Page 6/The Battalion/Friday, January 29, 1988
PICKUPS PLUS
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STUDENTS NOT EXEMPT FROM FEDERAL INCOME TAXES
Under the Tax Reform Act students claimed as dependents come un
der special rules. A return must be filed if (1)his/her income from
wages is more than $2540 or (2)more than $500 if it includes income
from any source other than wages. Example: You make $800 from a
part time job and have $10 from a savings account, you must file a re
turn and pay taxes. Under the new laws even scholarships and
fellowships are now considered taxable income, and only certain por
tions may be subtracted as an adjustment. Students not claimed as de
pendents must file if (1)single and earning more than $4440 and (2)if
married $7560. Even if you owe no taxes, you should file to get a re
fund of any income tax withheld from those wages
H&R Block is familiar with all the new tax laws. Our rates are rea-
^ 0 nnKy e ^iR 0r r^h 0 Un f marr,ed student who Qualifies for a 1040EZ the fee
is only $15, other forms start at $20. Don't fare the nrw tax laws
alone— let our trained professionals at ' 6 the n " W aX aWS
For information please call 764-0395 Ann ^ P ° Sl ° ak Mal1 helP yOU '
but are available. We are open durinn houTs" 0 ' " eCeSSary
NEWS BULLETIN NEWS BULLETIN NEWS BULLETIN N
E
.NEWS BULLETIN.
NEWS BULLETIN. NEWSBULLET | M
MSC <¥C'
l-«AL meeting
■ TJL ' .'T” '
Monday Feb. 1 Rudder 404 7 p.m.
Speaker: Dr. Simon Priest, Assistant Prof, for P.E. and
member of the Outdoor Education Institute,
will conduct a slide .show........plus more.
Coupon
INTERNATIONAL
HOUSE v'nKwx*
RESTAURANT
$2.99
Mon:
Burgers French Fries
Tues:
Buttermilk Pancakes
Wed:
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Thur:
Hot Dogs French Fries
Fri:
CatHsh Nuggets & Fries
Sat:
French Toast
Sun:
Spaghetti & Meat Sauce
Students get valuable training
after starting own businesses
By Sara Mitchell
Reporter
Many students at Texas A&M.
whether they want experience in the
business world or simply want extra
income while in school, choose to
start their own businesses.
These students are not only their
own bosses — they are the owners,
advertisers, managers, bookkeepers
and public relations spokesmen for
these businesses. Some of these en
terprises turn out to be extremely
successful while others never get off
the ground.
While some students are imagina
tive in their ventures, others stick to
the more traditional ways of making
extra money, such as typing and
mowing lawns. Some of the more
unusual businesses run by students
include things such as personal nu
trition counseling, disc jockey serv
ices, a used-car dealership, a home
made pie service, a snow-cone stand,
the “party line,” a preferred cus
tomer card, a window-screen busi
ness and tutoring businesses.
Some students who decide to go
into business for themselves do so
because they do not want to work for
a boss in a traditional work setting;
some have other reasons.
Jose Quintana, who is originally
from Mexico, began his software
business so he could remain in the
United States to work. Quintana
started VerCom Systems in 1986,
while he was in his last semester at
A&M working on a degree in com
puter science.
VerCom offers customized sys
tems of computers, software, train
ing and after-sale support to small
businesses^ Quintana said. It also
provides word processing, desktop
publishing and data processing serv
ices, he said.
Quintana said he would have pre
ferred to work for a large company
gaining experience for five or six
years, hut he was unable to get gov
ernment clearance to do so.
“Everybody starting out in busi
ness makes mistakes, and I wanted
to make my mistakes working for
someone else,” Quintana said. “1
don’t know why anyone fresh from
school would start his own business.”
Quintana said he began by con
ducting research for a year before
he opened his business. He devel
oped a plan and made numerous
projections. He said he sold Bloom
County T-shirts on campus and de
livered newspapers to raise initial
capital.
“I had a lot of experience with
computers, but none with manage
ment, accounting or money,” he
said. “I did a lot of reading.”
Quintana started in a small office,
but was able to relocate in about six
months. But he had his share of
problems getting started.
“We had all the problems that a
book about starting a business will
tell you you’ll have,” he said. “We
had problems with money, manag
ing time and concentrating on re
search and development instead of
sales. At the beginning it was very
tough.”
Quintana said his business is
doing fine now. His company’s prof
its have increased steadily. He even
showed a profit after the first year,
which is unusual for most busi
nesses. Quintana said he has not al
lowed the company to grow fast
enough to cause problems.
“The way to start is to start small,”
he said. “Never grow before it is
time. The business will ask you to
grow,”
Another student-run business
that started small and grew is a tu
toring service set up by Terry Gore,
a senior business analysis major
from Houston. Gore has a back
ground in computers and often
found himself helping friends —
sometimes as many as 10 — prepare
for tests in BANA 217, an introduc
tory computer-language class that
teaches data processing techniques.
f
if
h
A
Photo hv Mike CM
Entrepreneurs Stephen Halsey, Daily Semsano and Juan Carlos Alba own and manage Showtime.
“More and more people started
showing up for my little review ses
sions,” Gore said. I just decided 1
was going to get a business started "
Gore said he and two friends, ja-
son Hull and Craig Klein, made up
fliers and handed them out to one
BANA class the dav before the Inst
lest.
