MR. CORY’S COOKIES

At age six, Cory Nieves decided he was sick of riding the bus and wanted to buy his mom a car. His plan? Sell hot chocolate to his neighbors in Englewood, New Jersey. This evolved into adding lemonade and cookies to the menu–cookies that he and his mother Lisa spent hours perfecting. Now his cookies are sold nationwide online and he’s collaborated with the likes of Pottery Barn and Whole Foods. Oh and that car he was saving for? It was gifted to him on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

NAY GAMES

Have you heard of “Bubble Ball?” It launched on the Apple app store in 2010 and surpassed 2 million downloads in its first two weeks. The company behind the game, Nay Games, was created by then 14-year-old Robert Nay. He told CNN he learned all his skills through research at the library and produced the 4000 lines of code needed in just a month. Bubble Ball even dethroned “Angry Birds” as the most downloaded free game at one point.

LEANNA’S ESSENTIALS

Leanna Archer’s great-grandmother had a secret recipe for all-natural hair pomade. When Leanna was eight, she decided to start sharing that pomade with the world. Although she first distributed it for free, she now has a full line of beauty and skin-care products, including skin lotion, facial masks, and shampoos. She’s now CEO of Leanna’s Essentials and in 2008 founded the Leanna Archer Education Foundation (dedicated to building schools for children in Haiti).

MO’S BOWS

Who loves bow ties? Moziah “Mo” Bridges. He was disappointed with the few selections available to him, so he learned how to sew his own with the help of his grandmother at age 9. Mo sold his ties on Etsy before they were picked up local boutiques. Now 16, he’s the CEO of Mo’s Bows and was invited to the inaugural White House Demo Day to meet President Obama (whom he gifted with a custom tie). In 2017, he signed a licensing deal with the NBA, allowing him to make bow ties with NBA team logos.

BOTANGLE

Never let it be said that the bitcoin craze didn’t help anybody. Erik Finman cashed out his small bitcoin investment to fund Botangle, an online video tutoring service. He started the project at 15 after dropping out of school due because he was being bullied. His latest project? Building a satellite that will serve as a time capsule. “The easiest way to make money is to create something that solves a problem, or improves a situation. Don’t chase fads, chase opportunity,” he tweeted last year. He’s quite the motivational speaker. Just check out his TEDxTeen Talk:

GLADIATOR LACROSSE

When Rachel Zietz was 13, she needed new lacrosse equipment because her old stuff just wasn’t durable enough. When she couldn’t find any, she decided to create her own. With the help of her entrepreneur family and some of the Sharks from ABC’s Shark Tank, she was able to launch her business. Gladiator Lacrosse offers better-quality products including thicker netting and metals for longer-lasting gear at prices families can afford.  The company is an official goal sponsor for the 2018 FIL World Lacrosse Championships.

ME & THE BEES LEMONADE

The youngest business kid on this list, Makaila Ulmer was just four-and-a-half when she the entrepreneur bug stung her. Literally. She got stung by a bee and became fascinated by them. She learned how they help our environment and, as a result, “Me & The Bees Lemonade” was born.  The honey-sweetened beverages were also inspired by her grandmother’s vintage recipe for flaxseed lemonade. “Me & The Bees Lemonade” is now a staple of southeastern Whole Foods. She donates a percentage of the profits to organizations focused on saving honeybees.

ORIGAMI OWL

Bella Weems always had a passion for jewelry-making, so it was only logical when she started selling them at age fourteen. Her signature item, the Living Locket, allows customers to build their own jewelry by mixing chains, charms, and lockets–the Build-a-Bear of necklaces, if you will. She’s now a millionaire and the founder of the Owlettes Initiative, where Bella personally mentors 12-17-year-olds through business. “You can’t do anything in life alone, so surround yourself with people who believe in you,” she said in an interview with Luca Magazine. “Never let anyone tell you that you are too young to follow your dreams.”

The next time your kid approaches you with a sales pitch, listen and encourage them. You never know…it could be the next big thing.

