When did your entrepreneurism start?

**DallasCrilley** · 07-20-2008 07:51 PM

Hello, everyone! I'm Dallas Crilley, and I'm 15-years-old.

The topic of this thread is when the entrepreneurial bug hit you -- what was your first business venture, and how old were you when you started?

Personally, my first business was a lemonade stand that I started with my friend. However, I was smart -- instead of setting it up in front of my house, I set up right in front of my local news station! They ran a story about us on the 5:00 news. I think I was 10 years old then.

I'm currently occupied with speaking about my book, Kidpreneur: Genius Ways For Kids to Pay Their Way Through College. It's a collection of stories of kids who started a business before they turned 18 -- it was recently published and I'm getting 5,000 copies next Tuesday!

Discuss.

**MistaDobalina** · 07-20-2008 08:09 PM

I'm 19 and only recently has the bug hit me. I wish I was thinking about it when I was 10 too cause I would have more experience. I've always just gone with the flow...but now I really want to take some risks and make some cash. Congrats on your book man. I wish I had it 9 years ago though ha.

**SophieM** · 07-21-2008 12:10 AM

Hi!

I am 15 as well. I have always been entrepreneurial in a way (always thinking of ideas) and I suppose the first thins I did was clean cars with my dad when I was 8/9ish. Then I moved on to selling sweets at school but that wasn't exactly legal lol. That was for about a year when I was 12/13, but then everyone started doing it...Now I do various online stuff and I'm not doing to bad!

Your book looks great by the way congratulations!

**pboychuk** · 07-21-2008 12:17 AM

I probably started around 15, I bought boxes of pokemon cards, and sold the rare holographic ones on ebay. I wish those things were still popular I could make a killing now.

**RichThinker** · 07-21-2008 02:46 AM

Hi dallas

nice thread. I started maybe march this year, with blogging, trying to find free ways to make money online to help myself and other people makegood money without being fed to the gurus. I am 19. But I honestly cant see myself working for someone else, it just seems pointless. And your book should sell really well. I already want to buy it, it would be interesting and inspirational to read.

**DallasCrilley** · 07-21-2008 10:08 AM

Thanks for the replies and encouragement. It's fun to read everyones' stories!

**zharlene** · 07-21-2008 12:10 PM

Nice!

The entrepreneurial bug only hit me last year (when I was 24)! Which is weird because my mum was an entrepreneur in her younger days.

Before that, I did think "yeah, maybe I'll have my own business one day" but then again who doesn't wish for their own business, right? Only recently have I been working towards that goal. It's like finding a new meaning to life...

**rogercbryan** · 07-21-2008 12:17 PM

I got hit young... started my first paper route when I was 8 (it was a licensed contractor position). Then I moved on to gum.. fireworks.. cigarettes.. alchohol... sales around 13... not recommended if you would like to stay in school.

I started my first marketing company when I was 17.. it failed... I started another one at 19... if failed.... I started an investment and tax prep company at 20... ended up in jail for 30 days by 21 (made a TON of money).. didn't know you need a license for all that...

Went to college from 23-27... got a degree.. started my first million dollar company at 27.. now have four companies.. three of which are profitable... will gross a little over $2M this year...

My failures have been my greatest experiances...

**theAgroup** · 07-21-2008 12:19 PM

back in december of 05,my mom handed me a copy of "rich dad poor dad' , I havent turned back ever since.

**emd5005** · 07-21-2008 07:24 PM

Congratulations on your book! It looks great- was a great idea for a book topic!

The entrepreneur spirit didn't hit me until after graduation- when it was forced upon me. I had just graduated and was looking for a job- I began promoting myself through my blog. I began getting offers for some consulting group, but no job offers. I decided then that I was better off working for myself than working for somebody else! And that's where it all started!

**Jay Brass** · 07-22-2008 04:50 PM

I'm 15 as well and ever since I knew about money was when I was sucked into this everlasting portal of entrepreneurship. Hahaha.

**DallasCrilley** · 07-24-2008 06:25 PM

I've studied a lot of the most successful businessmen/women today, and almost all of them had some sort of entrepreneurial venture when they were kids! For example, here's a chapter from my book about Michael Dell:

The Story
Most people know Michael Dell as the founder of Dell Computers
and one of the richest men on the planet. What few people know
is that long before he was taking a bite out of Apple, he was sinking
his teeth into the business world at the tender age of twelve.
He got a job selling subscriptions to the local paper, and after
a while he started seeing a pattern of those who were buying the
paper and those who weren’t. He saw that there were two groups
that were most likely to buy—people who just bought a new home
and newlyweds. So he started thinking how he could use this, and an
idea popped into his head. He rode his bike down to the courthouse
where people register the deed to a new house and apply for marriage
licenses. He struck gold.
Michael brought together a small army of adolescents that
made regular runs to the courthouse pouring through the paperwork
looking for leads. Once they had a list of hot prospects, they’d report
to Michael and he’d sell. By the end of the summer he was making
more than the teachers he was about to be learning from.

The Secret
One of the underlying themes that I’ve seen throughout writing
this book is in just putting two and two together. Instead of wasting his
time targeting everyone, he sold to the people most likely to buy.
Also, Michael knew that the information he needed had to be
somewhere, so he just did his homework and found the courthouse.
I bet Michael wishes there was the Internet when he was a kid—it
would have saved him a lot of pedaling.

Now It’s Your Turn
Dell could have looked at his paper job as a dead end, like many
teens do, but he applied some very grown-up business practices like
doing market research and creating a hot list of leads. In the end, he
found his business had turned into huge paper profits.
So what’s stopping you? I bet you could take just about any job
and sell like Dell.

**David B** · 07-25-2008 11:10 PM

I have been interested in becoming an entrepreneur for a while now and seeing how much you have done (book at 15!) I feel like there is no better time then today to begin serious planning. I just turned 16 so i guess i was hit at 16.