Jack Bonneau learned the value of entrepreneurship at the age of 8. Like many young children in need of money, he started a lemonade stand at his local farmer’s market. “In 12 weeks, I made $900 in profit,” he says. “I never knew anything like that was possible.”
He wanted to help other kids to realize this opportunity, so he launched a one stop shop for children’s commerce. Jack and his father would help local children set up a branded Jack’s Stands & Marketplaces stand for $15. They would spend about 30 minutes helping to get the small operation up and running, then leave for multiple hours while the children operated the stand.
Over the four years that Jack’s Stands was operated, hundreds of kids have operated thousands of stands around his city.
While Jack’s Stands was successful, Jack has been working on a new way to scale his venture and came up with Teen Hustl: a nonprofit organization that gives kids access to the gig economy. “My dad told me that back in the 1980s, millions of teens used to have their own paper routes and babysitting businesses,” Bonneau says. “I was like, Wow! Now, because of the internet, those jobs are being taken by adults. But teens are the most tech-savvy, so why not plug them in to that?” Jack has plans to partner with large corporations and make teen entrepreneurship easy and accessible.
Jack Bonneau is yet another example of what teen entrepreneurs are capable of. He found his passion for entrepreneurship and is selflessly making it more accessible and feasible for teens to explore the magic of entrepreneurship.
As it does for many entrepreneurs, Hannah’s story started at a point in her life in which she wasn’t sure where to turn next. She had just finished her contract to teach English in China, and didn’t know what came next – until she decided that she wanted to start a business. Inspired by the canvas shoes worn by Chinese workers, she decided to bring this style to Western markets and started a company called BANGS. Her company sells canvas shoes with creative designs meant to “support people in their adventures”.
This company is an amazing example of starting a company with a mission to serve rather than a desire to make profits. Her company is growing exponentially – the company was recently put on Nordstrom.com! We need more companies with this commendable mission to continue helping make the world a better place through unique value propositions.