“I won’t stop until I make 100 million pounds.” Christian Owens once said – a teenage boy, entrepreneur, who made his first million when he was just 16 years old.
This is an amazing story about a British schoolboy, who now runs a multimillion company. Christian Owens was just 14 when he started his first venture – the site Mac Box Bundle – an online store offering a combination of various Apple applications and utilities available for a short time at a big discount. He also gave 10 percent of the revenue to charity. The young entrepreneur used his pocket money to finance the business idea. The revenue from the portal was about 700 000 pounds for two years – from its start in 2008 to 2010. His inspiration came from other successful businesses like Apple Inc. and MacHeist. The kid said that his decision to go into business came after he examined the huge success achieved by Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. Initially, he worked during the evenings and in his spare time after he was ready with his schoolwork.
A year after the birth of his first business, he started another company – Branchr – a pay-per-click advertising network, co-founded with Mark Bao. It happened to be another big success, making revenue of 500 000 pounds in the first year. The company now turns over more than 250 million ads to more than 10,000 sites every month and has bought a second company, Atomplan, which develops business software.
In 2010 Owens started a new venture – VoteBundle, where potential customers could vote on what to be included in the bundles of Apple applications sold on his site.
Christian invests most of the earnings back into his businesses. Currently, he has several employees much older than him. According to him, there is no magic formula for business success, what you need is determination, commitment, and the desire to make something really great. That’s what helped him succeed. His aim now is to become a major name in the world of Internet business and to reach at least 100 million pounds of revenue.
Christian still lives with mommy and dad – working-class guys in Corby ( UK ), where his business office is. He says, that his business has not affected his personal life, and he still goes around with the kids from the neighborhood. They usually don’t talk about business and he is just a normal teenager to them.
The young entrepreneur has been using a computer since he was 10 years old. This was the age, at which he started practicing web design and building sites.
Teenage Entrepreneurship
There is no denying that teenage entrepreneurship is on the rise. Thanks to technology and greater access to resources, young people are now able to find new and creative ways to make money. From selling handmade jewelry to starting their own businesses, teens are becoming valuable contributors to the economy.
Teenagers have always been natural entrepreneurs, but with the near-constant access provided by the internet and social media, they can now start their own businesses easier than ever before. This can be anything from designing logo apparel or crafting personalized stationery to creating online stores and apps. It’s also become more feasible for teenagers to build an online presence, engage with their customers and do everything in-house instead of relying on outside help.
One example of a successful teenage entrepreneur is Naomi Wadler. At only 13 years old, she created her own fashion label – Wadler LLC – which quickly garnered attention and praise from notable brands like Teen Vogue and Nordstrom Rack. Since then, she’s become an inspiration for thousands of young entrepreneurs around the world as she continues to expand her designs and grow her business venture at such a young age.
What makes teenage entrepreneurs so unique is that, unlike any other age group, they have the ability to think outside the box in order to develop new products and services that appeal to their cohort. They also have access to an untapped market of Gen Zers who are often more attracted to products designed specifically with them in mind. Gen Zers also look for entrepreneurs who share their values and support causes they care about like climate change or gender equality — something quite important for younger consumers today.
No matter what type of business you’re looking at, it’s clear that teenage entrepreneurs are not only setting trends but shaping how future generations view entrepreneurship as well.