My Adventures as an Entrepeneur - From Nine Years Old to today!

My Youth taught me about the value of converting my skill sets and time into money. An honest day's work and the value of chasing your dreams, solving your problems, and growing yourself proactively. My motivations were poverty and lack of money, or even fun. I was bored and wanted to experience what every other kid out their got to do, but the things I liked took money, and my parents didn't seem to ever have any.

My Young Entrepreneurial Spirit: Training ground for who I am today

My first business was around the age of 9, I grew up dirt poor, no really dirt was richer than us, we considered it "The Rich Neighbors".. We were so poor we paid the roaches rent, and we lived in a bad neighborhood. How bad?

One day I came home and a mouse tripped me and a spider stole my wallet... Even the "bugs" were gangster trying to survive in our house... We had no food to steal; the critters living in our apartment in the ghetto suffered famine. It was from humbled beginnings that I learned to be a hard worker, and to grow the one thing even a poor kid could afford to grow, my mind, my skill sets and my ability to make a dollar out of 15 cents.

I had great parents; they always taught me the value of honesty and the fallacies of dishonesty. They also taught me hard work is good for a while but learn to transform that experience into something more lucrative. They taught me to work smarter not harder, help people and always learn something new every day.

Kidco Movie: The fire was "LIT"

My parents were more of the type to teach great things than to do them their selves (not for lack of trying they just seemed to tell others how to do it better than they could accomplish the tasks themselves). They never really made a lot of money but I come to find that their wisdom was always right on. Those who can't do, teach would apply here. My dad used to tell me, Son, learn from yours and others mistakes. Take nothing for granted. My mother rented a movie when I was about 9 called "Kidco", it was 1984.

This movie really tied together everything they'd told me about perseverance and going for your goals, Proactively and the like and it lit a huge fire under my belly. I learned that day about the value of chasing your dreams not just waiting for them to happen. 20 years later I reminisced about that flick and found it on eBay, ironically as old as it was and a VHS at that it was 20.00! The movie was really grainy but to me it was the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. I suggest any kid watch it, it is entrepreneurial spirit in kids manifest. After that movie I started to chart ways to make money.

Let me back up and tell you that as a kid I was always getting in trouble.. I just couldn't follow the status quo, I was adventurous, I couldn't be a follower, or just do what I was told like my brothers, I was too passionate and curious.

I was a born leader, always trying to network people for the greater good but mostly always trying to experience life, and nothing would stop me, so you see I felt frustrated and constrained alot as rules don't allow for exploration just any time you get the jitter bug in you..

I even snuck out of my crib as a young child. I was a handful as a kid, so my parents often grounded me. With no amenities (we had no computers back then, no ipod, although we did have other things, but as a poor kid, the best we had was that clock radio and books/magazines) I had to figure out ways to entertain myself and my analytical nature took over.

I would sit in my room with a pen and a paper drawing up budgets, and charts, even drawing pictures of my dreams. By budget I mean 100 ways to spend 2.50 I found outside over the past month in change on the ground. You'd be amazed at just how far that would go in 1985! (lemon heads, Red Hotts, Boston baked beans, Now & Laters- all .10 cents each!). To take you back that was the year back to the future came out.

Most kids looked forward to Christmas "presents", we looked forward to the Christmas dinner, the real food. That was the one time of the year my parents splurged on groceries. We could have beans and rice most of the year but Christmas was all turkey and all the fixings!

When I was grounded to my room, later I called this "My Office" to make the "punishment" feel more like going to work then being imprisoned in a room, I often sat and pondered things I wanted then drew pictures of what I saw in my head. I wasn't a good artist but my drawings really spoke to me. And everything I drew back then became manifest in one way or another, at one time or another in my life.. Even the car I drew.. Ironically is the car I drive today!

I didn't realize it back then but drawing pictures of what I wanted was enacting the "law of attraction" . I didn't draw things I knew were practically impossible to get but things like nice clothes was attainable if I found a way to earn just a little money. The kids at school always laughed at my clothes so that was a big deal to me. A motivator to excel in my venture to make money. My dad called it "capitol" and often told me about investing a little money and earning a lot. (Dollar out of 15 cents).

