Archive for young entrepreneurs – Page 2

SoundMind: An App by Travis Chen and Brian Femminella

https://www.businessinsider.com/soundmind-gen-z-founders-pandemic-stress-trauma-solution-2021-11

Travis Chen and Brian Femminella acknowledged how there was a lack of trustworthy mental health resources, and so they decided to come up with an app called SoundMind, which uses music to help reduce anxiety for individuals. Both of these individuals battled immense challenges in their personal lives, and they used them as inspiration to try to provide resources for other people. They created an online environment for people to have crucial mental health resources, and have a sense of community for others who understand the struggles that they are going through. They plan to expand their app even further to allow creators to upload their own sounds, along with commission opportunities.

Ryan Hickman, The Youngest Entreprenuer

Ryan Hickman may well be the youngest entrepreneur in the market today. At only 3 years old his whole life changed with a little consideration for the environment. As a 3 year old he had more entrepreneurial creativity than many people do in their thirties. He began by picking up bottles around his neighborhood because he didn’t like the look of the trash in the streets and parks. This began an explosion of ideas and only 8 years later he is a worldwide sensation. An 11 year old kid has his own recycling and clean up business including weekly beach clean-ups, donating money to marine mammal rescue efforts and raising awareness for the environment. His drive comes from his love and passion for the environment which is more noble of a cause than many, and that should be an inspiration to anybody looking to be an entrepreneur. He is an 11 year old kid doing more for our world than just about anybody, let alone 11 year old kids.

Ryan owns and runs “Ryan’s Recycling” but also just released a new non-profit “Project3R” which is focused on recycling education. At only 11 years old this kid has multiple companies, both commercial and social and is only growing. Ryan is the perfect example that a small idea can build a huge company. His quick action of picking up some trash out of the street led to multiple well known companies spanning across the entire nation helping make our world a little cleaner. His business plan includes the expansion from recycling is an incredibly safe plan, as the recycling business is still being explored. Branching out has allowed him to get grips on other markets so he doesn’t rely on recycling alone. However, with his foothold in the still unexplored business of recycling he can forge a new path and be the first to revolutionize and change the business for the better. Ryan is an incredible kid, being only 11 years old with two separate businesses, cleaning up the Earth piece by piece.

Zev Shapiro – The Social Activist Entrepreneur

      Zev Shapiro is no ordinary college student. His childhood was unlike his peers. Born and raised in Cambridge Massachusetts, he is currently a sophomore at Harvard University. At the age of 10, he helped manage Senator Elizabeth Warren’s campaign. In 2014, he was invited to the State of the Union Address as Elizabeth Warren’s guest. He enjoys reading academic law and public policy journals for fun and discussing politics. He always has had an entrepreneurial spirit, especially with his visionary personality; he often looks ahead as to what can be solved and improved in our society. Before graduating high school at Cambridge Rindge and Latin in 2020, he launched TurnUp (in 2019), a non profit application dedicated for young activists to increase voter turnout. TurnUp targets Generation Z progressives by having the capability to connect with other progressive individuals for specific causes. Zev wants to provide his peers with a network to organize events, marches, and protests for teenage activists. He specifically focuses on increasing voter turnout in all U.S elections but there are some other causes such as social justice, racial inequality and educational rights issues. The use of TurnUp proved to increase 36 million young voters nationally in 2020. Additionally, TurnUp made it possible for 17,000 people to make connections with one another and attend progressive events and it has over $2,000 individual donors. This new progressive activism app has grown in such a short amount of time. Through TurnUp, Zev Shapiro brings together a new generation of young activists for leftist causes. 

      Despite Zev Shapiro’s political beliefs, as Christian entrepreneurs we should be inspired by his entrepreneurial spirit and dedication so that we can create some kind of innovation which spreads Biblical Truth, the Word of God, and conservative thought to Generation Z.  So what are we waiting for? 

 

To Learn more about Zev:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/zevshapiro 

https://www.turnup.us/ 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zev_Shapiro

Hoop Swagg

Socks. When I think of socks, many images come to mind: high socks, low socks, quality socks, cheap socks, thick socks, thin socks, plain socks, and fun socks. Having a pair of fun socks can sometimes just brighten up the day. Many people have their fun socks, but do you have any socks as unique as Hoop Swagg? Young entrepreneur, Brennan Agranoff, created a business that makes socks with incredibly unique designs.

