Author Archive for flynnac21

Trey Brown’s Spergo

At just 12 years old, Trey Brown started his entrepreneurial journey. Trey started by using $178 to buy shirts that he customized and sold. This purchase was the start of something much bigger for Trey.

Spergo, Trey’s company, sells customized socks, t-shirts, hoodies, and sweatpants. The company was started with the help of Sherell Peterson, Trey’s mother, who is a seamstress. She now helps run the business with Trey.

Like many businesses, the name Spergo has a meaning to Trey. He says it is a combination of sports, heroes, and go-getters. This name was crafted after Trey decided he wanted to help the kids in his community escape the violence and drugs they were surrounded with. With Spergo, Trey hopes to serve as an inspiration to the kids around him which makes his business have a great value to his community.

Trey got a $25,000 grant that helped kickstart his business to a larger scale. He was able to move from selling shirts door-to-door to a brick-and-mortar store. He then expanded to a total of three stores. Trey’s most recent endeavor was going on Shark Tank where he received $300,000 for 20% stake in his company. He hopes to expand more with this money.

Trey is an impressive young entrepreneur. He has the charisma to sell his product and get people to financially support his business endeavors. This charm will allow him to keep growing and become more successful in the future. He is also ambitious. By starting so young, he is setting himself up for a life of success in whatever adventure he chooses next. His goals are also impressive. He wants to change the future for the kids around him which makes him inspiring. At such a young age, he realizes that changes need to be made in order to provide a better future for those around him. Trey possess many key qualities that an entrepreneur needs to have to succeed and his plans for the future show he is ready to keep going.

Ultimately, Trey Brown is a great example of a young entrepreneur because he is not afraid to go out there and do the work to succeed.

R.J. Duarte and GreenWorx Landscaping

As a teenager, some people decide not to work, some people decide to go work a minimum wage job, and some people decide to start their own business. No matter what decision someone makes, they do not normally expect to take their summer job and turn it into a six figure business. Well that is exactly what R.J. Duarte did with his high school business.

At just eight years old, Duarte started mowing lawns in Golden, CO. He kept up with the mowing himself until middle school when he decided to add his friend’s help. They kept working and increasing revenue while adding additional help. They finally named their business GreenWorx when they were in high school. Duarte decided not to go to college while his partner left.

This change in partnership led Duarte to decide to make a change to the business. He decided to stop mowing lawns and switch to landscaping. Duarte stopped mowing his clients’ lawns and took the business to a new level by turning the business into a landscaping and maintenance company. Duarte saw this change as a way to increase risk and reward. It ended up being a good business decision.

Duarte acknowledges that his business started as a way of making money, but he also wanted to show the community that young people can be successful too. Although his intentions were for monetary gain, he wanted to show people not to underestimate people.

Duarte is a good example of an entrepreneur because he was persistent, risky, and found a need. He was able to stick with his business and earn six figures. An entrepreneur needs to be able to take risks in order to get the reward and Duarte did just that by changing what his business focused on. He also capitalized on a need he saw in his community: someone to mow people’s lawns for them. Overall, he possesses many attributes of an entrepreneur that allowed him to be successful in his startup and continuing business.

Duarte inspired me because he showed that you can start something small, like a high school lawn mowing business, and turn it into a way of making a living. He showed me that it is never too soon to think big. He chose a life path that many avoid due to its risk, and I admire that.

Ultimately, Duarte’s young success as an entrepreneur allowed him to get an early start on his success in life.

Zollipops by Alina Morse

A chance encounter turned into a multi-million dollar business for Alina Morse. When Alina was just 7 years old, she was offered a lollipop at the bank. Alina was hesitant to accept, because she had always been told that sugar was bad for her teeth. She wanted to create a candy that was good for teeth, so she set out to do just that with the help of her dad.

Alina Morse CEO Zolli Candy

 

Alina named her business Zolli Candy, and it creates sugar-free, diabetic friendly, keto,

gluten-free, nut-free, and some vegan candies. Her wide accommodations make her product

very innovative. She solved her problem by creating candy that has ingredients that are good for

dental care. At a young age, Alina recognized a universal problem that people needed a solution for. Alina’s problem solving and compassion make her a remarkable young entrepreneur. Her desire to help others drives her to expand her products to reach a broader market. Zolli Candy now offers Zollipops, Zolli Drops, Zaffi Taffy, and Zolli Caramelz. These products allow for a wider customer population.

Zolli Candy can be found in 250,000 retail locations. Alina has also created the Million Smiles Initiative to promote oral health and spark conversation on a variety of topics. After applying for the program, schools can receive Zollipops to give to the kids and share their message.

As an entrepreneur, Alina is an inspiration. She followed her dream to create a product to help people with dental hygiene while tasting good. She showed me that redesigning a product can be innovative. She also was able to expand into an organization that teaches kids about health. I think it is very admirable that she is able to give back with her company.

Overall, Alina’s Zolli Candy business is a true work of entrepreneurship as she helps kids with dental health in a way that is fun and creative.

 

Jason Li’s iReTron

As a sophomore in high school, Jason Li became a CEO. He cared about the planet and wanted to take action. He wanted to make people’s shift to sustainability rewarding. He came up with iReTon which allows people to sell their old technology for cash. He even went on Shark Tank, as a hiJason Ligh school senior, and got a $100,000 investment from Mark Cuban and Barbara Corcoran. He has also started another social enterprise, UProspie. He was able to capitalize on his ideas at a young age which is really inspirational.