Which brings us to why and how I started my first Kid company *Smiles*

My first Business at 9 years old (almost 10) House Keeper

I took it upon myself to go door to door and solicit my services of house cleaning for a measly 2.00 a pop (to me their wasn't at the time anything "measly" about it), I just did a "straightening up" deal, and as a deal sealer I offered to do the bathroom free..

I acquired 15 clients around the "hood" and made 30.00 a week which I worked for 2 hours a day after school doing it. I cleaned each one once a week for apx 30 minutes.. Each house was easy but the collective work was exhausting! To this day I HATE house cleaning but if I must do it, I do it well..

I learned from this experience to clean up after myself IMMEDIATELY every time. I make my bed when I wake up, keep my clothes in a basket (dirty laundry), when I cook I clean up AS I cook. It's simply easier to do it this way than to have to clean a filthy house. Plus your environment is always flowing with "CHI/ Good Fung shui. I never became compulsive about it, but I made it so if I did have to clean I'd not have much to do.

The work took me about 30 minutes (target goal) and often they felt guilty (didn't discover this till years later I was only nine) for the 2.00 low fee (I worked my arse off) and often fed me lunch and cookies (to me a sweet (pun?) deal since the best I got at home was garlic spaghetti noodles (see my hub on "nostalgia" for more on this funny story)..

I just thought I got lucky and they were nice people. They were and I was, however I realized years later in reminiscing, that their body language and things they said showed they hired me thinking 2.00 meant a light cleaning but what I ended up doing was a pretty good job. I took pride in my work. A job worth doing is worth doing well or why do it (my mom used to say).

So to me I got lunch (good food too) cookies, lemonade and exercise (and I really liked seeing people's houses and having all the conversations (I was an intellectual 9)..

The work was alot and after about 3 months I tired of cleaning all the time. I still had to clean at home, my parents got tired of the house being a mess so they enacted a new Saturday spring cleaning law (isn't this like reality? Business run into these kinds of things all the time!) and spring cleaning every Saturday was eating into my best business day.

I had school during the week so my best day to make money was the weekend and after school for 3 hours or so.. so I lost one of my best earning days.

I decided to save the money and funnel it into a new business. Candy sales. I hired my brothers and started my first "corporation" "Ironically I called "Kidco" (my brothers were not amused)..

Kings market of wholesale candy (not really but to the trained sales person who knew that those .10 lemon heads had a "street value" of .25 this was a wholesale price). Kings market became our "Costco".

We went to Kings market (a hole in the wall store on Gerber road in Sacramento) and we took a humbled 20.00 (I forget how much we really had, to us it was a lot though because of how much frikken candy we could afford!) and purchased Red Hotts, Lemon Heads, Boston baked beans and Now & Laters.

We bought enough to fill a moderate sized box about the size of a hot dog vender walking around baseball games). The candy was sold for 10 cents a box and 25 cents for Now & Laters but they were 15 packs so they were pretty good sized perception wise. We also purchased blow pops as I saw that 8 for a buck was a great deal, (until later but I'll get to that)..

We took our candy striper business to the neighborhood and what was great is the best clients/clientele were the people I cleaned houses for.. They saw my enterprising venture as a good influence on me and my brothers and always bought candy from us (they had kids too).. Although I didn't work for them any more they always asked me if I ever needed money to come back (to clean their house)..

They admitted to me, many of them, that it wasn't the house cleaning they liked (although they said I was one dedicated cleaner) they really enjoyed my company.. That felt good. When they would tell me that I would tell them, well how about I come by and we chat and you pay me the 2.00 at the end of our talk? They just laughed and so did I. (Thought I'd give it a shot?).

They fed us still! Cold cuts and cookies, lemonade.. I remember sitting one day with my bro's being arrogant.. I said boys.. Stick with me and theirs more where this came from.. (The one eyebrow stare came next) I got it from that rich punk on the Kidco movie.. I would always talk about and reenact that movie it had such an affect on me!

We found instant success.. The result of having a good clientele base (my old house cleaning clients were converted into candy buying clients..).. I learned the value of good work and its affect on future business ventures in recycling your clientele!

