巧用興趣賺錢花

College sophomore[大二學生] Jessica Granger launched her first business when she was just 11. The story goes like this： She wanted a laptop—a pricey[昂貴的] MacBook—and her parents told her she’d have to kick in[繳付] half the money for it. Therefore， she started a stationery[文具] company called My Girls and Me， and began making hand-drawn thankyou cards and party invitations and selling them to friends， family， and boutiques[精品店] in her hometown of Lansing， Michigan. Within five months she had earned her new laptop—and My Girls and Me became such a success that she started marketing her cards online to customers around the globe.

Granger is one example of a trend[趨勢] that’s exploding： teens staking a major claim in a marketplace that once belonged only to adults with MBAs. And these aren’t small-time businesses， either. Take 18-year-old Bella Weems. She launched her jewelry company， Origami[折紙手工] Owl， in 2010， when she was 14. Five years later， she’s created a network of more than 60，000 sales reps[銷售代表]， and Origami Owl has made millions of dollars. On the tech side， Nick D’Aloisio made headlines when he sold his newscondensing[精簡] app， Summly， to Yahoo！ at age 17 for$30 million.

What’s allowed young people to take passions[熱情]， hobbies， and big ideas out of their bedrooms and turn them into money-making businesses has a lot to do with their command[掌握] of the Internet and social media. “We have so many resources[資源] now showing us how to do anything we’re interested in. When I’m stumped[難住] on something， I can Google it and navigate[操縱] what I need， and it lets me connect with other people in my industry，” Granger says. This also helps you spread the word about your brilliant new ideas. “Nothing is stopping kids from putting their ideas out into the world. YouTube videos get millions of hits from all over the globe in just a few months. And no one cares if you don’t have special credentials[憑證，證書]. If you have an idea， it’s going to spread if it’s good，” says Rich Sedmak， founder of Schoolyard Ventures[商業投機]， a Philadelphia-based program that helps teens start their own businesses.

By means he’s not talking about only YouTube， of course. You can see your handmade goods on Etsy and promote[促銷] them on Instagram. Or you can build a website by yourself. “The cost of starting a web company has dropped 1，000 times in the past two decades，” says Ethan Mollick， Ph.D.， a professor of management at the University of Pennsylvania.“A website used to cost millions of dollars to outsource[外包]， and now you can design your own in a few hours for very little money—and reach an online community[社區] where age doesn’t matter.” And， should you need a little capital[資金] to get you going， you can find it through companies like Kickstarter.

One big plus to being young， adds Mollick：“Marketing firms spend billions of dollars to learn how teens think. Kids already know—so they can go out and do it themselves， and it’s more likely to be successful than anything some 200-year-old company comes up with.”

Perhaps the greatest edge[優勢] they have is this： zero fear. Adults have learned to be critical[愛挑剔的] and afraid of what could go wrong. But as a teen， you have no such fear as to what you can and can’t do.

The result of all this has been a growing number of young people starting businesses， who are already good at marketing themselves， and are able to try out their ideas in a low-risk way. If it doesn’t take off[突然成功]， then it’s on to the next thing. And if it does， well， they could retire before it’s time to take the SATs注.

In case any of this has inspired you to dream up your own business， our teenage business owners have a few pieces of advice for you. Read carefully—they clearly know what they’re talking about：

Focus on a brilliant idea. “Look for problems—or ‘headaches in life，’ as my professor calls them—and try to find a solution[解決辦法]，”Granger says. The headache could be that your parents won’t buy you a car and you need to raise more money than babysitting will net[凈賺] you； or you’re just annoyed[使苦惱] that there’s no app for that.

Wear your heart on your sleeve. “It’s incredible[難以置信的] how many doors will open if you show how passionate[充滿熱情的] you are—and how much more you want to learn，” Granger says.

Find a mentor[導師]. “The first step is to just ask someone. You’d be surprised how many people are willing to help out and give back if you put yourself out there，” says Weems.

Don’t let a few nos stop you. “People are going to tell you that you can’t do it—and I got that a lot， being 14 when I started my business，”Weems says. “But you have to believe in your own dream， surround yourself with people who believe in it too， and always keep a reminder in front of you. Above all， remember that you can do anything you set your mind to. Anything is possible.”

大二學生杰西卡·格蘭杰在年僅11歲時就開始了人生第一次創業，故事是這樣的：當時她想要一臺筆記本電腦—一臺昂貴的蘋果筆記本電腦。她的父母對她說，其中一半的錢得由她自己支付。因此，她成立了一個叫“我和我的女孩”的文具公司，開始制作手繪感謝卡和派對請帖，并出售給自己的親朋好友和她家鄉（美國）密歇根州蘭辛市的精品店。不到五個月，她就賺到了她的新筆記本電腦。而她的“我和我的女孩”文具公司也大獲成功，于是她開始在網上向全球各地的顧客出售她的卡片。

格蘭杰是一種極速發展趨勢的一個例子：青少年們開始在曾經只屬于擁有MBA學位的成年人市場上圈地了，而且還不是小打小鬧那種。就拿18歲的貝拉·威姆斯來說，2010年，年僅14歲的她創立了自己的珠寶公司“折紙貓頭鷹”；五年后，她已建立起一個擁有超過6萬名銷售代表的網絡，她的“折紙貓頭鷹”公司也獲利數百萬美元。在高科技創業方面，尼克·達洛伊西奧在17歲時即以三千萬美元的價格將一款新聞概要手機應用“Summly”賣給雅虎，成為轟動一時的頭條新聞。

年輕人得以把自己的熱情、興趣愛好和奇思妙想從臥室的主意變成賺錢的生意，與他們嫻熟掌握互聯網和社交媒體密切相關。……