Fandom High School

As usual (and promised), there was coffee and donuts available on the desks shoved together to make their big board room meeting table and Turtle had written in large letters on the board "Product Ideas." Today's would be a fairly straightforward meetings; there was very little involved, which felt weird to Turtle, but, at the same time, tomorrow was the Student Council elections, so her stomach was doing flip-flops and her attention was poorly focused, and she couldn't even think of touching a donut without feeling sick, so maybe that was a good thing.

"Okay!" Turtle said. "Welcome back. Now, selling a product or a service is one of the key things that an entrepreneur does; without it, he or she is not really entrepreneuring anything. So that's what we're going to talk about today. As it's my last year, I've actually got what I think is a really good idea for a product, but I want to see what other things you guys can think of before I throw that out there, and we'll toss the ideas on the board and then discuss and consider which is going to be the most workable."

"Any questions? Let's hear what you've got."

[[ wait for the OCD has been approved for a patent! ]]

"Okay, guys," Turtle jumped right into business once everyone was collected and had their hands on some coffee and-or baked goods. "Today's our very last meeting. I know. Things really flew by, what with zombies and kids and everything, but, luckily, I've got our kits all put together. So it's up to you, this week and next, to try to sell some of them, and the money will go toward the club next semester. Go ahead and take some before you leave. Other than that, stick around, hang out, or go ahead and take off to go work on exams or whatever. And good luck on those, too! It's been great having everyone in club. It's been a good group!"

Turtle definitely had a lot of errands to run before the meeting today. A week of zombie invasion sort of threw a wrench into the whole smoothing-running of things, but it seemed pretty fitting, as that's what she was going to talk about.

First, the coffee and donuts with a little space for the presumed inevitable pie, althuogh she wouldn't have held it against Ned if he didn't exactly have the time to make one or two considering how, less than twenty-four hours ago, they were invaded by zombies.

But business waited for no event. And that's what she'd be talking about.

"Things happen," she started, "and the world keeps spinning, even if it feels like everything just needs to stop for a bit and hold on. The world of business isn't going to hold on for you. It's going to go ahead and if you can't keep up, it'll leave you behind. Some of the things for the kits came in; we'll be working on starting to put them together today."

"But, while the world of business keeps moving, there's still a certain delicate...balance to consider about timing. As in war, so in business. The right move at the right time can lead to victory; the wrong one at the wrong time, however, could be disastrous. Consider, for example, if we were to finish up the kits today and release them to the public. The timing would be terrible. We could get them out this week, easily, I think, but would it be wise? A day late, a dollar short. Not only that, but so soon would make it look like we're trying to take advantage of the recent event and turn a profit from that. People don't like that. We've probably got about three weeks safety area before we could really do much, really."

Turtle shrugged a little. "Get them out during exam week, actually, and we might not only take advantage of the exam stress, but also the support of having them out before anything happens at graduation. The trick to timing, of course, is to be able to hide the fact that you're being advantageous about when you put this stuff out."

There were the usual treats and coffee waiting for everyone, with a high chance of pie, too, and tomorrow was Turtle's birthday, so she decided to take it easy today.

"Okay, guys! I've got some stuff coming in for the kits, and we need to think about writing up those little booklets, but, mostly today, I think we could just have some fun." She hopped off the desk, moving to the blackboard, and wrote in big letters the word MONOPOLY. "Now," she said, "as entrepreneurs, you should know this word. Monopoly means that you pretty much have a hold on everything; no one else can compete with you because you're that powerful. I'm sure this is a pretty familiar concept for some of you here. Governments on this world say this is bad; I say it's only bad if you're being a dictator with your monopoly." She shrugged. "It's up in the air, I guess. I mean, let's say that Turtle & Canary was the only place to get something on the island. Clothes, for example. If Turtle & Canary was the only place that sold clothes, then I would have a monopoly on it. However, since there's also Pixie Dust, I don't have a monopoly on it, and we're in competition...friendly, free-market economy competition...with each other, and people can choose if they want to buy clothes at Turtle & Canary, or go to Pixie Dust and pay way too much."

"What it also is," she continued, "is a game, so we're going to play some of that. Of course, Monopoly is a game that lasts forever and a day, so we're just going to play until the end of the hour and whoever gets closest to a monopoly will win! Might I also add that the game Monopoly is really a poor mark-up of how real monopolies work, but it's fun anyways."

