Welcome to the Bridges to Wealth (B2W) blog & podcast series that explores the culture of entrepreneurship, financial freedom, and community. B2W is a non-profit organization based in the University of Pennsylvania’s Netter Center for Community Partnerships and on a mission to build communities of wealth, in Philly, and beyond!
TWO SCHOOLS, ONE SOLUTION
Recently I got to talk with Sam Palmer, a member of the B2W Youth Entrepreneurship Program, about a business idea that she came up with and is now pursuing. Sam is a senior at Robeson High School, and she's on multiple sports teams and part of the B2W Financial Literacy Program too. Sam's softball team consists of players from two different high schools in Philadelphia: Robeson High School and The School of the Future. The softball team can only have one Mascot, and the Mascot is currently from The School of the Future. Because of this, Sam feels like her school is under-represented, so she came up with the idea to make the Fire Husky clothing line. She is combining Robeson High School's Logo of The Husky and The School of the Future's logo of The FireBird into one Logo - The Fire Husky - so both schools can be evenly represented.
She's excited about the idea, and so far, it seems that everyone else is excited too. Here is her action plan for how she's going to get the idea up and running. She's going to begin by conducting a survey where people can vote on what type of apparel they want, i.e., beanies, sweats, hoodies, etc. That way, she knows exactly what her target market wants. She then plans on running a contest where students can make a Fire Husky Design and submit it. Herself and a team of other students will choose two winning designs, and whoever created those designs will receive a $50 gift card for the clothing line. Everyone else who submits a design will get a certain percentage off of the merchandise.
DECISION TIME
In business, a lot of times, one of the toughest things to do is make choices. For us as creators, we tend to overthink things - everything really - and it's hard to decide what sounds best, what looks best, etc. It's always a good idea to have a support group (some fresh eyes) that can help give you direction, advice, and opinions on what you are doing. Another thing to realize is that things don't always go as planned, and we need to be flexible and adapt to whatever comes up.
The entire conversation with Sam is available as a B2W podcast episode: “E3 - Can Two Schools Have One Brand? And Please Be Patient...” I'm excited to see what happens next for Sam, the Fire Husky clothing line team, and the two high schools. You can follow the journey of the Fire Husky clothing line, and all things Robeson High School, by going to Robeson High School's Official Instagram page - @huskydrip_.
Written by Gregory Nesmith, Community Relations Director & Entrepreneurship Mentor at Bridges To Wealth, Founder & CEO at UNderdogstuff, a member of Penn Wharton Entrepreneurship’s VIP-C Incubator, Philly native, and soon to be Wharton School alum. www.GregoryNesmith.com.
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Related Content:
1. Podcast Audio:
https://www.bridges2wealth.org/podcasts
2. Video of Podcast Episode: