Zandra Cunningham’s idea of business idea of natural makeup products is truly admirable. The article explains how her business idea was sparked from her dad telling her, “no” when she asked if she could wear makeup when she was little.  I remember when I was younger and also wanted to wear makeup, however, because of many of the harmful products that are in makeup now, my parents were afraid of me having a reaction from the products.  Brands such as Bare Minerals, are a good option when looking for a cleaner makeup product, however, they are extremely expensive.

Being that she was inspired to chase this idea at only nine and opening an Etsy shop when she was 12, is astounding!  She has now 21 years old and has been recognized for being one of the youngest millionaires in America.  Zandra is a perfect example of a motivational figure in society, who, if you put your mind to something, age does not matter.  This is also a show of proof that people want clean and healthy products!

Hart Main, a 13-year-old boy from Marysville, sells scented candles that have scents handpicked for men. “It started as a joke,” Main said in an interview with HuffPost. How could a 13-year-old start a company if he didn’t mean too?

It is impressive that a 13-year-old can own a successful business, but how did he do it? Even though his company is for-profit, he still uses his business to spread charity to those who need it. His product is made in the used, empty soup cans that picks back up after he donates them to the soup kitchen. This act alone shows how he is thinking of other within his business decisions, and how good of a business owner he is and will grow to become.

Everyone he works with in his company says he shows the competency of a 50-year-old businessman, and the growth his company has seen since its startup prove how well he handles his company. He was and is able to take control of a system even when most adults would hesitate to try. ManCans is an example to all aspiring and current business owners that anybody with enough time, effort, and hard work can start a successful company, just like Hart.

Young entrepreneur Adnan Aziz brought a whole new flavor to business! He developed strips of paper that you could actually taste. After watching Charlie and the Chocolate Factory as a college student, Aziz asked himself how to bring taste to ordinary items such as paper like Wonka did in the movie. The result made history.

Aziz brought his idea to life by developing edible film samples. These small trips are able to deliver taste impressions of a product in a compact way. These samples quickly led to his company. First Flavor which revolutionized marketing and brought it into a whole new dimension. Even though his company is incredibly successful now, it didn’t start out that way. Aziz felt like he had to apologize to his test groups because the initial products tasted so bad. However, he persevered through the errors and eventually made something that changed the marketing industry.

Aziz demonstrates his initiative through what he said about the venture in an interview. “I was thinking that it was sort of riskier for me not to do this because I thought it was interesting; I thought there was something here, and I would have felt a lot worse if I had just let this go and then found out five years later that this thing is now on the market.” This quote demonstrates the Idea of Multiple discovery, that this may have been an idea that people would have eventually had, so Aziz took the initiative to make it happen right away.

Currently First Flavor is very successful and helping many companies market their product. Aziz’s story shows many young entrepreneurs how to take initiative even when there is risk and use inspiration from every day occurrences. Imagine how marketing would be different today if Aziz had not watched Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. 

When I think of an ideal business partner, my sibling is not the first person I would think of. This was not true, however, for Emily and Mark Stallings, a brother and sister from Brooklyn who started the designer phone case brand Casely in 2017 when Mark realized there was a hole in the very saturated niche market of tech accessories. When he realized the opportunity, he recruited his sister Emily, who designed cases and the website. The business started as a subscription service, in which the company sent 2 cases per month with the goal of allowing people to match their phone case with their outfit. This has since shifted to be focused on one-time purchases of the company’s many designs on phone cases, AirPods cases, and power pods. They collab with many organizations, including the Van Gogh museum and Crayola, in which they create unique cases that showcase artwork related to the organizations.

Additionally, Casely places a lot of emphasis on their mission to give back, especially through their initiative called “#EveryCaseCounts”, in which they donate money from their profits to support a variety of charities, along with giving an extra $1 to a Charity-of-the-Month for every tagged Instagram post featuring the hashtag #EveryCaseCounts – through this campaign, they have donated over $1 million in their lifetime. They also give artists the chance to feature their artworks on a case and get paid for it, allowing up-and-coming artists to get their art out and make a profit from it. These initiatives make Casely stand out as an organization who values impact rather than profits. This approach shows the redemptive mindsets of the owners, and is a great example of using creativity to find a niche market, and use that advantage to help others!