Just as in past generations, you hear a lot of talk these days about how "the youth of today" are lazy, unmotivated, and generally headed in the wrong direction. If you want to see proof of just the opposite of these negative stereotypes, you need only talk with one of the thousands of Junior Achievement success stories. Recently, we were fortunate to have the chance to ask three such superstars about their current and future entrepreneurial endeavors, and their interviews are below.
The interaction with JA and these young entrepreneurs reminded me of the many students we've encountered while speaking at high schools about our book, Kidpreneurs. Sure, there are a lot of lazy teenagers out there. Guess what — there are a lot of lazy people of every age out there! But whether through interviews like this or interacting with high school classes, we know our future is in good hands.
About Junior Achievement: JA is the world's largest organization dedicated to educating students about workforce readiness, entrepreneurship and financial literacy through experiential, hands-on programs.
Junior Achievement programs help prepare young people for the real world, by showing them how to generate wealth and effectively manage it, how to create jobs, which make their communities more robust, and how to apply entrepreneurial thinking to the workplace. Students put these lessons into action and learn the value of contributing to their communities.
Hillary Sadler
Age: 18
School: Beachwood High School
Company Name: The Green Dream
Your company, The Green Dream, is a great idea. How did you come up with the idea?
The idea was formed in 2008 by a former JA student who posed the idea "instead of marketing a product to benefit us, why not market an idea that benefits the public and aids awareness of environmental issues and sustainable businesses."
How important was it for you to have a "green" or socially responsible company? Why?
The entire idea behind our classroom and individual projects revolved around being "green" in as many ways as possible. Therefore, the social responsibility almost fell into our laps. The Green Dream would not have come to existence without the importance of being both environmentally and socially responsible. It was more than a product; being "green" is a complete lifestyle and bringing that lifestyle together with businesses produced passion for sustainable business and paved the way for the future. Believe us – going green is never going to go out of style! The awareness that our project, The Green Dream, could produce was so powerful, reaching out to thousands of people directly, it drove us farther to make clear what being green was all about AND how easy it is!
What are your entrepreneurial plans for the future?
I am currently in the process of transferring colleges but I was directly enrolled into the business school here at Suffolk University in Boston, MA. I plan to carry out my business career into my next college as well. Whether through owning a business or working within a large corporation, I would be equally as happy, as long as I know I'm making a difference in the world.
What advice do you have for teenagers who are interested in starting their own companies?
The one bit of advice that I learned in my time with JA that encourages me to take risks in aspects of life is, when you're proposing an idea, the worst possible thing that can happen is they say "no" and you move on to the next one. Don't let one "no" keep your dreams and ideas from becoming realities.
How do you personally define success?
I personally define success when you find yourself in a point in your career where you are so happy to be doing what you're doing, you would continue to do it even without getting paid.
Blake Engelhard
Age: 17
School: Riverwood International Charter School
Company Name: Take Charge
Your company, Take Charge, produces the E-Power. How did the idea come about?
The product came about as follows: Our company acknowledged that in previous years, people were not truly interested in buying our JA products, but they wanted to support our company, so they spent the $5-15 as a donation, so to speak. In investigating products that people would purchase and actually use (i.e. the way the real world works), we thought that we could take advantage of the new wave of technologically advanced smart phones by selling a product for a wide variety of consumers. Almost everyone has a cell phone, and due to our product's multiple adapters, most people fall within the range of our product. We chose the product because it is a product of our modern world.
What challenges have you faced in building your company? How have you overcome them?
About three weeks after our first purchase of products, we (Take Charge) ran into a predicament. Our supplier had run out of our product and would not be restocked for two months. We had a dilemma on our hands. We already had numerous pre-sales and many customers were expecting a product that we could no longer supply to them. We could not make customers wait too long, nor did we want to go back on our word and simply return money to the customers. Instead, we pulled together all of our resources to find another product in the same price range. Luckily, we ran across a very similar product. Not only did we find the same type of product we were originally advertising, the phone charger we found was of much better quality and had more advanced technology than the original product. On top of all this, it was the same price. We were selling again by the next week.
