Author Archive for Lindy Bowser

14 Year Old Draws Attention in the Real Estate Business

Posted by Lindy Bowser 
· Tuesday, December 1st, 2015 
· 4 Comments

In September of 2011, Florida was in a catastrophic housing recession causing several homeowners to foreclose. With all the families moving out with no money to spend, houses were left empty at low prices waiting for a profit. March 2012, 14 at the time, Willow Tufano took up this opportunity and begins selling some of her belongings on Craigslist. After months of saving, Willow buys her first home for $12,000. She is not made of money, she simply took advantage of Florida’s weak market.

By October of that year Willow bought a two bedroom, one bath home for $17,500 to add to her investment portfolio. After she renovates her homes she rents them out to collect profit. She mentions in interviews that it is difficult for renters to take her seriously due to her age. She speaks of renters refusing to pay her and leaving with no warning in the middle of the night.

Willow has created quite a stir in the real estate market because she is so young and willing to take risks in an unpredictable business. The vulnerability of the market opened the door to Willow being successful at just 14.

Watch Willow on Ellen: https://youtu.be/GTTczC27fko

4 Comments
Categories : Millennial Enrepreneuers, Uncategorized, Youngest Entrepreneurs

Syed Balkhi

Posted by Lindy Bowser 
· Tuesday, November 10th, 2015 
· 1 Comment

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We all know the importance of story, well, Syed has a story worth reading. Everything he needed to develop his entrepreneurial skills simply fell into place. Born in Karachi, Pakistan, Syed started his first business making greeting cards for a Muslim holiday at the age of 7. With the funds coming from his mom, he was able to triple her investment within the first month. Loving this, Syed began selling flags for Pakistan’s Independence Day celebration- also, profitable. However, he was not satisfied with selling just seasonal products. At the age of 9 he opens his own snack shop with his neighbor gaining extremely high profits. When he turns 12, his life is flipped upside down- his family immigrates to the United States.

With a whole new culture, language, and home, Syed found it extremely difficult making friends. In his spare time, he began gaming. During lunch when all the other kids were socializing, Syed would sit in the library playing games. But, because school is prison, the firewalls blocked majority of his favorite websites. He began toying around with codes and sketchy back doors to avoid the security walls. The other kids started to notice Syed playing all the popularly blocked games and he saw the opportunity. His web directories spread like wildfire as he began to develop his own web development business.

Skip a few awkward years, Syed attends the University of Florida. During his 4 years there he realizes he could not keep up with the demands of his online business. So, he migrates all his clients to WordPress sites. Next thing he knows, people are asking him about how to maneuver WordPress. To answer all the questions, he creates WPBeginner- the largest free WP resource site.

After college he continues innovating in the online world. List25, OptinMonster, Themelab, and Envira Gallery- to name a few. Looking at the big picture, if Syed had not moved to the states he would have never had issues with making friends, he would have never sat in the library during lunch, and he would have never become the web developer he is today. The story itself is inspiring, but the components of the story are what make Syed’s life special. We may not all be born entrepreneurs, but we

can remember that for every challenge we face, there is always an opportunity.

To hear his web wisdom:

1 Comment
Categories : Millennial Enrepreneuers, Online Companies, Technology, Websites

Chalk it Up

Posted by Lindy Bowser 
· Wednesday, October 28th, 2015 
· 3 Comments

chalk_selfie_print_smallWilliam Zhou, born in 1992, always assumed a teacher’s job was easy. They taught out of the book, handed out papers, and had three months of the year to lay on the beach. Not too bad, right? He began observing his high school teacher’s lesson planning and grading of papers when he noticed how not so simple it was to run a classroom. He first creates Planboard to help lesson planning easier. Extremely successful, Planboard later wins $25,000 from the University of Waterloo Velocity Venture Fund and a partnership with Ontario Teachers’ Federation. With a growing user fan base, Zhou expands the service to Chalk.com, a Microsoft-like software tool for teacher collaboration, lesson planning, and assessment.

