Empty chip packets shrink if you put them in the oven. 

If you then cover them in resin and drill a small hole in the top, you can attach a key ring and sell them. 

Trash then becomes valuable. Three British Pounds to be precise. 

It was 1989. I was 15. I was running my first company. 29 years ago or 250,000 hours ago. 

Last week I spoke to 300 teenage entrepreneurs at UCLA Anderson’s School of Management as part of Project Echo’s Entrepreneurial Bootcamp. It reminded me of my life as a teenage entrepreneur. 

Except I didn’t think of myself as one at the time. In fact, I only really started telling this story last year when the University of Wolverhampton invited me back on campus to tell my story since I was there studying Business and Finance at night school. 

As part of HSBC’s sponsored Young Enterprise, we got to raise money, design, produce, and sell products, including shrunken chip packet key rings which were incredibly popular!

I learned more being apart of this company, shrinking chip packets, making wooden jigsaws, and working with my class peers to make a profit than any school class or test. 

I started working at age 18 at a department store group called House of Fraser. I’m forever grateful for their sponsorship of my night classes at the University of Wolverhampton. I would apply what I had learned that evening the following day on the TV department sales floor. 

Having seen the creativity and grit of 300 teenagers last week, my long standing prediction of an explosion of teenage entrepreneurs may be just about to happen.

How are you bringing the voice of youth into your company?

Dedicated to growing your business,

Val

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