Milpitas High School’s unique events, including Night Market and First Friday, continuously foster and inspire entrepreneurship in students in the form of student-owned businesses.
One such business, PonPons, sprang up after a group of friends in their freshman year sold their handmade items at Night Market with the Youth Arts Movement club, junior Annie Dang said. After that, they decided it would be fun to try something on their own, Dang said.
“We thought that it’d be a really good way to get experience for future jobs or expand to out-of-school fairs,” Dang said. “We would have something to do with our hobbies, and expand on them so they’re not just hobbies.”
PonPons was named after Gashapons, capsule toys that can be won in machines at locations like the Great Mall, junior Olivia Ling said. They originally wanted to sell Gasha-related items, Ling added.
“We dropped the idea and ended up keeping the title in, and we just made crochet items, stickers, handmade items,” Ling said.
Though PonPons is a business, they don’t take themselves too seriously, junior Crystal Gao said.
“I feel like the business is just an opportunity to get something back from doing our hobbies,” Gao said. A lot of us do big stuff, like crochet; those things take up space. So instead of just having fun with our hobbies, we get money in return. And then we don’t even do it for full price. We always do discounts to show you don’t have to take our business seriously, but we want you to have fun with it.”
Ling’s favorite part of PonPons is the charming and funny people who visit their store, she said. They do a lot of silly discounts, including giving customers a discount if they do something funny, Ling added.
“It’s really fun watching them all,” Ling said. “I’ve seen someone do a backflip.”
Their pricing is based on the time, effort, and the materials of the products, and they discount based on how much the item is worth, Dang said.
“I feel like we price decently compared to the market,” Dang said. “If you include the discount, it’s kind of undervalued. But for us, the experience of getting to bond with the customers who buy from us is what makes up for the discount, so I wouldn’t really consider it being undervalued.”
The preparations before an event are really stressful because they focus on elevating their store’s appearance every time, Gao said. During their first market, they only had a table, but during their last market, they had standees, signage, and even a fun tarot card reading, Gao added.
“You don’t want to see the same thing every time,” Gao said. “So, we try to be a little bit new every time, so you don’t get bored.”
Starting the business took a lot of trial and error, Ling said.
“At the start, we were a total mess,” she said. “Over time, we became more experienced. We learned how to do this, how to do that, and how to keep things from falling apart. Now, we’re pretty smooth.”
For students who want to start a business, Crystal advises taking advantage of school opportunities, Gao said.
“Buying a table might be expensive, it’s 20 bucks, but I think it’s a really nice start,” she said. “The preparations for people starting it can be really difficult, but I think the outcome is really worth it. And then if you’re also scared of selling online as well, I feel like the markets can also give you just a little bump in publicity, or at least make students say, ‘Oh, hey, I remember them, I wondered what they’re selling.’”
Annie suggests that you work with other students if you’re planning to start a business, Dang said.
“Even if sometimes it’s hard to come to an agreement. I think it’s really nice working with other people, because you can get different opinions,” she said. “If you were to do it on your own, it’d be a lot of responsibility, and it’s just easier to rely on other people sometimes.”
Crystal’s near future plans for PonPons include the next three markets, she said.
“The one in Great America, and then hopefully, Creatorscape and AA market,” Gao said. “And then hopefully during the summer, we’ll be able to sell at outside markets, because that’s when everyone’s available.”
Annie hopes they can continue PonPons even when they’ve graduated from school and are in college, she said.
“I hope that we can attend bigger outside fairs and also make it kind of like a legit store by getting a store permit in the future,” Dang said. “I think that’d be really cool, and it’s something I’m hoping that we can do.”