Author Archive for Ryan Principe

Erin Smith- Founder of FacePrint

Erin Smith a nine teen year old girl, thought unlike anyone else. She was watching a video of a guy named Michael Fox, and from that video, Smith had some great ideas, and she couldn’t get those ideas off her mind. Her analysis of it was “Whenever a Parkinson’s patient would laugh or smile, it came off as really emotionally distant.” Smith took this and reached out to clinicians and caregivers to ask about this, and she found out that they have seen similar facial expressions from their patients. This was all before a Parkinson’s diagnosis was made. Smith who is a science enthusiast grew up doing experiments in her own kitchen. She wanted to make a change so people could be diagnosed with a disease, so she got to work and started to build a diagnostic system that was called FacePrint. This is really cool to see, as Smith saw a problem with a laugh or a smile, she knew there was a issue and that she needed to make a change to help these people out. She innovated in a special way to help this generation with a serious problem. Face Print is a selfie stick that captures changes in facial expressions over time to help catch disorders like Parkinson’s.  Smith hopes that FacePrint becomes a tool that diagnoses and monitors the disease. As of now, her creation has an 88 percent accuracy rate and that is nearly 7 percent more than regular tools. Smith has been receiving funds from Michael Fox foundation and pharmaceutical companies. Her technology is going under trial at Standford University. Smith has done some many great things with this product and to sum it up she had said this “I really want to optimize for my personal learning,” and “as well as for the best way I can help shape and build the future of neurological and mental healthcare.” This is so amazing for a teenager to do. The fact that she is saving our generations health is just so awesome. She definitely fills for a girl with a mind like an entrepreneur but not only that, she wants to help everyone, that is so special.

Link to Source: Meet 16 Teen Founders Who Are Building Big Businesses — and Making Big Money | Entrepreneur

R.J. Duarte- Founder of GreenWorx Landscaping

R.J. Duarte, a nineteen-year-old talented entrepreneur found his light for work. He was accepted into Colorado State University, although he decided not to go. R.J. at nineteen said “College wasn’t for me” and he said this because he had a landscaping business that was bringing in six figures. He said, “I figured I should stick with this” that is so impressive to have your own business that is driving in six figures at such a young age. R.J. started cutting grass at a very young age, he was eight cutting in Golden, Colorado. At the age of eight, he had a unique work ethic that really made his business successful. He was tripling his income every year even at this young age, and in middle school, he and his friend came together so they could cut more lawns. When R.J. was in high school, he named the company GreenWorx. After high school, his friend went to college, and it forced a split between the two. Although, R.J. just took everything back into control, and he saw a lot of room for growth and innovation. Then, he rebranded his company and made it a premium landscaping and maintenance company. Duarte had said a few things on his decision, “It’s higher margins for more risk,” and “That comes with headaches, but without headaches, there’s no reward.” This shows that he had a mind of an entrepreneur, and he was willing to go big or go home and innovate with his company. Now, GreenWorx is up to twelve to fifteen members on staff that is made up of mostly high school students. R.J. definitely made the right decision considering just as of this year, GreenWorx is bringing in right around $750,000! This is just so amazing to see the innovations that R.J. had to make, and the outcome was exactly what he wanted. Finally, Duarte said, “We’re hardworking, blue-collar people,” and “There’s nothing wrong with that.” This is awesome, he and his crew are very comparable, and they make a lot of money doing what they do.

