Hockaday student entrepreneurs start their businesses now for successful futures.

On an early morning in June, sophomore Sonya Xu scrolls on­line through Tumblr transparent designs until she finds the right design – the one with the shades of palm trees swaying in the foreground of a gradient sunset sky.

She prints the palm tree design onto iron-on transfer paper, contemplates which colored stock T-shirt would match well with the print and decides on a gray one.

Xu irons the print onto a piece of white fab­ric, shaping the fab­ric into a pocket. She pins and then sews the pocket onto the gray tee using a sewing machine.

As hour by hour passes, Xu piles up frocket tee after frocket tee before her, and later pack­ages and ships them off to customers across the country and on the other side of the world.

“I’ve always liked sewing, and so during the summer I just decided I hadn’t sewn in a long time,” Xu said. “So, I thought for fun that I would make some frock­ets for a few of my friends, and then I decided that I really enjoyed making them, and it was really fun coming up with different designs and dif­ferent colored shirts to match with the designs.”

Entrepreneur magazine and other local newspapers have recently reported on high school students-turned-entrepreneurs who have become multi-mil­lionaires before reaching the age of 18. Their products include mobile apps, clothing lines and pet service companies.

Some of the students at Hockaday have also started their own businesses, includ­ing Xu. Her business, Mint­ee Designs, sells handmade frocket T-shirts and donates the profits to children cancer research charities in the Dal­las area in compliance with its slogan: “Look Good, Do Good.”

Starting a business, accord­ing to Dr. William Bruegge­man, a business professor at Southern Methodist Univer­sity, can range in difficulty de­pending on the originality of the product or service sold.

“If the business is an estab­lished activity such as babysit­ting, pet care, house sitting, etc. it will be easier to start because the processes are familiar and prices will be set by competi­tion. In such cases, qualifying coworkers and developing a marketing plan to reach custom­ers will be most i m p o r t a n t , ” B r u e ggeman said. “On the other hand, if it is a new idea or product, starting a business will be much more difficult because in addition to marketing, the product must be developed, tested and deliv­ered. In this case, the business will be riskier and stressful.”

Xu testifies to the difficulties brought by starting a relatively original business, but she manages to balance the workload.

“I try to respond to emails during car rides, but other things such as updating items or managing the site is diffi­cult to do from my phone, and of course, I can’t make shirts in the car,” Xu said. “I don’t get a lot of sleep with sports and homework, but it’s worth it. During the weekends, I try to do most of the sewing so that on weekdays they can be pack­aged and shipped.”

The prospect of starting a business in high school, ac­cording to Dr. Don Vandewell, a business professor at South­ern Methodist University, can provide many benefits because it can add valuable experience and potential income.

Xu is acquiring exactly this experience by making business decisions and ex­panding income streams.

She sells her frocket tees for $18. In order to build sales rapport, Xu also sells custom tees in which customers can choose the pocket pattern and color of tee through her online store for a higher price of $22.

She makes two types of frocket tees: one with print pockets and the other with fabric pockets. While Xu finds Tumblr Transparent prints online, she buys patterned fab­ric from fabric stores.

Mintee Designs has a shop on Storenvy.com, an online marketplace for custom stores and shoppers. She has sold more than 450 shirts to people living in places all over the U.S. and in countries such as Can­ada, United Kingdom, France and Singapore.

“It makes me so excited when people from different countries order, because I’m really surprised that it actually reaches out to so many differ­ent people,” Xu said.

She chose the name Mint­ee Designs because mint is one of her favorite colors and she thought “Mintee” was a “good combination of my personal­ity and also what I sold.”

The idea for Xu’s business stemmed from her love for sew­ing. This hobby matched her de­sire to help those struck with an illness beyond their control.

“Sometimes, little things can make [cancer patients] smile,” Xu said.

Xu decided to sell frocket tees because they were “in” at the time. “Everyone loves frockets,” she said.

Mintee Designs, according to Xu, is based almost entirely around social media. She cre­ated an Instagram to publicize her business with the user­name ‘minteedesigns’ and has gained over 13,000 followers and much positive feedback.

“I was surprised at the reaction I got from the Insta­gram account. There were a lot of positive comments,” Xu said. This positive response inspired her to move forward with and build her business.

The garnering of attention also brought many Instagram celebrity sponsors such as Whitney Woof from the popu­lar teen YouTube reality series “Summer Break.”

“People usually hear about me through Instagram. And so with the help of sponsors, I’m able to reach out to more peo­ple,” Xu said.

Although Xu rarely meets her customers face-to-face, Instagram has allowed her to build more personal relation­ships with her customers.

On Instagram, Xu asks customers to comment and direct message their favorite designs and any suggestions. Some customers have even chosen to share their own per­sonal stories.

“I have had people mes­sage me or Kik me saying that they were once patients in these children’s hospitals,” Xu said. “I really like the interac­tion that we can have. Even though it’s through social me­dia, I feel like it’s been a really big catalyst.”

Xu also interacts with cus­tomers via email. She finds that contacting customers through Instagram, however, is much quicker.

From building her busi­ness, Xu has learned to face harsh criticism.

“You always have the people who are like ‘oh, your tees are too expensive’ or like ‘oh, I can just make this myself,’” Xu said. “You always get negative criti­cisms sometimes, but you just have to learn to ignore those.”

The Fourcast, in the next two issues, will introduce other Hockaday student entre­preneurs and feature the busi­nesses they have founded.

