By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune Sports Journalist
Molly Kramer couldn’t find time to do her Christmas shopping. The Brossart High School senior asked her sisters to pick up presents for her because she was too busy with classes, homework, basketball… and running her own online business.
The 17-year-old entrepreneur molds a variety of plastic fishing bait at her home in Alexandria and sells them on the Balls and bait website that she created. This month, she had a lot of Christmas orders to fulfill while playing on the Brossart women’s basketball team.
Molly Kramer is one of the best scorers on the Brossart women’s basketball team. (Photo provided)
“That’s when I place most of my merchandise orders and it adds to the stress because you don’t want to ruin someone’s Christmas by forgetting their present,” she said.
Keeping up with the holiday sales doesn’t seem to be affecting Kramer’s performance on the basketball court. In four games over the past two weeks, she has scored 41 points and grabbed 40 rebounds. The 5-foot-10 forward is currently averaging 11.1 points and a team-high 7.8 rebounds per game for the 6-3 Mustangs, who will face Boyle County in the first round of the Berea Holiday Classic. tuesday.
“It’s been pretty good,” Kramer said of the team’s first nine games under new head coach Steve Brown. “He hasn’t made us change much from what we’ve been doing for the past three years. He kind of came and adapted to what we did.
Kramer is also part of the Brossart softball team in the spring when the fishing season begins. She usually has a lot of orders to fill at that time, but she’s been able to handle it all since she started her business in the fall of 2019.
“If I had a normal job, I would probably have to give it up to play sports,” she said. “It gives me some cash flow and teaches me responsibility. And it teaches me a lot about finances and being more aware of it.
Molly Kramer holds a largemouth bass that she has reeled in using one of the plastic baits she sells. (Photo provided)
Kramer said she started fishing and hunting with her father and grandfather when she was a young girl. She started making her own plastic bait three years ago after watching a YouTube video of someone doing it.
During the Covid 19 pandemic, she was bored and needed something to do. It was then that she decided to sell bait online and created the Bullets And Baits website. She only sells bait at the moment, but she could expand her business to include shellfish for hunting.
Homemade plastic baits of various shapes, sizes and colors are for sale on the site. Last summer, Kramer and his cousin, Cason, designed their own bait and had a mold made for it.
The website features a photo of Kramer holding a largemouth bass that she reeled in using one of her baits. She said they have been shipped to customers in over 40 states and Canada.
“I go out and test them myself,” Kramer said. “My cousin is actually smarter at fishing than me. He goes to tournaments and stuff, so he’s my main guy when it comes to testing and he tells me what I need to do. cash.”
His parents, Wayne and Peggy, were also instrumental in the company’s success. She said dad taught her how to manage spreadsheets and mom made countless trips to the post office to ship products.
Kramer is an outstanding student and received a full scholarship to attend Northern Kentucky University through the Governor’s Scholar Program. She plans to major in marketing with a minor in entrepreneurship. She doesn’t know what she will do with her online business when she gets to college.
“That’s what I’m trying to figure out now and over the next four years,” she said. “It would be great to do this for the rest of my life, but I’m not sure it’s doable. That’s the kind of thing I need to understand. I really hope to be independent in the future.
