巧用兴趣赚钱花

College sophomore[大二学生] Jessica Granger launched her first business when she was just 11. The story goes like this： She wanted a laptop—a pricey[昂贵的] MacBook—and her parents told her shed have to kick in[缴付] 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[趋势] thats exploding： teens staking a major claim in a marketplace that once belonged only to adults with MBAs. And these arent 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， shes created a network of more than 60，000 sales reps[销售代表]， and Origami Owl has made millions of dollars. On the tech side， Nick DAloisio made headlines when he sold his newscondensing[精简] app， Summly， to Yahoo！ at age 17 for$30 million.

Whats allowed young people to take passions[热情]， 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[资源] now showing us how to do anything were interested in. When Im stumped[难住] on something， I can Google it and navigate[操纵] 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 dont have special credentials[凭证，证书]. If you have an idea， its going to spread if its good，” says Rich Sedmak， founder of Schoolyard Ventures[商业投机]， a Philadelphia-based program that helps teens start their own businesses.

By means hes not talking about only YouTube， of course. You can see your handmade goods on Etsy and promote[促销] 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[社区] where age doesnt matter.” And， should you need a little capital[资金] 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 its more likely to be successful than anything some 200-year-old company comes up with.”

Perhaps the greatest edge[优势] they have is this： zero fear. Adults have learned to be critical[爱挑剔的] and afraid of what could go wrong. But as a teen， you have no such fear as to what you can and cant 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 doesnt take off[突然成功]， then its on to the next thing. And if it does， well， they could retire before its time to take the SATs.

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 theyre 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[解決办法]，”Granger says. The headache could be that your parents wont buy you a car and you need to raise more money than babysitting will net[净赚] you; or youre just annoyed[使苦恼] that theres no app for that.

Wear your heart on your sleeve. “Its incredible[难以置信的] how many doors will open if you show how passionate[充满热情的] you are—and how much more you want to learn，” Granger says.

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

Dont let a few nos stop you. “People are going to tell you that you cant 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.”

大二学生杰西卡·格兰杰在年仅11岁时就开始了人生第一次创业，故事是这样的：当时她想要一台笔记本电脑——一台昂贵的苹果笔记本电脑。她的父母对她说，其中一半的钱得由她自己支付。因此，她成立了一个叫“我和我的女孩”的文具公司，开始制作手绘感谢卡和派对请帖，并出售给自己的亲朋好友和她家乡（美国）密歇根州兰辛市的精品店。不到五个月，她就赚到了她的新笔记本电脑。而她的“我和我的女孩”文具公司也大获成功，于是她开始在网上向全球各地的顾客出售她的卡片。

格兰杰是一种极速发展趋势的一个例子：青少年们开始在曾经只属于拥有MBA学位的成年人市场上圈地了，而且还不是小打小闹那种。就拿18岁的贝拉·威姆斯来说，2010年，年仅14岁的她创立了自己的珠宝公司“折纸猫头鹰”;五年后，她已建立起一个拥有超过6万名销售代表的网络，她的“折纸猫头鹰”公司也获利数百万美元。在高科技创业方面，尼克·达洛伊西奥在17岁时即以三千万美元的价格将一款新闻概要手机应用“Summly”卖给雅虎，成为轰动一时的头条新闻。

年轻人得以把自己的热情、兴趣爱好和奇思妙想从卧室的主意变成赚钱的生意，与他们娴熟掌握互联网和社交媒体密切相关。“我们现在拥有众多资源教我们怎样完成我们感兴趣的事。碰到难题，我可以用谷歌搜索和浏览我需要的信息，网络还让我可以与业内的其他人取得联系。”格兰杰说道。这也有助于你宣传你的绝妙新点子。总部位于费城、旨在为自主创业的青少年提供帮助的“校园风险投资”项目创始人里奇·赛德马克说：“没有什么事情可以阻止孩子们把自己的想法公诸于世。YouTube网站上的视频在短短几个月内就可以得到来自全球各地高达数百万的点击率。也没有人关心你有没有特殊的证书。当你有一个点子，如果它是一个好点子的话，它自然会传扬开去。”

当然，他绝不仅仅是指YouTube这个网站。你可以把你的手工制品放在Etsy上，然后在你的Instagram上加以宣传;或者你也可以自己建一个网站。“创建网络公司的成本在过去二十年里已经下降了一千倍之多。”（美国）宾夕法尼亚大学管理学教授伊桑·莫里克博士说。“以前，一个网站需要花费数百万美元外包出去;现在，你只需花很少的钱和短短几个小时，就可以设计出自己的网站，并连接到一个不注重用户年龄层的网络社区。”如果你需要一点资金启动，你可以通过Kickstarter之类的公司找到资助。

年轻还有一大优势，莫里克补充道：“营销公司花费数十亿美元去了解青少年的思维模式，而这是孩子们已经知道的事——所以他们可以直接走出去自己做。而且，比起有两百年历史的老公司想到的，他们的创意更可能成功。”

不过，也许他们最大的优势是这个——零恐惧。大人们已经习惯用批判的眼光看问题，他们会害怕哪里出问题。而一个十几岁的青少年对于什么能做、什么不能做，并没有这些畏惧。

所有这一切，造就了越来越多年轻人创业，他们善于推销自己，并能以风险较低的方式实现自己的想法。要是不成功，就继续尝试下一个;要是成了，他们就可以在SAT考试来临之前退休了。

假如以上这些例子激发了你的创业梦想，我们的青少年企业家们可以给你几条建议。不妨仔细读一读，因为他们很清楚自己在说些什么：

瞄准一个好点子。“你要去发现问题，或者按我教授的说法，你要去发现‘生活中令人头痛的事——然后尝试找出解决方法。”格兰杰说道。这个让人头痛的事可以是你的父母不给你买车，所以你需要筹到比照看小孩所能赚到的更多的钱;又或者你只是很恼火没有可以用来做某件事的手机应用。

坦言自己的想法。“当你展现出你是多么有热情、还有多少事情想要学习，你会惊奇地发现原来有那么多扇门为你打开。”格兰杰说。

找一位导师。“第一步就是主动求教。如果你勇于把自己摆出来的话，你会惊讶有多少人愿意帮忙，给你回应。”威姆斯说。

不要因为遭到几次拒绝就放弃。“人们会告诉你你不能那样做——我14岁开始创业时就经常遇到这种事。”威姆斯说。“但是，你必须相信你的梦想，你要和那些同样相信你的梦想的人在一起，并且永远在眼前放点什么东西提醒自己。最后，你要记住，有志者事竟成，一切皆有可能。”

Only One Instance

Mr. Henry Beecher entered Plymouth Church one Sunday and found several letters awaiting him. He opened one and found it contained the single word “Fool”. Quietly and with becoming seriousness he announced to the congregation the fact in these words：“I have known many an instance of a man writing a letter and forgetting to sign his name， but this is the only instance I have ever known of a man signing his name and forgetting to write the letter.”

一個星期天，亨利·比切先生到普利茅斯的教堂去，在那里有他的几封信。他打开其中一封，发现信中只写着“傻瓜”两个字。

他平静而认真地把这件事告诉教友们：“写信时忘了签名的人，我遇到过很多，但只签了名却忘了写信的人，我还是头一次遇到。”