USA TODAY:
Unbridled enthusiasm. Unchained confidence. Unlimited opportunities. Ah … youth.
In Young Wealth: Trade Secrets From Teens Who Are Changing American Business, Jon Swartz, a USA TODAY reporter, profiles 15 young entrepreneurs. Most started in their early teens. All succeeded.
Take 18-year-old Ben Casnocha. His nickname is ‘Big Ben’ - he’s 6-foot-4. And he’s rich.
Casnocha schmoozes with executives and venture capitalists in Silicon Valley in the morning and goes to high school in the afternoon.
Casnocha’s company, Comcate, markets software he designed for local governments. It started as a project for Ben’s sixth-grade tech class at a private school in San Francisco. Comcate now has annual revenue of around $750,000 and 50 customers in small and midsize cities in several states.
Swartz ends each profile with a snapshot, including age, business, city, their biggest influence and a commentary on how they do it.
How many teens start or run businesses is not certain, but they seem to be a growing niche. In 2005, 188,000 self-employed people in the USA were under 21, compared with about 142,000 in 2000, according to Brian Headd, an economist in the Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy.
Tech advances (like the Internet) make it easier to start and run businesses with little start-up capital. And nearly 1,800 colleges and universities offer courses in entrepreneurship, Swartz writes. ‘The liberating tonic of self-employment not only gives teens control of their jobs; it also sharpens the competitive spirit in the United States. Perhaps tech teens are a key cog in the American economic machine, a hidden salvation in an ever-changing global economy.’
These profiles are inspiring on many levels, for teens and parents alike. Swartz warns, however, that young entrepreneurs face a ‘phalanx of personal and professional obstacles.’ More.
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