Young Entrepreneurs

Photos by: JOHN BURNS

Entrepreneurial spirit and inspiration don’t come easy for everyone. But for three Washburn University business students, they’ve taken the unique experiences they’ve had in their lives, and with a lot of hard work, turned that into a big idea for possible real-world businesses.

Recent college graduates Abigail McCrory, 22, and Chris Paez, 23, and soon-to-be sophomore Peyton Price, 19, are examples of young shining stars at the Washburn University School of Business. Through participation in different business contests and funds the school offers, including the Washburn Pitch Competition, the Washburn Business Plan Competition, the Network of International Business Students Case Competition, and the Student Business Accelerator Fund (SBAF), the trio has individually developed several ideas and won thousands in prize money for their business acumen.

Abigail has developed an idea for a mobile coffee camper for the greater Topeka area called Grounded on the Go; Chris has launched a fragrance line named Atlantis; and Peyton came up with a product called Call Guard, a connective device to attach to headsets to protect against airborne diseases.

“Well frankly, their spirit and work ethic is amazing,” said David Price, an associate professor of marketing at the Washburn Business School and Peyton’s dad. “It takes a lot of extra time, effort and determination for these students to develop their ideas in such a short period of time.”

IN THE FAMILY

All three of these young entrepreneurs have business-minded family members in their lives that have provided some business know-how for them to learn from.

Abigail said her parents have done several different projects and small businesses over the years. But the biggest is Grounded Coffee House in Rossville, which they own and have operated for 15 years.

“I literally grew up in the coffee shop,” she said. “I grew up seeing my mom being just an awesome business woman. She’s the one that primarily owns and operates it. I saw my dad and her being this awesome team working together, and I was just amazed by the opportunity to be a boss.”

Chris, an international student who has been in the U.S. for five years, said he comes from a business-minded family who owns a chain of gas stations in his home country of Paraguay.

And as for Peyton, her father, David Price, has been running the Washburn Pitch Competition since its inception in 2013, and her mother works at the Kansas Department of Commerce, where Peyton said she handles big contracts to bring in companies to the state of Kansas.

LOVE TO TRAVEL

All three individuals, in addition to being business-minded, have the international travel bug.

Peyton has been abroad this summer and will spend the fall semester in Australia, where she’ll take classes, do a business competition and submit her CallGuard product.

“I’m very excited to gain an international perspective and see how my business idea might do worldwide or just in a different country,” she said, adding she plans to get a provisional patent on the product after seeing how it does in Australia.

Chris went back home to Paraguay to celebrate his graduation with his family and has also been traveling in Belgium this summer.

And Abigail visited Belgium, France and Germany with the Washburn entrepreneurial class last year and traveled to Brazil and Europe this summer. She said she has connections with students worldwide, and while she’s talked about how it could lead to a business venture, right now, it’s about cultivating relationships and taking advantage of good opportunities while she can.

INSPIRATION & ENTREPRENEURIAL SPIRIT

Abigail, who graduated with a bachelor’s in business administration, said she’s always had an entrepreneurial spirit.

“When I was younger, I would sell anything I could possibly sell in the coffee shop,” Abigail said.“ My mom was so kind to let me do that.”

She sold homemade soap, as well as duct-taped wallets, bookmarks and chicken eggs.

“Anything I could to make a dollar,” Abigail said. “I wanted an iPad, and my parents said, ‘Well, we’re not buying you one.’ I was like, ‘I’m going to make the money to buy one.’”

Abigail said her original plan was to study nursing but credits two high school business teachers, Nola Miller and Eric Lietz, with helping her realize her business potential.

“They sat down with me and said, ‘Listen, you have these talents. You should really look into a business degree.’ Their mentorship really helped shapeme,” Abigail said.

Peyton also said she’s been pretty business-minded for most of her life, being into arts and crafts as a kid.

“On the playground when I was in fourth grade, I made custom water bottles with patterned duct tape, except instead of a water bottle, because it was my own business, I used whatever was around. I used old vitamin bottles. I duct-taped them, and I sold those at schools for 50 cents.”

Like Abigail and Peyton, Chris said he also had a business mindset as a child. When he received a scholarship to attend college in Kansas, he didn’t hesitate.

“Washburn was meant to be. I loved it here,” he said.

THE SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS

Chris said his inspiration for his Atlantis fragrance business came during a Washburn business club secret Santa event.

“My dream started about three years ago with just a simple gift from a friend, a fragrance subscription service. I said to myself, ‘Well hey, maybe I can do something like this,’” Chris said.

Chris started identifying market opportunities and began entering business contests. While he didn’t find success right away, with determination, and the help of his mentor Rick LeJuerrne, a Washburn business professor, he kept pursuing his dream.

“Now I’m here, almost ready to hit the start button,” Chris said.

Now that Chris has earned his degree, he is moving to Columbia, South Carolina, to pursue his business concept. He plans to have his Atlantis business up and running by August. He said the simple and powerful fragrances, perfumes and colognes are based on philosophy, literature and art. “We want to promote confidence, self-esteem, and luxury that we all have inside ourselves,” Chris said.

Right now, Chris is promoting three unisex fragrances: Meduzza, Hyperion and Gaia. Meduzza is described as a very feminine, sweet, sexy, vanilla scent, Chris said, while Hyperion is masculine, powerful and strong with a white musk scent. Gaia is relaxing and smells like leather.“ My dream is to achieve very high-end products,” Chris said. “I want to compete with high-level fragrance products.”