Chalk.com aims to make it easier on teachers to provide a beneficial learning place. The goal is to encourage a personalized education for student success. Browsing on their site, it is easy to pick up on how youthful the service is. All the company leaders are under the age of 40 and along the side of the page are quotes of co-founders Zhou and Fleming who have experienced the power of education through amazing teachers and family members. Just out of school themselves, these leaders know first-hand the work that goes into a great classroom lesson.

Students complain all the time (especially in high school) about not getting a grade back fast enough. We groan and whine at our teachers asking juvenile questions like, “What else do you have to do during the year? You have the entire summer off!” Zhou thought the same thing, until he started exploring. If Zhou had not looked closer at what a teacher does to create a great classroom atmosphere, he would have never noticed the struggle teachers go through on a daily basis. Chalk.com looks to lighten the burden of lesson planning, grading, and assessing through an easy-to use software system approved by over 20,000 schools worldwide.

See Chalk.com

3 Comments
Categories : Education, Millennial Enrepreneuers, Online Companies, Youngest Entrepreneurs

5 Under 30 African Entrepreneurs

Posted by Lindy Bowser 
· Monday, October 12th, 2015 
· 2 Comments

Africa?! That’s right, Africa. Forbes Magazine has announced their top 30 under 30 successful entrepreneurs thriving in Africa. Other things dwell in those deserts: innovation and creativity.

1. Mubarak Muyika, 20: Kenya

Orphaned at the age of 10, Mubarak worked hard to be a star student. Turning down an offer from Harvard, he began his journey as an entrepreneur through Hypecentury Technologies, a web hosting technology, which he later sold for a 6 digital price tag. Now, Mubarak spends his time tinkering with his new idea, Zagace. The cloud based software organizes company tasks such as payroll, accounting, and company budgets.

2. Affiong Williams, 29: Nigeria

Founder of Reelfruit, a fruit packaging company focused on packaging and branding local fruits in a safe and reliable way. Reelfruit has made a presence in over 80 supermarkets all over Nigeria and has won 2 awards in the Netherlands and in Nigeria. Affiong pushes herself to the max and hopes to expand Reelfruit internationally.

3. Arthur Zang, 27: Cameroon

Zang noticed the problem of African patients living in rural areas having to travel to urban areas to receive medical attention. Distance can be life or death in a medical emergency. In response, he invents Cardiopad, a medical tablet (like an ipad) that preforms heart examinations much like an ECG. The device then sends the information electronically to medical professionals who can interpret them and suggest treatments. Zang is also the owner and founder of Himore Medical Equipments.

4. Julie Alexander Fourie, 28: South Africa

In his dorm room at the University of Stellenbosch, Julie would repair the small devices of colleagues for fun. With encouragement from his friends, he starts iFix, an organization that fixes all Apple and Samsung smart phones. Today, the company employs 40 people and serves more than 4,000 clients a month.

5. Ludwick Marishane, 25: South Africa

Asked by a friend in High School, “why doesn’t someone invent something that you can put on your skin and then you don’t have to bathe?”, Ludwick invents DryBath, a gel that provides all the effects of a bath without the need for water. Ludwick was later voted the best student entrepreneur in the world by Entrepreneurs Organization and declared one of the most intelligent young brains in the universe by Google.

See all 30 entrepreneurs here: 30 Under 30 

2 Comments
Categories : Great Ideas, Millennial Enrepreneuers, Youngest Entrepreneurs

Makeup Madness

Posted by Lindy Bowser 
· Thursday, October 1st, 2015 
· 4 Comments

Rejected by Lancome as a makeup artist, Phan started a hobby she loved- filming makeup tutorials out of the comfort of her own home. After two years of YouTubing, Lancome’s executive noticed her artistry and signed her as the company’s first official video makeup artist. Since then, Phan has increased company annual sales rate by $120 million.