He targeted the problem of people not knowing what to do with their old devices and disposing of them in landfills. iReTron allows people to sell, upgrade, or recycle their old device which is ultimately better for the environment. People just have to find the device they have, ship it in, and get paid for their product. iReTron then refurbishes the old devices and sells them to people at a reduced cost benefitting the buyer and seller. He streamlined the electronic recycling process making it easy for customers and more appealing.

Jason Li is an exemplary young entrepreneur. He is driven by his passion for the environment, and he acts on this by making sure the recycling process is constantly being monitored for quality. Since he created a business off of what he is passionate about, customers are drawn to him and his product. Li does not allow the business to create money off of the recycling process which shows he truly cares about what he is doing. He also values customer’s time which makes the process quick and easy for customers. His imagination and follow through make him a good entrepreneur.

Although he did not innovate recycling, he innovated the process for electronic recycling. He enforced the idea that you do not have to create a whole new thing in order to be an entrepreneur. An entrepreneur can stream line a process and create a new business cycle not just create new products. He showed that passion really does make a difference in a business. Ultimately, Jason Li is a star young entrepreneur, because he was able to create a change that benefitted the environment and is helpful to people.

Benjamin Stern Creating Plastic Free Products with Nohbo

Benjamin Stern decided he wanted to help the planet while in 9th grade. Stern was watching a documentary in his biology class about the effects of plastic waste. He was horrified by the impact of plastic and decided he wanted to change the way we package products. He created Nohbo, a company that creates plastic-free single-use shampoo packets. The product is in a pod where the casingBenjamin Stern dissolves to release the product when in water. Nohbo has expanded from just shampoo to now also including conditioner and body wash in the pod format. They did not stop there though. They have created films of soap that turn into foaming soap when added to water and leave no remains behind. Nohbo’s expansion shows how innovation of one product can lead to a bigger need.

Benjamin Stern went on Shark Tank at just 16 years old. He even won the Young Entrepreneur Award from the governor of Florida. His determination to better the environment through a new technology makes him an admirable young entrepreneur. Having a sustainability niche creates a target audience that is definitely growing, so his product has both a clear purpose and aim audience which makes a good business model. Nohbo seeks to provide quality, sustainable products with great performance. He does not want the eco-friendly nature of them to deter from what customers are used to the products doing. Benjamin Stern values having a quality product for his customers.

Stern is a unique entrepreneur, because he was able to create an innovative product to combat a environmental issue. His product is unlike any other shampoo packaging as they all come in large quantity plastic bottles. By changing this, he has challenged the standards of the industry by promoting the environment. He exemplifies what it means to be an entrepreneur by challenging norms and being passionate. He has inspired me to want to challenge the norms that often promote hazardous behavior. He has showed me that innovation does not have to be a whole new product but could be a twist on something like packaging that turns into a huge new idea. He taught me that norms do not have to be the only way and that you are never to young to start creating change. Overall, Stern is an inspiring young entrepreneur who is making huge advances with Nohbo and the eco-friendly market.

You can visit Nohbo’s website to learn more about the technology behind the product:http://nohbo.com

 

Comfort Eats -US Snacks Abroad

Brittany Canty is a co-founder of Comfort Eats. Reina, the other co-founder and Brittany’s best frienBrittany Cantyd, moved to New Zealand. Brittany always took her snacks when visiting, but she had a hard time shipping them there. She tried to find a business in place but only one existed and it offered a preset package with snacks Reina did not like – which was a problem. The pair decided to start their own business that would allow people to send snacks to those away from home.

Brittany previously worked as a project manager and developer in Corporate America but left that behind to pursue her passion as an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs need to be able to plan and organize, both skills came to Brittany from her previous work. Ambition and passion are also keys to success as an entrepreneur. Luckily, Brittany was able to use her passion of friendship and snacks as the basis of her business while also being ambitious enough to go full time on the project. All of Brittany’s traits set her up to be a successful entrepreneur.

Not only does Brittany have the qualities of a successful entrepreneur, but Comfort Eats is designed as an interesting business plan. The idea of giving people a taste of home while away is a new twist on the snack market. Normally, you must find snacks wherever you are but Comfort Eats allows you to get the snacks you love anywhere.  The business also adds new items every 7-10 days which makes it very versatile. The business is hoping to add a slight pivot by adding global snacks. This addition will allow different cultures to try each other’s snacks and learn more about them. Her ability to innovate on snack sharing was very interesting to me. Overall, the growth of the business makes it an interesting take on snack sending within the growing food market.

Overall, Comfort Eats inspired me because of the founder’s friendship and ability to innovate within a huge market. The passion and determination Brittany has to pursue the business while also focusing on self-care is inspirational. I often think of entrepreneurs as people who do not prioritize themselves, so it was refreshing to see that she made sure to make it a focus. Her business taught me that ideas do not have to be new things but can be ways of changing how things are done in her case snacks abroad. Ultimately, Brittany Canty showed me that sources of inspiration are everywhere and all you need to succeed is determination and motivation.

https://youtu.be/IKaqVDsLY6o