As a child, Erik Finman bounced from school to school and was often bullied, both emotionally and physically. A particularly mean teacher reportedly joined in, advising the Idaho native to “drop out and work at McDonald’s because [he’d] never amount to anything.”
Erik eventually did drop out of school, but not his education. He built his own learning environment from home, using a computer and an Internet connection, and called it Botangle (a combination of “robotics” and “angle”). “I created this side project to kind of save myself,” he said before a crowd at a WIRED event for young innovators last year. “Its mission is to replace the public education system because of my really terrible experiences in it.”
When the robotics prodigy was 15, he took his “side project” to the next level, launching it at as fee-based online video tutoring service. He bootstrapped the startup on his own, using $100,000 he’d cashed-out from a very lucky early Bitcoin investment. Today, he oversees a team of programmers, not only for Botangle, but for several other promising projects.
Keep your eyes open for Erik’s next exciting venture, a virtual reality-based personal computer. “It’s a way for people to learn through the web, your phone, in virtual reality and in person,” he tellsEntrepreneur.
Erik’s favorite part of being a kidpreneur:
“The most fun thing is to not have to go to school. I get the freedom to travel, hang out with the most important people in every industry and work on what I love.”
Erik’s advice for aspiring kidpreneurs:
“Be selfish. I think [the word] 'selfish' is just a tainted word for self-leadership. Lead yourself through life, do what you love, build what youwant to build, go where you want to go.”
“The most fun thing is to not have to go to school. I get the freedom to travel, hang out with the most important people in every industry and work on what I love.”
Erik’s advice for aspiring kidpreneurs:
“Be selfish. I think [the word] 'selfish' is just a tainted word for self-leadership. Lead yourself through life, do what you love, build what youwant to build, go where you want to go.”
For Mikaila Ulmer, it all started with a bee sting. Make that two. Encouraged by her parents and teachers, the Austin, Texas, native signed up for two entrepreneurship contests when she was just four and a half years old. “At that same time, I got stung by two bees in one week,” she tells Entrepreneur. “What are the chances?!”
To help ease Mikaila’s resulting fear of bees, her great-granny Helen sent her a 1940s cookbook that contained her favorite recipe for flaxseed lemonade. “Then I did some research on bees and found out how important they are to our ecosystem and that they’re dying, so I created a product that would help save them.”
That product is Me & the Bees Lemonade, a flaxseed- and mint-infused beverage that is sweetened mainly with honey from local honeybees. For each bottle sold, Mikaila, who prefers the title “queen bee” over CEO, donates a percentage of the profits to organizations working to ease the plight of the bees, including her home state’s beekeepers association.
Mikaila originally sold her lemonade at a local pizzeria when she first started in 2009. She later showcased her naturally sweet wares at a local Whole Foods store, where she held workshops on saving bees. Eventually, she was asked to sell her lemonade at the high-end grocery store. Now, thanks in part to Mikaila’s charming but “nerve-citing” appearance on Shark Tank, she says, Whole Foods carries Me & the Bees Lemonade throughout its southeast region.
Mikaila’s favorite part of being a kidpreneur:
“Being able to meet awesome people is the most fun part. I love being able to go to different events and presentations to share my story, and to teach people about bees and how we can help them.”
“Being able to meet awesome people is the most fun part. I love being able to go to different events and presentations to share my story, and to teach people about bees and how we can help them.”
Mikaila’s advice for aspiring entrepreneurs:
“Be a social entrepreneur. Do something to help solve problems in the world. Don’t go into business to make a lot of money. Create a business that you see the that world is missing, solve a problem with it and do something you have a passion for. Because the more passionate you are about what you do, the more fun you have while doing it!”
“Be a social entrepreneur. Do something to help solve problems in the world. Don’t go into business to make a lot of money. Create a business that you see the that world is missing, solve a problem with it and do something you have a passion for. Because the more passionate you are about what you do, the more fun you have while doing it!”
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