Kenrya Rankin - Start It Up: The Complete Teen Business Guide to Turning Your Passions Into Pay

First published in 2011 by
Zest Books, an imprint of Orange Avenue Publishing
35 Stillman Street, Suite 121, San Francisco, CA 94107
www.zestbooks.net
Created and produced by Zest Books, San Francisco, CA

2011 by Orange Avenue Publishing LLC

Typeset in PMN Caecilia and Beton EF; Title text set in Aachen Bold
Teen Nonfiction / Business & Economics

Library of Congress Control Number: 2010936580

ISBN-13: 978-0-9819733-5-7
ISBN-10: 0-9819733-5-3

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or used in any
form or by any meansgraphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying,
recording, or information storage and retrieval systemswithout the written permis
sion of the publisher.

CREDITS
EDITORIAL DIRECTOR/BOOK EDITOR: Karen Macklin
CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Hallie Warshaw
ART DIRECTOR: Tanya Napier
GRAPHIC DESIGNER: Marissa Fiend
ILLUSTRATORS: Eriko Takada and Marissa Fiend
RESEARCH EDITOR: Nikki Roddy
MANAGING and PRODUCTION EDITOR: Pam McElroy

ADVISORS
BUSINESS ADVISOR: Ryan T. Wright M.B.A., Ph.D., Assistant Professor in Business and
Entrepreneurship at University of San Francisco
TEEN ADVISORS: Emma Herlihy, Celina Reynes, Diana Rae Valenzuela, Irene Xu

Manufactured in China
LEO 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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Every effort has been made to ensure that the information presented is accurate. The
publisher disclaims any liability for injuries, losses, untoward results, or any other
damages that may result from the use of the information in this book.

I BECAME AN ENTREPRENEUR as soon as I was big enough to hold a snow shovel. I was eight, and I went around to all of our older neighbors and offered to shovel their walks for $10 each time if they would hire me as their snow shoveler for the season. If they only wanted to hire me job by job, it would cost $20 each time. After the first snowfall I signed up 10 houses. It snows a lot in Princeton, New Jersey, so I was doing pretty well for a fourth grader.

By high school, I was mowing lawns and building computers. Then one night, I went to a Green Day concert and saw a great opportunity. The first 500 people to enter the concert had received wristbands, which gave them ground floor (mosh pit) access. But many of the early arrivals were younger kids with their parents, and the parents wanted to get rid of the wristbands so that their kids wouldn't get roughed up in the mosh pit. I bought the wristbands from the parents, then sold them for three times the cost an hour later to the teens who really wanted them, but hadn't arrived early enough to get them.

These ventures might seem small, but they were significant. With each one, I recognized a new customer need and came up with a way to fulfill it. Then in 2004, I founded my current business, HeadlineShirts.com, a leading internet T-shirt company and top supplier to Urban Outfitters. I love my company, and I believe we have been successful because our T-shirts are a little smarter, a little better made, and a little more environmentally sustainable than others in the market.

But starting my business wasn't easy. From raising capital to structuring the company to finding my market, there was always a lot to think about. And I made a lot of mistakes on my way to where I am now. For example, I tried to expand too quicklymaking things like button down shirts, jackets, and ties, at a time when the economy was contractingand almost went out of business as a result. The company bounced back, but the experience was painful. Mistakes are important for the things they teach us. But not all mistakes are necessary. And many of my mistakes might have been avoided if I'd had the hands-on guidance of this book.

Start It Up is a great tool for entrepreneurs. The author, business journalist Kenrya Rankin, covers a wide range of topics related to starting a business, from figuring out what kind of company you want to run, picking out a name to filing all of your paperwork, coming up with price points, deciding who to hire and learning how to use your business to help the world. Throughout the book, successful young entrepreneurs offer their advice and personal stories. Plus, this book is truly fun to read.

Every entrepreneur has a few secret weapons that helped turn their dreams into reality. This book should be one of yours!

If you're like most teenagers, you're being pulled in a million directions. Between keeping up your grades, joining clubs to make your college apps look good, and holding down a job so you can actually afford to do the fun stuff, it can be a bit much. But what if you could combine a couple of those things and make money by doing what makes you happy? And even better, never again have to work at a clothing store at the mall or while away the hours serving fries at the fast food spot on the corner. What if, instead, you could design your own brilliant fall line of clothing and sell it to your classmates? Or bake your world-famous chocolate chip cookies for a profit instead of giving them to your freeloading friends for nothing? Turns out you canby becoming an entrepreneur.

What Is an Entrepreneur?

An entrepreneur is basically someone who comes up with a great idea for a business and then makes it happen. The recipe is simple:

1. Find something you love to do.
2. Figure out how to make money on it.
3. Work hard to pull it off.

There's no better time than the present to start your own business. And the best part is that the skills you'll learn from running your own company could keep you from ever having to work a 9 to 5.

Starting a business means taking noteslots of them. So as you read, have a notebook or computer nearby. Every time you see this icon you need to take some notes or do some brainstorming. The info you jot down is essential to shaping your vision and helping you to create a business plan (more about that in Chapter 3).

Are You an Entrepreneur?

First thing's first: Do you have what it takes to run your own business? There are as many different types of entrepreneurs as there are companies, and part of the fun of doing your own thing is figuring out what methods work best for you. Listed here are ten traits that many successful entrepreneurs share. The more of them you possess, the easier things will be in the beginning.

Don't think that just because you're young, you can't be an entrepreneur. A lot of kids are like, "You can't start a business when you're 13," but you can! There's nothing that says an entrepreneur has to be a certain age. If you want to do something great and be a young business professional, go for it.

Gabrielle McBay, founded cookie company Crumbs by Gabrielle at age 13

If you're short on these qualities but still want to have your own business, know that owning a business can actually teach you some of these things.

1. You have a passion. Whether it's making your own jewelry, cutting hair, playing video games, working on old cars, or something else completely, there's at least one thing you love to do in your free time. The most successful entrepreneurs find a way to do what they love for cash so they actually enjoy their work.
2. You're not afraid of hard work. Yeah, it might suck a little, but you know that if you dig in, you can accomplish any task, whether it's banging out an essay for English class or getting up at 5 am each and every day for swim team practice. The ability to work hard will help you handle all the difficult things that can come with starting a company.