This was my second year participating in TREP$. Last year my idea was very successful and I wanted to see my business grow again this year. I continued my idea of Cork Art. My products from last year were keychains, gingerbread men, snowmen, candy canes, Christmas trees, angels and wreaths. This year I added another idea that included coasters. Last year I was very successful and was close to selling out all of my products. I was excited to see what this year brought when I went to the event to sell my products.
When I came up with my new idea to create coasters, I thought it would be another success at the event. I thought the coasters would be a good sell because a lot of people drink beverages and need something to put them on so they don’t ruin their furniture. When making the coasters I needed to gather supplies before I started making them. I needed corks, cork board, hot glue, an exacto knife, and ribbon for presentation when I sold them. I made about 38 coasters in all. I decided to package them as a pack of 2 and packs of 4. After the event I successfully sold 16 coasters in all, which was about half my inventory.
When it came time for the event I was excited to go and it was very successful. I arranged my table by product type. All of my holiday corks were together, keychain corks were on a stand to be displayed for everyone to see, and my coasters alongside them. I had a banner hanging from my table to show the name of my products saying “Cork Creations.” The first couple of minutes were slow, but then it picked up and I sold a set of coasters and about 5 keychains. As the night went on I was able to sell a bunch more of my products. My parents and brother were there to help me throughout the night. A very exciting part of the night was when the co-founder of TREP$ took a picture of me with all of my products. This made me feel special and that my products looked successful.
In conclusion, if anyone in your family likes making and coming up with cool ideas on new products, TREP$ is the place for them! My experience with TREP$ this year has been the best one yet. I feel this way because I liked the new product I was able to come up with and add to my collection. Thanks for reading about my journey during TREP$!
Note: Alessandro participated in the TREP$ entrepreneurship education program as enrichment, right at school. This extracurricular activity is a PBL (project based learning) experience that helps kids gain an entrepreneurial mindset, financial literacy and life skills to prepare them for and improve their futures.
