Local high school entrepreneurs showcased their business ventures Friday morning during the Virtual Enterprise seminar at the Santa Barbara County Education Office.
Several ventures fell under the virtual enterprise category, or a simulated business that is set up and run by students.
Jill Perkins of Moorpark High School shared her team’s temporary tattoo venture that uses a laser scanner to create tattoos that last for a user-defined amount of time.
Green Inc. is the creation of a Dos Pueblos High School group that uses organic and recycled material to create clothing and skateboards, according to DP student Alexis Diaz. Gimme Some L’oven is another DPHS project that sells baked goods and donates part of the proceeds to charity, student Jordan Disraeli said.
Get in Fresh sells organic produce from Carpinteria High School’s gardens to local businesses, according to Carpinteria student Kelsey Whittaker.
San Marcos High School student Nona Polk explained Royal Designs, which creates and sells San Marcos-inspired clothes.
Dons Net Café students from Santa Barbara High School and Channel Islands High School students have created tangible businesses.
The DNC teamed up with the XSProject, which gives trash pickers in Indonesia free-trade wages by purchasing recyclables and hires special-needs workers to construct fashionable bags made from soap and billboard. They also purchase and sell the Du Ubunto orphan bracelet, which was handcrafted by local South African women living with AIDS, and all of the proceeds help families in South Africa.
Channel Islands students created Flipbook, which prints sequential segments of a video and binds them into a small booklet.
After students introduced their ventures, local professionals shared their experiences to help guide the aspiring entrepreneurs.
Noospheric founder Jacques Habra provided tips on successful entrepreneurship, author Barbara Greenleaf discussed effective business writing and Montecito Bank & Trust professionals advised the students on professionalism and business etiquette.
“Entrepreneurs must see the invisible. When they are conceiving the idea they have to visualize what it will look like in five years,” Habra said, adding that any business must ask what problem its product resolves and the opportunities it produces
People take action based on simplicity, which is an important characteristic of today’s successful marketing efforts, said Habra, using Apple commercials as an example.
“It’s all about showing not telling,” he said. “The winning group today is the one that speaks the least, shows more and lets the assets do the talking.”
The Santa Barbara County Education Office hosted the seminar, which also featured workshops on accounting and finance.
— Noozhawk business writer Alex Kacik can be reached at akacik@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.