Lessons I learned From Starting 4+ Business in High School
8/12/23
25 THINGS I LEARNED FROM STARTING 4 + BUSINESSES IN HIGH SCHOOL
(PART ONE)
Hey! If you are new to Teens Make It Happen, I’m Maya! I started Teens Make It Happen to empower teens like YOU to start their own businesses and organizations.
I have learned so much along my entrepreneurship journey that I am so excited to share with you!
Starting with my first business, Paperecoshop (🔗 paperecoshop.com):
The story behind Paperecoshop. I came up with the idea for Paperecoshop while I was studying for a test in middle school. I created a deck of over 100 flashcards to study for my test. After the test, I realized I would no longer need all these flashcards, but I felt bad throwing them out - trees were being cut down for this paper. I knew I had to do something differently. I tried studying with digital flashcards on Quizlet, but it wasn’t the same. I needed a way to be able to write out the information while also being eco-friendly. So I came up with a method to make paper dry-erase reusable. And Paperecoshop was born. Committed to saving trees, I decided to donate 10% of the process to One Tree Planted to plant trees around the world.
Here are some of the lessons I learned from starting my first business:
Just go for it - there were so many times I wanted to start a business before launching Paperecoshop, but I was too scared. I was scared of being too young and afraid that people wouldn’t want my stationery products.
If you don’t try, you’ll never know - Good thing I went through with my idea for Paperecoshop, because I was wrong. People did like my products and would purchase through our Etsy shop. If I hadn’t started Paperecoshop, I wouldn’t have gained the experience of what it is like to run a business. Paperecoshop was just my first business of many businesses - it led me to create 3 more organizations (and have so many more ideas for future businesses)
It won’t be easy - It wasn’t easy to get started. I had never created a website before. I didn’t know what a domain was, how much to charge for my products, or how to handle shipping. At first, getting sales on Etsy was a struggle. But I worked through all these challenges. It took some time until I got the hang of it.
Keep your goal in mind - Being a teen entrepreneur can be challenging, especially when your business or organization is not going as well as you had hoped it would. One thing that has helped me continue and not give up has been to think back to why I started Paperecoshop: to save trees. Thinking about the purpose and mission behind your business and what you are trying to accomplish will fuel you to keep going.
Be a lifelong learner - Never stop learning. If you don’t know how to do something or are stuck, don’t quit, learn how to overcome your challenge. Like I already mentioned, I didn’t know anything about web development and graphic design before starting Paperecoshop - but that didn’t stop me. I taught myself all these skills, and now people hire me to make websites and create graphics for them!
Step out of your comfort zone - Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there. I used to be shy and was always scared to engage in self promotion and tell people about my business. The thing I learned though was that if you don’t share your accomplishments with others, they won’t know. And who knows, maybe the person you tell about your business will want to support you or know someone they can connect you to.
Things change - When I started Paperecoshop, I was so sure that my target audience was students. But I came to learn that my audience was targeted more towards older women who were working but wanted to be more sustainable.
Ask for feedback - Talk to your friends, family, and adults you look up to. Give them your product to try and see what they think: do they like it? OR Are they struggling to understand your concept? Ask them if they have any ideas for improvements or future products.
These are just some of the many lessons I learned through Paperecoshop. Make sure to check out the rest of the blogs in this series to hear about what I learned from each business.