Ron Conway, notable start-up investor and founder of SV Angel, once said that “Any time is a good time to start a company.” And for three young entrepreneurs in Jefferson-Morgan School District, now is the perfect time to start.
Middle schoolers Chase Litman, Trenton Sowden, and Sam Chulick aren’t waiting for later to get a start on their business. They’re jumping into small business now, with a little help from the JM Hometown Advantage Grant. The three students are the first participants in the program.
The $100 loan was funded by the Jefferson-Morgan Alumni & Friends association to support the students’ businesses: TEC Baits (Chase and Trenton) and Crazy Caricature Drawings by Sammy Chulick. The loan helps the students with start-up costs, supplies, advertising, and more. Once their business starts making a profit, they begin paying back their loan until it is fully repaid. Their repayment helps other students receive startup funds, making the grant fund sustainable for future entrepreneurs.
Teacher Jodi Fulks wanted to help JM students learn about entrepreneurship, showcase the students’ talents, and bring some business potential to our community. She and her husband helped her son create a business when he was 14 years old. “It was the best experience for him, and he learned so much in doing so. He currently still has that business, at 25, and is thriving,” Jodi says. “I wanted to share some of my experience in helping my son, with my current students.”
She also hoped to build the students’ confidence for future endeavors: “If the kids are trying to create a side business now, maybe they would be less timid to start a full-time business here in the future.”
The grant was originally intended for high school students only, whom Fulks could work with during PLT (personal learning time) weekly – but no high schoolers applied. Trenton and Chase were interested in the loan and approached Mrs. Fulks to ask about applying for the opportunity. Thanks to their enthusiasm, Fulks adapted the application process to include both middle and high school students. Afterwards, she reached out to Sam about starting an art business and encouraged him to apply, as well.
The students had to submit a pitch video to sell their business to Fulks. Both businesses that applied received the grant, and the funds are now available.
Sam Chulick loves to draw, and his grant has allowed him to start Crazy Caricatures by Sammy Chulick. Fulks reached out to him after opening the grant to middle schoolers and shared that she thought caricatures could be a great idea. “I really like drawing and money! And Mrs. Fulks said that there wasn’t anyone around who did caricatures,” Sam says.
Sam prepared some samples, his video pitch, and talked with Fulks about how to start the business. He also began doing events. He started with a Book Prom event at the school, then did the JM craft show, Autism Walk, and JM Elementary Art Show. He hopes to do some additional events outside of Jefferson Morgan and will use his grant to buy supplies for future events.
For now, Sam hopes to keep his caricature business as a side job. “I’m involved in band and drama club, and I don’t have that much extra time. I would also like to get more practice,” he says. “I really liked being able to do this and it did give me some extra money. I have learned how to talk to people and how to be a good salesman.”
While Sam isn’t working with other businesses yet, “I would like to, if I could. I could maybe teach other kids how to draw.”
A year and a half ago, avid fishermen Chase Litman and Trenton Sowden were on a mission to find four-inch worms to use but couldn’t find any at local stores. Instead of giving up, they decided to start making their own. They began making them for themselves, as well as giving to other people they knew. That’s when they realized they could turn this hobby into a business.
The duo started packaging the worms and began advertising them on their Facebook page. They sell the worms at local events, and usually bring a couple packs to school to sell to other students. Their parents also help spread the word. They spend a few hours on the weekends making and packaging their merchandise.
Chase and Trenton plan to use the grant to buy supplies to increase their offerings. They hope to start doing three-inch worms, crawfish, and possibly even designing their own unique molds. “It allows us to experiment with different colors, different styles, and different color patterns,” Trenton says.
“We’d like to go into a store,” Chase says. Trenton adds, “A friend of our parents talked to Ozie’s about being able to sell our baits there, and we have to go to talk to them.”
Other plans are eventually getting a warehouse space, and they hope that the business will grow large enough that they could reach stores such as Bass Pro Shops.
TEC Baits also sponsored the fishing derby at the Waynesburg Sportsmen Club in April. They provided bait packs, as well as live bait they dug up themselves.
How do they feel about being small business owners? “It’s great,” both boys say in unison.
“It feels really good to have that title on your name, to be an entrepreneur,” Trenton says.
Although she can’t meet with the middle school students during PLT time (it’s only for high school students), Fulks meets with the boys periodically during and after school to help them improve their business, and “to help them make their businesses a success, so they will be able to pay it forward.”
“Mrs. Fulks has helped us out a lot,” Chase says. “She chips in, gives us ideas on where we could go next.”
“[A]ge does not matter – no matter how old you are, you can do anything if you set your mind to it! Just look at my son, and all the business owners here in Greene County. The sky is the limit!”
In addition to the JM Hometown Advantage Grant, the Jefferson-Morgan Alumni & Friends Association awarded other grants in December 2023. The grants were awarded to educators with innovative approaches, chosen based on their outstanding proposals and evaluated through a detailed rubric. Megan Pierce received a “Recycling Rockets” grant, and Madeline Loring received one for “Mathematics in the Real World – Culinary”.