BRINGING PEOPLE TOGETHER

Abigail’s idea for Grounded on the Go mobile coffee shop is a takeoff of her parents’ existing company but will be a separate legal entity and coffee will be served from a vintage Shasta camper.

“I’m taking the experience and knowledge I gained growing up in the coffee shop and putting my own twist on it,” Abigail said.“Coffee has such a power to bring people together.”

The target audience for her mobile coffee camper is two fold, Abigail said. First, she plans to cater to those businesses in corporate Topeka that already have food trucks come to their location. The second target is people who attend events in Topeka such as the farmers market or GO Topeka events, or private event goers to events such as weddings and parties.The timeline to launch is late fall, Abigail said.

“Simply put, we’ll bring the product to you,” she said. “Those 5 a.m. soccer tournaments, the early farmers market, whenever your midday slump hits you. Theconvenience is just unmatched, and of course, we’ll bring a really high-quality product.”

The future, while still a little unclear, is bright for Abigail.

“I would love to be a serial entrepreneur,” she said. “While I plan to fully devote myself to Grounded on the Go, I also hope to potentially have my own marketing firm or do some philanthropic work or maybe go back to school. I don’t know what the future will hold.”

Starting in the business world can be scary, but Abigail has some advice for others new to the business world.

“We’re all trying to figure itout. As scary as it can be, just say it out loud,” she said. “You have these great plans, dreams, wishes in your head. As soon as you say it out loud, it becomes real. You just gotta take that first jump, as scary as that might be, and there is usually a great payoff around the corner. If not, a great learning lesson.”

FILLING A NEED

Peyton’s Call Guard idea came directly from a job she had as a high school senior working at a Kansas Department of Health and Environment call center during the pandemic in 2021.At the time, vaccines were only available to essential workers, and they were hard to come by early on. And at her workplace, because everyone was on the phone, they were not able to wear masks because they muffled their voice on the phone.

“So, I was like, well, what if I just put a piece of fabric at the end of the headset,” Peyton said. “It’s not as effective as a mask, but it’s a lot better than having nothing there. And based on the placement of the fabric, it would catch the majority of respiratory droplets.”

Peyton designed this product to stop the spread of airborne illnesses with a specific emphasis on COVID-19, but it could be used as a safety precaution against other airborne illnesses such as the common flu. The target audience is business-to-business transactions(B2B), big corporations and specifically call centers. At the Washburn Pitch Competition, one of the judges suggested Peyton evaluate the use of Call Guard within the fast-food industry as well because they were still required to wear masks, even with restrictions lifted. Peyton contacted a local McDonald’s and they provided it to their employees. The Call Guard product is still in the research stage, as Peyton wants to determine its plausibility before spending money on it. She’s met with a local manufacturer to talk next steps, made a few prototypes out of clothing hangars and electrical tape, and recruited a local seamstress to sew the fabric. For one competition, she even hired a 3-D design artist.

Because of the uncertainty with supply chain and distribution issues and being a full-time student, she’s pretty cautious about making a big jump forward.

“I have always seen myself as a business owner,” Peyton said. “I’m not really particular about what that business is, as long as I enjoy it and can make a living off it. And maybe I might be able to help some people along the way. That’d be really cool.”

THE COMPETITION OF IDEAS

The business competitions Washburn offers helped set all three of these young entrepreneurs up for future endeavors.

“These contests helped me to push myself,” Chris said, who also pitched a tea business during another competition and received several thousand in funds from SBAF for his fragrance idea.

“I made new connections with people that are really interested in business, and that’s the most important part for me. Meeting new people, networking.”

Peyton’s Call Guard won first place and $8,000 at her first try at the Washburn Pitch Competition.

“I learned an incredible amount from going through the process, giving the presentation, learning the business model, how to set it up on PowerPoint, the vocabulary to use. And more importantly, the network of people I met through each was just priceless. I would recommend everybody compete in these events. Even if you don’t make it very far ,the experience is 110% worth it,” she said.

Abigail remembers one specific conversation when she ran into David Price in the elevator at Henderson Learning Resource Center.

“He said, ‘Are you doing the Pitch Competition?’ And I said, ‘No way. That looks so scary.’ And he was like, ‘You should do it. You would be great.’ That vote of confidence really helped. It made me think maybe I could do it,” Abigail said. “And then I was hooked.”

Abigail competed in the Pitch Competition every year she was at Washburn. In her first year competing, she won top freshman and earned $1,000 for her Mom Box idea, a college subscription box for students to receive that included essentials they’d need for being on their own away from home.

“It was such a fun feeling competing, putting all your ideas together. And I was really hungry to win. The next year, I put in so many hours and worked on pitching the idea of Grounded on the Go.”

She ended up winning first place and $8,000.Abigail followed that up with two second-place showings her junior and senior year that earned her $6,000 each time, one for a Plant People idea that involved one-of-a-kind plant scapes or plant walls and the other for Top City Pet Pals pet-sitting business.

She participated in the Washburn Business Plan Competition this year for the first time and won $3,000 more for Grounded on the Go idea. On top of that, she won an additional $15,000 through SBAF and leveraged that to work with GOTopeka to get some grant funding as well.

“Abigail has shown a lot of determination as well, and there is little doubting her entrepreneurial spirit,” David Price said. “She has been working on her coffee truck idea for several years while gaining valuable experience in other jobs, and now it is about to become a reality in 2022.