My name is Luke and I am in 5th grade. This is the first time I have participated in TREP$ and was so excited to get started.
The day I brought the enrollment form home and asked my parents if I could participate, is when I started planning my business! First I quickly came up with my business name and logo, “Forever Young” using the infinity symbol in the middle. Next, I started with thinking of what I could do with the buttons my grandma had given me over the summer for crafting. That is when we came up with using them for “Button Bobby’s”, decorating bobby pens with them. Then after lots of brainstorming with my family, we came up with using them to decorate headbands and even making rings with them.
I still wanted to do more, so we found an idea on Pinterest using washers to make Mickey/Minnie necklaces. We went wild with making them because there were so many design possibilities. We even made “Frozen” inspired ones which instantly became a hot seller even before the Marketplace when my mom posted pictures of them on her Facebook wall and people were asking if we could put them on hold for them. We then decided to add keychains/backpack clips to the production using the washer necklace as the charm and made some to match the necklaces. Another hit was making keychains using our school colors so lots of the teachers liked those and so did the students of the school.
I had high hopes of making a huge profit, especially since I had decided early on to give a sizable portion of my proceeds to our local food pantry. I had already sold $25 worth of product before the Marketplace opened so I was off to a good start. From the minute the Marketplace opened, I started selling one thing after another. I had prices good for everyone, starting at 50 cents for the button rings, $2 headbands and keychains, and $3 for the necklaces.
It turned out to be an amazing success! I sold $328 at the Marketplace and $220 of that was profit! I paid for all the costs out of the proceeds since I wanted to use my own money for everything.
I wish it was already time for another TREP$ Marketplace. I can’t wait for next year’s TREP$!!!!
