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We Make — You Buy

By Karen, grade 7

Edited by Mrs. Monita Leavitt, Project Explore Teacher

"We make, you buy," was the motto for the Personal Sports Cards company. Why were twenty-five middle school kids creating their own businesses? Every year, seventh grade students in Project Explore, an enrichment program at Rochambeau Middle School in Southbury, CT learn about entrepreneurship.

Last year, they started out by competing in an online stock market game sponsored by a local newspaper. After ten weeks of studying what makes a successful business and listening to speakers share how they ran their businesses, the students were ready to apply what they had learned to their own.

Step 1: Brainstorms for Business

First the kids brainstormed what kind of products they would like to sell. Some looked through magazines to get ideas; others thought of crafts they enjoyed making or services they could perform at school; others decided to use technology to create their product. They believed students would buy something they needed, and if students didn’t need what was being sold, it was up to the businesses to get them to want it.

The seventh graders ended up with a wide range of products to sell.

1. Three boys sold playing card key chains, gel pens, and click pencils they purchased inexpensively from a company.
2. Two girls made beaded lizards called Beadie Buddies.
3. Another group of girls produced a lip-gloss called Luscious Lips.
4. Another group created Wish Bracelets of tiny beads and hemp, and published a list telling what each color symbolized.
5. A fifth group used PhotoShop and a scanner to scan in student and staff pictures with their favorite movie star to create Famous Faces.
6. A sixth group scanned in students’ sports photos on one side and their statistics on the other to produce the student’s very own sports card in Microsoft Publisher.

Step 2: Researching The Product

After the kids picked a product or joined a group, they decided on a name for their business. They did this by thinking of names that matched their products. If they bought the product, they used the original name, such as Clickster.

The kids thought about how much their products would cost to make and priced them a little higher to make a profit. Then they developed a survey, which was given out in study halls that asked for feedback from students in sixth, seventh, and eighth grades. The survey offered a choice of product names, prices, and colors, and asked if the students were willing to buy such products.

The Beadie Buddies group met with ten students representing each of the grade levels. They gave each student a free sample to put on their backpacks as a thank you for participating and learned that free advertising helped their sales.

Step 3: Managing the Business

After the surveys were in, the groups analyzed the results and made final decisions. Then the companies began.

There were many important decisions to be made in each business, and each business was run differently. Many of the groups found that having partners helped. The Beadie Buddies group recruited friends during lunches or study halls to help make their product. One student decided to re-sell a product and ordered key chains from a company over the telephone, while some kids learned different software programs and how to use the scanner.

All of the groups had to be sure they had enough of their product in stock, but they also had to figure out how to display their products. Most of the groups made big show boards or decorated a display box that they placed in the school store. Then, they each chose a few lunch and recess periods to sell their products, making sure they weren’t in competition with each other. One final decision made by each group was how to donate their profits. Everyone researched both local and global places that would benefit from their donations, then made their final decisions.

Step 4: Problem Solving

Many of the kids immediately realized they liked doing certain things, but were not comfortable doing everything. Some chose to have other students sell the product for them, while others had people count their profits and advertise. The groups also made some interesting discoveries about their customers. They realized that they sold more products during the holidays because people were more eager to buy, and they found out that a lot of students were more willing to buy something if it only cost as much as the change they had left over from their lunch money. Students also wanted to take their purchase home right away instead of putting in an order and getting it later.

Step 5: Evaluations

When each group had completely finished their project, they were given a survey to complete to determine how successful they were in their business venture. What did they learn?

• "Our most difficult decision was where we should make our product."

-Sellers of Luscious Lips

• "The best thing about this project was having all my Penz sell out in one day. I also learned blue was the most popular and yellow was the most unpopular color."

-Seller of Jelly Penz

• "My advice for future entrepreneurs is it might be harder than you think."

-Seller of Clicksters

The most important part of the project was that, overall, everyone had a ton of fun. It really brought real life situations into classrooms and helped everyone learn about the business world.