For more information re­garding the future of Mintee Designs, go to http://hockaday­fourcast.org/?p=8655.

She prints the palm tree design onto iron-on transfer paper, contemplates which colored stock T-shirt would match well with the print and decides on a gray one.

Xu irons the print onto a piece of white fab­ric, shaping the fab­ric into a pocket. She pins and then sews the pocket onto the gray tee using a sewing machine.

As hour by hour passes, Xu piles up frocket tee after frocket tee before her, and later pack­ages and ships them off to customers across the country and on the other side of the world.

“I’ve always liked sewing, and so during the summer I just decided I hadn’t sewn in a long time,” Xu said. “So, I thought for fun that I would make some frock­ets for a few of my friends, and then I decided that I really enjoyed making them, and it was really fun coming up with different designs and dif­ferent colored shirts to match with the designs.”

Entrepreneur magazine and other local newspapers have recently reported on high school students-turned-entrepreneurs who have become multi-mil­lionaires before reaching the age of 18. Their products include mobile apps, clothing lines and pet service companies.

Some of the students at Hockaday have also started their own businesses, includ­ing Xu. Her business, Mint­ee Designs, sells handmade frocket T-shirts and donates the profits to children cancer research charities in the Dal­las area in compliance with its slogan: “Look Good, Do Good.”

Starting a business, accord­ing to Dr. William Bruegge­man, a business professor at Southern Methodist Univer­sity, can range in difficulty de­pending on the originality of the product or service sold.

“If the business is an estab­lished activity such as babysit­ting, pet care, house sitting, etc. it will be easier to start because the processes are familiar and prices will be set by competi­tion. In such cases, qualifying coworkers and developing a marketing plan to reach custom­ers will be most i m p o r t a n t , ” B r u e ggeman said. “On the other hand, if it is a new idea or product, starting a business will be much more difficult because in addition to marketing, the product must be developed, tested and deliv­ered. In this case, the business will be riskier and stressful.”

Xu testifies to the difficulties brought by starting a relatively original business, but she manages to balance the workload.

“I try to respond to emails during car rides, but other things such as updating items or managing the site is diffi­cult to do from my phone, and of course, I can’t make shirts in the car,” Xu said. “I don’t get a lot of sleep with sports and homework, but it’s worth it. During the weekends, I try to do most of the sewing so that on weekdays they can be pack­aged and shipped.”

The prospect of starting a business in high school, ac­cording to Dr. Don Vandewell, a business professor at South­ern Methodist University, can provide many benefits because it can add valuable experience and potential income.

Xu is acquiring exactly this experience by making business decisions and ex­panding income streams.

She sells her frocket tees for $18. In order to build sales rapport, Xu also sells custom tees in which customers can choose the pocket pattern and color of tee through her online store for a higher price of $22.

She makes two types of frocket tees: one with print pockets and the other with fabric pockets. While Xu finds Tumblr Transparent prints online, she buys patterned fab­ric from fabric stores.

Mintee Designs has a shop on Storenvy.com, an online marketplace for custom stores and shoppers. She has sold more than 450 shirts to people living in places all over the U.S. and in countries such as Can­ada, United Kingdom, France and Singapore.

“It makes me so excited when people from different countries order, because I’m really surprised that it actually reaches out to so many differ­ent people,” Xu said.

She chose the name Mint­ee Designs because mint is one of her favorite colors and she thought “Mintee” was a “good combination of my personal­ity and also what I sold.”

The idea for Xu’s business stemmed from her love for sew­ing. This hobby matched her de­sire to help those struck with an illness beyond their control.

“Sometimes, little things can make [cancer patients] smile,” Xu said.

Xu decided to sell frocket tees because they were “in” at the time. “Everyone loves frockets,” she said.

Mintee Designs, according to Xu, is based almost entirely around social media. She cre­ated an Instagram to publicize her business with the user­name ‘minteedesigns’ and has gained over 13,000 followers and much positive feedback.

“I was surprised at the reaction I got from the Insta­gram account. There were a lot of positive comments,” Xu said. This positive response inspired her to move forward with and build her business.

The garnering of attention also brought many Instagram celebrity sponsors such as Whitney Woof from the popu­lar teen YouTube reality series “Summer Break.”

“People usually hear about me through Instagram. And so with the help of sponsors, I’m able to reach out to more peo­ple,” Xu said.

Although Xu rarely meets her customers face-to-face, Instagram has allowed her to build more personal relation­ships with her customers.

On Instagram, Xu asks customers to comment and direct message their favorite designs and any suggestions. Some customers have even chosen to share their own per­sonal stories.

“I have had people mes­sage me or Kik me saying that they were once patients in these children’s hospitals,” Xu said. “I really like the interac­tion that we can have. Even though it’s through social me­dia, I feel like it’s been a really big catalyst.”

Xu also interacts with cus­tomers via email. She finds that contacting customers through Instagram, however, is much quicker.

From building her busi­ness, Xu has learned to face harsh criticism.

“You always have the people who are like ‘oh, your tees are too expensive’ or like ‘oh, I can just make this myself,’” Xu said. “You always get negative criti­cisms sometimes, but you just have to learn to ignore those.”

The Fourcast, in the next two issues, will introduce other Hockaday student entre­preneurs and feature the busi­nesses they have founded.

For more information re­garding the future of Mintee Designs, go to http://hockaday­fourcast.org/?p=8655.

– Catherine Jiang