Mikey Wren was in elementary school when he started his successful business with vending machines. At 10 years old, he was a best-selling author, an inspirational speaker, and a business owner.
Mikey took his love for salty treats and candy and turned it into a real business. Mikey always had new ideas, but his idea to own a vending machine became a reality. His parents were skeptical and figured this would simply be another crazy thought like the ones before. However, Mikey earned $1,200 from his lemonade stand to purchase a vending machine. His parents said he even gave up his more expensive Christmas gifts to instead be given the rest of the money for the machine. He was dedicated to his idea and willing to put in the hard work to see it through.
His parents were more than willing to help him with the process, but he had to do a significant amount of the work. Mikey bought his first vending machine when then grow to four. His business was called “Mikey’s Munchies”. Even the president of the American Vending Machines gave him helpful advice and mentored him. He mentioned that Mikey had a bright future in business. Mikey’s next endeavor was his best-selling book, “Mikey Learns About Business” where he shares helpful tips about his business adventures from the perspective of a 10-year-old boy. He said, “I want to be that role model that’s going to help them succeed in life.” Not only did he start his own little business and become the author of a successful book, he also joined the non-profit organization, Young Biz Kids which encourages kids to explore the field of entrepreneurship.
Mikey didn’t start a major company making millions of dollars, but he found an opportunity right in his own hometown and used it to make a successful business at an incredibly young age. Mikey should be an inspiration to all entrepreneurs, but especially aspiring young entrepreneurs. He is a great example that age should not be a barrier in the entrepreneurial world.
Learn more about Mikey here!
Sarah Kaeck is the founder and CEO of Bee’s Wrap. For many years before starting her successful food storage product, people noticed her entrepreneurship spirit. She always had new ideas and was open to different thoughts and tips. She was smart and hardworking. Her company, Bee’s Wraps was founded in 2012 where she started her little shop right from her garage. Bee’s Wrap is made with machines that infuse a beautifully designed organic cotton cloth from Indonesia with beeswax, tree resin and jojoba oil to make it safe and very flexible for users. Her motivation for creating this product was reducing the plastic packaging used in the kitchen with materials from nature. The wraps are ingenious.
Ben Pasternak looked like an ordinary teen, but behind the scenes, he was creating viral apps in his bedroom and would eventually start a multimillion-dollar tech company. Many teenagers play video games and enjoy the apps on their phone, but Ben did not just enjoy using technology, he wanted to know how it was created and why people enjoyed it. At only age 15, he designed his first gaming app called Impossible Rush. After only a few weeks of its release, it had gained over a million downloads. People with more power started to become interested in Ben’s work. Ben decided to drop out of high school and move to New York City after receiving numerous offers from tech investors including Greylock Partners and Tumblr’s former president, John Maloney. In 2016, Ben founded Flogg, an online marketplace for young adults to buy and sell products and network with others. Flogg grabbed even more people’s attention, and Ben received more funding as a result. The app, Sup, became Ben’s next tech business endeavor. This social networking app allowed friends online to meet in real life. The focus, ironically, was to encourage face-to-face conversations rather than virtual connections. A few years later in 2019, Ben focused on combining the food industry with the tech industry and co-founded NUGGS. NUGGS was a food technology company that made plant-based nuggets. They have since rebranded NUGGS and renamed it Simulate. They expanded to make a variety of foods with meat alternatives.
