“I want to change the way kids travel. I want restaurant owners to look beyond the chicken nuggets and chips on the kids menu and to make sure their venue is fun for all ages.”

-Bella Tipping 

Bella Tipping has a prospering business at only 13 years old. One bad experience she had at a hotel inspired her to create “Kidzcationz,” at only 12 years old. Kidzcationz is a travel review website aimed at kids, allowing them to rate hotel restaurants and attractions based on how well they support their needs. She hopes that one day all hotels will treat kids the same as adults.

On this website, kids can log on, choose a venue and review, as well as observe and rate the destination. This allows people to book holiday stays through Expedia and contains images and past reviews from other members. This website is the source of her success and the reason why she was able to guest star on the The Today Show.

Bella states that her goal is to work at the nonprofit Virgin Unite and fight for social change. She said that she wants to live in a world where everyone is included. I find this inspiring that she has such a strong desire to help others. She has a strong ambition to the world a better place.

This has been her drive as an entrepreneur. She was not afraid to try to solve the problem of low quality hotels for kids. Although she is super talented, her willingness to take risks and innovate her business reveal key aspects of a successful entrepreneur. She is another great example of how young people can change the world.

Sources:

http://fortune.com/2016/09/15/18-entrepreneurs-under-18-teen-business/

http://www.smh.com.au/small-business/entrepreneur/is-this-australias-youngest-entrepreneur-20150916-gjojai.html

When Alina Morse was little, her parents told her that candy was bad for her teeth. This is what inspired her to create a lollipop that not only tasted good, but also had health benefits. With the help of her dad and some research, Zollipops was born. Alina was only 9 years old when she thought of this brilliant idea.

Alina’s dad stated that she always liked asking questions. From a very young age, she kept a journal of business ideas. This reveals that she had the natural talent of being a good entrepreneur.

Made with plant-derived sugar alternatives, Alina Morse’s Zollipops help reduce the risk of cavities. When she thought of the idea, Alina and her dad went into stores and researched online. They spoke with dentists and food technologists which helped them learn about acidity and Ph. Through this they discovered that they should include the ingredients erythritol and xylitol since they help clean teeth.

Alina says that they have been working to make the pops more stable and less sticky in hot or humid environments. She explained that it has taken over two years to develop their new formula. This reveals that they are continuing to improve her product idea. This stresses the importance of innovation and entrepreneurial thinking, because she is working to make the profit better in order to appeal to more customers.

In 2014, Zollipops sales reached $70,000 and temporarily sold out on Amazon. Alina even appeared on Good Morning America and “Shark Tank.” She is now working to get her product into dentist offices and schools. I find it amazing that Alina is succeeding at such a young age. This has inspired me to never lose hope on an idea. Although her idea took a long time to develop, it was worth it in the long run.

Sources:

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/meet-11-year-old-who-invented-healthy-lollipop-180960951/

https://quickbooks.intuit.com/r/business-profiles/born-entrepreneur-finds-startup-success-at-age-9-with-healthy-lollipops/

“It’s only worth it if you find something you truly care about–something you’re passionate about” -William Zhou

William Zhou is a 23 year old internet entrepreneur who created an incredibly successful education software company called Chalk.com. He started his first business in high school revealing that he became passionate about entrepreneurship at a young age.

After speaking with his teachers from high school about their experiences, he found that it was not very easy. This inspired him to try to change education for the better by creating Chalk.com, which is a mobile platform that allows teachers to manage their daily workload more efficiently. It solves the problems of lesson planning, assessment,  and eases teachers’ pain by facilitating personalized education and driving student success. It is used in over 20,000 schools worldwide and has helped teachers to enhance their academic experience.

William exemplifies an entrepreneur in that he saw a problem and tried to solve it. However, he did state that he had some challenges within the business that he overcame. For example,  less than 100 teachers paid for the product the first year. They decided to switch their business model to give away the productivity suite for free and charge schools and districts for premium features. Teachers helped to raise awareness within districts resulting in 100,000 teachers being reached and the sales increasing to 3000%. This shows how he was innovative and thought outside the box.

William explained that there are tons of problems in the world, and therefore tons of opportunities for people to make a difference. “Being an entrepreneur means to solve problems to make and shape the world into a better place,”  he says. He also notes that people should pick a problem that they are passionate about and solve it. These are the main aspects of being a successful entrepreneur. I believe that William did a great job of using his passion for education as a way to help teachers in their daily lives.

Sources:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonma/2015/02/24/twelve-of-todays-most-impressive-young-entrepreneurs/#3547be497560

http://www.hatchpad.co/blog/entrepreneur-spotlight-william-zhou

Mikaila Ulmer has proven to have what it takes to be a successful social entrepreneur at only 11 years old. She has attempted to help prevent the death of bees through her lemonade business, since bees are essential to our ecosystem. It is clear that she saw a problem in a different way, and used her lemonade to help solve it.

