19
Nov
Earlier this year we wrote about the top 25 teenage millionaires. These are kids who started businesses of their own when they were still in their teens and managed to turn those businesses into enterprises worth at least one million dollars. There were a lot of young entrepreneurs uncovered during the research for that article who had done really well for themselves but who hadn’t hit the millionaire mark yet. That doesn’t mean that these kids aren’t inspiring. In fact, in some ways these entrepreneurs are even more inspiring than their millionaire counterparts because it actually might some reasonable to believe that we, too, could achieve the kind of success that they have already achieved.
Here is a look at ten young entrepreneurs who started their businesses early and managed to make a decent profit off of them while they were still young. Who knows what kids with this kind of drive and talent could end up doing throughout the rest of their lives?!
1. Anna and Sarah Levinson. These sisters were 14 and 17 when they launched a line of nail polish out of their home. The whole thing started as just a way to make some creative new colors for their own nails. The colors turned out to be interesting. The polish was popular with their friends. Before they knew it they realized that this could be a money-making home-based business. After a couple of years they managed to become a top-selling cosmetics company for their type of product. Their company, called Ripe, now earns over $200,000 annually.
2. Donny Ouyang. This Canadian guy launched several websites when he was still in high school which all turned out to be popular. At the age of 11 he wasn’t earning any income at all. He started making websites the following year and sold his first websites for $200. By the age of 15, he was earning nearly $80,000 per year. He’s written an ebook on how he managed to do this through e-business. His key tip for others is to do the part of a business that you are good at and to outsource all of the more difficult parts to experts who can do it all better and faster than you can. Smart kid. No wonder he’s making a fortune at such a young age and still enjoying the work that he does!
3. Josh Buckley. This kid is another one who has made a successful career out of the world of online business. He started making his own profitable websites while he was still attending school in England. Like Donny Ouyang he sold his first website for a mere $200. By the age of 14 he was earning four figures per month in the website business. At the age of 15 he sold a site called Menewsha.com for a sum that was almost six figures in size! He also won the Best Idea Award on the website Retire at 21 for his great website ideas. He wants to be a millionaire by the age of 21 and has a long-term goal of making at least one billion dollars and moving to California to enjoy it!
4. Adam Cohen. Adam Cohen was five years old when he first began to invent gadgets. At 15, he created something called an electrochemical paintbrush which is a miniature device used to etch information on microchips. It can etch lines of copper so small that they can spell out fifty words in the same amount of space as the width of a human hair. That’s tiny! And what it means is that he’s been able to amass a big fortune. He earned a $40,000 scholarship for his efforts. Today he has over 200 inventions pending. One of the main things that all of these young entrepreneurs seem to have in common (besides drive and ambition, of course) is that they are truly creative!
5. Krysta Morlan. If you have ever had to wear a cast due to a broken bone then you know that one of the most frustrating things about it is that it gets itchy. This young woman helped to solve that problem when she was in high school by creating a device that cools the cast and reduces the problem. She has since gone on to create other inventions and is considered a leading teen inventor. She says: “I discovered my positive attitude, problem solving skills, interest in science, and challenges due to my disability made a great combination of tools in the field of adaptive technology.” There doesn’t seem to be any information available online about just how much money she has earned from her inventions but she’s well-known as a female inventor who started off at a young age so it’s likely that she’s made a tidy profit while helping others with her creations.
6. Ben Casnocha. By the age of 19, this boy had already owned a start-up software company for five years and written a book about his experiences as a young CEO. He was named among the Top 25 in Silicon Valley by the Silicon Valley Business Journal and was also named a Top 25 Entrepreneur under 25 by Business Week. He is a radio commentator, a public speaker and the co-runner of an “intellectual discussion society for business and technology executives”. He may not be banking millions but he’s got to be getting close and it all started when he was still a teen.
7. Stephen Yellin. This kid started talking about and writing about politics at the age of 13. By 19 he was a well-known political blogger. He blogs at the Daily Kos which is a Technorati Top 100 blog. He is interested in politics at all levels and once believed that he might make his own way in the world of politics. However his extensive research into the business of politics has deterred him from that course. Instead he hopes to live the rather humble life of a college history professor. Despite these humble aspirations he is sure to do his job well and to make money at it in the meantime.
8. Andrew Sutherland. Back in 2005 this young man was 15. That was the year that he started Quizlet, a highly successful website designed to make it fun to learn vocabulary. It was initially a shoestring operation that was created out of the student’s own frustration with the boredom of learning vocabulary when studying a new language. It turned into a highly successful website which is now used by hundreds of thousands of people. Use of the site remains free but Sutherland has gained a lot of attention for his ingenious idea and is sure to be one of those people who always ends up making good money off of great ideas.
9. Garret Yazzie. This amazing entrepreneur is known as a “junk yard genius” because of his invention of a solar-powered water heater that was made from recycled materials taken from the junkyard. This invention would have been an impressive accomplishment coming from any thirteen year old but it was particularly impressive because Yazzie was a low-income Native American student who was living on a reservation and attending a school where the interest in projects like these was almost non-existent. His invention succeeded in winning first place at the 2005 Arizona American Indian Science and Engineering Fair and becoming one of only 40 finalists to make it all the way to the Discovery Channel Young Science Challenge. Perhaps more importantly, the invention itself could be used to heat his own home in an affordable and eco-friendly way. The attention that Yazzie got for his invention earned him an invitation to complete his education at an advanced college preparatory school where he has been able to create additional inventions. He may not be making millions but he is doing well for himself and his family.
10. Liam Goodwin. This kid was in his teens when he launched Filmonic, a popular UK movie blog that launched back in 2007. Earlier this year it squeaked on to a list of Top 30 money-earning blogs. It came in at number 30 with a monthly income of over $2200. This is a list filled with other great blogs including Mashable, TechCrunch, ProBlogger and Perez Hilton. This guy is doing great for himself with just this one website. Imagine what else he can do!
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