Greeting Cards Cash In…
Cameron Johnson started down the entrepreneurial path when he was just 9 years old by creating greeting cards for a holiday party his parents were throwing. Recipients of these cards were so impressed with the creativity and quality of the cards so much so that by the tender age of 11, Johnson had already managed to save up several thousand dollars selling personalized greeting cards for his Company which he dubbed Cheers and Tears. This taste of success proved infectious to Cameron and at age twelve he bought his sisters collection of 30 beanie babies from her for $100. Immediately,
he turned around and sold the collection on ebay for over $1000!!! -Not bad for a 12 year old!!!
Sprinkle in a little Advertising…
The next year, Johnson banked $50,000 he had made as seed money for his next venture, My EZ Mail- a service that forwards emails to recipients without revealing any of the recipients personal information. Within only a few short months the company was raking in $3000 a month on advertising revenue alone! HE still wasn’t done however, and in 1997, he joined forces with several other enterprising teens to start surfingprizes.com,
a company that displays those lovely banner adds across the top of webpages that we all love so dearly. This business proved to be his most profitable one yet, and within a few months the business started drawing in revenue to the amount of $300,000 a month!!!
Cashing in on a Few More Cards…
On top of this, Johnson found that he had accumulated a bunch of unwanted gift certificates over time and decided to form an online company that would allow you to exchange gift cards without any serious penalties. In 2004, he sold his business, Certificate swap.com for an undisclosed six figure amount, making him worth an excess of $1000000 by the age of 19. Today, Johnson appears on many business oriented tv shows including ABC’s Oprah’s Big Give and BBC’s Beat the Boss. All I know is that if this guy doesn’t make you feel unaccomplished, I don’t know what will!
That’s an amazing story of a what you can call a “serial” entrepreneur. Cameron Johnson sounds like he can’t stop coming up with great ideas and capitalizing on those opportunities to turn a profit. I love the bootstrapping element of his personal story as well, how he started with a couple thousand from his first business venture to millions as he built his wealth up.
This was one of the most interesting blogs i have read this far. It is truly incredible to see how successful he was and has become! What is better is that he started his career at a very young age and was able to start a new business one after another!
It’s cool to see a kid that started out small in the entrepreneurial field continue his journey as a young man. Obviously this guy is very creative and insightful, but it seems like he is also very aggressive in getting his business ideas up and running. Even though these are really good ideas, he showed characteristics of an entrepreneur by taking risks with his money and ideas.