When business goes BAM
Teen uses acronym to name his own company, which will help pay for his LDS mission
By Kathryn Jones, Close-Up CorrespondentSalt Lake Tribune
Bountiful 14-year-old Taylor Perkins loves acronyms and missionary work. As a fourth-grader in Missouri, he passed out CTR (Choose The Right) rings to non-Mormon friends who expressed interest in the LDS keepsakes. Four years later in Utah, he has created his own business: BAM, short for "Be a missionary." "I've wanted to be a missionary since forever," Taylor says, adding that his business is "pretty cool." "I like it when people say, 'You're the BAM kid.' " Taylor, who dreams of serving a mission for the LDS Church in Germany when he turns 19, credits friends and family for helping him fulfill his goal and get his business running. "They have helped me tons, every step of the way," he says. "A lot of my friends have ordered" items from BAM. Indeed Taylor's business has progressed a long way. Just a short few months ago, BAM was merely an acronym on a Sunday-school chalkboard - three letters chalked up on the blackboard by the teen's teacher. "What are some ways you can be close to the Lord?" he recalls his teacher asking. Instead of giving a standard answer such as prayer, scripture study or church attendance, Taylor blurted out, "Be a missionary." That prompted the teacher, chalk in hand, to write the acronym "BAM" on the board. The impact was immediate. Erin Perkins, Taylor's mother, says her son arrived home from church that day with a bounce in his step. "He said, 'I know how I'm going to pay for my mission.' " Never mind the fact that Taylor's previous ideas made family members chuckle. Turns out, BAM was no laughing matter. "The more I thought of it, the more I realized how good the idea was," Erin says. Later that day, she sat down and e-mailed places that might be interested in her son's idea. Erin received multiple responses, one of them from LDS Church-owned Deseret Book. We want to see the logo,' Erin recalls Deseret Book officials replying. "But we didn't have a logo, and so Taylor and his dad, [Mitch], sat up that night creating one. I e-mailed the logo to the same businesses the following day." Business was more brisk than anyone anticipated. BAM began with a Web site trafficking T-shirts. Taylor's greatest success, though, has come selling BAM ties. "They've sold like gangbusters," Erin says. Taylor says his company's stickers and tie tacks are also fun products. Once BAM gets out of debt and starts turning a profit, he plans to put some money aside for his mission. "We keep sinking money into this business," Erin says. There's "no profit yet, but I think [the success of the business] is going to be a gradual thing." Seeing BAM through from a concept to a commercial business is rewarding. “Taylor and his brother, [Mitchell], have planned how to market, a logo has been created and they are a part of the trade-marketing process. It's an incredible thing," Erin says. As for Taylor's mission, his mother says he and other family members already know a thing or two about being a missionary. "We've moved 13 times, and it's been an incredible experience for them," she says. "Sometimes they've been the only ones of their religion in their school."
Perkins’ BAM sweeping across globe
Melinda Williams, Staff WriterDAVIS County Clipper
26.OCT.06
FARMINGTON — When 14 year-old Taylor Perkins came home from church in May with the bright idea for a business to help pay for his LDS mission, his mother Erin placated her boy with a nod and a smile. “Taylor is always thinking up different ideas for businesses and inventions so we didn’t pay too much attention to him initially,” Erin said.
As the day progressed and Taylor continued talking about his business idea, Erin began to pay closer attention. Then, after some research, BAM! the Mueller Park ninth grader was a businessman.
“BAM means ‘Be A Missionary,” Taylor said. “We talked about being a missionary in church and my teacher put down the word BAM, and it really hit me.”
“I knew I could use that idea like the CTR ring, but that BAM could be utilized for all religions because it’s about being a missionary,” he added. “It can be a missionary for your religion or just being a missionary for goodness, whatever you want.”
The next day, the Perkinses got on the phone with different church-oriented stores and were immediately met with positive responses.
“We were surprised because Deseret Book, the BYU bookstore, Mr. Mac and some others were right on it,” Erin said. “They all said they didn’t have that yet and were very interested in the concept.”
That evening Taylor and his father Mitchell designed the BAM logo while Erin helped Taylor do the necessary trademark work.
“It’s been fun because my family has been involved,” Taylor said.
With the trademark in place and major corporations clamoring for BAM products, Taylor began slapping BAM on items like ties, tie-tacks, wristbands, bumper stickers and T-shirts.
And with www.beamissionary.net up and running, sales have been coming in from as far away as New Zealand and Spain.
“It’s sort of funny because it’s something I came up with and people in other countries are liking it,” Taylor said.
The impact of BAM struck Erin when she was out running recently near the Bountiful LDS Temple with her mother.
“A guy was running toward us, and as he went by I noticed he was wearing a BAM T-shirt,” Erin said. “That’s when it hit me that Taylor had really struck a cord with people.”
The family spent part of the Summer at the LDS book store convention where BAM was signed as the theme to an Arizona state religious pageant.
“The woman who signed us was saying the pageant had to be of a non-denominational theme,” Erin said. “With BAM meaning Be A Missionary, it could stand for any type of organization, so it worked for her.”
The woman ordered 500 shirts.
“We recently signed with a distributor,” Taylor said. “It’s the only way to really move the products, even though it takes a little longer initially.”
Taylor, when not taking the business world by storm, is a typical ninth grader.
“I made the junior high basketball team and play on a competition team,” Taylor said.
Noting the opportunity to market his company, the team’s name is BAM!
Look out world, Taylor Perkins is on a mission.
sschulte@davisclipper.com
Click on the letter to contact us to order shirts.