We sold our candy out every day but we also spent our profits every day too, we started to eat our inventory when we started to lose business since people already had enough candy.. The market was going down.. And we lost hope a bit.. We were kids what did we know about "don't spend your capitol?" I was a budding entrepreneur though..

We did fulfill some fantasies of buying a whole box of lucky charms and eating it with no grown ups telling us we couldn't pick out the marshmallows.. We ate the hell out of that cereal but not realizing we also lost our flair for the fantasy.. It was no longer fun to sneak in and steal the marshmallows while our parents slept.. I learned that day the value of scarcity. We didn't even finish the box, it simply didn't interest us as much.. and we felt sick from eating so much so fast..

When this business went kaplop.. we went back to being kids and while walking home one day contemplating how to make some money, as the ice cream truck that passed daily would taunt us (I never got money from my parents for any reason so anything I had I got myself they were doing good to keep a roof over our heads!).

We walked past this house with one of those big red cherry trees and noticed all over the lawn was dead cherries and squished rotted cherries.. The owners were picking them off the tree to avoid this tragedy and were filling paper bags with them. They were sick about the cherry problem. I asked them if we could have some, they were the same cherries you buy at the store.

They said yea take a couple bags and we did. We ate until our belly's ached, then It hit me.. Wait.. They sell these at the store; let's sell them door to door! Yea (the resounding group verbal hug sounded).. We went door to door offering a whole bag of cherries for only 5.00 (which we never thought we'd get.. that was alot of money even to us) first door we knocked on (and I didn't realize this till many years later) was a bunch of pot heads smoking weed, the smell was kind pleasant and years later when I knew what that was the memory triggered and an aha moment transpired..

They bought the whole bag and like Mortimer on the movie Trading Places (with Eddy Murphy) or coming to America.. (Also staring Eddie Murphy) We were back!

This didn't last as we were starving at the time and went to buy candy at the store but were intercepted by the ice cream truck :). We went back to the house to get more cherries but made the grave mistake of telling them we sold them for 5.00. When we asked for them at first they said, don't get selfish kids, then I told them no, we want to sell them. Sell them? They asked, yea we sold the other bag for 5.00. They started to talk about selling them themselves.. Good idea they told us.. one even said sarcastically, yea we can sell them and hire a gardener, But refused to give us any more, sadly.

I didn't do anything again business wise until about 14 years old (well nothing substantial) when I got the insight about the school candy venders. They sold in class blow pops and although we couldn't eat them in class they allowed sales for the fund raisers. I noticed they always ran out and saw a market.. I was always upset that they'd sell out before 3^rd period where I'd see the venders.. In my disappointment I sought out a way to get blow pops myself.. and an idea sparked... Supply and demand my friend.

I went home and with my 20.00 (saved from birthday money my grandmother always sent us 10.00 from that and the rest I saved from various things) asked my dad to take me to price club now Costco.. And I discovered a box of 100 were only 5.00.. I bought 4 boxes and discovered that this was apx 20 cents a piece. The blow pops in school sold for 25 cents each but I wanted to make a better profit. I realize the demand for blow pops was high when they ran out because people were scalping pops for 35- as much as 1.00 in some cases. (I bought one for a dollar so I know the yearning feeling).

I decided to build my company around those venders to solve their problem (they hated saying I ran out, to their customers)..

I offered them a deal, sell my pops WHEN YOU RUN OUT.. Didn't want bad karma to hit me by taking business from the fundraiser or the school to find out about my enterprise.. I would load each vender up with 100 pops a week and astonishingly they sold all of mine and all the fundraisers.. Mine went for 50 cents a profit of about .30 each which I split down the middle with the vender we each made .15 a pop (pun intended).

The funny part is they always asked for more from the fundraiser (the school) before I showed up and they (fundraiser administrators) wouldn't give them more.. I didn't get it.. (now I realize it was to control how much candy the kids had).

When it was all in motion I made about $224.00 a month in profit (my cut) on an initial 88.00 a month investment.. I had labor (vendors who were students selling for their fundraising groups) which I paid out 224 in labor overhead (I shared equal profits) total intake from an 88.00 investment was 1600 pops (22.00 x 4 boxes a week or 5.00/100 x16 boxes/month) x .50 retail = 800.00

Not bad for a Jr. High School kid starting with 22.00 (well my dad paid the other 2.00 tax but that was the most money he ever gave me for nothing)

I was put out of business when a school bully wanted a free pop (I eventually started to sell them myself out of my backpack, reinvesting my own profits into product and making more profit per pop selling them myself)..

