From Oct.1 to Nov. 12, the Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) hosted a Waterway Carwash fundraiser by selling coupons. Members of FBLA participated in the fundraiser to practice their sales skills and earn money to lower the cost of their travels to district, state and national competitions.

FBLA members compete in a plethora of contests, including business related case studies, presentational events and testing events. For these competitions, members must travel and pay their own fees for hotel stays, which sometimes exceed $100 per participant. However, having a fundraiser will help to pay for those who qualify. 

“The other officers and I helped organize the Waterway fundraiser for FBLA because we heard this was an opportunity to raise money. We distributed coupons to all the members of FBLA. After six weeks, we gave Waterway half of our profits and kept the other half,” senior and vice president of FBLA communications Laith Alhamid said.

Each Waterway coupon for a Ceramic Express car wash voucher was sold at a market price of $25. FBLA kept 50% of the profit, making a total of $3000 from 240 sales. 

While FBLA has hosted fundraisers in the past, this is the first time they introduced a competition to push participants to achieve the highest number of sales.

“Most of our members this year are new, so our executive board thought there wouldn’t be any other way to get members to sell coupons unless there was a big incentive in it,” Alhamid said. “We gave the highest seller the first pick for events because there are limited events, and everybody would be racing to select them. We thought that it would be an easy prize to give out and encourage people to sell.”

Junior Justin Lutz was the highest-selling participant in the fundraiser. With prior business experience, Lutz sold a total of 31 coupons.

“It was pretty competitive with the Waterway coupons. There were a lot of people selling a bunch,” Lutz said. “Originally I wasn’t gonna sell a ton, but because of how competitive it was, it made me want to sell a lot.”

In order to sell tickets, Lutz practiced his sales technique by visiting his neighbors, introducing himself and selling coupons by explaining how their money could help FBLA. Lutz was a FBLA nationals attendee last year and hopes to be a finalist at the national competition this year. By selling the most coupons, Lutz earned the first pick for FBLA events to compete in, so he chose business management and banking and financial systems.

“I hope to compete, and I want to be an officer my senior year which is why I wanted to win the fundraiser competition. I want to try to compete at the state and national level and place at nationals this year,” Lutz said.

Alhamid hopes that more business-minded students get involved with FBLA, including fundraisers and other events. 

“People should get involved with FBLA because it helps a lot. You can [get] awards. We also have over 100 members who have the opportunity to compete and get real-world experience,” Alhamid said. “It’s also a really good competition to get into the business field early on. You are getting hands-on experience by being put in business scenarios.”