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(YoungBiz.com) - Making money. There's no wayaround it. If you want to buy that first car, pay college tuitionor just go to the movies, you gotta have some income. Wouldn'tit be great if you could find a job you'd do even if youweren't getting paid?
It's not as far-fetched as it may seem. Lots of teenagershave turned their favorite hobbies into businesses--and made bigbucks doing it. Here are some of their stories.
Don't Let it BugYou
Insects may bug you, but they equal money to 19-year-old RandyMeissen of Salisbury, Missouri. A collector since he was veryyoung, Randy sells insects to schools and other collectors--andmakes a tidy profit doing it.
Meissen's business began when his Future Farmers of Americaadvisor made an offer to pay students $2 for each insect theybrought to him. "He wanted to start a collection forteaching," Meissen explains. "He asked for 100 differentspecies, and I went home and found that I already had about75."
From that first collection, Meissen Entomology Co. was born."I thought that if my agriculture teachers need insects, maybeothers need them, too," says Meissen. He was right--the firstsummer he sold three collections and netted about $2,000.
Make a Note ofIt
Kenny Kirkpatrick's business started on a whim. "I saw anad in a woodworking catalog for kits to make pens," explains19-year-old Kirkpatrick, owner of Ken's Pens in Wood River,Nebraska.
On impulse, Kirkpatrick ordered it: "I just tried it forfun and then got really involved." The hobby he started whenhe was 13 has paid off. Nowadays, Kirkpatrick's handcraftedpens can be purchased in stores across his home state ofNebraska.
Reeling ThemIn
Charley Baugh's hobby is a little bit fishy. "When I wasabout 7, my grandmother gave me all of her and my grandfather'stackle boxes, and they were full of old Heddon tackle," saysBaugh, who explains that his grandfather worked for Heddon, awell-known fishing lure company.
And so began Baugh's fishing lure collection, whichultimately became a company called Charley's Baits, based inhis hometown of Wills Point, Texas.
Though he started out selling lures, Baugh, now 17, has sinceexpanded his business to include old duck decoys, hunting items andfishing lamps--homemade lamps he creates from fishing gear such astackle boxes and lures.
Music to theEars
Chase Feenan's hobby-turned-business is music to hisears--literally. As the owner of Tidal Waves, a mobile DJ businessbased in Houston, 17-year-old Feenan gets paid for partying."I had a friend who was a DJ at parties, and I always thoughtthat would be fun," he explains.
Fun--and profitable. Chase and his partner, friend TylerRenaudin, earn an average of $250 to $300 per night.
So what'll it be? Many young people dream of being their ownboss. And businesses that begin as hobbies may be the bestopportunities of all. As famous entrepreneur Harvey Mackay oncesaid, "Find something you love to do, and you'll neverhave to work a day in your life."
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