(YoungBiz.com) - Making money. There's no way around
it. If you want to buy that first car, pay college tuition or just go
to the movies, you gotta have some income. Wouldn't it be great if you
could find a job you'd do even if you weren't getting paid?
It's not as far-fetched
as it may seem. Lots of teenagers
have turned their favorite hobbies into businesses--and made big bucks
doing it. Here are some of their stories.
Don't Let it Bug You
Insects may bug you, but they equal money to 19-year-old Randy Meissen
of Salisbury, Missouri. A collector since he was very young, Randy
sells insects to schools and other collectors--and makes a tidy profit
doing it.
Meissen's business began
when his Future Farmers of America
advisor made an offer to pay students $2 for each insect they brought
to him. "He wanted to start a collection for teaching," Meissen
explains. "He asked for 100 different species, and I went home and
found that I already had about 75."
From that first
collection, Meissen Entomology Co. was born.
"I thought that if my agriculture teachers need insects, maybe others
need them, too," says Meissen. He was right--the first summer he sold
three collections and netted about $2,000.
Make a Note of It
Kenny Kirkpatrick's business started on a whim. "I saw an ad in a
woodworking catalog for kits to make pens," explains 19-year-old
Kirkpatrick, owner of Ken's Pens in Wood River, Nebraska.
On impulse, Kirkpatrick
ordered it: "I just tried it for fun
and then got really involved." The hobby he started when he was 13 has
paid off. Nowadays, Kirkpatrick's handcrafted pens can be purchased in
stores across his home state of Nebraska.
Reeling Them In
Charley Baugh's hobby is a little bit fishy. "When I was about 7, my
grandmother gave me all of her and my grandfather's tackle boxes, and
they were full of old Heddon tackle," says Baugh, who explains that his
grandfather worked for Heddon, a well-known fishing lure company.
And so began Baugh's
fishing lure collection, which
ultimately became a company called Charley's Baits, based in his
hometown of Wills Point, Texas.
Though he started out
selling lures, Baugh, now 17, has since
expanded his business to include old duck decoys, hunting items and
fishing lamps--homemade lamps he creates from fishing gear such as
tackle boxes and lures.
Music to the Ears
Chase Feenan's hobby-turned-business is music to his ears--literally.
As the owner of Tidal Waves, a mobile DJ business based in Houston,
17-year-old Feenan gets paid for partying. "I had a friend who was a DJ
at parties, and I always thought that would be fun," he explains.
Fun--and profitable.
Chase and his partner, friend Tyler
Renaudin, earn an average of $250 to $300 per night.
So what'll it be? Many
young people dream
of being their own boss. And businesses that begin as hobbies may be
the best opportunities of all. As famous entrepreneur Harvey Mackay
once said, "Find something you love to do, and you'll never have to
work a day in your life."