Turtle very decidedly did not want to move around today any more than was necessary, even in the occasional wince of pain was the only indication that anything was wrong. So, once she got all the food set out and sat down, that was that. No more moving, except to pass out a few packets of information.

"Okay," she started, not even bothering to move for the gavel. "What I've done for these packets is gathered some information about various different kind of cases and boxes, because, no matter how much you talk about putting things into a kit, it's all pretty moot if you don't have anything to put it in. Now, these aren't an end-all, be-all. There might be a better, more cost-effective route to go than wholesaling cases like these. But these are options that an entrepreneur has and must consider, so look them over, think about them, think about other options if you can, and come back next week with some idea and what you might do for this particular product."

Nothing icky or awful seemed to have happened last weekend, so Turtle felt like she was on her game as she rapped her gavel to get the attention of everyone so the meeting could get started.

"Okay," she said, "we're more than halfway through February already and need to get cracking on some business. Anyone can sit around, eating pie and donuts and talking about business, but until you're actually selling something, you're not going to be an entrepreneur. Today, I was hoping we could talk about really wrangling down some firm ideas on what product or service to provide this semester to raise money for the club and ourselves. I know an Fandom Event Emergency Kit was mentioned at one point; there might be something there. Were there any other thoughts? And if we stick with the kits, what would we put in them and how do we make them better than if our consumers just went to the store to get the same things? Because, trust me, I own that store, I know they there's unlikely to be anything in those kits that they can't get there."

There was a pause.

"Unless the kits were filled with duct tape, anyway."

Darn you, elusive duct tape orders!

After pushing the desks of the classroom together and putting out the coffee and donuts as usual, Turtle went to the blackboard and wrote on it three quotes:

“Virtue is not left to stand alone. He who practices it will have neighbors.” --Confucius

“Never treat your audience as customers, always as partners.” --James Stewart

“The most important single central fact about a free market is that no exchange takes place unless both parties benefit.” --Milton Friedman

Once everyone had come into the room, she called the meeting to order with a little bang of a gavel.

She couldn't believe she hadn't thought about a gavel until now.

"Take a second," she began, "to look over these quotes. What do they all have in common? They are all about dealing with other people. As Young Entrepreneurs, dealing with people is something that you'll do an awful lot. There are lots of ways to do this, but almost every successful model of business suggests what these quotes are suggesting: you business partners are just that: your partners. Respect, virtue, and the desire for both parties to benefit is essential in a successful venture."

"...right?"

"I don't know," Turtle grinned a little, reaching for a donut, "you tell me. We've got some very different minds in this group. Do you think the egalitarian type of approach is more successful? Or is it all just optimistic hogwash, and to be successful is to be cutthroat? Let's just have have a good roundtable, yeah?"

Always excited for another semester of YA, Turtle had the classroom all set up for the meeting, desks pushed together into a long sort of business table. Donuts, coffee, and hot chocolate for available for snacking, and the table was littered with arts and crafty stuff: paper, scissors, markers, colored pencils, stickers, and glitter. Somehow, there was always glitter, even when Turtle went out of her way to not include glitter. Go figure.

Either way, Turtle sat at the end of the table, waiting for everyone to get there, and then she went into her introductory schpiel. "Welcome to this semester's meeting of Young Entrepreneurs! I'm sure you all know me; I'm Turtle Wexler. I started this club forever ago, and am a young entrepreneur myself, as I co-own Turtle & Canary here on Fandom Island and soon to be in London!" There was a small bounce for that. "But, anyway, you all might not know each other and, even if you do, re-introductions still aren't a bad idea. For our first meeting, we're just going to make some very simple, fun, clearly not-official --that comes later-- business cards that represent who we are and why we're here. Take a piece of paper, cut out a nice size for a card, and then put on it anything you think might represent you as a member of YA, and then we'll go around and talk about it! But, remember, one of the key points about being an entrepreneur is that you know how to sell yourself! Sell us on your introduction on why we should be interested in you."

There were plenty of donuts and coffee available in the classroom today, as well as a relatively somber atmosphere, because today, there would be talk over Very Important Things.

"Hey, guys," Turtle greeted the little club once everyone was there, "we're going to spend some time on the tents; I want them to be ready to be sold after next week's meeting, and, this week, I think everyone should start promotion and advertisement. If you have any questions about how we can do that, let me know, and we'll chat. The main focus for today, though, is going to be something that's very important for any young entrepreneur. I know we're all from very different worlds and places, so the economy of this world might not directly effect your world, but it does effect you while you're here, and it never hurts to know what to do in a situation like this."

