10-year-old puts his stamp on business

MELINDA JOHNSTON

Special Correspondent

Mint Hill --

"He was always coming up to us saying, `I've got an idea! I've got an idea!' I've really never met another kid quite like him," Trauner said.

Ben pressed his parents several times to let him open a lemonade stand on their Mint Hill cul-de-sac, but they discouraged the idea since there would be little drive-by traffic.

Ben kept thinking.

Ben and his little brother, Aaron, accompanied their parents to greyhound shows (the family has adopted two greyhounds) where mom and dad displayed various engraved items from Dave Engraves, an engraving business they run out of their garage. Ben wasn't satisfied to watch his parents sell engraved dog-related items. He wanted a part of the action.

So Ben's parents bought a button machine and helped him set up a subsidiary of Dave Engraves called Buttons By Ben.

They divided up the labor needed to create personalized buttons. Mom Karen Trauner created the designs and printed them out on the computer. Ben (with some "help" from his 4-year-old brother) cut the designs out with a special die-cut machine, then used another piece of equipment and several layers of metal and plastic to stamp out customized buttons.

They sold them at several greyhound shows last summer and Ben's interest ran high. They also made brochures, which Ben delivered to local retailers.

When school started, fourth-grade homework started interfering with Ben's work, and business took a downturn.

But Halloween and election season have helped the numbers on his balance sheet grow. He sold several buckets of Halloween buttons to a few retailers and, thanks to an e-mail his mom sent out to local candidates, he's gotten several orders for election season.

He has his mom working on Hanukkah designs and Christmas designs, and he is already looking toward Valentine's Day.

"For me, it's all about selling things. My mom hates selling but loves designing. It works out well for both of us," he said.

Though the buttons are not yet bringing in the thousands of dollars Ben dreams of, his dad said his son is learning lessons that will benefit him later.

"This is an early life lesson in competition for Ben. He'll be competing for the rest of this life," Dave Trauner said. "With this button business he's learned rejection, he's learned success, and he's learned about money management. This is a kid that's going to make something happen. He'll be someone to look out for."

Want to know more? Visit www.daveengraves.com and select Buttons, Magnets & More from the menu on the left.