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At a certain age, parents decide it’s time to start teaching their children how to be responsible with their money, and learn how to value costly items. The best way to teach a child to value money, is to make them work for it. I’m sure most of us remember our first big purchase, for me it was the iPod touch, a whopping $200. In the eyes of a 7-year-old, this may as well be $1,000. Chloe Smith, a 7-year-old girl from Louisana, desperately begged her parents for an electric scooter; her parents, wanting to turn this into a learning experience, told her that she would need to earn the money herself. This meant that she has to come up with $249 herself. Unlike many her age, this was no big feat for Chloe and her entrepreneurial mind.
With the help of her nana, Kathy Phelps, the two started baking family recipes and selling them to the locals. Chloe’s business rapidly grew, and her teacakes could be found in small shops around town. She networked through family members; specifically her Uncle Larry in Australia, who’s coworkers wanted Chloe’s TeaCakes. Eventually, TeaCakes by Chloe was an international business. Not only were her cakes delicious, but each package had a personalized hand-drawn label. Without realizing it, Chloe became a marketer, entrepreneur, and successful business woman in a little less than a month.
Chloe’s grandma believes that this business not only got her the electric scooter, but also showed her that “you have to work for money” and be patient. This experience also helped Chloe in her academics, as she read all the recipes herself and measured the ingredients. Chloe’s business was no ‘one-hit-wonder’ as she plans on continuing baking even after college. “When I get about 20-years-old,” Chloe she says that she wants to open up her own TeaCake Shop. /cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gray/7CDCN2KJRFARBJUWNIVYRLG3QU.jpg)
TeaCake’s by Chloe serves as an inspiration to many other young entrepreneurs. All it takes is dedication and follow through. If Chloe decided that $249 was impossible to raise, then it would be impossible. Having faith in yourself and your work is the first big step in becoming a successful business. Sometimes older entrepreneurs get too obsessed with the fine details, and they overthink things to the point where the passion is no longer there. Chloe’s business goes to show that we all could benefit from doing a little less thinking, and a lot more doing.
Made in LA: 7-year-old entrepreneur starts baking business (kplctv.com)
This is a great post and I love all of the entrepreneur’s passion for going out there and making it happen. It’s very inspirational to me and it makes me smile as we see younger and younger people accomplishing so much. The average person would have just given up, but the entrepreneurial mind will always find a way, especially with the help of others.
I love that Chole wasn’t defeated by her parents telling to save up the money herself. It really does show what a great entrepreneurial mind she has. She was able to get right to work thinking of ways she could make money and she was able to think of a fun and creative way to do so in the end. I also love that her idea also lead her to her new passion of wanting to open a teacake shop when she is older.
It’s impressive that she saw what seemed like an impossible amount of money and still tried her best to raise it. I know a lot of people older than her would shy away from such a barrier, but she knew what she wanted and she got it! Even more impressive, she made it an international business by recognizing her opportunities and using them accordingly. Chloe is an incredible entrepreneur and I love how passionate she is for her business.
I love Chloe’s story, and how she started so young as her own small business entrepreneur. I like how it incorporated the fact that as an entrepreneur you have to be patient while also driven to support your business.