Kenan Pala- Founder of Kids4Community

Kenan Pala, a fifteen-year-old kid who simply always wanted to help out. Pala was from San Diego, and during his time there, he would spend a lot of time volunteering at soup kitchens, and beach cleanups. Through this time when Pala would help, he would also have the struggle of getting to support these causes due to the fact that these nonprofit organizations were not allowing the kids under the age of 18 to volunteer. After Pala had said this, he was convinced that he could start something that would allow any kid who wanted to volunteer could volunteer. In 2017, Pala founded the nonprofit organization Kids4Community. He said this about his foundation, “All our events are open to anybody of any age,” and “If you have the passion, you can come.” This was unbelievable for a kid like Pala to identify a problem of wanting to help, but due to age restriction he couldn’t always do it. Through this, he innovated in so many ways to create this nonprofit organization to just give back to his community. Also, Pala has raised $1 million so that he can help the local homelessness causes. He did all this while taking kids to help with 5k runs, dinner services, and backpack drives. For Pala this is quite impressive, while he is preforming these events, he is raising a ton of money when doing it. Although, he is getting to the age where college is becoming a decision, and when he enrolls, he hopes to help one last kid, and this is his ten-year-old brother Arden. Kenan Pala, being the inspiration he is, when he goes to college, he would like to hand this organization off to his brother, who is very interested in volunteering, this will leave his brother in the same shoes when Pala started the nonprofit.

Meet 16 Teen Founders Who Are Building Big Businesses — and Making Big Money | Entrepreneur

Kenan Pala’s Organization Website: Kids4Community: A nonprofit organization run by kids for kids San Diego

 

Cory Nieves: Founder and CEO of Mr. Cory’s Cookies

Cory Nieves at six-year-old had a one-of-a-kind mind and had a plan to sell hot chocolate to his neighborhood in Englewood, NJ. He wanted to do this to save up money to buy his mother a car. Nieves at six said he was tired of taking the bus, so he really wanted to help his mom. He started selling the hot chocolate for one dollar a cup! After a while, Nieves innovated and thought more into other ideas like baking cookies. He and his mother baked for months before he found the recipe he knew he could run with. The recipe was a hit, and Nieves said, “That’s when we knew we had a business — when people started taking our cookies seriously”. This is so incredible for a kid who is so young being able to go from his original idea to changing it and innovating to another successful idea. His mom and him would take these cookies to local races and festivals which then Nieves would pitch “Life’s too short to not eat a cookie!” This is so smart, and his mom was definitely a huge part in his idea because he wanted to help her as much as possible but also, she still helped him with a lot too, so it was a great idea. Nieves’s business just took off and continued to grow, and in 2015 he got invited to The Ellen DeGeneres Show! After the show, orders were overflowing. This caused a supply and demand problem, but again he innovated and got an appearance on CNBC’s The Profit, Mr. Cory’s Cookies earned $100,000 cash infusion.  Then, a site was launched for the business, and they started to ship across the country. Now, the company offers 14 different flavors and Nieves himself still has more plans to expand. This story is so inspiring, at a young age being able to take an original idea that most likely wouldn’t take off and going off of that coming up with another idea that absolutely took off is incredible. Cory Nieves is truly a one-of-a-kind entrepreneur, and no one can take that from him and his mother who really helped make this all work.

Meet 16 Teen Founders Who Are Building Big Businesses — and Making Big Money | Entrepreneur

Hart Main- 13-year-old Scented Candle Genius

Hart Main, a 13-year-old who would tease his sister about girly scented candles, turned out to use that to spark up a very interesting business idea. Hart was very mature for such a young age; he came up with the name “ManCans” and he made a simple change in the scents to make it more manly so that it fulfilled his desires. His candles consist of many different scents, and they are created by using soup cans. His business has taken off and grown so much creating a lot of profit. The scented candles are sold in every state. Hart being a firm believer of giving back to the community, he donates to soup kitchens in multiple states across the country. This is very impressive for such a young entrepreneur, and it has spread country wide. With the help of Hart’s parents, this idea of his was able to be turned into a reality by selling manly scented candles to those in need. The parents have raised Hart in an incredible way, not all young kids would even be able to process an idea like this but let alone be successful in it while giving back to the community. Another important thing about Hart is all his candles are handmade at Beaver Creek Candle Company in Lisbon, Ohio, and they are not created by just normal everyday workers, but it is people who are diagnosed with developmental challenges. That is so amazing, he has opened more opportunities to others that face challenges daily to be a part of his very well constructed business. His candle business is simply one of a kind, he has a basic story that initiated it, and he has innovated in many ways by helping the society and growing the business itself.

10 Successful Young Entrepreneurs (investopedia.com)

Hart Main