What It Means To Be A Student Entrepreneur
An entrepreneur is someone who, according to the Merriam Webster Dictionary, “organizes, manages, and takes on the risks of a business or enterprise.” Anyone can be an entrepreneur, no matter age or size, as I found out after interviewing Christian Mueller. Christian, a senior at HHS, has been a tennis player for most of his life and last summer he decided that he would like to be self-employed. He and Connor Schon, a HHS senior last year, came up with the idea to start their own Tennis School instead of working for the tennis pros at Storrs Pond.
First, they had to find a place to hold the Tennis School and draw a large crowd of kids. After extensive research, they decided that Storrs Pond would be the best place for their tennis school to meet. Storrs Pond was more than willing to let them use a court, because it would help to increase their tennis clientele as well as general business. Christian and Connor then decided to provide all of the tennis equipment and charge minimal amounts to get larger crowds of kids ages six to thirteen to come on a regular basis. They also provided incentives, such as popsicles, to keep the kids coming back day after day. This allowed them to compete with the tennis pros that were also offering lessons.
There was one major obstacle for them to tackle. The parents of the tennis enthusiasts were doubtful of the teenagers’ abilities as instructors. However, this was quickly resolved as they explained who they were and what they were offering compared to the other tennis pros. Storrs Pond helped them with their company by allowing them to make announcements over the speakers by the pool and around the facility.
When asked if he plans to expand the tennis school in the years to come, Christian replies, “We are going to make it more formal by creating sessions, itinerary, and time tables.” He finds the most rewarding part of the camp is being able to teach the younger kids tennis skills so that they can pursue the sport later on in life. He also found being independent from the other tennis pros satisfying. Christian discovered that a job is not always about the money. When you work for yourself as he did, you have the freedom to make your own contributions toward developing generations.
Photo courtesy of Christian Mueller