During his junior year in high school, Brennan started searching for socks but not the plain athletic socks. He wanted something with a unique design but still an athletic sock. When he could not find what he was looking for in the market, he decided to create the socks himself. After long hardGoat Farm research, Brennan taught himself the process of code and graphic design and slowly started forming his business. With the help of his dad as his investor, the young entrepreneur opened shop in his garage where he could print the designs on the socks. His ideas for his designs can come from anywhere— some are random while others are pictures from around him, like the goats which are one of the most popular designs that he sells. His business, Hoop Swagg, originally started just as a sock business but then it expanded into the arm sleeves, face coverings, shoe lacings, and apparel. And surprising fact is that he is colorblind and can still create designs that are completely amazing. After five years in the sock business, Hoop Swagg generates over one million dollars annually.

Brennan enjoys his business even though he has a busy life with school, chores, and soccer. He also donates to See the source imagecharitable causes and has a page on his website where you can participate in fundraising. Brennan was able to find solution to dull athletic socks and created a business where he can have fun and make money.

You can find his website here.

Mikaila and the Bees

Mikaila Ulmer is the founder of Me and the Bees Lemonade. What I find the most interesting about her story is how young she was when she came up with her idea. Mikaila was only four years old when she was stung by a bee. This event drove her to learn more about bees and what they do for the earth. It was around this same time when her family encouraged her to enter a couple children’s business competitions. While searching for business ideas Mikaila’s great grandmother shared her homemade lemonade recipe with Mikaila. It was then that Mikaila had the idea to combine her great grandmother’s recipe with her growing interest in bees together. With the help of her family, Mikaila changed her great grandmother’s recipe to include honey.

Mikaila entered competitions and sold her lemonade outside her house at her lemonade stand. She continued to nourish her idea and sell her lemonade. Now about ten years later Mikaila is 15 and is still working hard to improve and keep her lemonade business going. Today her lemonade has won awards, comes in five different flavors, and is sold in a multitude of different stores. Something Mikaila has done since the beginning is donate a percent of the profits to help save the bees. This is something she continues to do today. Her story really comes full circle as the bees are what gave her the idea for the product and now, she can help the lives of the bees with the product they inspired her to create.

Something I really like about Mikaila’s story is how she continues to embody the spirit of an entrepreneur. Even at her young age and being a part of this business for her whole life she continues to foster it and improve it. When she is not directly working on her lemonade, she does other things to help support the Healthy Hive foundation. Which is just another way she has found to support the bees. I love how her idea is centered around one thing, the bees, and she continues to support them throughout her entire business and life.

Keto Cracker

A popular diet these days is the Keto diet. The Keto diet is a low carb and high fat diet which limits many tasty options like bread, pasta, and crackers. Crackers are a wonderful food because you can do so much with it like eating it with dips or toppings or by itself as a snack or just getting that satisfying crunch. A young girl named Nyah Kshatriya was made aware of this dilemma of not having tasty Keto friendly crackers and so she set out to create the perfect keto cracker.

Over the summer of her senior year in high school, Nyah decided that she wanted to get a job to Phoenix teen entrepreneur finds success with her 'Keto Cracker'earn some money. Her parents approved but said that she should consider an employment where she could learn skills that could benefit her later in life rather than learning the skills necessary for the minimum wage jobs. During that time, Nyah’s mother was on the Keto diet and challenged her daughter to create something similar to the beloved cracker but still have the healthy low carb Keto element. Nyah opted to create a cracker instead of a minimum wage employment. After many attempts, Nyah produced the perfect cracker. The cracker only consists of three ingredients and unlike the other Keto crackers that are in the market, this cracker does not contain the unknown ingredients. Once she completed the cracker, Nyah wanted to test whether her cracker would be liked among the Keto population. Using Instagram, Nyah sent her cracker to Keto people to taste test. The Keto people loved it and so started Keto Cracker.

