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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 16, 1980)
THE BATTALION Page 3 TUESDAY, DECEMBER 16, 1980 Local Being an Aggie pays off in bucks ms ■ By BELINDA McCOY Battalion Reporter They could be called enterprising dents, or they could be called just i loyal Ags. Whatever they are called, several dents at Texas A&M University have found a way to make money by being Aggies. ■They come up with ideas — usual ly employing some Aggie parapher- - and find a way to market ’They (Aggie students) sifH “p with ideas — in the K fSuidly employing some f\ggie paraphernalia — u '' 1 ™^ e il ' : lane/ find a way to market length, And tbe y make good money from it. eedtorevitti®' ' IU Rhem. And they make good money ifrom it. Nathan Hines, a former journal- 1 1 1 : iism student from Newton who gra- Jr U^suiis^Bbted Saturday, said he has made pmost $1,300 from an $120 invest- nly one iitptAent. 1. If the Fdap^uring his economic history class l sees thetfS Slimmer, discussion turned to ^rjll order |l The free enterprise system. Then Someone in his class mentioned ITexas A&M was selling used Astro- turl from Kyle Field. Hines got an idea — to cut the turf up into door mat-size squares, paint an ATM logo in the center of the squares and sell them. Hines discussed the idea with a history professor who told him how to go about marketing his product. Then he presented the idea to a local business which agreed to pay in adv ance for the first order of doormats. Hines used this money — $120 — to purchase the artificial turf. Later, after he saw the doormats were sell ing, he used $120 to buy more artifi cial turf. Bobby Swanson, a journalism senior from Thrall, said he has made over $3,000 from an idea that he had — to copyright the slogan “Steers and Queers, No Place But Austin” and make a bumper sticker out of it. He also said by copyrighting the slogan, he was not trying to say that he actually made it up. “I just decided to protect it and call it mine,” Swanson said. Swanson did not initially invest any of his own money on the ven ture. He worked out a deal with De nnis Bother of Bother’s Bookstore whereby Bother put up the initial investment, and Swanson gave Bother a percentage of the profits. Within a week after he talked to Bother, Swanson had the bumper stickers. Swanson said the need for money was the main reason he decided to try to market the slogan. “I was broke and trying to decide how to fund my education. ” Because of the nature of the slo gan, the bumper stickers have been easy to sell to Texas A&M students and former students, Swanson said. He sold 1,000 of them the first week. Two weeks later, during the week before the University ofTexas-Texas A&M game, he sold 3,000 bumper stickers. Swanson said he has even had orders from Texas Tech Univer sity, and Oklahoma University. But also because of the content of the slogan, some stores have refused “All it takes is the initia tive — the wanting to do it — not necessarily the know-how. You can al ways find somebody with the know-how. You need to want to do it. ”— Nathan Hines, student. to sell the stickers, and some fans of the University of Texas have become offended. “It was a money-making thing, but I also thought it was cute,” Swanson said. “I didn’t mean it to be offensive to anyone.” Another idea students have come up with is one for posters. Three years ago, several members of the Society of Professional Joumalists- Sigma Delta Chi at Texas A&M were thinking of a fund-raising idea, and decided to produce a spin-off of the Editor picks Battalion staff; photographers still applying - By CINDY GEE Battalion Staff I Editor Dillard Stone has chosen the spring semester Battalion staff, but applications are still being BCepted for photographer positions. Blhe staff is as follows: ■ Managing editor, Angel Cope land; assistant managing editor, Todd Woodard; city editor, Debbie Nelson, assistant city editor, Marcy Boyce; focus editor, Bhonda Wat ters; assistant focus editor, Cathy Saathoff; sports editor, Bichard Oliver; photo editor, Greg Gammon; morning news editor, Scot K. Meyer. ■ Staff writers will be: Jennifer Afflerbach, Jane Brust, Terry |Duran, Cindy Gee, Belinda McCoy, Liz Newlin and Kathy O’Connell. Staff sports writers will be: Bick Stolle, Jon Heidtke, Carolyn Barnes, Mike Burrichter and Bitchie Priddy. News editor and front page editor will be announced later. Photo Editor Greg Gammon said photographers will be chosen at the start of next semester. Anyone in terested in becoming a Battalion photographer can turn in an applica tion to 222 Beed McDonald this week. original National Lampoon “Are You a Nerd?” poster. The new poster was called “Are You a teasip?” and defined, in an Aggie’s terms, a “typical” student at the University of Texas. The posters have been on the mar ket for about three years, and act as a main fund-raising source for SDX. But Aggies are not the only enter prising students around. After Scott Bobo, a communica tions graduate student at the Univer sity of Texas, received a copy of the “teasip” poster from a friend at Texas A&M, he said he had one reaction: “Well, I know this is in fun. I like it, but I think we should be given equal time, too.” Becently Bobo, with help from Jeff Neeley, a student at Texas A&M, introduced a reciprocal to SDX’s poster. The poster is entitled “A Guide to aggies,” and features, according to Bobo, the two versions of the “stereotyped” Aggie. “College humor,” Bobo said, was the main element involved in the making of the poster. "College humor is a little more blunt, not quite as refined as typical middle-class American humor,” he said. “(The poster) was meant in good fun.” So far, Bobo’s posters have sold only enough to repay his investment. He will concentrate on selling them during next year’s football season, he said. “I know very few Aggies will iden tify with the poster,” he said. “We’re looking at a stereotype — (the post er) doesn’t point out individuals, it points out a class.” Hines offered advice to anyone who has his own idea he would like to market. “Go ahead and try it,” he said. “Look at what you want to do, figure how much money you’ll have to spend to get started, and see if you’ll be able to handle the loss if it doesn’t work. “All it takes is the initiative — the wanting to do it — not necessarily the know-how. You can always find somebody with the know-how. You need to want to do it. ” Cowboy Christmas.. Western mugs Taco kits Western recipe cards Notepaper and more! 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