- April 19, 2024
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As a 12-year old, boring in his room, Matanzas’ Charlie Wicker began making various items with his dad’s duct tape, and he would eventually found his business, Creative Wallets, after learning how to make duct tape wallets online two years ago.
Wicker sold his first wallet to a family member a year ago and thought, “If somebody will buy it, maybe more people will buy it.” After that sale, Wicker went to Michaels and bought more supplies to make more wallets.
Armed with multiple wallets of unique designs, he started taking his business to school, where his inventions fascinated his peers. Seeking to own a personalized bill fold of their own, they asked him how much he sold them for, and he came up with a $5 price tag, saying, “Anybody can pull out a $5 bill.”
Wicker sales nearly 20 wallets per month, and his business has even gone international.
“When my grandmother posted some of my wallets on Facebook, a lady from Canada messaged her to buy a few,” Wicker said. “After she took them to work, she put in for a bigger order, because her coworkers really liked them.”
For his Marketing End of Course exam, Wicker teamed up with Brian classmate Seybold to pitch his marketing plan for Creative Wallets to judges Tommy Tant and Executive Compensation Group’s Jamie Woyton. The judges loved them.
“Charlie and Brian's presentation was a delightful flow of quality, customer satisfaction, warranty, repeat,” Jamie Woyton said. “Plus, how they hinted about a new product in the R & D pipeline was as fun as hearing whispers about the next iPhone. I'm still smiling.”
Wicker’s Marketing teacher, Barbara Tant, has grown accustomed to Wicker’s business knowledge and sharp mind. Though he is one of the youngest students in her classes, his peers seem to learn the most insight from him.
“Charlie’s going to be a real go-getter,” Tant said. “It’s great to have him in class because he’ll chime in during discussions and make it more interesting. He’s definitely on top of his game.”
Tant also mentioned that she and her classes were planning on coming up with their own version of Success Magazine. Wicker has already been selected to star on the first front cover.
For more information, or you’d like to purchase a wallet, contact Wicker at [email protected]. Creative Wallets can also be viewed on Twitter at @creative_wallet and Instagram at @creative_wallets.
BOX: Matanzas students present projects to real business people
For the first time in her Marketing class, Barbara Tant invited local business people to judge her students’ End of Course projects, where they teamed up with a partner and pitched their marketing plans to Jamie Woyton, Woody’s Matt Crews, Flagler Coastal Properties’ James Sheehan and others.
“These students put significant time into preparation, and it's never easy to present to someone you don't know,” Woyton said. “As a loyal supporter of our professional educators, I'm honored that Barbara asked me to come in and evaluate their hard work. They all earned the strong scores I gave them."
Before the exams, the class identified all the attributes of a great presentation, and were, then, evaluated on their performances.
“I’m really pleased with the students who challenged themselves and moved forward with it,” Tant said. “I saw different levels of growth, pride and sense of accomplishment with all of them, and I appreciate the different community people giving their time and being so nurturing to the students.”
Some of the presentations that stuck out to Tant included Creative Wallets, Girly-Girl Parteas, a sporting goods store, the Asian Market and the Wine & Dine Art Studio. Some plans are actual businesses, while others were created for the purpose of the exam.
