Twenty-year-old college student is marketing maven in the making
Jorgan Cattin opened a lemonade stand at the age of six, but he gave it up because "there just wasn’t enough profit potential."
That’s an unusual conclusion for a six-year old to make, to be certain. But Cattin himself is unusual. At 14, the Vancouver resident found some old Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus programs lying around the house, and he put them up for sale on eBay. He sold several of them for around $20 a piece, and then he ordered more, and continued to sell.
The 2004 Prairie High School graduate who took marketing classes and ran the student store said he’s always been interested in different business ventures.
"When people come to my bedroom, I tell them, ‘everything’s for sale,’" he said.
Sitting alone in the Clark County Student Union between classes, Cattin stares at the screen of his laptop. In the chair next to him sits an un-opened PlayStation 3 video game system. But Cattin does not play games. He owns three of the game consoles – recently earning ink in local papers after hiring a crew to camp out and purchase them with the intention of selling them at high mark-up on eBay.
"The market’s really saturated right now," he said of the enterprise. "I’m thinking maybe I could mark up the price and then offer them on a payment plan. That’s the only way I can think to recoup my costs."
The shaky PlayStation venture has had no effect on Cattin’s business head; it just comes with the territory. And anyway, he has plenty other enterprises in the works. He buys clothing and electronic devices from China and applies them to the eBay model, and for a while had a line on authentic Nike Air Jordans that he could purchase at cost.
"I’d rather not talk numbers," he said of the eBay sales. "But it’s enough for me to live on."
Cattin spent two years in high school studying culinary arts and management at the Clark County Skills Center. Instead of getting a job with those skills, he started a business.
On his card (for that particular Jorgan Cattin-owned company), he is listed as Executive Chef and Owner of JC’s Catering.
"I just did a 50-plate dinner for an insurance company here in town," he said. "I served breaded, stuffed chicken breasts with a vegetable and a dessert."
So, he’s a private caterer and eBay seller. Surely he spends his free time relaxing? Not exactly. On another business card, he is listed as the owner of a company called J&S Maintenance, a rain gutter cleaning service. To drum up business for that company, Cattin came up with a novel plan.
"I’m making $300 later today installing Christmas lights," he said. "I put an ad on Craigslist to hang people’s lights. I hired a person to do it for $20 an hour."
Here comes the kicker:
"Then we offer free take-down in January," he said, "and while we’re up there on the ladder, we’ll tell them their rain gutters are dirty and then make an appointment to clean them in the spring."
It takes a special mind to think that way. Cattin’s pluck prompts the declaration, "Wow, it sound’s like there’s a market for…"
Cattin politely interrupts:
"Everything."
Cattin plans to finish up at Clark and then study business at Washington State University Vancouver. He said he would like to be offered a paid internship at a major corporation, but ultimately would like to remain his own boss.
"How else could I be able to do whatever I want?" he said.