He demanded I give him one free and I denied him. I figured if I gave him one today tomorrow he'd ask- er Demand one again and I'd be his bitch. I didn't want to set precedence, especially since he did it in front of other kids in class. If he'd asked nicely I'd of considered it (protection money you know, the mafia always steps in when a business is successful huh?)

He caught me outside on the first day of my "restocking" and picked me up by my neck and swung me around like a rag doll, all my inventory was dispersed (backpack was open) all over the ground and like roaches the school kids stole them.. (I went to a bad school).. I still remember that guy.. Adrease.

The principal found out and I took the brunt of the blame, never revealing my vendors or that anyone else was working for me.. Business was over.. Simple as that..

I had a good run though, over 5 months. I used most of my profits past capitol to feed the poor kids including myself at lunch time. I'd spring for it's It (ice cream sandwich that looked like a big cookie) and pizza from the pizza hut kiosk we had at our school. I was the go to guy to borrow money, but I never asked for it back. I would pass out "dollar's" so much the very question was a trademark at my school "Let me get a dollar" I heard it every day till it hurt..

Nothing for several years happened until I was about 21 when I ordered the SMC cataloged kit to sell products at swap meets.. I ordered the kit for 25.00. It included the catalog (full color looked like a JC Penny catalogue) and order forms. When it arrived took the cataloged around to friends and my restaurant (I was a waiter) and generated 840.00 (roughly) in sales..

Astonished I placed the orders and waited for the products to arrive.. When they did all my customers were satisfied (more than actually) and I thought wow that was easy.. My wholesale cost was 50% of the price in the catalogue (MSRP), and the pieces were good for the quality of the end product. All my customers felt they got a great deal.

My entrepreneurial light bulb went off and I decided to try a campaign to pass out catalogs to local businesses. I took the 400.00 in profits and ordered 300 catalogs at 4.00 each. (Full color and beautiful, branded too, complete with order forms (that I inserted after putting my company name and address on it with a stamp) these were huge catalogs not like Avon.. over 3,000 products!

I deemed my company Kensington Distributing Company or "KDC"

I was so proud of this venture, I was excited to really be in a legitimate company, not just a kids fun and games business. I went down and got my first business license and tax ID, home based business permit and was ready to go. I Purchased a fax machine and office stuff.

The catalog also had a place to brand my company phone name address etc..

I got dressed and bounced to the streets to sell local businesses on my product line.. I passed out all of the catalogs over a weeks time.. to local businesses in Manteca, California about 50 miles south of Sacramento. This was a one horse town essentially but their was a decent flow of people there. I worked currently at Lyons Restaurant as a Waiter/Server. I made about 100 a night in tips and used that to fuel this enterprise.

My only set back? I was a 21 year old guy who looked 16.. A curse in business relations face to face where initial perception is involved. I acquired a partner but he didn't do a dam thing to help, he wouldn't do the street work and turned out to be useless.. His only real contribution was his name on the business card. I hesitated to add partners to any future businesses from that experience but soon got over that when I met Caroline (my partner in "The Jerrico Effect" a business I started later that really took off).

All that footwork, all that driving around, the expense of purchasing all those catalogues.. My dream was in shambles..

I went out and revisited the shops and they all had an excuse.. "I haven't gotten to it" etc.. I lost hope and decided to reinvest into the concept.. The catalogue orders like I did the first time wasn't that easy after I initially got people to order.. Turns out many of them ordered just to see me succeed.. To light that fire under my belly, and it was their admitting this actually that kept me going.. I persevered.. I would go out only with a fight!

I bought another 800.00 of cherry picked products for my swap meet/ auction idea.. When they arrived I also went out and bought two large tables, and got lucky someone had put a nice shelf on the street in the neighborhood with a sign "free to good home" and I took it.. (you should have seen the smoke when I hit my breaks all of a sudden.. )

New angle on the old concept..

