Maddie Bradshaw is popular on the blog tonight.  Like Grace, I researched Bradshaw for this post. I want to talk about her success from a slightly different angle, though.  As you might have read from Grace’s awesome post, Maddie Bradshaw is a 16-year-old millionaire.  She designs and sells Snap Caps, creative bottle caps that can be worn as jewelry. She has 25 employees and sells over 60,000 necklaces each month.

I found her story particularly interesting because she isn’t selling something that solves a huge, mind-boggling problem.  In fact, she’s similar to Apple in that she’s giving people something they didn’t even know they wanted.

So, why are people buying from her?  Anyone can make a simple necklace, and many companies do. What sets Bradshaw apart?  She presents Snap Caps as the necklace that celebrates and brings out a girl’s unique qualities.  Each necklace has a theme, whether fairytale or music or ladybugs or faith.  Girls choose the ones they think fit their personality. Just like Zappos, she’s putting a bigger “why” behind a product most people don’t usually think much about.

Her approach fits right into the “conceptual age” idea we were talking about in class.  To have a place in the market, products need to be more than just functional.  They need to stand for something.  Snap Caps stand for uniqueness.

Bradshaw’s success shines far beyond her net worth.  She has appeared on multiple TV Shows, like The View and Shark Tank, and has even published her own book, You Can Start a Business, Too. Her biggest piece of advice to young entrepreneurs is to follow your passion.  She says, “If you come up with an idea and you love it, chances are other people will, too.” I think people forget this a lot.  They don’t work towards something they love because they’re scared it won’t interest others. That has certainly been true for me and many people I know.  Bradshaw is a wonderful reminder that you can create a business around any passion.  She took the risk most people wouldn’t have and it’s paying off for her in amazing ways.

(Image: The Toggery)