Half Million In Sales From Home And $40 K Scholarship!

Young Businessman earns $40,000 Scholarship

  The entrepreneurial scholarship was awarded after the foundation determined Wagner’s S&B Electronics was a viable company selling electronic products and cellular telephone accessories.

Wagner started the firm in 2006 and grossed $500,000 in sales during the last year - while maintaining a 3.3 grade average at NU.

“I didn’t want to put all my time toward school. My business always comes first,” said Wagner, 18.

The young entrepreneur has a new BMW in the garage to show for his efforts and pays himself a small salary, part of which goes to charities. It all started at Wagner’s first real job.

“It was minimum-wage, and I thought, if I have to do this all through high school and college, what can I do to make more money?,” Wagner said. “I’ve always been good with computers.”

So that was where he turned. After coming up with a business concept, he started researching what he had to do. He realized it was not going to be easy, but Wagner persevered.

“I had to build my own Web site, I had to get a credit card processing company, I had to build an online store and deal with a lot of wholesalers and drop-shippers.

“The one class I really used from NU was my PhotoShop class, which allowed me to learn how to build a Web site,” Wagner said.

The business ideas were his own. He started the business with $4,000 he had saved from jobs and a $5,000 loan from his father, George Wagner, who owns a real estate company.

The firm and its assets are in the name of Wagner’s mother, Mary Jo Wagner, because he couldn’t credit when he started at age 16 two years ago.

“I’ll feel better when it’s all transferred over to his name,” said Mary Jo Wagner with a grin. “He’s good in business, but not in home economics,” referring to the way the teen keeps his room.

Image courtesy TheUnion.com