By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
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 baits at her home in Alexandria and sells them on the Bullets And Baits website that she created. This month, she had a lot of Christmas orders to fill while also playing on the Brossart girls basketball team.
Molly Kramer is one of the leading scorers on the Brossart girls basketball team. (Photo provided)
“This is when I do most of my merchandise orders and that adds to the stress because you don’t want to ruin anybody’s Christmas by forgetting their present,” she said.
Keeping up with holiday sales didn’t seem to affect Kramer’s performance on the basketball court. In four games over the last two weeks, she 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 play Boyle County in the opening round of he Berea Holiday Classic on 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 done the past three years. He kind of came in and adapted to what we’ve done.”
Kramer also plays on the Brossart softball team in the spring when fishing season begins. She usually has a lot of orders to fill at that time, but she has been able to manage it all since she started her business in the fall of 2019.
“If I had a normal job, I’d probably have to give it up to play sports,” she said. “This gives me a little bit of cash flow and teaches me about responsibility. And it teaches me a lot about finances and to be more conscious about that.”
Molly Kramer holds a large-mouth bass she reeled in using one of the plastic baits she sells. (Photo provided)
Kramer said she began fishing and hunting with her father and grandfather when she was a young girl. She started making her own plastic baits three years ago after watching a video of someone doing it on YouTube.
During the Covid 19 pandemic, she was bored and needed something to do. That’s when she decided to sell baits online and created the Bullets And Baits website. She’s only selling baits right now, but she might expand the business and include shells for hunting.
Homemade plastics baits in different shapes, sizes and colors are for sale on the website. Last summer, Kramer and her cousin, Cason, designed a bait of their own and had a mold made for it.
The website has a photo of Kramer holding a large-mouth bass that she reeled in using one of her baits. She said they’ve been shipped to customers in more than 40 states and Canada.
“I go out and test them myself,” Kramer said. “My cousin is actually smarter in fishing than I am. He goes to tournaments and everything else, so he’s my main guy as far as testing and tells me what I should change.”
Her parents, Wayne and Peggy, have also played roles in the successful business venture. She said dad taught her to manage spreadsheets and mom has made countless trips to the post office to mail the 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’s not sure what she’ll do with her online business once she’s in college.
“That’s what I’m trying to figure out now and through the next four years,” she said. “It would be great to do this the rest of my life, but I’m not sure if that would be feasible. That’s the kind of thing I have to figure out. I’m definitely hoping to be self-employed in the future.”