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Frank Epperson: Popsicle

Eleven-year-old Frank Epperson invented what we’ve come to know as a popsicle. It was a winter’s eve in 1905 when Frank decided to mix a frozen concoction containing soda water powder and water. He accidentally left the drink outside overnight, with the stirring stick in the glass. The mixture froze solid and the first popsicle was born.

Though this was where it began, the treat didn’t gain notoriety until 1922 when Epperson gave it out at a fireman’s ball. He originally patented the idea under, “Eppsicle,” but changed it after his children started calling it a “popsicle.” So, funnily enough, kids came up with both the idea and the name.

George Nissen: Trampoline

George invented the trampoline in 1930 at the age of 16. He came up with the idea after seeing trapeze artists drop into a net at the end of their performance. He thought the act would be more exciting if they kept bouncing around so he began working in his parent’s garage. The original invention had a metal frame and a canvas stretched over it, but as he got older he perfected the design with a nylon canvas, giving it more bounce.

Louis Braille: Braille

Louis caught a severe eye infection when he was three years old which rendered him blind. For years he struggled to trace his finger over raised letters and had a lot of difficulty with it. When he was twelve, he learned of a method of silent communication used by the French military. He simplified that process, and suddenly he was able to read a whole lot easier. He first presented his work in 1924. Today, Braille is used by the blind community worldwide.

Albert Sadacca: Christmas Lights

Prior to electric Christmas lights, people would simply use candles to decorate their Christmas trees. Believe it or not, people initially had more difficulty trusting the safety of electric lights than open flames. Nevertheless, public trust started to sway toward the electric lights, but they were ridiculously high priced. That is until Albert came along and invented a version of electric lights that were much more affordable. He used his parents’ novelty lighting company to produce them in 1925 and now, because of him, they’ve become a staple of Christmas tradition.

Chester Greenwood: Earmuffs

It was 1873 and Chester Greenwood was just 15 years old when his ears got painfully cold one day while ice skating. He found that wrapping a scarf around his head didn’t help much, so he decided to find a better solution. Greenwood designed a wire frame and had his grandmother to sew beaver skins to it–thereby making the first pair of earmuffs. He ended up patenting the invention by age 19 and even selling them to soldiers during the first World War.

Joseph-Armand Bombardier: Snowmobile

Joseph was was always interested in mechanics and in 1922, at the young age of 15, he invented the snowmobile. According to Mental Floss, “He mounted the engine of a Ford Model T to four runners, with a handmade propeller perched on the back.” The original model of the invention traveled half a mile across the snow before finally stopping. He continued to tinker with the invention and by 1959 he had created the Ski-Doo AKA the world’s first ultralight snowmobile model.

Ben Franklin: Swim Flippers

We typically know Ben Franklin for his later-in-life accomplishments, but did you know he was actually a child inventor? In the early 1700s, at age 11, he realized he could cut through the water more easily while swimming if he had more surface area through which to push. His original design was handheld fins made out of oval-shaped planks with holes in the middle for his hands and feet.

Abbey Fleck: Makin’ Bacon

Abbey was 8 years old when she noticed her parents struggle with soaking up bacon fat after cooking. She realized that it might be easier to hang bacon while it cooks- that way you wouldn’t need paper towels and it would even make the bacon healthier. She then worked with her father to design a microwave-safe dish that hangs bacon while it cooks. They patented her idea in 1993 and landed a distribution deal with Walmart the following year.

KK Gregory: Wristies

At age 10, KK Gregory was playing outside one day in the cold. Her wrists began to hurt from the cold so she decided to find a way to keep both her hands and wrists warm during the winter. In 1994, she invented Wristies: fuzzy sleeves that can be worn underneath gloves to protect your wrists from the cold. She worked with her Mom to get the idea off the ground and now the product is sold worldwide.

Kelly Reinhart: T-Pak

When Kelly Reinhart was just a child, her parents challenged her and her siblings to a fun game. They were to draw up a picture of an invention and the prize for the winner was to have a prototype made. Thinking of cowboy gun holsters, Kelly drew a thigh pack that would allow kids to carry around their video games. Kelly and her family went through a few rounds of design improvements and officially got the idea patented in 1998. Interest in the idea grew quickly until Kelly sold her company at age nine. She eventually went on to start a non-profit organization to teach kids how to be inventors.

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