WLM
Conner beside his ‘Best of Show’ winning creation at the Campbell County Fair
| business
photo courtesy Connor Baldacci
They also create the iconic symbol using wine corks. “I got the idea {for the} wine corks after making a backsplash of corks for our kitchen in the basement,” Conner says. “I had made one or two from license plates and after playing around with the idea I used the leftover corks and built a small bucking horse out of them. After working with the design a bit, the cork bucking horse became one of our largest selling products.” I’m in love with the products, but I’m particularly fascinated by the fact that this is a 15 year old entrepreneur, carrying on very adult and intelligent conversations with me about his business! I have to say it – I’m really impressed. I had to ask Conner some questions and learn what makes him tick – or create, so to speak. I began by asking him where this creative spark originated. “Art class has always been my favorite and I love to tinker with things,” Conner replied. (I’m not surprised!) “I always have a project (usually multiple) that I’m working on at any given time. In a nutshell, what prompted me to create these is being bored over the summer. This started out as one of those projects and turned into something bigger.” Being an entrepreneur myself, having been in his shoes, I know the challenges that I face every day. It can be grueling putting yourself out there repeatedly, selling not only your business, but yourself. But I’m 35, and have some extra flexibility than what Conner has. What are some of the lessons he has learned along the way – and from where does he find his support? “Being 15 has been both a challenge and a help to this business,” Conner replied. “I can’t drive myself to make sales and deliveries. Also, there are several licenses that I had to obtain -- some of which you had to be 18 to get. In public school we
“We moved from Casper to Gillette in
the summer of 2011 and were planning on hanging our old license plates on the wall in the shop,” Conner explains. “I didn’t like them just hanging there and thought I should try to do something with them.” The thought spurred the creative process, and Conner began shaping his creations into the bucking horse, that symbol synonymous with Wyoming. Some help from Conner’s dad and some trial-and-error over the course of a few months, and they had it – a seven foot tall bucking horse made out of license plates.
The next summer, Conner entered the mammoth creation in the county fair – “…it was my first time entering anything in any county fair,” he adds – and a buzz was born. It won Best in Show, and people were asking how they could get one. “This prompted more ideas,” Conner says. “I scaled it down to about 1.5 feet and made the rough cut of what became the small size.” He attended the Wyoming License Plate Society’s trade show at Gillette’s CamP