Brandon is bottom-left in photo.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Butler University bookstore sells its mascot on coffee mugs, Mason jars and shot glasses. It hawks the Butler Bulldog on earrings, scarves, T-shirts and seat cushions. It boasts bulldog stickers for your face, for your car and for your wall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And of course the bookstore has snuggly stuffed animal bulldogs by the bucketful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what the bookstore didn\u2019t sell, students noticed, was anything like a Pillow Pet, a popular plush toy that lies flat as a pillow or folds up into a stuffed animal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An idea for a class project \u2014 and a retail business \u2014 was born.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A team of Butler students created the Butler Bed Buddy, a jersey-wearing bulldog pillow modeled after the university\u2019s former beloved mascot Blue II.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Steep learning curve<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never written a business plan before,\u201d said sophomore Michael Mueller, 19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the Butler Bed Buddy project meant they needed to come up with one in a single semester \u2014 finances, marketing, logistics, everything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They pitched it in a required introductory class for business students, called Real Business Experience. As its straightforward name suggests, the class has all business students launch their own startup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t know where to start,\u201d said sophomore Emily Sparrow, 19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They brainstormed a plan and turned to Google to find a manufacturer. Proposal in hand, they asked the school for a small loan and placed an order in China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was a big shot in the dark,\u201d Mueller said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat if it was wrong?\u201d Sparrow said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the samples showed exactly what they wanted: a light-colored bulldog sporting a blue jersey, complete with the official Butler University logo. He lies flat in a square on his tummy or folds up onto four legs with a strap. His eyebrow can flip up or down, making the huggable plush look fierce to some and friendly to others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The students had to get licensing permission to use the Butler logo and were careful not to infringe on the trademarked \u201cPillow Pet\u201d name. Butler vets the business class proposals, which operate under the school\u2019s insurance and tax umbrellas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Quick sales<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the time the first shipment arrived, the students had presold enough Bed Buddies to cover their costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWord spread. It was nuts,\u201d Mueller said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They sold dozens to their friends and families and made sure Butler President Jim Danko had one, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cuddly pillows became one of new mascot Blue III\u2019s favorite toys, along with basketballs and cardboard boxes. He lunges for the pillows and likes to chew on them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe thinks all the Butler Bed Buddies belong to him,\u201d said Blue III\u2019s caretaker, Michael Kaltenmark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The students hit another surge of sales when they started tying pink, blue and basketball-patterned ribbons around the cuddly animals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you know someone who likes Butler or went to Butler, it\u2019s automatic,\u201d Sparrow said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learning by doing<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, there were plenty of tough business lessons, such as how long it takes a shipment to travel overseas and how expensive it is to send items from Chicago to Indianapolis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marketing, the four students agreed, became the greatest challenge. How do you sell to students on limited budgets, and how do you get the word out to Butler fans outside campus?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt really was a roller coaster,\u201d Mueller said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They\u2019re still thinking up ways to plug their product, including, perhaps, sending one to former Bulldogs basketball coach Brad Stevens, who now coaches the Celtics in Boston.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anne Clark, an Indianapolis pediatric eye doctor who mentors the students, pointed to their collaborative spirit and perseverance as a key to their successes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt all sounds really good on paper, but when they begin executing it, it doesn\u2019t always work out,\u201d she said. \u201cThey work really hard at it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Real Business Experience is a \u201clearn-by-doing\u201d program in which sophomores get a hands-on introduction to business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey come out with a much broader understanding of how a business operates from a cultural side, as well as a procedural side,\u201d said lecturer Dick Halstead, who coordinates the program. \u201cThey\u2019re not there to study marketing or \u00adaccounting, but where the strategies intersect. That\u2019s how businesses run. You can\u2019t teach that stuff. It\u2019s a much stronger learning model.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other projects over the years have included a photo booth, barbecue sauce and environmentally friendly laundry \u00addetergent. Students have provided technology support to retirement communities and sold hot dogs out of a renovated trailer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They aren\u2019t graded on how much they sell, whether they are approved for school loans or whether they win business competitions. Success, Halstead said, can be measured by the strength of a plan or the students\u2019 development as they go through the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, the Bed Buddy project has churned out big numbers: After almost two semesters of running the business, the students have sold hundreds of Bed Buddies and stand to take home more than $10,000 in profits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They did so well that other students whispered rumors that their project banked astronomical profits last semester. They did so well that other students in the Real Business Experience classes are looking to them for tips.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey come to us and say, \u2018Can you help us?\u2019 \u201d Sparrow said. \u201cIt feels good to be able to give advice, because we asked for a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEntrepreneurship sounds so fancy,\u201d Mueller said. \u201cIt\u2019s such a romantic word. But it\u2019s literally just hard work and grit.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe just started building a company,\u201d said jun\u00adior Sarah Grace, 21. \u201cNot many college grads will be able to say that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next step<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now the Bed Buddy is at a critical juncture. Along with partner Brandon Shannon, a 19-year-old sophomore, the students could scale the business, extending it to other schools too small to have an official brand-name Pillow Pet. They could continue the business, which is run out of a small \u201cwar room\u201d on campus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or they could sell it \u2014 to another student group, to another business or to the school bookstore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt would be really cool to come back to Butler as an alumni and see it being sold in bookstores,\u201d Sparrow said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it\u2019s not an easy \u00addecision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like we gotta send it off to college,\u201d she said, with a tinge of sadness and a hint of pride.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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