Now, Phan has made her mark on the digital world. Wanting to expand her horizons, Phan created Ipsy in San Mateo, California. Ipsy partners with a multitude of different makeup brands to deliver trendy bags to subscribers every month for a $10 fee. These Glam Bags are themed to the specific month for the perfect facial style every girl may need. With 1.7 million YouTube subscribers, 1 million watchers are loyal members to the Glam Bag fashion in locations including both the United States and Canada.

Ipsy employs over 100 people and is a rival to the fashionable Birchbox. BirchBox spends millions in PR, TV advertisements, and online outreach while Phan increases subscriptions by 100,000 per month on her videos alone. No marketing techniques, not a dime spent on PR.

She is not stopping there. Phan is in progress of developing her own app with photo and video editing software to fulfill one of her career aspirations- educating young followers with tech proficiencies and other skills to make them marketable to employers. Striving to change the world, Phan has travelled with Michelle Obama to Japan as part of The White House’s “Let Girls Learn Initiative”, and wrote her own novel, Make Up: Your Life Guide to Beauty, Style, and Success — Online and Off . This young dreamer is no longer looking to make an impact with just face products, she is working to be an influential role model to every single one of her subscribers.

“My dream is to see a new generation of entrepreneurs who are creating and having more meaningful jobs than the day-to-day grind.”

Phan YouTube Tutorial

4 Comments
Categories : Beauty, Uncategorized, Youngest Entrepreneurs

Top 5 Coolest Young Entrepreneurs

Posted by Lindy Bowser 
· Friday, September 18th, 2015 
· 2 Comments

1. Matthew Mullenweg – estimated wort: $250 million

After dropping out of college, Mullenweg invented Automattic, the brains behind web software such as WordPress, Akismet, Gravatar, VaultPress, IntensePoll Debate, etc. There is no doubt the system is effective for entrepreneurs, mommy blogs, and Grove City Students- WordPress alone powers 22% of the world’s top 10 million websites, netting $160 million.

www.wordpress.com

2. David Schottenstein – estimated worth:  $52 million

Starting at age 12, David began innovating with his own cigar business. After being shut down (dads ruin everything) he continued looking for his passions in life while attending a private school in Venice. David noticed his fascination for men’s business ware. He opened Astor & Black, a company selling custom made bespoke clothing- only 21 at the time. Today, his suits are typically $895 and are sold all over the world to corporate executives, famous athletes, and celebrities.

www.Astor & Black.com

3. Sean Belnick – estimated worth: $50 million

Bizchair, an office furniture manufacturing company, began in the 14 year old Sean Belnick’s bedroom. Once graduating college, Sean could take the reins as CEO to expand Bizchair into the fastest growing, privately owned company. Environmentally friendly, it is predicted Bizchair will decrease carbon monoxide emissions by 757.4 tons/year and 3.0 tons/year of sulfur dioxide emissions.

www.bizchair.com

4. Catherine Cook – estimated worth: $20 million

Catherine and her brother, David, played together in their small New Jersey home by setting up pretend libraries and renting out the books to their parents for a small fee. By the time she was 15, Catherine and David had created myyearbook.com, an online, interactive yearbook for high schoolers to meet new people. By 2011 the company grew from 400 active members to 32.7 million. In 2011 Catherine and David sold the site in a merger for $150 million.

www.myyearbook.com

5. Susan Gregg-Koger – estimated worth: $15 million

As a freshman in college, Susan partnered with her now husband Eric to create Modcloth, an online retailer specializing in vintage-inspired and indie clothing, accessories, and decor. Seven years later, Modcloth was the fastest growing retailer in the country and employed 350 people. By 2012 the site had over $100 million in retail sales. In 2014 it was the first clothing retailer to sign an anti-Photoshop, promising to avoid using Photoshop in company advertisements.

www.modcloth.com

2 Comments
Categories : Millennial Enrepreneuers, Online Companies, Youngest Entrepreneurs