Issue link: http://www.insightdigital.biz/i/85110
FEA TURE Start-up students R BY M AR YB E TH M A TZ EK Kaukauna business owner writes book to encourage students to run their own business Aſter graduating from the Renaissance School for the Arts inside Appleton West, he headed off to the University of Wisconsin-Stout. While there, he continued making jewelry and other items that he sells at farmer's markets and local stores. When he first read "Lemonade obert Felton started his business, Never Lost Jewelry, while still in high school to help pay for college. Stand Economics" by Kaukauna business owner Geof White, he knew it was right up his alley. "I've read a lot of business books and this one really says what needs to be said, taping a promotional video for the book in Appleton North High School's TV lab. "Having a business can help you pay for school and also make you more confident. " he says aſter Robert Felton, owner of Never Lost Jewelry, helps a customer at an area art fair. Felton, a junior at UW-Stout and a graduate of Appleton West, sells his jewelry to pay for his college education. He also does the illustrations for "Lemonade Stand Economics. " who owns Valley Window Cleaning, was aſter when he sat down and started writing "Lemonade Stand Economics" two years ago. He was watching a college football game and started thinking about college students and the amount of debt many accumulate before walking across the stage to receive their diploma. "I thought if they did what I did – go out and start my own business working for myself – then they wouldn't be in that position," he says. "Too many kids graduate college with an enormous amount of debt. White began washing windows That was exactly the idea White, " " while in high school. Aſter learning everything he could about it, he went in business for himself, making triple what he had been when working for someone else. Aſter graduation, he took a sales job and did that until one day 24 | INSIGHT • October 2012 when he was laid off. He got another job, but was told he would need to relocate. Unwilling to uproot his family, White returned to his roots and launched Valley Window Cleaning. Today, he juggles that business with sought feedback from high school and college students throughout the writing process. For example, he worked with the his new mission of educating teens about financial literacy and teaching them how to start their business. The book explains the burden of starting out their post-college life deep in debt and how students can avoid that by working for themselves. The first step is to identify something they're good at, figure out a way to get the word out about what they're doing (marketing) and then get to work. The payoff is graduating from college without student loans while gaining critical business skills they can use the rest of their lives, White says. "This book is all about real life and what to do," he says, adding that he Appleton Career Academy inside Appleton North High School on a class they had about designing book covers. Students in the class learned the theory behind Lemonade Stand Economics while they worked on designing a cover for the book. White, the father of two young sons, enjoyed working with the students and he continues to partner with them to promote the book. Soniya Regmi, a senior in the Appleton Career Academy, runs Lemonade Stand Economic' account. "Going through this process, I learned that I had business marketing skills, which I hadn't realized before, s Twitter she says. "I also learned that I could run someone' " s Twitter account as a job." www. insightonbusiness.com COURTESY OF LEMONADE STAND ECONOMICS