A Really Cool 15 Year Old Entrepreneur

The internet has opened up an amazing opportunity for young entrepreneurs. Today I learned about a 17 year old high school student, who along with three other internet cohorts cracked the iPhone. They figured out how to make an iPhone work on other networks, not just AT&T. Unconstrained by the handshake between two powerful CEOs or the ink barely dry on the consumer unfriendly contract, these young men achieved something incredible.

For me this is a historical moment not unlike the birth of the original Napster, which humbled the ultra-egotistical musical industry.

There is a young internet entrepreneur I know well. He is 15 and starting his sophomore year in High School (homeschool) and has been using computers and the internet for years now. He taught himself HTML, CSS, Javascript, programming in 3D for flight simulators, and all of the mechanics of building a website.

After his father bought him a domain, he built his first website in several days. It is complete with wonderful content, pictures and videos. He discovered a very unique niche that had plenty of room for growth. He quickly figured out that he could sell a product to that niche market. His Dad has been studying internet marketing and pursuing online entrepreneurial businesses as well, so he had just enough marketing knowledge to get it started.

This young man created several products and started to advertise them on his new site. He wrote his own sales copy, a compelling one at that. He made it easy for his customers to buy his product and so the orders started coming in. It was slow at first, but he has seen an incremental increase in sales.

This past week he sold $100 of product. He is learning how to communicate effectively with his customers. He handles the shipping, instructions and customer service. He is responsive.

Even though his father legally handles the merchant account and the business aspects, this 15 year old is doing all of the work. He is figuring out what works and what doesn’t. He is driving traffic to his site by participating in forums and getting other similar sites to link back to his site.

His niche is worldwide. He is selling his solar balloons to the U.S, U.K., the Netherlands, etc. He gets more traffic than his father’s blog (which will be two years old next month). This young man has taken a passion and turned it into a profitable endeavor. At 15, most boys are working at grocery stores, fast food restaurants for a little over minimum wage.

This smart young entrepreneur is building his own business and learning lessons that it took his father years to learn.

You should check Jonathan’s website out at: http://www.solar-balloons.com. He is a really neat kid and I am proud to be his father.

Want to learn how to fly a solar balloon 300 miles? Jonathan can make you one or two or…..