Entrepreneurship: You’re Never Too Young to Start Your Own Business

For the month of March, the students at The Brandon Foundation were given a big, new challenge: to start their own businesses and run them profitably. At the end of the challenge, 1 student with the most profits would win a BIG check for $175, on top of whatever profit they would make during the month.

Students chose to sell either a product or service. The names of each student’s business are below. Once students decided on what to sell, their mentors helped them to create a business plan, which detailed the price of the product or service, the cost of materials needed and a target market to sell to. After business plans were finalized, students developed a marketing plan and designed business cards. Miss Caty gave each student a $20 startup loan to purchase supplies, which was later repaid from each business’ profits. Finally, they could start production and marketing!

- Auntral’s Easter Baskets

- Darrell’s Dogs

- DeAndre’s Greeting Cards

- DJ’s Candy Bags

- Edyn’s Cleaning & Decorating Services
- Isaiah’s Babysitting Service
- Khi’s Kakes

- Medina & Dejiah’s Customized Pencils

- Shawn Michael’s Pencils                                           

Lessons at the foundation for the month of March focused on the ins and outs of running a business and how other young entrepreneurs have been successful. Some very young business owners have already made millions of dollars because of their innovative ideas and hard work. Tom Harris, Fort Wayne city councilman and business coach, came to speak with the students as well about maximizing their profits. In short, the students learned that age should never stop them from pursuing their dream of running a business!

After 30 days of learning and a lot hard work, Edyn Moore won the challenge and earned $155 in profit from her business, Edyn’s Cleaning & Decorating Services! Here’s what she had to say about her experience:

Edyn Moore, Age 10, 5th Grade

AB: Where did the inspiration for your business idea come from?

        EM: I saw a magazine article about how to do cleaning and be more organized.

AB: What has been the most difficult part about running a business for you?

        EM: The hardest part was trying to accomplish new cleaning and decorating tasks for the first time.

AB: What was the most important thing that you learned from the challenge?

        EM: Even though I’m only 10 years old, I can still do anything that I want to, even though I’m little.

AB: How excited were you to find out that you won the challenge?!

        EM: I was really happy, but I didn’t want to make a big deal about it because I knew the other students wanted to win, even though they were happy for me.

AB: What do you plan to do with your profits and the money that you won?

        EM: I already put $100 in my college fund, and the rest is for me.

AB: Do you plan to continue your business?

        EM: Yes

AB: Is there anything that you want to change about the business going forward?

        EM: I would change calling more people ahead of time to get more clients.

AB: Do you see yourself owning other businesses in the future, for your career?

        EM: Probably not for my career, but I would for extra spending money, like for the summer. 

AB: So, do you know what might want to do for a career.

        EM: I want to be a famous track player.

AB: Is there anything else that you'd like to say about your experience during the business challenge?

        EM: It was really fun! It was never about the money for me. Even though we had to do it, it was just something fun for me to do!

Thank you for reading!

Abby Bormann & The Brandon Foundation

P.S. In case you haven’t heard, or haven’t bought your tickets yet, The Brandon Foundation is having a dinner and auction fundraising event on Friday, May 20^th from 6-10pm at Yolo Event Center in Fort Wayne! The money raised from this event will go towards programming and our college scholarship fund, and our goal is to raise $60,000. If you’d like to join us, please buy your tickets at the following link: http://brandon16.auction-bid.org/micro2.php! If you are not able to join us but would still like to support us, you can make a donation at the same link and share the event with your friends and family!