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Dear Friends, High Performance. We know we want to perform well in our lives and we also want our students to perform well. In a recent podcast, Tom Ziglar did a great job explaining performance as a product of three things: ATTITUDE, EFFORT AND SKILL. In starting a business, kids have the opportunity to learn how greatly these three effect their outcome. They need a great attitude as reality gets in the way of their plans and they need to adapt. Moving through the stages of starting a business, including producing a product, will require more effort than they are used to, and they will realize it's worth giving. They will learn many skills like business, communication, financial literacy, and those specific to making their product. Without a doubt these children leave the experience richer than they entered. The following TREP$ Spotlights are great examples of young people going the extra mile to get the job done well. Introducing this month's "Spotlight TREP$": Bridget & Leia Emily Sarah Juliet Alex Harrison
As always, thank you for being a part of this important and extraordinarily fun mission.
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Meet Bridget and Leia, of Natural Beauty
Hello! We are Bridget and Leia. We are fifth graders at Frankford Township School in Branchville and we made beauty products in our own kitchens from natural ingredients. This was our first TREP$ experience.
We named our business, "Natural Beauty." We got the idea from Bridget's older cousin who made sugar scrubs to give away as Christmas presents. We went online and researched recipes for making home made sugar scrubs, salt scrubs, hand lotions and lip balms.
We worked hard over 3 weekends to make our products. Our moms helped us. We bought oils, sugar and salt, but we also got locally grown donated ingredients from neighbors. For example, we got beeswax from Mat Wingle of Wingle Apiaries and flowers from Kim Hautau of Hautau and Sons Florists. We learned how to clean beeswax and infuse flowers to make pretty colored perfumed water like my Great Grandmother used to do. Bridget's Aunt is a quilter and had huge tubs of scrap material. She helped us decorate our containers and made little bags for our customers. A neighbor who has a laser printer helped us make labels. Bridget and I are really appreciate all the love and support we got.
Doing this project we learned a lot about how hard it is start a company. We also learned a lot about the beauty industry. Did you know that most major cosmetic companies test their products on animals? A lot of animals like rabbits and guinea pigs are hurt or killed during these tests. Europe has now banned this testing we hope the US does too. This project and reading the book, "Wonder," made us think a lot about what it means to be beautiful. Advertisers try to make girls think you have to spend a lot of money on stuff to be beautiful. We learned beauty products don't have to come from a store and real beauty never will.
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Meet Emily, of Emily's Scarves
Sparta Middle School, Sparta, NJ 
My name is Emily. I am 12 years old, in 7th grade, and I attend the Sparta Middle School.
For TREP$ this year I chose to make decorative sashay scarves out of a special type of yarn. My Mom is a hairdresser and one night one of her clients came over and was making one of the scarves with her daughter. I thought that it looked really cool and I wanted to try it. I asked her to show me how and I caught on very quickly.
I really enjoy making them so I decided to create them for the TREP$ club. There are so many beautiful, different colors to choose from. My mom and I then went to Joann's Fabric store to buy the yarn that I liked and the type that I needed. To make them all I need is the special sashay yarn, a latch hook, and my hands.
When it finally became time for the marketplace, after weeks and weekends of sitting in my room making them, I was so excited and couldn't wait. I sold each scarf for $6.00 each and 2 scarves for $10.00 and I ended selling out and making $110.00. At one point I was making a scarf behind my stand. Naming my business Emily's Scarfs Co., I became a big seller and now I have been taking orders for many more people who want a scarf or two. I had a blast the entire time, and I'm thankful for everyone who helped me create this business.
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Meet Sarah, of Crafty Delight
Brookside School, Allendale, NJ
Hi my name is Sarah and I am a 6th grader from Brookside School. For my project I made a clay Oreos that were decorated, plain, or friendship. My business was called Crafty Delight.
I always wanted to do TREP$ because it teaches people about business and money making. And at the end you get to experience having your own business and making some money.
