

Amy Fennell Christian is a former newspaper reporter who won first place for best feature photograph in the 1990 Georgia Press Association’s Better Newspaper Contest.

Randy and instructor Ron Schneider at Randy’s FFA Convention exhibit.