From Rags To Riches:
When Stanley Tang was an 11-year-old growing up in Hong Kong, his school banned snack foods. Instead of taking his empty stomach in stride, Stanley bought snacks at the local convenient store and sold them to his classmates for three times the price.
A few years later, he was introduced to Google Adsense and the ‘Rich Dad, Poor Dad’ series of books by Robert Kiyosaki. They inspired him to get online with his business and to develop a book called ‘eMillions: Behind-The-Scenes Stories of 14 Successful Internet Millionaires’. When ‘eMillions’ was published in December of 2008, it rocketed straight to the top of the Amazon Best-Seller lists. At just 14 years old, Stanley was the world’s youngest best-selling author.
Since, he has been making six figures with his blogs, StanleyTang.com and TheUniversityKid.com, which he eventually sold to another young entrepreneur. Stanley also just graduated high school in May of 2010 and he will be attending Stanford University in the fall, where he plans to study computer science.
– See more at: http://juniorbiz.com/stanley-tang-interview#sthash.e7GZjimP.dpuf
I think this is an interesting story about somebody who took something simple they did and went with it, eventually making a really good profit. I think it is also instructive how basic most of what he did was because, outside of writing a book, the progression of his success online is mostly natural growth that could be seen in any teenager who is interested in something and acts on it.
I also thought that this was a very interesting story because his idea was not something unusual. He took a very basic idea from a problem that many students may have faced at some point in their school career, and he found a way to provide an alternative for the students all while making a profit. This just goes to show that you do not need to have a revolutionary idea, but rather if you start small, you can always work your way up to the top, just as Stanley had.
What I thought was interesting is that he kind of worked backwards. Writing the book about making millions, and making the money by selling the book. Unless I misunderstood. It’s like, innovation in reverse. or the saying “Fake it till you make it.”
Good for him. It’s great to hear about young people doing well like that. However it sets the bar really high not just for other young entrepreneurs, but also for himself. Hopefully it pushes him to keep pushing for better ideas.
This would be such an interesting book to read! Most people do not get to come in contact with millionaires all the time. It would be so beneficial to read this book because you can get advice from multiple millionaires without actually having to meet them. Stanley has done a great job of using the internet to gain knowledge and share it. Hopefully his ideas progress as he gains his college degree!
Wow, he started early! For the snack food business, it’s neat how he was only selling a service. The other kids could have easily gotten the food themselves, but because Stanley spotted a business opportunity and was willing to go a little out of his way, he was able to build a business. The book idea is interesting because he built this business off of the success of others by writing about how other people made their money. There are a few principles here that would be helpful to learn from.
I really like this because I think this idea is so much different than what most people are posting about. I have not seen anything about an author before this. I really like that he is the youngest best-selling author ever. I think that is really cool and that the book is all about entrepreneurship and business.