Guest Post: Colette South, Fall 2014 Glamtrepreneur Winner

Hello. My name is Colette South. I've been making jewelry for friends, family, and craft fairs for a little over four years. I thoroughly enjoy thinking of fun and new designs.

My business name and logo is a stylized BBFF, which are the initials for “Big Bold Fly Free” and represents the big, bold attitude, and free spirited thinking of today’s youth.

This bracelet is called “Perseverance”, and is a fashion forward design that holds a lot of significance for Girl Scouts. The two black beads stand for leadership and strength, the six silver beads represent the three Journeys and three Take Action Projects required on a Girl Scout’s way to earn the Girl Scout Gold Award. The many clear beads scatter sparkles, and represent the shining light of Girl Scouting being cast into the world. My target sales audience will be Girl Scouts ages 10-14. My bracelets use only glass and metal beads and metal wire to enhance their appearance and appeal, and are similar in quality to fashion jewelry found in department stores.

The cost of materials is twenty three cents for each bracelet. The bracelets take approximately 15 minutes to complete, so the labor cost per bracelet is $3.00 for a total cost of goods sold of $3.23.

I am willing to distribute the bracelets to the Girl Scout Store for $4.23 and I suggest a retail price of $8.99, allowing the Girl Scout Store to maintain a good retail margin.

I am able to produce about 50-75 bracelets with a two to three week lead time. I would like a 30% advance for the initial order.

I plan to use the money earned from this venture to save up for the Girl Scout Experience trip to London and Switzerland in 2016, after setting aside portions for charity and future college expenses.

My advice to young entrepreneurs is to stay strong and to never give up. If someone gives you negative comments heed them, see what you could do better, then fix it! If they still find faults them they don’t have to buy your products.

If I had unlimited resources I would wrap some of the beads in wire so that they were more unique and provided another texture on my bracelet. With my business marketing plan I would have other people make the bracelets for me then sell them to a retail store.

"Discover, Connect, and Take Action: Girls Change the World"—GSCTX at the 2014 Girl Scouts national convention

"On Wednesday, October 15^th Texas bound girls headed for Salt Lake City, Utah. Why you ask? For the 53^rd annual Girl Scout National Convention, of course! 

Twenty representatives made up of girls, volunteers, staff and board members represented Girl Scouts of Central Texas among the 6,000 participants in the week-long conference. Scouts who are members of GSUSA flew in from all over the world to participate in delegate sessions, Girl Scout leadership institute (GSLI) activities, meeting with collaborators, and listening to inspirational speakers. International guests and Girl Scouts were welcome too, introducing our girls to Girl Scouting outside of the states. Our GSLI girls represented the entire council area and were chosen to work on projects in their communities from the information they gained at the convention. 

Right now, our girls are working on such topics as addressing basic needs, education, teen violence and gender equality. Discover, Connect and Take Action was the theme of the conference and after meeting our new board, learning great ideas and sharing general practices our girls, staff and volunteers are ready to Take Action and change the world! The next conference will be held in Columbus, Ohio in 2017."

Thanks to Emily Magnotta for sharing the excitement of the national convention with us. We can't wait to see the projects our Girl Scouts will take on after this once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Girl Experience Special Announcement: Outdoor Badge Voting

Girl Experience Special Announcement! When asked what the girls should do, Juliette Gordon Lowe responded, “What do the girls WANT to do?” During the national convention, GSUSA announced that starting in the fall 2015 program year, girls will be able to enjoy new outdoor badges and they want your input into what those badges will be. Girl Scout Brownies, Juniors, Cadettes and Seniors will vote first on an outdoor badge content area (i.e.: Outdoor Recreation, Outdoor Environment, or Outdoor Survival). Once there is a majority vote on the content area, girls will vote on the actual badge topic (i.e.: Hiking, Camping, Trail Blazing, etc.). Click here for more details!

This is going to be great!