Hello, my name is Esther. I am in 6th grade at Tenakill Middle School in Closter,NJ. My experience in the TREP$ was amazing. I thought it was a great opportunity where young entrepreneurs like me get to have an opportunity to run their own business.
My TREP$ business was named 2 Heart Creation. At the TREP$ Marketplace, the product I sold were paper quillings. To explain a little more about them, you use a paper rolling tool to roll long and thin strips of paper to create shapes. You can make anything with paper quillings. I decided my product by researching and discussing with my dad. I wanted to do a product that was unique and also a product I can keep selling after the TREP$. When my dad got an idea of paper quilling, my dad and I took some time to see some examples. When I took a look at the paper quillings people did, I loved it! It was unique and something I thought I could keep doing even after the TREP$. Also, it looked very easy to do.
My dad ordered me a kit I could use to make paper quillings. I was very excited. The price of the materials, small and big frames to put the quillings in, and Christmas cards I can make because it was getting towards Christmas, was very high, but I told my dad that I was going to still pay him the money I needed to owe him.
In the beginning, there were some struggles I went through such as knowing each equipment and practicing to succeed, but the more I did, the more I got better and faster.
I decided to make different designs of them to look creative and designs that people might like. Towards the day of the TREP$ marketplace, there was a huge problem that I needed to face. The problem I had was that the paper quillings took too much time. It took at least 2-3 hours of making one product, and also I was worried if I made enough of my product or if I was going to need more. I was telling my dad and he said that the products I made was enough. He encouraged me that it was going to turn out well even though I had a loss. I listened to him and decided to sell my product even though I thought, in my opinion, it wasn’t enough. On the day of the Marketplace, I was frightened and also terrified. I didn’t set up my booth because I was going to set it up with my dad later, but before the Marketplace started.
I was jealous of my other friends because I thought their booth might be more creative and better than my booth, but I knew that even though I might think of all of these problems, no matter what, I was going to get at least customers that would like my product. It was finally time for the Marketplace to start and people started to enter into the gym because that was where the Marketplace was happening. I was surprised that a lot of people stopped by my booth. At the end, I wasn’t sold out, but I had made a lot more money than I expected. It was a total success! I just felt like a real business woman. It was also so fun that I even wanted to do it again next year. I will be donating some money to charity because I want to help others.
