New business popping fresh

By Jaclyne Badal
The Collegian

Norman Dimick has loved business since he was a child. “It was right after the ‘I want to be an astronaut or a firefighter’ stage,” he said.

This week Dimick became an entrepreneur. He opened a popcorn stand in the Free Speech Area Wednesday after a semester of planning and months of filing paperwork.

The business, PuP-CorN, started as a project for the entrepreneurship program’s new ventures class, which asked students to develop a self-sustaining company. Dimick said most of the projects failed to leave the planning stages. He wanted his to be different.

“I want to actually run the thing and see if it will support itself,” Dimick said. “We started it up and it’s been a long time getting through the red tape with the county health department and the bureaucracy at Fresno State but we were able to get something together finally.”

Dimick and partner Ross Lenz, who graduated last semester, were responsible for organizing everything, including the business plan, the preliminary cash flow projections and the cart.

“We had to design a system where we could actually run hot and cold water on the cart,” Dimick said. “That was a big headache. We had to build the thing ourselves, basically.”

The cart cost about $2,000. Dimick and Lenz funded its production. They expect to recover their costs within three to six months of operations.

A friend works the cart from day to day. Dimick manages the books and looks for ways to make the business more profitable. This semester he is also taking nine units and working 30 to 40 hours per week at his job as a contracting estimator. Dimick said he did not mind the heavy workload.

“I really, really want to be successful in business,” he said. “Since I’ve decided to take this on, I can’t give up without giving it everything I have and just being satisfied that I’ve done my best.” Dimick said his drive to succeed was often nourished at home.

“My father is a real entrepreneurial guy,” Dimick said. “It’s just he never had the actual education, I guess, to pull it off.”

Dimick said he was grateful for the business education he received at Fresno State. He proudly announced that Entrepreneur magazine ranked the entrepreneurship program here eighth in the nation, just behind the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which was ranked seventh.

The magazine surveyed directors, faculty and alumni at 500 colleges and universities to find the best programs in the country. Fresno State received high marks three years in a row. The university’s applied approach to business makes it effective, Dimick said.

“It’s very hands on,” he said. “There’s a lot of great mentors available. I was actually teamed up through one of the mentorship programs with the CEO of a local company, and he’s been really helpful.”

The program also profits from its association with the Lyles Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, which provides students and the community at large with services that help with business startup and operations.

This year the program is offering a $10,000 business plan competition for Fresno State students.

First, second and third place teams will win office space in the Lyles Center Hatchery and cash prizes to develop their businesses. The center plans to help students by offering monthly workshops.

Dimick said he has already benefited from the Lyles Center’s input. Director Tim Stearns counseled Dimick and Lenz when they were trying to decide what product to sell - they initially wanted pizza.

“He suggested, ‘Why don’t you just make it easy on yourself and just do popcorn?’” Dimick said.

Stearns said popcorn would be simple to make and would have higher profit margins. And everyone loves it.

“We thought it would be a lot easier than it actually turned out being,” Dimick said with a laugh.

Even with all the difficulties involved in starting a business, Dimick said it was worth it. He said the experience of seeing a concept through from start to finish will help him in the future.

“People have to be able to provide for themselves and they can’t count on companies and small businesses to support them,” he said. “I’ve always wanted to be in business for myself. I look at it like, ‘That’s where our economy is headed.’"

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