The popcorn king of junior high

Name: Wilson Strong

age: 12

Biz: Willy Bean popcorn

The first time 12-year-old neighborhood resident Wilson Strong sold popcorn at school, his dad told him it would be OK if he didn’t sell all 12 bags.

But the little entrepreneur sold all of them before lunch, and his classmates at North Hills Prep in Irving wanted more.

“I had been advertising for about a month,” Wilson says.

Some teachers let him make announcements in class, and a friend made fliers announcing Strong’s forthcoming popcorn brand, Willy Bean.

The second day, he sold 40 bags of Willy Bean popcorn for 50 cents each, and in the first week, he had a profit of $25.

At Christmastime, he got the idea to make a chocolate-covered version of Willy Bean, so he experimented and figured out how to melt the chocolate and drizzle it. He has also offered cinnamon popcorn, and for Valentine’s Day, he delivered popcorn to his classmates’ “loved ones”.

Wilson recently met his goal of amassing a savings of $1,000. But it’s not just the popcorn. He’s constantly thinking of moneymaking ideas. This summer, he wants to spray-paint house numbers on curbs as a service to his Kessler Park neighbors. He plans to charge $7 for black and $10 for fluorescent.

“I did some research and found out that people would be willing to pay for that,” he says.

Atcampthissummer,hewantsto become a mercenary of sorts, orchestrating other campers’ pranks for a profit.

Wilson loves the idea of “turning $10 into $20,” he says.

Hisparents,AvisandJeffStrong, have always encouraged their children tobeentrepreneurial.Thereareno assigned chores in the Strong family household, no allowances, the Strongs say. When any of the family’s four children wants money, he or she must have an idea for how to earn it.

“It has to be something that’s of value to the household, and then we negotiate a price,” Jeff Strong says. “Watering the flowers might be worth $2. Washing the car might be worth $20.”

Avis Strong is a high school theater teacher,andherhusbandisinthe commercialrealestatebusiness.He also runs a side business buying and selling houses.

Strong says no one taught him about money management growing up, and he made a lot of mistakes before he figured it out. He doesn’t want that to happen to his kids. And he’s not really worried that it will.

Wilson says he wants to find that one big idea that will make him a billionaire.

“Actually, I want them to have to invent a new word for how much I have.” n