By Emily Baldauf
Staff Writer

The last few weeks of the semester are stressful for almost every student. Final exams alone are enough to cause severe anxiety, especially when coupled with term papers and semester projects that are all due on the same day.

In contrast, running your own business would be even more stressful. Filling orders, designing new products, marketing and balancing the finances are just a few of the daily tasks one would have to complete every day.

Imagine having to do both everyday; even during finals week. Alan Slade, a 4th year pharmacy student, knows exactly what it would be like: he does it every day.

Slade has managed his own e-commerce business, Creative Waterscapes.com for over a year now. It began as a summer project for his parents and ended in his own design/installation business. After receiving many requests, Slade soon published his first 47 page catalog.

Although he anticipated success, he only received one order from the new catalog. Slade, however, did not give up there. He decided to start a simple web page in hopes that more people would see his designs and services.

Not only did a lot of people see the web page, a lot of people began buying Slade’s designs. With his low overhead and online abilities, Slade’s business experienced a 145 percent growth in sales in one year.

Slade attributes this success to his hard work and determination. "I always knew that if I was going to do it, I would find the means to the ends," Slade said.

Slade’s business recently earned national recognition last month when he was named Duck Head Apparel’s "Entrepreneur of the Month."

Duck Head Apparel has been sponsoring the contest since January as part of their nationwide campaign, "Call to Action", which was designed to reinforce their commitment to cultivate young entrepreneurs.

"Essentially Duck Head really feels strongly about encouraging young people to become independent and follow their dreams," said Alison Hessert, public relations for Duck Head Apparel. "Duck Head Apparel gets the satisfaction of nurturing their consumers and giving back to those who are loyal to them."

Along being named "Entrepreneur of the Month," Slade received $2,000 cash and $500 in Duck Head Apparel. One of the four monthly winners will also be selected Duck Head’s "Entrepreneur of the Year" and receive $10,000 and an internship to College Television Network’s headquarters in New York.

"The way this all has snowballed is unreal," said Slade. "It is such an honor to get this award; I don’t think I even realized the entire impact of it yet."

According to Hessert, Slade was selected for the award because he has combined something that he is truly passionate about with his great business sense.

"In a sense that is today’s Renaissance man," said Hessert. "He is giving people that ability to make their dreams come true."

Although Slade’s business takes a lot of time, he says that he always finds time to balance his classes and Creative Waterscapes.

"It’s difficult with taking a full load of classes in pharmacy, but I fit it in where I can," Slade said. "Perseverance is the key. If I didn’t have the desire, I wouldn’t have succeeded."

Although his business is going well, Slade has no intention of quitting school to work on Creative Waterscapes full time. He still has two more years until he graduates and then he is thinking about using his entrepreneurial interest somehow in the field of Pharmacy.

Slade offers a little advice to his fellow Purdue entrepreneurs:

"Find a really good idea that you really believe in and go with it," Slade said. "You can’t just put up a Web site and hope that the money will flow in because it probably won’t. It takes a lot if time and effort."