Moziah Bridges was just a wee lad when he started his business, Mo’s Bows. In 2011, when he was just 9 years old, Moziah needed an accessory to help him look sharp, but he had nothing that suited his personal taste. With his grandma’s help, he started fashioning his own bow ties. His original intent was not to create an internationally-recognized brand. In fact, he was just making the bow ties for himself. The brand has now evolved to sell more than bows. They now sell pocket squares and neckties as well, among other items.

Moziah’s business is similar to a lot of other young entrepreneur’s stories. He started with something based on his own personal needs- he had a problem and he creatively fixed it- but eventually this idea made it into the actual business world.

Mo’s Bows have become a big hit around the United States and even around the world. Moziah has appeared on The Steve Harvey Show, The Today Show, Good Morning America, 20/20, CBS This Morning, Disney Channel, and Shark Tank. He has also been featured in O: The Oprah Magazine. He was also inducted into the Tennessee State Museum Costume and Textile. Additionally, he served as the fashion correspondent for the 2015 NBA Draft. He was also twice on Time’s  list of “30 Most Influential Teens.” There were several other activities and opportunities Moziah took part in but this is just a taste.

Mo’s Bows kept with its humble beginnings and it now only has five employees, including his grandma. At this point, the business has sold more than $700,000 of bow ties and other men’s accessories. What is very unique and interesting is that Moziah himself handpicks every fabric and additionally approves every visual element. Mo’s Bows are sold in retail stores throughout the United States and have partnered with multiple stores in order to do so.

When Cory Nieves, now known as Mr. Cory, was just six years old, he made a company that has since astronomically grown. Cory’s passion was making the world a better place for everyone he knows. Because of this passion he ended up becoming the owner of a company called Mr. Cory’s Cookies.

Cory was tired of taking the bus to school every day so he wanted to raise funds to buy a car. His first idea was selling hot cocoa in his local town of Englewood, New Jersey. His mother encouraged Cory to continue his business when she saw his entrepreneurial prowess. He not only kept selling hot cocoa, he expanded by selling lemonade and cookies. Cory and his mother spent months trying to find the perfect cookie recipe that tasted amazing and was made from wholesome ingredients, or as wholesome as cookie ingredients can get. Mr. Cory started with a chocolate chip cookies but eventually expanded to double dark, oatmeal raisin, and sugar cookies.

Mr. Cory’s entrepreneurial approach to his problem of not having a car allowed him to create a very successful company that has partnered with big names such as Whole Foods, Ralph Lauren, TOMS, and Pottery Barn, among many others. He also appeared on TV on The Ellen DeGeneres Show and The Profit. They also worked with nonprofits, such as Bergen’s Promise in Rochelle Park, New Jersey and the Children’s Aid Society in New York City. Mr. Cory’s entrepreneurial story is definitely unique as he wasn’t trying to solve a problem with the thing he was selling. He used what he was selling as a means to gather enough money to solve an unrelated problem. Eventually though, he saw an opportunity to solve a problem. He wanted to create the perfect cookie that absolutely everyone would love.

At the age of four, Mikaila Ulmer was stung by a bee. Within the same week, she was stung by another bee. At first she had a natural fear of bees, but after she did a little research on them, she grew to be fascinated by them.

Around the same time, she started getting into a couple children’s business competitions- the Acton Children’s Business Fair and Austin Lemonade Day. It was time to brainstorm. After thinking about how she could make a solid business idea, she meshed together the recent event of a being stung by a bee and the recipe for her great grandma’s homemade lemonade. Ironically, while she was brainstorming for ideas, her great grandma had sent her family a 1940s cookbook, in which there was a recipe for her flaxseed lemonade. Mikaila was struck with the thought of combining the lemonade while simultaneously helping the bees. She decided that she would add honey to the lemonade, instead of making it solely by sugar, water, and lemons. It was at this moment that Be Sweet Lemonade was born. The name was eventually changed to Me & the Bees Lemonade due to copyright issues. When Mikaila started her business, it was just a lemonade stand in front of her house, and it promised to donate a percentage of the profits to local and international organizations fighting hard to save the honeybees. This idea was especially genius due to the recent endangerment of bees in the 21st century.

This small business idea from her early years has turned into a business that grown by more than 500 percent from the company’s humble beginnings. This sounds like something that would happen in a movie. It’s surprising how well the business has done, and equally astonishing that she came up with the idea at 4 years old.