See the source image              Although Keto Cracker has been a success, Nyah still has challenges to face. Like many otherSee the source image young business entrepreneurs, many people do not take her seriously because of her age. Also, since her was still in high school during the start of her business, she had the SATs, ACTs, AP exams and applying to colleges to balance with her business. But through it all, Nyah has excellent mentors to guide her with her business.

Bianchi Candle Co.

There are many things that people enjoy and one common thing is candles. Candles can come in all different scents, wicks, and ingredients. These things make each candle unique, and an all natural soy candle handed poured in Papillion, NE, Italy is definitely unique.

Nic Bianchi received a candle making kit on his twelfth birthday and was hooked from that point on. He Nic Bianchi, Bianchi Candle Company, with a few of his products.kept on creating all natural soy candles and soon afterwards, he introduced his candle business, Bianchi Candle Company. The company did not come as a surprise to his parents because if you rewind to Nic’s younger years, you would be impressed with the young boy. During elementary school, Nic would sell toys to his classmates at recess. Later, he upgraded his little toy business with a catalog and everything was sold with a logo of his creation.  He even went the next step and employed two other children as sales reps to help him with his toy business at school. His eagerness to be an entrepreneur expanded as he entered his candle company. The candle making process is more complex than most people think. Besides having a passion for entrepreneurship, Nic enjoys the math and science subjects which is a bonus in his candle making. Much thought goes into the ratios of ingredients and the sizing of the wick to ensure a longer burn and elements of the jar and label will matter in the process since the heat of the flame could destroy them.

Bianchi Candle Company has launched many candles for different occasions or purposes. TheBianchi Candle Company motivational candle, Yes You Can candle, and the Bianchi Candle Co, purely luxurious candles, are two of the most popular brands of candles that the company sells. All the candles are natural and without any dyes causing them to be purely white, which when his last name is translated from Italian, it means white. Nic’s story is inspiring for me because he followed his passion which brought him into the world of business.

You can visit Bianchi Candle Company website here.

Jooyeon Song: Seeing a New Perspective

Jooyeon Song is the co-founder of ManiMe at the age of 29. ManiMe sells custom fit and good quality stick on nails that the customer can purchase and apply themselves at home. Their products are cruelty free, nontoxic, and easy to use.  Song first thought of her idea when she was growing up in South Korea. She loved to go and get her nails done but she found with her busy schedule she just did not have the time to go to a nail solon. It was not until she attended college at Stanford where she met the man who would become her co-founder and together, while her was still in college getting her MBA, they created ManiMe. They use 3D printing technology to create the custom fit gel nails from 2D pictures.

Song explained one of the hardest things she faced while starting ManiMe was that most the investors she pitched to were male, and they did not understand the problem she was trying to solve. I think this problem happens more often than we think. I read an article that said, “there are 114% more female entrepreneurs in the US today than 20 years ago”. Women today are entering an environment that used to be all men. They bring to the table a new perspective and Song experienced the difficulty of trying to get others to see situations from a new perspective. Male or female this is an important part of entrepreneurship. Being able to get others to see the problem you see and understand how your idea can uniquely and effectively solve that problem is the heart and soul of entrepreneurship.

Song was able to explain her perspective and her solution to the problem and was able to get her business going. I found it really intriguing to learn about Song’s journey and what part of her entrepreneurship journey she struggled with the most. I feel as though it is a great example of the success that can come from perseverance, dedication, and hard work.

 

Here is a short video about Jooyeon Song:

https://www.forbes.com/30-under-30/2021/art-style/?profile=manime

Super Business Girl!-Asia Newson

Asia Newson is a young, teenage, entrepreneur from Detroit, who started her own business at the age of five! She wanted to experiment with candle-making while also teaching other kids like her how to become entrepreneurs. Her father first taught her how to make candles at a young age because he sold them himself at one point. Asia decided to create her own business, Super Business Girl, so she could have the freedom to design her own schedule. Ultimately, she looked at how hard her mom worked at her job and at home, so Asia decided that she wanted to create her own business to have more freedom to serve others. She started selling her candles outside of a store in downtown Detroit, which led to some conflict as she got older. Many people were projecting her business and brand as a scam and the security guards began chasing her from their storefront. Asia and her mother found a solution and went to get a permit. When the guards were shown the permit, they weren’t pleased but allowed it. Then she met someone who helped her out tremendously…