Her journey began when she signed up for two entrepreneurship contests at just 4 years old. At this time, she got stung by a bee two times. To help ease her fear, her grandma sent her a cookbook that contained her favorite recipe for flax seed lemonade. She then did research on bees and found out that they are dying, and therefore created a product that would help save them.

The product she thought of is called “Me & Bees Lemonade,” which is a flax seed and mint infused beverage that is sweetened mainly with honey from local honeybees. For every bottle sold, Mikaila donates a percentage of the profits to organizations working to ease the plight of bees. After selling her lemonade at local stores, she eventually was asked to sell her lemonade at a high-end grocery store. Her story has even appeared on the national news and shark tank!

Mikaila states that she enjoys telling other people about her story. She wants to make an impact on the world by helping bees, and loves encouraging others. “Don’t go into business to make a lot of money. Create a business that you see that the world is missing, solve a problem with it and do something that you have a passion for,” says Mikaila. Both passion and pain are key aspects of entrepreneurship. The fact that she highlights these reveals her innovative thinking at such a young age, which I find to be very inspiring.

Sources: www.entrepreneur.com

Andrew Sutherland founded Quizlet.com when he was only a junior in high school to do better in his French 3 class. It was launched with a small group of friends. Sutherland explains that he was just working on a fun project, and never intended for Quizlet to be a business. However, over time he realized that it would be useful for a broader world. Now, quizlet is used by millions of students around the world as a study tool.

It is exemplary that Sutherland was able to think of such a great idea as a high school student. The fact that Quizlet is an efficient way to study and helps make it easier to learn certain concepts reveals that it is a beneficial and useful idea.

Sutherland studied Computer Science at MIT and left after 3 years to pursue Quizlet full time. He realized how the site was expanding rapidly and was driven by the success he would gain by continuing to pursue this idea.  He decided that Quizlet was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and he could always have gone back to school if it did not work out. The fact that he was willing to take risks reveal his traits of an entrepreneur. He was an ambitious and intelligent individual, and saw the positives of continuing to implement Quizlet.

Sutherland has also proved to be innovative, as the site continues to improve. For example, the Quizlet team added six new languages as well as a revamped design. Through researching Sutherland, I have learned that even a small idea from a high school student can be transformed into an incredible success. This inspires me to be more creative and ambitious, just like Sutherland was.

Sources: www.quizlet.com/blog & studybreaks.com

Evan Spiegel is 27 years old and has been named the youngest self-made billionaire in the world for the past two years. He has an estimated net worth of $4 billion. This young, exemplary entrepreneur co-founded Snapchat in September 2011. The fact that he could come up with an idea that spread so quickly reveals how innovative and creative he is as an entrepreneur.

Spiegel was born to wealthy parents in Los Angeles, California and attended Stanford University in a product design program. In one of his classes, he started a prototype based on the idea he had for creating a disappearing pictures app. While his classmates made fun of his final project, it evolved into an image messaging and multimedia mobile application. By April 2016 it was the top downloaded app in 28 different countries.

This idea of creating a disappearing picture app is a great business idea because not only does it represent real innovation, but it also has a social and cultural impact. Snapchat allows people to communicate locally with friends as well with people around the world. Spiegel has added multiple changes to the app over the past few years. The introduction to snapchat filters as well as the “snap map” have added variety to the application. This reveals how the app has been updated multiple times to make it more efficient and applicable to more people. Whether it be video chatting, looking at the news, or watching what others are doing, snapchat allows people of all ages to stay in contact with each other and the world around them.

Spiegel had to exhibit multiple traits as an entrepreneur to come up with this brilliant idea. He was both innovative and creative, and was willing to alter his idea to make it better. For example, he originally called the idea “Picaboo.” However, he developed a different name that was a better fit. Spiegel also was determined and confident. Although people were not fond of his idea at first, he still never gave up on it. He was not afraid of failure and was not afraid to take risks.

This determination and confidence was what drove Spiegel to never give up on this idea. His privileged life conditioned him to never take “no” for an answer. While at Stanford, Spiegel sat in on a graduate level class on entrepreneurship and venture capital, where he talked with the Google CEO and YouTube co-founder. Talking with other entrepreneurs most likely inspired him through his journey of ideation.

Like Spiegel was inspired by other entrepreneurs, I am also inspired by his idea. The fact that he has become so successful has made me eager to also think of new ideas that can make life better. There is a significant impact that business ideas can have on both social and cultural aspects of the world. The principles of adapting, discovering, and perspective are important principles that I have taken into consideration after researching Evan Spiegel.

Sources: www.businessinsider.com / www.entrepreneur.com