Enterprising Spirit

ENTERPRISING EIGHTH GRADERS with Entrepreneurial Spirit

Gary the guinea hen, inspired Jesse Harwood. The sweet pet with dark eyes and a sharp beak is now the face and name of Jesse’s small business, which she calls Gary's Pet Treats. Through her business, Jesse creates and bakes tasty snacks for pets of all kinds. Her menu includes pumpkin spice, peanut butter, and chicken-flavored dog treats and apple, blueberry, and pumpkin nibbles for rabbits and guinea pigs. Jesse, who is in eighth grade at Harpeth Hall, is one of a group of enterprising middle school students who have turned ideas into income as they demonstrate their ability to not only create a business but also to lead it. The girls make masks and mask holders, they run a bakery featuring edible cookie dough and macaroons, and they create hand-designed phone cases. All with eyes on an entrepreneurial future. “I have so many ideas and plans,” Jesse said. “I really want a small pet store because of how much I love animals, and because of all the fun things that come with owning a small business.”

Wynne Davis, another eighth-grade student, also enjoys the creativity of commerce. She started making and selling things in first grade. Her biggest hits were rainbow loom bracelets and gooey slime, which she sold to friends in the neighborhood and people in the park near her house. Now, as the creative mind behind CasesbyWynne, she sells phone cases featuring bright designs of everything from butterflies to lightning bolts. Wynne makes each case using a process called sublimation where a specific type of ink transfers onto an object (like a phone case) using heat. She started selling her products on Instagram, and she recently opened an Etsy account expanding her customer base from girls in her grade to girls across the country. In her first month of business, she sold more than 45 cases. And she has big dreams. “What I aspire to do with my business in the future is to start selling to people all around the world,” she said. Liza Bertani’s creativity begins in her home. The eighth grade student and a friend in her neighborhood both love to bake. Bored during quarantine, they started hanging out in the kitchen together. Now, they run L.C. Bakery. They have five flavors of edible cookie dough, three flavors of macaroons, and spirit sticks (chocolate-covered pretzels) that customers can customize with colors and sprinkles. They advertise on Instagram and with paper flyers they distribute around town. Already, they feel the sweet success of running a business.

ADVICE FROM OUR ENTREPRENEURS

“Plan out everything you want to do before you get started, including costs, materials, and how and where you are going to sell/advertise your product. Also, come up with a fun name and a logo or design to represent your business. And one more thing, don't get too ahead of yourself and buy everything you think you're going to need, because if it ends up not working out, you will end up with lots of things you ended up not needing.” — Jesse Harwood, Gary’s Pet Treats

“Never give up if your product fails. You might have to go through trials and trials until you make the perfect product.” — Wynne Davis, CasesbyWynne