“Everything really started to change when Asia ran into Dan Gilbert, who is the owner of Quicken Loans as well as the Cleveland Cavaliers. He recognized her as Detroit’s “Super Business Girl.” She met with him in his office and he said, “I have keys to the city, and I can sell anywhere!” Today, Asia has trained 40 of her peers, young kids in Detroit, Michigan to be Entrepreneurs, which is to say Newson has created power and possibility across a whole community! She believes in helping other kids in Detroit and beyond learn to be entrepreneurs. She wants to open a candle store in every US state and she wants to sell her candles, as well as other products including “Super Business Girl” shirt, bags, and school supplies.”    (https://prettybrowngirl.com/i-see-me-pretty-brown-girlpreneurs/asia-newson-founder-super-business-girl/)

Asia is a 13-year-old business owner who is making an impact on the world. She was featured on the Ellen DeGeneres show and on America’s got talent for her business and for her strong entrepreneurial spirit. She made a large impact in her community by training up to 40 of her peers on how to become entrepreneurs in the Detroit area.

This story is a massive inspiration due to Asia’s ability to power through and not let anyone talk her down regardless of who they were and what they thought of her business. She wanted to create a major impact in her community and ultimately the world, and she is doing just so. Her idea is a new take on the young entrepreneur by being able to teach others her process of innovation and success in her business. She demonstrates the idea of pivoting and hard work to be able to push through the hardships of being overlooked as a young entrepreneur who grew out of the “Oh, this is so cute!” phase. She is taken seriously as a young entrepreneur who has made a major impact with not necessarily a new product, but a relatable process in making it. She again has inspired me, and hopefully, others, to start as early as you can so you can accomplish much throughout life. Taking the first steps to create a business will get the ball rolling, that’s what I need to strive for.

 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/leahhunter/2017/01/10/the-13-year-old-entrepreneur-changing-the-face-of-business-in-detroit/?sh=df67f791f1d2

 

Griffin Thall and Paul Goodman – Fashionably Making a Difference

People often get caught up in fast paced lifestyles and do not slow down to take time to appreciate the little things in life. It is always a good reminder to take a break once in a while and count your blessings. Two young, fresh out of college entrepreneurs realized that people need this reminder when reflecting on their time spent in Costa Rica and seeing how the Costa Ricans lived with a spirit of gratitude for the simple things in life. This is how their company was born.

Griffin Thall and Paul Goodman went on a trip to Costa Rica to celebrate graduating college. During their time there, they met two artisans that made bracelets and asked them to make 400 bracelets for them to take home with so they could display them in a local boutique. The artisans agreed, and the bracelets ended up selling out of the boutique in only a few days. Seeing the huge opportunity, Griffin and Paul wanted to develop a company with the bracelets. Branching off their inspiration from the lifestyle that the Costa Ricans embraced, Griffin and Paul decided to create a movement around their grateful attitudes for the simple things in life. The Costa Ricans called this lifestyle “pura vida”, so that is what they named business. Griffin and Paul partnered with the artisans in Costa Rica to launch their business, and now their employees have expanded to artisans in El Salvador, India, and more in addition to Costa Rica. They now have over 800 employees for this business, and it is continuing to grow.

Not only are Griffin and Paul spreading an inspirational message with their bracelets and jewelry, but they are also giving back to communities in need. They are providing artisans with reliable and good paying jobs with positive work environments, neither of which they had in their previous jobs. In addition to this, they have partnered with hundreds of different charities and donated millions of dollars to important causes. This is no ordinary bracelet and jewelry company. Their passion and mission for this business is apparent, and it is an inspiration that they have such a heart to give back.

These entrepreneurs helped solve the problem of low wages and poor work conditions for hundreds of people in other countries while selling a product with meaning. They are clearly driven by wanting to help others, and they are succeeding in multiple ways. This makes them unique in the jewelry business because genuine giving hearts can be hard to find. I am inspired by their story, and I have learned that seizing an opportunity is sometimes all it takes to make a big impact.

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