By: Jane Schuchardt
Editor’s Note: This continues a series of monthly articles celebrating pride in our town and its surroundings shown through the experience of residents and organizations.
“Oh, here’s a gift for you,” Cale Kinney, Elgin, quips as he finishes a knife sharpening job at a local farmhouse. The customer gets handed a band aid with a broad smile.
Those knives are sharp, sharp and so is Kinney, 19, now beginning his second year at Wayne State College majoring in business management and marketing. With college courses taken in high school, summer school, and full credit loads during the school year, Kinney announces with a soft-spoken confidence that he begins his junior year this fall and will graduate in three years.
And productive he is. After seeing an advertisement on Snapchat from Vector Marketing about selling Cutco products to earn a scholarship for college, Kinney applied in December 2023. By January, he was in a three-day training that led to selling more than $50,000 of product, mostly knives, in spring, and exceeding that amount already this summer.
In competition with thousands of other college students across the country, the result of this sales effort, both online and in person, gets him a $1,000 scholarship in each of three competition cycles. Quickly establishing a trust relationship with potential purchasers, Kinney explained the ‘why this product’ – “Other knives are cheaper, junkier, and dull.” He implied that it’s easy to sell his product because has a forever guarantee regardless of ownership and free sharpening, plus it’s an American-made product since 1949.
Selling a product in this manner (to friends and family) has been an opportunity for personal growth for Kinney. He cited what he’s learned from this experience — personal development, understanding people, confidence, influential public speaking, networking, and the opportunity to learn how to be a trustworthy business professional.
The son of Josh and Maria, Kinney grew up on a farm south of Elgin sandwiched between two sisters. Kinney said that he “pretty much did everything” while attending Pope John graduating in 2023 – speech, musical, FFA, track, football, golf, and more.
“Elgin is a great place to be part of a community that cares and supports you,” Kinney said. He encouraged young people to “get serious about taking responsibility instead of whining about a situation. Ask what you can do to move forward and make a difference,” he said.
Late in his high school senior year, Kinney said he started following the work of motivational speakers Jim Rohn, Dale Carnegie, and Jesus Christ.
“The Bible probably had the biggest impact,” he said. “It’s a guide on how to live life.”
When fall semester classes start August 26th, Kinney continues as fundraising chair for the Collegiate Entrepreneurship Organization (CEO), engaging with other students about business skills through the careers office, and attending weekly meetings for the Wayne State Careers Scholars Program that includes scholarship support and a fulltime internship his senior year.
Stop by Treasures in the Park, organized by Elgin’s Young-N-Lively women’s group, in the city park September 8, 2024 to experience for yourself how one of Elgin’s smalltown youth is on a path to a lifetime of success.
With hopes of running his own business, Kinney said, “It’s not about the money. It’s about becoming a better person” including being an influence to make lives better, acting instead of reacting, and learning from failure.
