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Brad Lewis is quite a salesman.

Lewis, a sophomore at Wake Forest University, ranked No. 15 among 40,000 sales representatives who sold Cutco cutlery for Vector Marketing Corp. during the summer of 2006.

Vector Marketing is a subsidiary of Alcas Corp., a marketer of Cutco Cutlery and accessories. The products are sold directly to consumers through in-home demonstrations.

Lewis, an aspiring finance major, sold more than $22,000 worth of Cutco cutlery in 15 days and ended the summer with more than $47,500 in sales.

He got an All-American Scholarship from Vector Marketing for his achievement, while maintaining the demanding life of a college student.

I get so excited about these knives, Lewis said. I absolutely love them. That's why I was able to do so well this summer.

Lewis said he gets financial help for school from his parents, so he is able to put the money he makes into savings.

Many students work to help pay for school. A 2006 survey by the University of California at Los Angeles shows that students are relying more on paid work while they are in college to help meet increasing school costs.

According to Randal Pinkett, the author of the just-released Campus CEO: The Student Entrepreneur?s Guide To Launching A Multimillion Dollar Business (Kaplan Publishing), people who take the leap into the business world while they are still in school can help defray their costs of education and do well long after graduation.

Since entrepreneurship has exploded on campuses across the country, students are seeing more and more role models to mirror, said Pinkett, a successful entrepreneur. The idea of becoming a student entrepreneur used to be radical, but today, it's a practical, appealing avenue for many students.

Lewis had some no sales along the way, but he estimates that he sold a product at 80 percent to 90 percent of his demonstrations.

He developed this philosophy: ?Maybe, I'm not going to hit a home run every time, but if I could just keep hitting singles, in the end, you'll look up and you'll have a great batting average. Or, in my case, you'll start to amass a lot of sales.

His sales achievement isn't bad at all for a 20-year-old, particularly since he had never sold anything in his life and had never worked with knives.

Lewis was on spring break at his home in Dallas, Texas, in 2006, just checking out the Internet for a summer job when he came across Vector Marketing's Web site.

He had no idea what the company sold but filled out a brief survey and submitted it. Not long after that, he received a call to come into Vector Marketing's Dallas office for a presentation about Cutco knives, which include kitchen, fishing and hunting knives. Other Cutco products are shears, scissors, flatware and cookware.

He accepted a job offer and completed a three-day training program, but couldn't start work until school was out for the summer.

Lewis said he owes a lot of his success to the managers in Vector Marketing's Dallas office. Kacey Cornelius, the sales manager in the office last summer, and John Carpenter, who runs the office and is the division manager of the Texoma division, which basically covers North Texas and Oklahoma.

He said that Vector Marketing is a fun company that has a lot of awards for its sales representatives and does things the right way. He said that Carpenter and Cornelius did a great job of inspiring sales representatives and making the office a really fun environment.

Lewis also gained inspiration from his parents, Janna and Gary Lewis, who are his biggest fans.

Selling is in his blood. His father, who owns Spectrum Strategies LLC, an investment management and financial advisory company in Dallas, has been a salesman in insurance and investments for 19 years.

Lewis said he likes going to different people's houses, performing demonstrations for them and providing a product that he believes in.

Like other sales representatives for Vector Marketing, Lewis started by selling knives to people whom he knew, then received referrals.

We go to the customers homes or their businesses, Carpenter said, but we never knock on a door. We always see people that we have permission to see.

Getting money for selling knives was an incentive, but Lewis really likes being around people, making friends and building relationships.

If I sold some knives along the way, that was a bonus, he said.

People who know Lewis describe him as someone who is always the life of a party, a social kid, a loyal person with a lot of friends.

He's one of these guys that when you're around him, it seems like everybody's in a good mood, Carpenter said.

Lewis' father, Gary, said that his son has always been competitive in sports and likes to win.

But, he, said, he's willing to work hard and pay the price for the long-term benefit. He has a good sense of the big picture.

He said that his son is persistent and doesn't give up at anything he does.

Brad Lewis said he hopes to take advantage of Vector Marketing's program for college students to open a branch office during the summer. He wants to share the knowledge and experience he gained from selling Cutco knives with other people.

I want to teach others, to help them have the kind of experience that I had, he said.

His ultimate goal is to one day take over his father's business.

� Fran Daniel can be reached at 727-7366 or at fdaniel@wsjournal.com.