News from the 2012 Wisconsin JA Young Entrepreneur

Junior Achievement in Wisconsin selects a Young Entrepreneur (under 18 years old) each year.  Below is an email from this years winner and what he currently is doing:

Hi,

Thanks a lot for the email. I am currently enjoying myself in Sweden. I have since hired an employee who is taking care of the work while I am in Sweden.

I have some more exciting news. I was searching for an office space in Minneapolis and I ran across a close place to campus that was leasing. The leaser told me that a major cell phone repair company, Gophermods, was relocating to a 2,000 square foot space in the same office building. He quickly reached out to the owner of Gophermods, Casey Profita. Casey is from Wisconsin and he was coincidentally the 2007 Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the World. Small world. He just graduated from the U of M and he has 6 or 7 employees!

Anyways, to the exciting news. Casey contacted me and offered me a spot on the floor with them. They get a fair amount of foot traffic and they only do repairs; they do not buy and resell. Casey said that they get hundreds of requests each month for phones, but they haven't been tried to move into the business I am in. I will be getting around 250 square feet for $300/month. It also comes with free internet, telephone, and a parking space. Most importantly, within a few months I think that I will be able to have a storefront in Minneapolis!

Yes, I am expecting around $300,000 in sales. I don't want to speculate on profits, but I am definitely projecting it to be in the same $40,000 to 50,000 range. Expenses really do pick up as you expand!

I am enrolled and I have my schedule for the U of M and Supply Chain Management for this Fall. I am heading to Minneapolis in two weeks to hammer out the details of my space in Minneapolis.

I just wanted to say that none of this would have been possible if it wan't for Ernst and Young and Junior Achievement, seriously!

Thanks,

Austin

Junior Achievement BizTown

Check out the CBS 58’s Making Milwaukee Great segment on JA BizTown. 

http://www.cbs58.com/features/making-milwaukee-great/Junior-Achievement-BizTown-160683445.html