Let me take you on a little journey back to middle America in the early 90s, back when America was happy.The Simpsons graced our TV sets, Prince was partying like it was 1999 and Bill Clinton was at the helm of our blissful nation grabbing life by the balls. The economy was thriving and it was even evident on my small neighborhood street in Minnesota. I may have had a mere 6 years of life experience under my belt, but I had a knack for identifying opportunities and amidst the tree and lemonade stand lined streets I spotted one.
Kids were slanging Kool-Aid like it was going out of style and Girl Scouts had a monopoly on the cookie game, but there was one untapped area in our neighborhood ecosystem- cheap and easy plant delivery. Every Saturday I saw my mom make the trek to Bachman’s Greenhouse and lug pot after planted pot out of her trunk and into the yard. From there she would spend hours beneath the grueling summer sun planting flora and fauna throughout the garden. Now our garden game was on point and I knew the neighbors wanted in. Solution? Uproot plants, place in a wagon, become your friendly neighborhood plant provider. With unbeatable rates and door to door service, I was sure to put Bachman’s out of business. Red Wagon Greenhouse was shaping up to be a green opportunity in every sense of the word, until my mother discovered it was not the deer destroying her garden, but was, in fact, her daughter. The parental regulatory powers that be shut me down but I had had my first taste of entrepreneurship and there was no stopping me.
The years that followed included a few other ventures. Beading handcrafted keychains to sell at school? Check. Painting rocks gold and selling them to my younger sister’s friends for their allowance money? Check (albeit unethical) Even a full blown seasonal pop up selling snowballs to kids on the playground. With 6 employees, an assembly line and bodyguards protecting our stash we were substantially more successful than most adult run start-ups. Unfortunately, an attempted snowball theft led to punches thrown and legal troubles with the teachers who subsequently shut us down. It’s a dog eat dog world out there and sometimes the hustle gets out of hand…
As I grew in both age and experience I started my first legitimate business as a Freshman in college. With the small investment of $10 worth of horribly tacky Kinko’s business cards and the registration fee for an LLC, Pacific Bridge Chinese Tutoring was born. While the extra cash was great, what I learned to value most was the flexibility. This was a business I could take anywhere and with a bit of compromise create the schedule I wanted. For the following 6 years, I tutored children in Minnesota, Miami, and even on a ship sailing around the world as I took part in a Semester at Sea. Upon graduation, I swore to myself two things: 1. To never work in a cubicle farm and 2. To never let my age exceed the number of countries I’d been to. The location-independent entrepreneurial lifestyle had become ingrained in my being and there was no turning back.
Fast-forward 5 years to today and you’ll find me in Shanghai, China working on a retail tourism start-up called Shopilist. It’s not pretty, it doesn’t pay all the bills, and it leads to anxiety induced eye twitching, but it allows a certain sense of freedom and ownership that you can’t find in any other line of work. It’s like the inception of entrepreneurship. I’m building a start-up, funded by a mature start-up and on the side for my own personal enjoyment I create ridiculous start-ups. The best part is I can pretty much do it from anywhere.
My latest entrepreneurial endeavor spawned from the Democratic National Convention this past weekend. If you are at all invested in the circus that is the American presidential election and you don’t live under a rock, you might have seen Bill Clinton on live TV having the time of his life playing with balloons. It has been the single greatest thing produced from this campaign season. It brought me back to those golden years in the early 90s when America was a place we were proud of. A place of endless possibility and unwavering positivity. As Bill danced around stage giving absolutely zero-fucks and sending the internet into a fit of laughter, it took me back to that first neighborhood business and again I spotted an opportunity. In an effort to make America happy again, I started Billoons LLC. At www.billlovesballoons.com you too can own a piece of that happiness by purchasing a pack of Billoons- balloons covered in Bill’s unadulterated joyful face. Even if you don’t buy a billoon just watch the video homepage and have a good laugh.
At the end of the day, entrepreneurship is about creating something that makes you (and hopefully a few other people) happy, setting up shop where you like and having a damn good time doing it. So get out there and grab life by the balloons.
