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3 Q's and A Tip

Lessons from Teen Entrepreneurs

Posted March 11, 2009

Whiner-in-Chief recently learned about a foundation that awarded college scholarships to teen entrepreneurs. To be honest, W-i-C had never really thought much about teen entrepreneurship, not once she outgrew her own teenage careers of ironing hankies, polishing shoes, and baby-sitting the neighbors’ kids.

We were intrigued, however, especially once we learned that there are actually some teen entrepreneurs who run thriving oil-and-gas operations, retail ventures, and other Big Businesses. They make money the old-fashioned way (that is, they make money the way people used to, back in those old-fashioned days when people were actually making money).

Most extraordinary of all: There are so many of these kids around that 1200 of them applied this year for the Entrepreneurial Scholarship Program, which will be awarded by the McKelvey Foundation to 60 high school students. (Yes, that’s McKelvey as in Andrew, the entrepreneurial genius who founded a company that grew and grew and ended up as Monster.com).

Here’s what we learned in a fascinating conversation with Christine McKelvey, who serves as president of the Foundation:

Whiner: First, the obvious question. Why is your foundation so committed to supporting teen entrepreneurs?

Christine McKelvey: This was very important to my father, who was a teen entrepreneur himself. When he was 14 years old, back in 1949, he used to buy fresh eggs from a farmer in Southern New Jersey and sell them from his wagon for a profit of 10 cents per dozen.

That was the beginning of a lifetime of entrepreneurship for him. When he was a college sophomore, he noticed that the only movie theater in town had closed down and he found a way to reopen it. By 1967, without capital and without any clients, he founded a company called Telephone Marketing Programs, which was involved with yellow page advertising. It expanded into recruitment advertising and eventually transitioned into Monster.com.

My father passed away last year, but for many years, his goal was to find a way to support teen entrepreneurs. He wanted to make college affordable for them so that they could continue to work on their businesses too.

The Whiner: The kids who apply for, and win, your foundation’s scholarships are high school seniors. It seems hard to grasp that they could actually start serious businesses by this age. How do they do it?

Christine McKelvey: There’s so much that we can all learn from them. They have no money — at best, they might borrow a few thousand dollars from their parents or other relatives, but if they do, that’s a fortune for them. They manage to grow their businesses with no additional capital. They don’t pay themselves because they’re usually completely focused on putting every dollar back to work in the business.

They’re motivated by the long term. And, again and again, we see kids who are complete geniuses when it comes to building businesses, creating value, and pursuing their dreams and vision.

The Whiner: Does there tend to be a pattern? And if so, is it something that adult entrepreneurs can copy?

Christine McKelvey: Usually, they do what they know. That’s very important. So, if they have retail businesses, they’re often selling to their peers — and they’re successful because they know what kids like. Or, maybe they’ve targeted their businesses at an industry that they understand because parents or other relatives work in it.

For any of us, there’s the best chance of success if you build upon what you know how to do, what you understand, and what you love.

McKelvey’s tip for entrepreneurs of all ages? “Some people are under the false impression that you need to have a lot of money to start a business or to make it succeed. But with many entrepreneurial ideas, that’s not the case. You might be able to use a little bit of capital, very little, and tap into a profitable niche in which you’ve got the expertise and experience to start small and grow organically.

This is a tough economy. And the challenges of starting a business and sticking with it are tougher for adults, who usually have other financial obligations, and maybe family responsibilities as well.

But in any economy, there are ways to make money. Our teen scholars are the best proof of that. They remind all of us that it can be done.”

The Whiner wants to know: Have you ever started a business, whether by choice or necessity? What can we learn from teen entrepreneurs (or, teach them about life in the business world)?

Reader Comments

  1. JG2009

    Teen entrepreneurs, however material-minded they may be, have not lived their adult professional lives yet, let alone in the pampered environment that most of us grew up and spent much of our careers in. So, teens come upon business thinking in an innocent (or primal) way. It’s about basic thinking. They simply go where interest and opportunity lie, which is profoundly simple and maybe profound. They run their businesses lean and mean, because they have to. They may take interesting risks, because they are not yet jaded or afraid if their instincts tell them something is right. It will be interesting to see how teen entrepreneurs change in the current downturn. Will they take fewer or greater risks. Will there be more or less of them? We can learn plenty from these young entrepreneurs.

  2. Lorraine

    Hmm. Interesting. I never had a clue about any of this either. Now it’s got me wondering whether I might want to steer my teen into this direction — scholarship possibility???? Can’t argue with that.

  3. Crayon

    It seems like entrepreneurs are born with some instinct that allows them to “see” opportunity where others might not. They are also not afraid to try something (or afraid to fail). I think my Dad would have fit that category having survived the Great Depression. He created a business for me and my sibs where we took flyers around the hood and offered our services to mow lawns and watch over houses during vacation season in the summer. We got calls for babysitting and pet care as well. I had to put the pedal to the metal (on my bike) one time when someone called with an emergency babysitting job and their cat was having kittens right when the Mom had to leave.

    NOTE: Dad laid out the business plan and we followed it….different from an entrepreneurial plan conceived originally by the teenager.

    There is truth in seeing a need and finding a way to fill it.

  4. Tamara

    I wonder if it is also in part that teenagers can take risks adults can’t. If their businesses fail, they don’t take the kind of life altering hit an adult can, because their parents (for the most part) keep them fed, housed, and insured.

  5. dd

    I agree with Crayon,

    It seems like entrepreneurs are born with some instinct that allows them to “see” opportunity where others might not.

    I saw this today in the high school where I teach. A student packaged candies she bought in bulk and sold them for a profit. She is the “go to” person for teens that are always hungry.

  6. amy

    McKelvey’s right all around. If you’re interested in pointing your teen (or pre-teen) in that direction, there are still Junior Achievement chapters all over the country, and they can give some practical advice & support. If the kid’s of an entrepreneurial bent, he or she will see opportunities everywhere. I used to make good money selling those little jellybeans back in the first Reagan admin — I took them to school, and of course everyone wanted some, so I started selling, a penny a bean. As I recall it was something like a 200% markup over the department store price. My parents used to take me to the mall on a Sunday so I could restock — I’d buy ten pounds. Cotton Candy and Pina Colada were the popular flavors. The school eventually shut me down, of course, but I had a pretty good run.

    The internet’s been a tremendous bonanza for teen entrepreneurs — you have access to markets you never knew existed before, and often the person on the other end doesn’t care that you’re 14 so long as you can deliver.

  7. amy

    ;) dd, our posts crossed. Yep, I think that well will never run dry.