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. ”
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