After a project in Intro. to Business, he knew what he had to do. He saw them everywhere, laptops, water bottles, and even cars. He took advantage of a hungry market. Senior Nick Hale started his own sticker shop online.

Hale has multiple stickers and magnets for specific De Smet sports teams, classes, and other De Smet related activities.

“Every business has to fill a want or need of the consumer,” Hale said. “De Smet students use a lot of stickers, De Smet doesn’t sell a lot of stickers, so I filled the need.”

Hale started working on the idea in the summer, officially starting the website this year in an Independent Study with Business teacher Mr. Lange, as his mentor.

“I’d say Mr. Lange has had a pretty big influence on my company,” said Hale. “You wouldn’t expect it, but there are a bunch of little things you have to get through to start something like this, which Mr. Lange has helped with.”

Hale is looking to get his website some more traction by getting featured on De Smet social media and buying advertisements on Facebook and Instagram and emailing groups around the school that he has stickers for.

“People want to see young people succeed and are willing to do things by helping you out in a variety of ways,” Lange said. “For an older person, it is not as easy to get help or have as much leeway.”

Hale is the sole employee of The Sticker Pro. You can follow his company on Facebook @Sticker Pro and on Instagram @The._.StickerPro. He is looking to give his revenue from the website back to De Smet.

“I would like to talk to Mr. Leikos, for a calculator scholarship,” Hale said. “It’s a basic thing but I am not sure if De Smet picks up the bill on that one, especially for the lower-income families.”

You can buy one of his stickers by going to www.stickerpro.com. It has struck a chord with Students, some being very impressed by his company.

“I think it’s a great idea, stickers are on everyone’s laptops; I could see this being a hit,” Senior Leo Fiordelisi said. “I’m surprised this hasn’t been done before, considering how largely used stickers are used here at school.”

De Smet has a variety of entrepreneurial alumni, the next one could be sitting among us. Mr. Lange implores all students to take a risk and start their own business if interested.

“If you put away distractions for an hour a day and work on your project, what do you have to lose at the end of the day,” Mr. Lange said. “If it doesn’t work out maybe you learned something about photoshop, or how a business really runs.”