Thursday, April 25, 1985/The Battalion/Page 5
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Student
publishes
Best Buys’
Booklists bargain
shopping spots
By KAREN HELLER
Reporter
Elmer Diaz can save you money.
Diaz, a senior industrial distribu
tion major, has published “The Very
Best Buys in Bryan/College Sta
tion! ” a book which lists products
and services ranging from “d’flea”
for your dog to legal services for
you.
Diaz says the idea for the book
:ame to him — indirectly — through
lislove for pizza.
“1 really love pizza and stuff like
hat... I had a coupon for one place
. , but I realized that there was
heaper stuff elsewhere,” he says.
Diaz says he and his friends
tarted looking around and checking
irices by making phone calls and vis-
ts to different stores.
“Prices skyrocket from one place
to another,” Diaz says.
The result of Diaz’s research is a
wok which compares the everyday
rices of various items and services
uch as food, car repair and cloth-
h
He printed the book because he
fealized the information could help
Jther people, he says. He, his wife
and some friends decided to publish
heir findings. “Best Buys” sells for
12.95.
I Diaz started bringing the book to
campus about two weeks ago, and
people seemed to like it. He Delongs
to several organizations and has pre
sented his book at the meetings.
I “Reaction has been good,” Diaz
says. “Not only does my book have
prices, but it saves you a lot of gas
and driving.”
Some of the prices listed in the
book have helped Diaz himself.
While Diaz was trying to find the
most inexpensive way to publish his
book, he learned about printing
prices in Bryan-College Station.
; “I learned as I went along,” Diaz
says.
Diaz, who will graduate in May,
says his brother and a friend will
continue to sell the book after he
graduates. “Best Buys” will be
printed three times a year, if there is
sufficient demand, he says.
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Student starts out as 'hubcap king'
Aggie creates businesses
By LEIGH FORREST
Reporter
When John Robison was in the
fourth grade, he was known as the
“hubcap king.”
Now, as a senior at Texas A&M
and president of the Society for
Entrepreneurship and New Ven
tures, Robison’s business cards still
introduce him as “His Majesty.”
While looking for snakes, the
“hubcap king” found old hubcaps in
a ditch next to a well-traveled Hous
ton road. He became so fascinated
with the hubcaps, he started collect
ing them in his garage.
A neighbor suggested he sell the
hubcaps, so Robison started going to
the local grocery store to sell his
wares. He would watch for cars to
drive up with missing hubcaps, then
he would make his move.
“When they (the owners of the
cars) came back out of the store, I
would say, ‘I found these hubcaps in
a ditch and I have one that would
match yours,’ ” Robison says. “ ‘I
could sell it to you for $10 when it
would cost about $50 at a dealer
ship.’ I would just act like a kid.”
His acting paid off. Robison sold
about eight to 10 hubcaps a day dur
ing the summer. As sales increased
and business expanded, the profits
also grew. But, Robison didn’t care
much about the money.
“I’d just come home and give it to
my mom and she would put it away,”
he says. “I never knew what she did
with it.”
That money continues to collect
interest in a money market account
Robison’s mother started during his
hubcap sales.
After his initial success as the
“hubcap king,” Robison says he
didn’t nave time to go the grocery
store to sell the hubcaps. So he relied
on word-of-mouth to advertise his
business. And it worked well.
“I’d ask people where they heard
about me,” ne says. “One lady says, ‘I
was calling directory assistance to
find a hubcap place and the opera
tor told me she bought one from
you.’ ”
This early success with business
inspired his later business ventures.
Last fall, for example, a friend came
to Robison with the idea to sell
Hornbusters sweatshirts at A&M.
Robison masterminded the success
ful marketing plan and sales.
Robison also owns his own com
pany — Rayburn Consolidated In
terests. RCI, formed by Robison and
four friends, provides self-help pro
grams for small businesses.
RCI already has a seminar tenati-
vely scheduled for September at the
Houstonian Hotel.
The seminar includes presenta
tions by the Arthur Andersen ac
counting firm; Carl Stevens, a well-
known business consultant; and
SMI, a small personal services com
pany. Topics will include starting a
business, setting goals and selling
yourself and your ideas.
But even with these business-
oriented activities, Robison says his
true love is real estate.
“Whatever business I’m in, I’ll al
ways put my money in real estate,”
he says.
And he’s successful at it, too. Ro
bison received his real estate license
as a senior in high school. Since then
he has bought and sold foreclosed
houses in Houston, when he has the
time.
John Robison: President of
ENVE. His own company. Real es
tate.
That’s quite a load for a college se
nior. Though his main interests for
now are school, ENVE and RCI, Ro
bison says he also finds time to par
ticipate in the accounting society and
the Aggie Club.
In what spare time he has left, Ro-
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John Robison
bison does impressions of Ronald
Reagan, Johnny Carson and his pro
fessors. He also visits his grandpa
rents in College Station.
“Like my mom says, I’ve got my
hand in too many tills,” he says.
So how does Robison participate
in all his activities and still manage to
be successful at everything?
“I don’t tend to listen when peo
ple tell me I can’t do something,” he
says. “I’m a real positive person —al
most to the point of being simple-
minded. But if I get it set in my head
that something’s going to work, I
don’t listen to anyone else.
“People limit what they can do
with themselves. They set artificial
limits and tell themselves they can’t
do any more than that — and they
won’t. If you say you can’t, you
won’t, and that’s all there is to it.”
But Wayne Roberts, his room
mate, says he thinks Robison still
might be limiting himself.
“One of his goals is to be a million
aire by the time he’s 26,” Roberts
says. “That might be too lenient, be
cause I think he can get his first mil
lion his first year out of school.”
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