I wanted to find some snappy way to reference “Charlie’s Angels” for this story, but I couldn’t think of one. So if you would be so kind as to humor me, please chuckle to yourself. Instead, I have paralleled these three entrepreneurs to Britain’s very own fab four (incongruently).
Let us begin with the mastermind of the operation. Maria Allen of Brighton, UK, made her start peddling hand-made greeting cards at-you guessed it-the playground. Playground salesmanship seems to be a decent indicator of future success. Take note, and teach your kids to be entrepreneurial from a young age. You’ll be proud as ever when your son or daughter comes home from school gleaming because they sold your Rolex for three bucks. I digress.
Allen claims to have “learned a lot about the basics of business” from her juvenile ventures, and proceeded to take a new business idea big time with the help of two unnamed partners. (Seriously, the article I referenced doesn’t mention the name of her partners. Sorry.)(Also, John Lennon is not affiliated with this business.) They began generating profit by hand-crafting jewelry and selling it on Etsy, all without any outside funding. Etsy got their name on the board, and nowadays their products are stocked by over 70 retail stores around the world. These ladies are pulling in pounds of pounds every year as their business grows upwards like a diligent sunflower.
If you are good with your hands, there is almost certainly a market online. I am struck by the amount of people see finding success in selling hand crafted things online. It seems to me that in a world where all appears synthetic and mass produced, hand made products are highly valued.
Tune in next semester for more exciting episodes of “Young Entrepreneurs Who Know What’s Up!”
I’ll expand upon working to create art by hand. Not only is there an online market for this, but writing and photography as well. I’ve sold calendars online, and written freelance here and there as well. It’s a great way to obtain startup capital as a young entrepreneur for sure!