Students look to future, learn effort equals reward in small business class
Youth earn funding for tie-dyed clothing and video game development after writing business plans
By Diane Rodriquez
The class was sponsored by the Siletz Tribal Business Corporation and was funded through a $27,000 grant from the Spirit Mountain Community Fund. It focused on a core curriculum produced by ONABEN (Oregon Native American Business Entrepreneurial Network) called Indianpreneurship. It included a mentoring/shadowing program, a business plan competition and funding for two of the businesses.
Nearly 20 students started the program and learned about the ingredients of a business plan, listened to presentations from owners of small businesses and went on field trips to local small businesses. Several students opted to stay on for the second part of the course, which was putting together a business plan.
A plan for tie-dyed clothing
Three teens – Kylie Chiles, Sierra Warren and Savannah Worman – put together a business plan that followed the old adage of writing (or doing) what you know.
“We like tie-dying and we thought it would be good to do something we like,” said Chiles. By the time they had finished their plan, these girls had identified such things as their goals, target market (teens and young adults), pricing and how much money they would need to get started.
“We learned to keep within a budget and how to be smart with what we buy,” Chiles said. She added that the team plans to wait until it reaches its goal of selling 1,000 T-shirts before expanding to more products than the T-shirts, blankets and “onesies” they now sell for $15.
The team received $950 from the grant to start their business.
“Some kids thought the funding wouldn’t really happen – and then it did!” said Chiles
Items are custom-designed – buyers have their choice of size and color and even can choose to have words ironed on after the tie-dye process is completed. Products that may get added to the mix include sweatshirts, sweatpants, tank tops, hats and bags.
They’ve sold about 20 T-shirts so far, mainly to family and friends, and are raising awareness about their products through word-of-mouth and flyers posted at the school, local businesses and Tribal buildings. The team is thinking about setting up a booth at the Toledo Summer Festival in July and the Nesika Illahee Pow-Wow in August.
Other business plans developed include one by Joe Williams for an arcade in Siletz and another by Kai Florendo, Chayson Metcalf and Jaycub Westbrook to design Web-based games for Apple products. This project received $400 for hardware and a one-year subscription to a development/programming service provided by Apple.
Help from local business owner
The students received help from Siletz residents Chris Rabideau (Cherokee descendant) and his wife, Angela (Siletz), who operate Ferret Mojo Entertainment. Their business develops family-friendly indie games for the Xbox 360 that are available on the Internet (ferretmojo.com).
“I originally presented information on our Ferret Mojo business, but then I was asked to stay on,” said Chris Rabideau. He continued to share details about business plans, accounting, taxes, marketing and advertising.
Year ends with plans ready to go
“The kids have really benefited and learned a lot about themselves. They’ve seen their plan grow from a dream, an idea, to planning and paperwork and to fruition.” said Lorrie Syms, a teacher at SVECA. “I wish more (students) had opted to stay in.”
Stephen Larrabee, STBC manager, praised the students for their accomplishments at a year-end pizza party in early June. “For your age, these business plans are a wonderful achievement. Now you have a working business plan,” he said to the students, adding that their added confidence and camaraderie can help them implement their plans at any time.