My First Business
by Angus Loten
Every successful entrepreneur started somewhere. Some just started sooner than others. Here are several top-notch entrepreneurs who all started out just like you--and today, run multimillion-dollar businesses.
Today you may be selling lemonade on the corner for a few cents a glass. But tomorrow, who knows. You might be running a luxury chocolate store. Or a multi-million dollar weight-loss program. Or a popular chain of restaurants specializing in noodles.
Check out these top-notch entrepreneurs who all started out just like you -- with a very small business at a very young age. Today, they are in charge of some of the world's most successful companies, making millions of dollars every year.
Hard Work Pays Off
That's a lot of money now, but it wasn't always that way. When Jenny Craig was a little girl, her mother used to pay her a single penny for every hard-shell crab she could catch in nets from Lake Pontchartrain, where her family spent the summer. Between her and her siblings, Jenny could catch three dozen crabs in a single day. Her mother would boil and stuff the crabs, and sell them to local restaurants. If you're thinking that hauling in crab nets and carrying them down a long dock is hard work for a seven-year-old girl, you're right. And you probably won't be surprised to learn that today Jenny Craig runs one of the world's most popular weight loss programs, Jenny Craig, helping people of all ages stay healthy and happy.
Have Some Confidence
Successful entrepreneurs are smart people, but a little self-confidence helps, too. Tony Hsieh today sells $300 million worth of shoes on the Internet every year at his website, Zappos.com. But when he was 12 years old, Tony was making $100 each month selling photo-buttons by mail. Customers would send him their pictures along with a self-address stamped envelope, and Tony would turn the photo into a button they could pin on their tee shirts, jackets or hats. Tony says the experience taught him to be "more independent and believe in myself even if nobody else did."
Seek Help from Others
When Devon Rifkin was 10 years old, he bought lollipops from a nearby drugstore and sold them to other kids in his class at school. When business picked up, he got his parents to help by contacting the company that made the lollipops so he could buy even more and sell them to students and people in his neighborhood. Later, after he left eighth grade, he began selling entire boxes of lollipops to other kids so they could sell them, too. Soon, Devon was selling lollipops to four of five schools throughout his hometown. "It was great action, profitable, and of course made me very popular with my fellow classmates," Devon says. That early success gives him extra confidence today running The Great American Hanger Co., a multi-million dollar business that makes clothes hangers for big companies like Bloomingdale's and Nike.
Keep Customers Happy
Being nice and honest with your customers is always a good strategy. Aaron Kennedy was just 8 years old when he started selling greeting cards and vegetable seed packets door-to-door in his hometown. He sold the seeds in the spring and the cards in the fall, which kept him busy all year long. Aaron even planted the seeds he sold in his own backyard, so he could tell customers exactly what they were buying. It worked, and soon business was so good he filled an entire cigar box with the cash and checks he earned: "I remember one of my customers, Mrs. Sorenson, called me one day to ask 'are you ever going to cash that check I gave you for the seeds, Aaron?,'" Kennedy recalls. Today, Aaron runs Noodles & Company, a $30-million chain of restaurants. He says his childhood experience helped him understand the importance of customer service -- and cashing checks promptly!
Seth Goldman now sells $9.5 million-worth of ice tea at the Honest Tea factory in Bethesda, Maryland. But he learned the importance of earning the respect of customers when he was just 4 years old by selling golf balls he collected from bushes on a golf course next to his home. The golfers were happy to pay for the extra balls, so long as Seth and his sister stayed quiet and respectful while they were putting on the green. Otherwise, the golfers wouldn't buy anything. "If they made a good shot, or even a moderately decent shot, we'd be sure to congratulate them, even clap," he says.
When Michael Alter was only 15, he made money taking photographs at weddings, bar mitzvahs, and other special events. The money helped him pay for college, and he learned that keeping customers happy is the best way to run a business. Today, Michael helps other small companies keep track of the money they pay their employees at SurePayroll, a payroll company in Skokie, Illinois.
Be a Team Player
Even when you're the boss, it's important to be a team player. Jason Finger's company, Seamless Web, helps other businesses by keeping track of the bills they pay for food and other special services. When he was 10 years old, Jason and his cousin sold Kool-Aid -- and lemonade, too! -- to thirsty runners at a stand next to a jogging track. (That's another important lesson: Location! Location! Location!) The money they earned together helped pay for movies and popcorn, while Jason also learned the importance of working as part of a team. "My cousin and I worked very hard together and we could both count on each other," he says.
Sell Something People Love
Finally, it never hurts to have a product customers crave. Everyone loves chocolate, and Vosges Haut-Chocolat makes some of the best, selling over $4 million every year. When Katrina Markoff, the company's boss, was just 7 years old she made delicious treats in her Easy Bake Oven and sold them from a stand on the side of the road. By the time she was a teenager, Katrina was selling more extravagant cakes to nearby stores and country clubs, before becoming an expert chef at Le Cordon Blue, one of the world's best cooking schools. But even the simple cupcakes she sold as a child taught her the "delights and temptations of food," she says.
Vance Patterson had fans even before he opened Patterson Fans, a multi-million dollar business that sells fans and coolers to other companies. When Vance was a teenager in Indiana in the 1960s, he played the electric organ in a rock band called The Clique and sold tickets to his shows at the local civic center all summer long. The tickets cost 75 cents each, or $1.50 per couple, and sometimes as many as 150 teenagers would come out to see them. Vance says after the band broke up he started a lawn mowing business that made more money: "But the band was more fun."
Correction: An earlier version of this story mistated Honest Tea's annual revenue.
Got a question about the contest? Contact us at lemonade@inc.com.
