Who says that age matters in entrepreneurship? There is no set time in our lives when we are able to come up with a brilliant idea better than another. Maddie Bradshaw, a ten year old with a dream, is proof of this. Beginning with a simple idea involving bottle caps, she created Snap Caps, a business that brings in $1.6 million a year.
Snap Caps is a company in which bottle caps are modified into jewelry items such as necklaces. Different designed bottle caps are interchangeable allowing the user to change bottle caps to fit their own unique design. It all began when Maddie was 10 years old. She wanted to decorate her locker, so her uncle gave her a bunch of old coke bottle caps which she glued magnets to and made into decorations. After seeing this, her friends caught on and began buying these handmade locker decorations from her. This was only the beginning for Maddie.
By age 13 Maddie had made her first million dollars. She had been selling these necklaces with the help of her mom and younger sister on Amazon.com as well as a variety of other US retail outlets. Aside from her business, Maddie was very interested in inspiring young entrepreneurs. She wrote a book entitled You Can Start a Business, Too in response to many of her fans (young aspiring female entrepreneurs) emails.
As she became more well known in the business world, Maddie was then asked to make appearances on “The View” and “Shark Tank”. On Shark Tank, Maddie easily won the approval of the judges. They liked her business so much that she picked up three of the judges as investors, and an investment of $300,000 in exchange for 30% equity in the business.
Maddie Bradshaw’s story is an inspiration to young entrepreneurs everywhere. She proved that age means nothing, and that ideas can come from anywhere. To learn more about Maddie, check out her business facebook page below!
https://www.facebook.com/SNAPCAPSm3girldesigns
This is pretty inspiring for other young entrepreneurs. I love the fact that it started as a way to make her own locker look good. It seems as if she liked making them and the money she made was just an extra. It’s such a simple idea and that is the beauty of it. People often forget that.
We often hear of 10 year olds being creative, but making a million dollars; that’s almost unheard of. Taking such a simple idea and turning it into a brilliant one only takes a little creativity. Making an appearance on shark tank and coming away with $300,000 and three of the sharks’ help is amazing. This is such an inspirational story and it makes us realize that all you need is your own creative touch to make yourself known.