By Staff Writer, CYnthia Arakelian

Name: Conoon Kim.
School: Herbert Hoover High School.
Activity Summary: Entrepreneur?

On a daily basis, Kim spends about an hour or two updating his website, uploading more magazines, answering customer emails, and recording orders. Kim is the CEO and founder of Real Deal Magazines, an online website providing customers with subscriptions to their favorite magazines.                                                                                    For the past six months he has involved himself in the “fast-growing [magazine business] market” due to the convenience in delivering and selling the magazines and maintaining the business over the Internet.                                                                                            Some may believe this to be an easy task, yet Kim admits that managing a magazine subscription business while engaged in football his sophomore year of high school soon became unbearable. Checking his priorities, he soon chose to quit the team in order to pursue his business career more attentively.                                                      Peter Lee (’07), an employee of Kim’s, started participating in this business on Jan. 6. This job provides Lee with the perfect experience he needs in order to major in computer design in college. Lee “[looks] forward to making this company better,” and enjoys helping out a friend and making money as well.                                                  In addition to this site, Kim also manages to maintain three other websites: lendermutual.com, hhskoreanclub.com, and pandaboom.com.                                                      Since being introduced to the idea by a previous co-worker from his brother’s company, Kim created a simple e-commerce website and went from there. Within a couple of months, with the motivation of his brother, mother, and himself he has been able to go from creating an e-commerce website to effectively providing his customers subscriptions to various magazines such as US Weekly, Maxim, Vogue, and Rolling Stone.                  After having established a common interest in a magazine, the rest is quite simple. After contacting Kim via Internet or direct conversation, he then discusses with his business partner the new request for a subscription. His partner later contacts an agency known as National Publisher’s Exchange Magazines. Lastly, this agency contacts the publisher of the customer’s requested magazine. The money is then shared between Kim and the agency.                                                                                                                            “The Agency has a set price, which varies among different magazines. I buy it from wholesale and sell it retail,” Kim said. “Although there are currently 50 magazines posted on the website, hundreds of more will be uploaded in the near future.”                         To Kim, this is a simple task due to the previous experience he has had in this business. Taking into consideration the various mistakes he has made in the past, he was able to incorporate his new-found knowledge on time management and prioritizing his interests.                                                                                                                                   Kim’s mother, Jung Hee Kim, states, “Business is a step-by-step process where one continually fails and succeeds, and for my son to start this early will enable him to be ahead of others in the industry.”                                                                                                    Many may still wonder, “Why subscribe to a magazine issue on realdealmagazines.com, when I could easily purchase a magazine at a local grocery store for about $3?” When subscribed to Real Deal Magazines, each customer pays a yearly fee, which varies greatly depending on the magazine. Furthermore, for convenience, customers are able to have the issue mailed to their home address every month, thus saving time and money.                                                                                                           Ben Yoo (’07), a customer of Kim’s, is very pleased with the service, as Real Deal Magazines has a wide selection of magazines to choose from.                                                            Kim hopes to continue this business on the side for as long as possible, while still maintaining good grades and participating in school activities such as Korean Club. The experience he has gained thus far has helped introduce him to the field of business administration, a major he hopes to someday pursue in college.                                      “I would love for my company to continually expand and become a steady source of income, because it would really help me with college finances. I believe any goal is possible with the right mindset and dedication,” Kim said.