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| Busy teenager runs business |
Erin Patterson (right) shows her Ladybugs products to Susan Carter (from left) and Lisa Fultz at Saturday’s “For Women Only” event at Bassett High School. Erin, 14, started the business last year as a class project and has continued it as a money-maker. (Bulletin photo) |
Sunday, July 26, 2009
By KAREN THOMPSON - Bulletin Staff Writer
At 14, Erin Patterson is busy. She is a rising ninth-grader and an honor student; she signed up for summer classes; and she volunteers with Red Cross and Blue Ridge Manor.
She also has her own business.
With the help of her mother, Tracy Patterson, Erin is running a women’s accessories business, called Ladybugs, out of her home. She sells handbags, hair bows and hair ribbons, all handmade, ranging in price from $2 to more than $20.
They were on display Saturday at the For Women Only event at Bassett High School. There, Erin also attracted the attention of Lisa Fultz of the Martinsville-Henry County Economic Development Corp., who was impressed with Erin’s product and her prowess at business.
Erin’s business venture began when she enrolled in Helen Howell’s business and marketing class in the eighth grade at Martinsville Middle School.
“At first I didn’t want to take it,” Erin admitted, but she was placed in the class anyway in the first semester of last year. “Then I realized it would help” her learn skills she could take into the work place.
Howell’s biggest assignment was for students to “get a product, market and sell it, and put the money in a fund for college,” Erin explained.
Howell “pressed them (the students) to be professional,” said Tracy Patterson, and gave them tips on design, marketing and business etiquette.
The project required students to develop a resume, business plan, price sheets, advertisements and even business cards. Erin has put them all to good use, proudly displaying her signs and passing out her cards at the For Women Only event.
Picking her product was easy, Erin said. “I know people like handbags,” she laughed, adding that she is fond of them, too. And despite the bad economy, “there’s still money to be made,” she said.
Erin realized she needed a little help in learning production. Her mother taught her to sew, and she took classes at uptown’s Let It Beadz, where students pay for materials and learn wire wrapping and jewelry making.
Soon, production was under way. Erin and her mother scoured the town looking for material, and then they cut and pieced together before firing up the sewing machines. They created purses and totes of all sizes, shapes and colors. Erin busied herself making hair accessories, curling ribbon and tying bows. Tracy Patterson’s sons joked that the basement has been turned into a factory.
When the school year ended, her classmates gave up their fledgling businesses. But “I didn’t stop,” Erin said. “I just realized I didn’t want to.”
Erin and her mother have easily found their market, selling to friends, neighbors, teachers, school faculty and even Tracy Patterson’s coworkers at the clerk’s office in Henry County.
It’s hard to pin down the most popular product, Erin said, but she does know her demographics.
“Teachers want tote bags and pocketbooks. Kids want the hair bows,” she said. In fact, she almost didn’t have enough stock to display at For Women Only.
“We were trying to save bags” for Saturday’s event, Tracy Patterson explained. “Teachers and staff were buying them. Neighbors are fighting for them.”
Erin knows her best times to sell, too. After all, “there’s always prom,” she said.
Erin and Tracy Patterson buy materials from local shops and keep their eyes out for sales and coupons. Ribbon is tougher to come by, Erin said, as it rarely goes on sale, but she keeps her eyes open for the best bargain.
Erin quickly mastered the bottom line of business.
“I’d sell something, buy more material, put a little (money) away,” she explained. She knows how important it is to reinvest in her business, but Erin has her eyes on the future and makes sure her savings account grows.
So far, she hs made about $655, she said.
Her good business sense goes beyond finding affordable materials and managing her money. Erin already has considered — and dismissed — hiring extra labor.
Though she has three older brothers, “I won’t let them (work) ’cause they’ll cost me,” Erin said. “Minimum wage went up past $7, and they’ll want minimum wage.”
Talk about shrewd business sense.
While her mother laughed at her for being “stingy,” Erin calmly said, “You have to be tight. You have to be frugal.”
Balancing her studies, volunteer work and the business can be quite the juggling act. Erin said the key is time management.
“It’s a lot of time,” she said. “Gotta plan things out.”
When Erin starts attendng Martinsville High School in the fall, she said she will have to push her business to the weekends so she can focus on her studies during the week.
Erin has not made a decision about her future, although she knows she wants to attend college and plans to take college courses in high school. If she keeps working with Ladybugs, Erin said she would like to expand to other accessories, such as jewelry.
Tracy Patterson added that she wants Erin to keep the business going. She is not interested in stopping, “not yet. Not until the interest dies down.”
For now, Erin is taking life one step at a time, she said. She can worry about the big stuff “once I get out of high school.”
Tracy Patterson couldn’t be more pleased with her daughter’s efforts, even as she acknowledges that it can be difficult to stay focused and keep working.
“Sometimes she gets burned out. Sometimes I get burned out,” Tracy said. “Then she thinks about the dollars.
“Oh yes. She likes the money.” |
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