8A the university daily kansan
wednesday, march 17, 2004
news
6 TH ANNUAL FOOD DRIVE
*Bring a bag of non-perishable food items this week (March 8-12) to your local Curves and join with no service fee. All groceries will be donated to local food banks.
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Stephanie Bowlin, Olathe senior, started to make a sheet with the Kansas Jayhawk logo on it. Bowlin said she hoped the sheet would expand into all of the Big 12 Conference teams. "We're both just business minded," Bowlin said about her and her mother, who helped her to get started with the business.
By Steve Vockrodt svockrodt@kansan.com Kansan staff writer
ONLINE >> ON THE PHONE >> ON CAMPUS >> ON THE STREET
Javhawk bedsheets on the way
When Stephanie Bowlin told her mom her freshman year that she wanted bedsets with Jayhawk logos, her mom thought she could just go out and buy some.
She didn't imagine that Stephanie would have to start her own business to get her sheets.
With several thousand dollars invested in the business, the Jayhawk sheets and pillow cases are in, and go on sale soon.
Stephanie's entrepreneurial dream is about to come true.
Bowlin said she had found some sheets at JC Penney's with Jayhawk logos on them, but found they were geared to younger kids rather than college students.
"I'm really excited, from day one when I thought of it, it's been an eye opener," Bowlin, Olathe senior, said.
Next, Bowlin developed contacts on the East Coast and found a manufacturer in India that would produce the linens at the cheapest cost.
The first step in getting the business started was contacting the NCAA and sending a prototype to get a license for the logo.
type to give the NCAA officials agreed to give the University of Kansas an eight percent royalty of sales.
Now Bowlin has an initial shipment of 152 boxes, each containing 18 sheet sets, and she is ready to start selling to students.
The business, named College Sheets, is managed by Stephanie, her mom, Marcheta, and her uncle and aunt in-law.
Costs of the business have totaled $200,000, mostly covered by a small business loan from Bank of America.
"As my mother would say, she mortgaged her whole future for me." Stephanie said.
Marcheta doesn't quite recall having said she mortgaged her future for Stephanie.
"I think what I told her is I invested my retirement a little earlier than I wanted," Marcheta said. "There's a lot of money tied into this."
College Sheets has advertised locally and wants to start selling sheets at the Kansas Union, the Jayhawk Bookstore, 1420 Crescent Rd., and the University Book Shop, 1116 W.23rd St.
A major source of advertising has been establishing the company's Web site, www.collegesheets.com, with Internet search engines such as Google.
Bowlin was advised throughout the development of the business by Paul Mason, professor of accounting and Dennis Rosen, associate professor of business.
Mason said that seeing students with their own business ideas was not rare.
About 10 students see him every semester, and one of those generally has a chance to work out.
Mason said he expected Bowlin's business to be among one of the 10 that works out, although he admitted to being skeptical at first.
His initial reservations quickly vanished when he saw how prepared she was.
Mason said the main difference between a business idea that works and one that does not was the amount of research and preparation involved prior to starting the business.
"What impressed me was she really had a game plan," Mason said. "It didn't take long for me to be impressed."
Bowlin's preparation was two years in the making.
Bowlin planned on expanding the bedsheets by including other college logos that are in demand.
Aside from already having a
license for Kansas State University's Wildcat logo, she has had requests from other Big 12 Conference schools such as the University of Texas and the University of Oklahoma.
She has also heard requests for other obscure colleges such as Quinnipiac University.
For now, Stephanie just wants to get the business off the ground, which she will next week.
She said she thought her professors' help was a major influence in getting the business this far.
Mason said he thought that the business would be successful where many other's aspiring student entrepreneurs failed.
"I think she is a great example of someone who had a dream, put it on paper, got good advice, and followed through." Mason said. "I have every reason to believe she will succeed."
-Edited by Paul Kramer
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