Adriana Carrig (now 32 years old) started her own business at the age of 22. She creates fun, colorful bracelets with inspirational words and phrases on them, such as “you got this, “keep going, “and “believe.” Carrig was inspired to start her business because she witnessed a lot of bullying and negative talk between women in college.
Carrig wanted to find a way for women to empower one another instead of putting each other down. So, she started making motivational bracelets for herself and her sorority sisters. Carrig shares on the “Little Words Project” website that the bracelets helped them “get through tough times together.”
Carrig’s new way of “spreading kindness” was very popular amongst her sorority sisters, and she decided that she wanted to spread this loving “sisterhood” feeling to all girls. Thus, the “Little Words Project” was born.
Carrig’s vision behind the “Little Words Project” is for females to buy a bracelet with a word or phrase that is important to them, wear the bracelet for as long as they “need it,” and then pass the bracelet on to another girl who needs it someday. Each bracelet has a unique ID tag on it, so girls can actually “connect” their bracelet to the company’s website and share how the message on the bracelet is meaningful to them. Then, after they have passed the bracelet on, they can “track” it on the website to see who else has been inspired by their bracelet.
Carrig’s advice to young entrepreneurs is to be yourself, be perseverant, and focus on constantly learning new things about entrepreneurship. Carrig is an excellent example of a young entrepreneur who 1) found a problem she was passionate about, and 2) came up with a unique solution that people are willing to invest in. Aspiring entrepreneurs can certainly learn a lot from Carrig’s story.
This is a very interesting social concept. The idea of creating a product designed to be given away seems risky, but the real value is in looking on the website and finding out who you inspired. It seems that social value is far stronger than we think, and integrating this into more of our own products may help us build communities around them.
This is a really interesting idea. I think in this day in age this is something a lot of people buy into. I know I personally have apparel and other things with messages and motivational quotes on them, but to have it on your wrist and be able to see it 24/7 would be very effective. I agree the scheme to “give them away” is definitely interesting, but would be good for brand publicity.