Creating Holiday Gift Packages Gives Teens a Taste of Business

A group of teenagers in the Fillmore and Piru area already are gearing up for the holiday season. But rather than making a list of gifts to buy, they are working on products to sell.

The nearly 40 boys and girls, ages 14 to 18, are part of the inaugural Youth Entrepreneur Program run by the Oxnard-based Commission on Human Concerns. Under the direction of the commission staff, they have established their own business, Santa Clara River Valley Hometown Creations.

Through Hometown Creations, the participants are packaging honey, nuts, barbecue sauce, candles and T-shirts and preparing to market them as gift packages for Christmas.

“The main emphasis is to give the kids experience in selling, writing up orders, computing sales tax and all the little junk that you have to do to make a sale,” said Walt Hackman, manager of the Youth Entrepreneur Program. “Even if they don’t end up opening a business, they are finding out how a business is run.”

Hackman and two adult colleagues thus far have handled the business organization, leaving the price labeling, packaging and candle making to the teenagers. The youths drop by the commission’s Fillmore office after school, on weekends and during school breaks to work on the project.

The plan, ultimately, is to involve the teenagers in more of the decision-making as the venture develops.

“We are similar to a small business getting started,” said Hackman, who has owned several Southern California art gallery and picture-framing operations over the years. “We are still in the start-up phase.”

Hackman said the immediate goal is for Hometown Creations to have its products in upscale gift shops in time for the holiday rush.

“Our major marketing is through retail stores and outlets that are not in the Fillmore and Piru area. It is sort of a rural agricultural area here and we would be limited if that was the only place we sold,” he said. “We are trying to move the product throughout Ventura County and into Santa Barbara.”

The entrepreneur program also includes a community service project, computer training, field trips to businesses and lectures by business leaders and others in the community. Hackman said the goal is to introduce the program in cities throughout Ventura County.

Jacqueline Diaz, 17, a Fillmore High School senior involved in the program, said it has opened her eyes to the pitfalls of starting a business.

“I didn’t think it was as hard as it is. You can think you are going to make it and then you can go bankrupt,” said Diaz, who plans to major in business in college and eventually start her own venture.

“This is a unique opportunity,” she said. “A lot of people just start a business without knowing how it works. I can see what is going on behind the scenes.”