Sophomore Rick Pinkleton is not only a student at the University, he is also his own boss as he recently franchised Quixtar America’s seventh largest Internet retail company.

The National Retail Federation through the Russell Reynolds Associates reported Quixtar as being the most successful retailer behind Gateway and just before Barnes ‘amp; Noble.

Also reported was Quixtar with $400 to $450 million in online sales to U.S. consumers and over 600,000 customers in 2004.

Pinkleton opened his business after friend Jarod Bratoli, also a student at the University, explained his success with Quixtar.

Soon after Pinkleton franchised a section of the company he met his Quixtar mentor John Winter, a University of Toledo graduate.

‘John helped me understand a successful marketing system and how to build off that,’ Pinkleton said.

Quixtar is a marketing company founded in 1999 that unites the Internet and the individual customer. Quixtar doesn’t advertise, instead they channel those dollars to independent business owners who generate the sales at Quixtar.com.

‘I always wanted to be my own boss, but I didn’t have $3.2 million. To open any other major franchise you need money, lots of it,’ Pinkleton said. ‘Take McDonald’s for example, you would easily need $3.2 million.

‘Marketing a product and selling fast food are quite different from one another in the business world Pinkleton admits.

‘If I advertise a product to a friend, such as a movie, I expect to be rewarded,’ he said.

Pinkleton sets up each of his customers with their own personal account off the Quixtar.com main server. This personal account is directly linked to Pinkleton’s administrator account.

‘I want to offer a convenience to my customers. If they want macaroni and cheese delivered to them twice a week, they got it,’ he said.

Studying interpersonal communication with minors in marketing and investing, Pinkleton adds to his busy schedule by managing the Lids in Woodland Mall.