I like to go on YouTube a lot and one day I saw these cool Oreos that people were making out of clay and I wanted to try it out for myself. First, I made an Oreo mold by getting a real Oreo and pressing it into the moldy putty. Once the mold was ready I got the clay and pushed it into the mold. Finally, I decorated it and baked it. I had many options such as characters lake Jake and Fin from Adventure Time. I also made Mike and Sully from Monsters Inc. I had a lot more options such as and Oreo with a mustache or a Starbucks symbol. And if you did not see what you liked, you could order too. My prices were $3 for the big one and $2 for the small one.
I loved participating in the TREP$ Marketplace and I hope to do it next year!
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Meet Juliet of Heads Up
Memorial Middle School, Cedar Grove, NJ
I had so much fun working at TREP$ Marketplace! It all started for me when my brother, Luke participated in TREP$ in 2014. He sold custom made school spirit socks and he sold out (150 Pair) in 1 1/2 hours!! I decided at that moment I wanted to participate in the upcoming year to try to beat my brothers sell out time.
My Dad is in the Printing Business, so he helped me design and create my hat. Each of my Pom Pom Hats have an embroidered CG Logo and they have our school colors (Gold, White and Black).You would probably notice them as being the NFL sideline Hat and they are very popular.
My Dad doubted that I would sell the hats because of the time of year TREP$ is held, but I was confident that because of the style and the price, I would totally sell out!
At the end of the day, I sold out of my (150) Hats in 1 hour 10 minutes. I wish I had made more because of the amount of people coming up to me and asking if I can produce a back order.
It felt great knowing that people loved my hats! I definitely want to participate in TREP$ next year! As a matter of fact, I am working on my new product now! I hope it goes as well as it did this year!
I would like to thanks my workshop teachers that helped me learn the simple and basic ways to be a great entrepreneur, and my parents who helped me with their support!
Thanks for reading my story!
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Meet Alex of Shell-Klaces
Ridgewood Avenue School, Glen Ridge, NJ
Hi, my name is Alex and I am a fourth grader at Ridgewood Avenue School. I hadn't heard about TREP$ until my mom told me about the program and that sign ups were available. I automatically said yes. The name of my business is Shell- Klaces.
I got the idea for Shell- Klaces when I was collecting shells on the beach of Long Beach Island. I noticed that a lot of shells had a hole at the top where I could lace a string through it to make a necklace. Since each shell is one of a kind and earth friendly I thought it would be a great product. Now all I needed was a name. I wanted to combine shell and necklace. And the company Shell- Klaces was born.
During the TREP$ sessions I learned how to advertise and market my products and learned about profit, loss and expenses. When the day of the Marketplace arrived I was nervous but excited. It went really well and I sold all but two of my Shell-Klaces. I made a great profit and look forward to trying it again next year.
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A Shark in the Birding Business
Birding Business Magazine, April 2015
You may not have heard of Harrison Cardinale yet, but I suspect you will. He lives in Branchville, NJ, and has launched a manufacturing business making bird tables for feeding wild birds outdoors. That's no big thing of course; in that sense he's just one more in a list of dozens. But he's the only entrepreneur I know who is 10 years old, in 5th grade in his local school, and already beginning a manufacturing career.
What's behind this future success is a program at his school called TREP$, a series of 5 workshops for 5th through 8th graders which allows the students to come up with their own ideas, brainstorm with other kids, and learn about start-up costs, agreements, paying back loans, pricing, advertising and whether the project requires a partner to make it work. It sounds like a great program, and the kids can keep the money they make. Though the students in the program collaborate with each other, each project stands on its own. Harrison's dad is helping him build them, but the rest is up to him.
He's printing business cards to hand out to people he sees before the market day at his school where the students will offer their products to anyone who comes along. If business is good he may set up a web site to expand his sales. He is also testing a unique idea by including a laminated folding bird guide he sourced on his own from Steven M. Lewers & Associates so buyers of his product can identify the birds they see at their feeder. He'd like to include a small bag of bird seed as well, but he understands the need to keep costs down so the retail price will remain attractive. He has even created a spread sheet to keep track of his expenses and profits. A wholesale venture isn't on his radar yet, but watch out! - this young man's ideas have no limits.
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