Club takes on entrepreneur project

Entrepreneur is a term that’s used a lot these days in business.

Entrepreneurs are called innovators, job creators and sometimes, geniuses.

The DECA club at Smith-Cotton High School is exploring entrepreneurship by taking part in the “Entrepreneurship Promotion Project, 2012.”

DECA is a student organization that prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs for careers in marketing, finance, hospitality and finance. Its letters once stood for “Distributive Education Clubs of America,” but now they stand alone, meaning nothing.

“Entrepreneurship Promotion” is a competition at district and state levels, with the project defined by the club, though it must include a document and an oral presentation. The first competition is in February.

Smith-Cotton’s club has members educating people on entrepreneurship; interviewing local business owners on videos and promoting its project via the Sedalia Democrat.

“It’s a series project,” said Angie Dick, Smith-Cotton DECA adviser, in an interview last week at the school with three DECA members who are all juniors. “Our first part was to educate, so we went to elementary schools and told them who was an entrepreneur and who wasn’t.”

Member Zach Wolf  said, “Ninety percent of the fourth-graders knew who entrepreneurs were.”

He talked about how DECA members made paper printouts of clothing and gave them to the fourth-graders to decorate and market. They also gave them play money to use when “selling” the clothing.

“The girls had pink and flowery stuff, Zach said. “The guys had Chiefs and things with sports figures. So they learned about target marketing. That was something we didn’t plan, so it was cool to see.”

Members also visited a kindergarten class. DECA member Jacob Lamb said: “They probably got it more than the fourth-graders.”

In addition to classroom visits, five videos were made, focusing on five Sedalia businesses: Impact Signs & Lighting Co., Peak Performance Physical Therapy & Sports Medicine, Rhino Linings of Sedalia, Wilken Music Co. and Wheel Thing Skate Center.

Dick said, “We’re spotlighting entrepreneurs to get some publicity, but we’re learning about them and we encourage people to shop locally.”

There are 75 members in the DECA club at Smith-Cotton. It includes students from grades 10 through 12.
In addition to being adviser, Dick teaches classes in marketing, advertising and entrepreneurship.

She stressed that the entrepreneur project also builds leadership skills, with students pushing themselves to speak in public.

While the students are teaching others, they are learning, too.

Zach said: “We learned a lot about what it takes to be an entrepreneur.”

Member Ryan Akin said, “They all took chances, really,” and added: “They’re more passionate about their work.”

He said: “When I started talking to them about their journey, I asked if they would do something different. Most of them said they didn’t do enough research.”

Zach added: The people who do it are quick — impulsive.”

The students also talk about those who have failed. Jacob mentioned a man in the sports memorabilia business whose first venture failed: “He wasn’t careful about his partnership,” he said.

That led to talk about success and how it’s defined.

“It differs between people,” Ryan said. “Some people might think it’s owning a business. Some people want their business to be big and make lots of money.”

Zach jumped in with his take: “Some people fail because all they think about is money.”