Gore was surprised to find a turn
out of 45 to 50 people with so little
advertising. He said he had so much
positive student mpui that, he d<
cided to offer a semester-lung series
of weekly review sessions and pre
test review sessions lor $40, a pi u e
he said broke down to about $1 pet
hour per person
“I had a lot of students who would
come to me, and tell me thev d
learned more from me in three
hours than they had learned in class
in three weeks,” Gore said.
Gore said he gambled $400 ot his
money for priming costs and ex
penses, and when it paid off he put
the money back into his off-campus
business.
As more and more students heard
about his services and called for
help, Gore expanded the business.
He took advantage of his computer
skills and used one to compile infor
mation packets for each student and
kept all his records on file.
Juan Carlos Alba, Stephen Halsey
and Dany Semsano are in business to
learn and to have fun. The three
have a disc jockey service, Showtime,
that offers music, videos and special
effects for parties.
Semsano, a sophomore industrial
engineering major from Venezuela,
had a similar DJ service at home wit h
four friends. Semsano said this serv
ice is an industry in his country.
When Semsano came to A&M, he
met Alba, a junior economics major
from Bolivia. They said they discov
ered a common interest in sound
equipment, and within two hours of
meeting had planned to go into busi
ness together. One week later, they
ordered their first turntables.
“When Juan and I decided to do it
(start the business) we did it because
we liked it,” Semsano said. “We’ve al
ways wanted to do it.”
The
and nov
ing two
group became Showtime,
t. a year later, they are work
three parties a week,
fhev said the biggest event ihe>
have worked at was the All-Night
Fair at the Memorial Student Center
last February, where at least 1.200
people danced to their music.
Semsano said thev were slovs in
getting started.
"At first ii was all los
“It came out of our p
and I would spend tht
parents sent us at the
month on equipment
end of the month, i
cssarv, but the
lx>ok material.
Phillip W mga
meat major fro
agrees with tht
ing as mm h as
been involved
kinds <>1 small I:
T m alwavs
a sen k ii
(iraniit,
pink
ne
ne
es, tie said
ickcts. j nan
• nionev oui
first of the
I oward the
ould he visit
mg friends m ound dinnertimt so we
could eat.
filings have pit ked up. however
and the partners have reinvested all
profits into more equipment
“Every time we think we have
enough equipment we find some
thing else we want. ’ Halsev said. “If
someone wants something, we’ll get
it for them. It will be at a price, but
we’ll gel il for them regardless of the
trouble we have to go to.”
One client wanted a fog machine,
so Alba and.Semsano showed Halsey
an example in a catalog. Halsey said
he spent all day finding parts and
built one from scratch. He said he
was working on it right up until the
party started, but said it turned out
great.
The group said the key to their
successful partnership is constant
communication and respect for one
another. They said that although
they are f riends, when it is time to
talk business, they lalk business.
“We need each othei Halsey
said.
Halsey also owns a < osmelics com
pany called Campus Habits. He said
he originally wanted to sell clothing,
but spoke with a receptionist at i
grams
mountain
of
e sav lie !ta> ind/it
me he was II wnji
as never prepared^
has deliv ered viiijjinjia
s worked as a rangerinj
has been m salev
I lot allv has been j
a snow cone stand.I
used cat dealership!
owns tw'o window
and a picture-frai
wnei
wned a
c urrendy
businesses
business.
Wingate came to \&M alier
brother Petei suggested thev star
snow cone stand together. Tne;
rowed money from the bant,
their necessities together
opened Mt. Aggie Snow Conesoi
unseasonably cold dav in A|
wearing coats.
Although their first day »
successful, their first summer
Wingate said in six months they
repaid their 30-month loan and
tiplied their investment seventir
The Wingates didn’t show
enormous profit, but thev were
to make it through the winter
their earnings, he said. The
summer was profitable, since
their expenses had been paid
first suinmer.
Wingate said lie got into Ills
rent line of work after som
bac ked their car into the .snows
stand. He met a contractor who
stait
After almost three months of get
ting equipment together, the two be
gan working at parties, they said.
They met Halsey, a senior market
ing major from Dallas, and said he
jumped at the offer to join the busi
ness.
Eventually, after the business be
gan to expand, the three needed two
trucks to carry their $20,000 worth
of equipment.
wholesale clothing company who
suggested that cosmetic sales would ommended that Wingate
be more profitable. screen business since there was
Halsey found a product and said competition in town, and offered
he decided to go into business after supply the screens,
his mother’s encouragement. He began his businesses,"
“I’m one to have an ear for oppor- ate’s Screens and Celebrity Wim
tunity,” he said. Coverings, by getting his first (
He markets an unlabeled brand of tract f rom the apartrneni conf
fingernail polish and lipstick at what he lived in at the time. Eventually
he savs is a low-percent profit. He discovered who manufactured
said he was looking lor a company screens and was able to eliminaie
that had an initial investment of less “middle man,” increasing his prof
than $100. He now makes his own screens
“I wanted to offer a high quality offers all kinds of window coverii
product at low prices,” he said. He including blinds,
said his company offers him sales ex
perience he values highly.
“Everything that I’ve done I’ve
learned from,’ Halsey said. “1 don’t
think that school Teaches you every
thing. The experience is very neo-
Win gate also started his own
car dealership, Mt Aggie
Sales. He sold this compam
about three vears and is now do
ing his time to the windo
business.
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DOCTOR OF OPTOMETRY
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103 S. College Skaggs Center
* Eye exam & care kit
not included
707 South Texas Ave., Suite 101D
College Station, Texas 77840
1 block South of Texas & University
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