When Aaron Levie and Dylan Smith were still in college, they had a million dollar idea. When Levie was just 19, he had the grand idea to provide online file storage to different businesses. Levie thought outside the box like all entrepreneurs do, and took a thoughtful approach to something that had existed for a while- files. Levie saw the computer industry expanding and thought creatively how he could take advantage of this.

Now Levie is the co-owner to a company worth billions of dollars by net worth. Levie met Dylan Smith in middle school and then they ended up going to the high school together as well. Smith recalled that even back in high school Levie was very interested in entrepreneurship, even more than himself. Another friend of theirs, Jeff Quiesse,  who is now Vice President of Box’s technical operations, met the two of them before middle school as neighbors. Queisser recalled that the two of them in high school were starting “kinda crazy businesses.” They also formed a friendship with a guy named Sam Ghods.

Where did Levie’s idea come from? Levie was working on a lot of projects that involved a lot of files and his work seemed unnecessarily difficult. When Levie had a project where he was asked to evaluate an industry. Levie decided to evaluate the nascent online storage industry and there was massive potential for success here. Levie capitalized on the opportunity with his million dollar idea. Levie was going to the University of Southern California but was still able to keep in touch with Smith, mostly just for their idea for their new company in the works. Smith was going to Duke in North Carolina, so this company formed on shaky ground, but with the two friends’ perseverance the first file storage company was birthed in 2005. Shortly after this, Dropbox was created in 2007, Microsoft One Drive in 2007, iCloud in 2011, and Google Drive in 2012.

The definition of an entrepreneur is “a person who organizes and operates a business or businesses, taking on greater than normal financial risks in order to do so.” Fraser Doherty was a entrepreneur at the young age of 14. When he was a young teenager, his grandmother taught him how to make jam. After learning how to make jam, he found a way to make jam 100% out of fruit. He presented his brand, SuperJam, to a major supermarket company known as Waitrose, and he became the youngest ever supplier to a major supermarket. His business got so big he didn’t have enough time to run the business and stay in school. Doherty eventually dropped out of school to start up his blossoming business. This is what defines him as an entrepreneur. Doherty risked his whole future by dropping out of school. Dropping out of school is very frowned upon in America and if Doherty’s business had failed, that would have devastating.

Doherty is a prime example of an intelligent entrepreneur because he took up something he genuinely enjoyed and looked at how it can be changed. Doherty looked what he was doing and looked for what was wrong in the industry. We can assume Doherty enjoyed making the jam with his grandmother and surely he enjoyed how it tasted. But instead of just simply making, eating, and enjoying the jam, Doherty thought outside of the box. “What if I can make this jam 100% healthy?” Doherty probably thought something along these lines. Doherty then made jam without any sugar, which is completely revolutionary considering how much sugar is in jam.

While Doherty was still a teen, he was making around upwards of $750,000. Now, at 32, Doherty is a multi-millionaire, having majorly profited from his SuperJam business. Doherty is a truly inspirational young entrepreneur.

Hart Main was a very young man when he started with his business idea. At the age of 13, Main was already an entrepreneur. While most teenage boys were busy playing Fortnite, Main was thinking outside the box, already planning ahead for the future. Many teens end up leaving high school with little money, just a little here and there from mowing a lawn, shoveling a driveway, or having a low-paying job for a short bit. Main has established a company called ManCans. Main wanted to create manly-scented candles so he started this business at a very young age. It started in his kitchen and now it has grown to be over 150 stores.

Not only has Main created a successful company at a very young age, he has also used the money he has made for good purposes. Main is also a man of many talents. With his father, he wrote a 90-page book about being a young entrepreneur. At 17, Main talked about in his book how he never anticipated his company growing as much as it has.

Main’s idea in creating his company was creating candles that weren’t too girly. Main’s goal in creating his candle brand was to raise money to buy a bike that cost $1,200, since his parents would not pay for it. He never expected his company to pop off like it did. Main even put his candles in soup cans to make them more manly. Since he bought soup cans, he donated that soup to food banks. Main even expanded his business to include women’s scents, starting a line called SheCans, with female scents. The most popular men’s scents are fresh cut grass and campfire.

Even though Main already has a successful company, he still intends to go to college. He intends to go to college to be a sports agent. This company will be Main’s job while he’s in college.