I loaded that and the tables with my products and set up my space.. 25.00 a day for rent on the space in a high traffic auction (outdoors).. Turns out no one wanted to pay remotely what the retail prices were on these.. After all it wasn't inside a store (where they would) it was a bargain center.. The irony is in the catalogue next to all the other stuff people got the perception of value like in a store but on shelves at a neighborhood auction (swap meet) where people rent spaces and sell things, the perception was that a 30.00 item should go for 10.00.

At first I refused to lose money, but 8 hours in the sun, full bladder (I forgot about the bathroom break concept! So I suffered!) and the Mexican music blasting from the adjacent booth giving me a headache I was willing to sell out and just break even. I lowered my prices a little hourly until they were going for what I paid for them (including shipping).

So I ended up after an excruciating day at the market (I went out for 4 weeks) and broke even and got stuck with all this extra product which I passed out as Christmas gifts that year..

This however was a failure I chalked up to experience, and to me it was fun none the less, the very inspiration it brewed in me was my best currency.

So that's everything up to now except the Jerrico effect /tranquilwiser story which came about 2 years after my eBay business stopped..

Qick note on the eBay compendium business

I wrote eBooks and sold them on a compendium CD.. I won't put that business here as I've dedicated an entire hub on that era.. so look for it soon, I'm editing it now.. This was the business that yeilded little money but alot of really valuable training.

I kind of skipped over the Jerrico effect years because I made a hub about that already as well, (the link to it is below). It was the eBay compendium business the writing eBooks back in the day that makes this HubPages experience now so fun and enjoyable. It's the format to write in that I'd always hoped for (but even back then didn't think of). HubPages reminds me of the way I felt about helping people through my eBooks, writings and such, only the format is so much better (for reaching people). Selling compendiums made some money but even then I wanted to get my wisdom in the hands of those who needed it.

After eBay fees and all the time it took, their really wasnt alot of money made, but again I learned a great deal that even today is valuable to my writing of hub pages.

The CD compendium business ended about 2004, then The Jerrico Effect era began around. The eBay eBook business was fun for a while but I see it more as a training ground for what I do now, writing hubs. Their were alot of interesting segments to that business and experience which you can read about in that article titled "The Internet Time Capsule". (not yet available)

It was originally here as a part of this hub, but I removed it because it was so long I thought it should be in its own hub, but it took up a big part of 3 years.

When it ended it lead seemlessly into the next business (the Jerrico effect) which utilized all the skills I learned in that business such as web design and writing ads, articles and such. Although The Jerrico Effect was much more than just inforamtion, it was about healing through meditation and the internal dialogue. This I concider my first successful business, as it was truly the company that solidified ALL of my previous experience and to this day I'm extremely proud of what I accomplished there.

Forgive me if my dates are off, I'm writing these off the top of my head. The time isn't as important as the adventures I am trying to share here to hopefully inspire people especially parents who I believe should encourage their kids to learn how to make money online. If they learn now they will realize what all those things in school are for that eluded me when I was there.. things like book reports, term papers, math.. learning how to earn money writing tells you why those things are important (math to count your money! ha! and exponential calculations of traffic link backs hehe).

To read about my "The Story of The Jerrico Effect" era click that link, its an other interesting story all by itself.

I started that company, 4 years ago (maybe 5) on my birthday January 12th. I was about 29 or 30 at the time (and I know I look about 19 now but I'm 33, a Capricorn (and a very typical one at that with some slight modification in personality like I love to laugh, I'm not the boring Cappy all business and no play.. play is essential to happiness!)..

The story is always being written, the adventure continues today.. Keep your ambition alive and your dreams too.. write your story.. you never know who you will inspire.

I hope my story inspires you, it certainly was an adventure, and it was fun looking back on it today, Some of those things I hadn't thought of in a while.. When a fellow Huber Inspirehub wrote me an email I blurted alot of that out, (and got some of my dates and numbers off which I corrected here for you) then thought what a great hub to write to help show how anyone can do anything even kids, to make money with a little effort and inspiration, anything is possible! and Inspirehub now you can link back to this hub to tell your story about how kids should learn to do things like this! Feedback is appreciated!

Jerrico