"Our economy is officially in what's called a recession, which means a period of decreasing economic productivity. It's not good. People lose jobs, the money uses value, and things become scarcer, tighter. Bankruptcies, foreclosures, lots of really depressing stuff and it can be really hard for people, especially in the economic market, especially if you're a young entrepreneur just starting out."

And didn't have over twenty cool million sitting in a bank somewhere. Turtle cleared her throat, and pulled out a stack of papers.

"So I put these together, lists of tips for starting entrepreneurs during a recession. When there's an economic downward trend, it's us, the upstarts and the newcomers and the forward thinkers, that can really strive to put a dent in things and get it moving back up again. There's no time like now to try to step up. Have a look over these, put in some thought, and maybe you'll be inspired."

[[ ocd on the way is up! ]]

There were the usual treats and coffee waiting for everyone, although Turtle was watching how much she ate because she knew there's be treats at the newspaper meeting, too.

"Okay, guys! We're looking good for our tents; today, let's work a little on getting some more put together and start thinking about packaging. The next step, I think, would be to get the spells on them, so, Dor, do you think you can have that by next week?"

"Mostly today, though, I think we could just have some fun." She hopped off the desk, moving to the blackboard, and wrote in big letters the word MONOPOLY. "Now," she said, "as entrepreneurs, you should know this word. Monopoly means that you pretty much have a hold on everything; no one else can compete with you because you're that powerful. Governments say this is bad; I say it's only bad if you're being a dictator with your monopoly." She shrugged. "It's up in the air, I guess. I mean, let's say that Turtle & Canary was the only place to get something on the island. Clothes, for example. If Turtle & Canary was the only place that sold clothes, then I would have a monopoly on it. However, since there's also Pixie Dust, I don't have a monopoly on it, and we're in competition...friendly, free-market economy competition...with each other, and people can choose if they want to buy clothes at Turtle & Canary, or go to Pixie Dust and pay way too much."

"What it also is," she continued, "is a game, so we're going to play some of that. Of course, Monopoly is a game that lasts forever and a day, so we're just going to play until the end of the hour and whoever gets closest to a monopoly will win!"

Hopefully, everyone would get the message to meet in the sewing area of the home ec classroom for today's meeting rather than the usual classroom, because that was where Turtle was, with a bunch of supplies and papers and, of course, some holiday thematic apple cider and doughnuts.

"Hey, guys," she said. "So, I was thinking that we should probably take a look into the process of actually making a tent before we decide on how we want to produce this thing. So I went and found some instructions and some materials and thought we could give it a try, see how we can manage it, and go from there."

As she handed out the papers, she also added, "I...am not sure how good I can be with a sewing machine and a needle and thread would take forever. However, I would like to throw out there that I have a very good friend back in Westingtown who is a very good seamstress. Maybe we could even employ her to help with some of the technical stuff, or whatever. But let's give it a try, yeah?"

[[ OCD on its way is producing at a 110% efficiency!! ]]

Turtle Wexler had always made it a point to make sure that she was rarely late for things like clubs and class and work and meeting, but, unfortunately, today, late she was. It would seem that, no matter how much she ran around outside hoping to be hit by a rock that wasn't pink, it just wasn't meant to be. She finally had to give up, go to club, and hope that no one noticed.

Or maybe it just looked like she had a really bad sunburn?

Either way, she tried to act like nothing was different.

"Hey, guys! Simple day today, since it's break and all. Let's just get together and discuss some possible ideas for a product. Just keep in a mind, every good product has three major components: One: it's useful. Two: people want to buy it. And three: it's awesome."


[[ OCD a comin' is now officially patented. ]]

As promised, there was coffee to be had in the classroom for the Young Entrepreneurs this week; Turtle could be seen pouring lots and lots and lots of sugar and milk into hers. As much as possible to cover up the taste before she got ready to lead today's meeting.

"Today," she said, once the tiny group had congregated, "we're going to talk about Networking."

( Turtle shows why Fierce Capitalists rarely have many friends... )

"Oh! And, next week, I want us to start talking about our big project! I want us to try to go into business, selling something, through our own little YE company! So start thinking about what we could possibly do for that."


[[ wait for OCD. Up early because I'll be gone most of the evening, woe ]]