Another problem we faced was a lack motivation and attendance. I devoted an entire meeting agenda to finding out exactly what the other Take Charge employees thought the problem was and how we could fix it. Unfortunately, this method made very little progress and was of little success. I decided to take another route: make people enjoy themselves at meetings. I wanted the company to bond enough that the weekly meetings stopped being looked at as business meetings and started being seen as learning something new and making friends. In order to accomplish this, I tried to lighten the mood of the meetings by creating a break in the middle of the meeting to just "hang out" and I even changed the color of the agenda each week to make it seem more inviting. On top of this, I added an activity to start the meetings called Connections. During Connections, the company splits up into groups of four or five and each employee is given the chance to discuss what is going on in their life. This tactic proved to be very effective. The employees bonded on an emotional level and the company became stronger from it.
What are your entrepreneurial plans for the future?
Next year I plan to attend the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. I have not yet decided on a concentration, but I am considering Entrepreneurship and Innovation and Business and Public Policy. After getting my degree from the University of Pennsylvania, I would like to work for an already successful, technology-related company to learn the "tricks of the trade." This is all speculative, but I would then like to start a company to fully use the tools I have learned in the JA Fellows program.
What advice do you have for teenagers who are interested in starting their own companies?
What advice do I have for teenagers wishing to start their own companies? Do it. There is no better time to learn from your mistakes – and there will be mistakes. Also, make sure to protect the friendships you bring into the business environment by enjoying what you are doing and doing it for the results and for the process. You will not regret it.
How do you personally define success?
Success is not a business term. It is not a financial term. And, it is especially not a quantifiable term. Success is achieved with something to love, something to do and something to hope for. For some, entrepreneurship can be a large part of that, even if the business is "unsuccessful."
Jasmine Clay
Age: 17
School: Positive Learning Academy
Company Name: Classy
How did you come up with and develop the idea for Classy?
Our present company, Classy, went through a long process before it was officially decided as Class of Memorabilia. We wanted a new way to represent our graduating class opposed to the same memorabilia that only offers t-shirts and mugs. With our new idea of selling glow-in-the-dark, biodegradable wristbands it will provide a new trend within our peers that allows them to fashionably represent their graduating class. After doing more research and presenting surveys to our peers, it showed instant success. Thus we became Classy.
You commit 10% of your profits to organizations that support the growth of global education. How important is it for you to create a socially responsible company?
It is very important to me to create a socially responsible company because I feel that a company should always contribute to making the world a better place. By donating 10% of our profits to global education we are assisting in the growth of new jobs and educating people who will possibly serve as our future leaders. Not only will our efforts help impact others positively, but it also gives us encouragement to help others by reaching out.
What are your entrepreneurial plans for the future?
I have currently established my own Teen Cafe. I plan to expand on it and hope to create a larger concept that will reach out to many communities. My most important goal is to help my community by helping others. Since I am a teenager I saw it as great opportunity to start with my peers. In the future, I plan to elaborate and expand the idea. I would like to open my own center that can assist teens by helping them overcome obstacles. I plan to do so by not only giving them a positive environment but providing them with a service that can help them feel inspired to make an impact on someone else.
What advice do you have for teenagers who are interested in starting their own companies?
Always have a clear goal. If you know what your goals are and how you want to establish your company, you will be able to work through the process and make it. You should believe in your company and what it stands for. Some of the greatest ideas and corporations that you see today were thought of as impossible. Always believe – you’ll be amazed how far you go.
How do you personally define success?
I personally define success by setting a goal, believing in it, and striving to make that goal come into existence. I feel success is when you look back and see all the wonderful work you’ve done and say, “I remember when it was just a goal.” After all, before it was a flower it was a seed.
We'd like to send out a big thanks to these three outstanding young entrepreneurs for their time, and to JA for introducing us to them!
