Realistic CEO™ to Watch: Tiffany Is 12, Building Businesses and Betting on Herself

From cupcakes to lemonade to handmade bracelets, 12-year-old Tiffany is learning something many adults spend years trying to figure out: you don’t have to have everything figured out to get started.

At 5 years old, Tiffany wanted a dollhouse.

A big one.

Instead of simply asking her parents to buy it, she started baking and selling cupcakes to earn the money herself.

She eventually walked into Costco with the cash she had earned and bought the dollhouse she wanted.

Seven years later, Tiffany is still finding ways to turn the things she enjoys into opportunities.

She has sold cupcakes.

She has operated a fresh lemonade stand.

She makes bracelets.

She is a certified babysitter.

She even helps her dad as an assistant soccer coach.

And she is only 12.

That is why Tiffany is a Realistic CEO™ to Watch.

From a Dollhouse to Dance Competitions

Tiffany’s first business had a very specific goal.

She wanted that dollhouse.

She had learned to bake from her aunt and her mom, so she took something she enjoyed doing and turned it into a way to earn money.

Years later, she used the same thinking when she started selling fresh lemonade.

This time, the goal was different.

Tiffany dances competitively, and she wanted to help pay some of the expenses associated with competing.

Her neighborhood gave her an opportunity. There are plenty of people walking, families outside and potential customers passing by.

So she set up a lemonade stand.

Not powdered lemonade, either.

Fresh lemonade.

This summer, she added another product: handmade clay bead bracelets with charms.

The result?

Tiffany and her mom estimate that she has already earned around $200 this season.

Some of that money can help with dance. Some can become spending money. And some can go right back into the business.

Without necessarily calling it this, Tiffany is learning one of the most important lessons in entrepreneurship:

Revenue isn’t automatically your money to spend. A business needs money to keep doing business.

Meet Tiffany’s Charm & Co.

Tiffany’s newest venture is Tiffany’s Charm & Co.

She creates clay bead bracelets in different colors and themes.

She has already experimented with Dr. Seuss-inspired designs and beach-themed bracelets featuring blues, whites and golds. She’s thinking ahead to fall and Halloween designs, too.

But there is something bigger happening here than bracelets.

Tiffany is learning how to understand customers.

When asked about one of the hardest parts of creating products, she explained that different people want different colors and themes.

So how does she decide what to make?

She pays attention to what people like.

Adults have a fancy business term for that:

Market research.

Tiffany is simply doing it.

Why Keep Trying New Things?

Cupcakes worked.

Lemonade worked.

Now bracelets are working.

So why not just pick one?

Tiffany gave an answer that might be the biggest lesson from her story.

Trying different things gives her new skills.

If she ever needs to earn extra money in the future, she knows she has different skills she can use.

That’s a powerful way to think about entrepreneurship.

Your first business doesn’t have to become your forever business.

Your first idea doesn’t have to become a million-dollar company.

Sometimes the business is building you.

You learn how to make something.

You learn how to sell.

You learn how to talk to customers.

You learn what people want.

You learn what doesn’t work.

Then you take those skills with you to whatever you build next.

The Part Nobody Sees

Making bracelets sounds fun.

Making bracelet after bracelet after bracelet?

That can start feeling like work.

Tatiana, Tiffany’s mom, said there are times when Tiffany knows she needs to make more bracelets and isn’t exactly excited about sitting down and doing it again.

But she does it.

That’s LBW: Long, Lonely, Boring Work™.

Every entrepreneur eventually meets LBW.

It’s the work nobody celebrates.

The repetition.

The preparation.

The hours before anyone buys anything.

Tiffany is already learning that lesson at 12.

As Realistic CEO™ teaches:

Self-Belief. Plan. Action.

Believe you can do something.

Make a plan.

Then actually do the work.

Behind a Young Entrepreneur

Tiffany isn’t building alone.

When asked where her entrepreneurial mindset comes from, her answer was simple:

Her parents.

Her mom helps her think through supplies, make lists and prepare for what she needs. Tiffany has also attended some of her mother’s networking events and conferences, helped with check-in and helped set up events.

Her dad encourages her, and Tiffany works alongside him as an assistant soccer coach.

Tatiana sees something bigger happening.

She and Tiffany’s Dad didn’t always have access to all the extracurricular opportunities they wanted growing up. Today, they’re in a position to create more opportunities for their children.

And Tiffany is doing something with those opportunities.

She’s experimenting.

She’s learning.

She’s working.

She’s building.

That’s what makes this story bigger than a bracelet stand.

Now It’s Time to Test the Business

Tiffany is about to take another step.

Until now, bracelets have often been sold alongside her lemonade stand in front of her home.

On Thursday, August 20, Tiffany’s Charm & Co. gets a bigger test.

Tiffany will be vending at Scoops in Agawam from 4 PM to 8 PM, selling her handmade bracelets and beginning to experiment with earrings and other accessories.

It is an opportunity to take something she has been creating at home and put it in front of more customers.

And this is where you come in.

If you’re in Western Massachusetts, go see her.

Don’t just tell young people you support entrepreneurship.

Buy from one.

Stop by the event.

Meet Tiffany.

Check out the bracelets.

Buy one for yourself, your kid, your friend, your teacher, your coworker or someone who could use a little extra color on their wrist.

Because when you buy from a 12-year-old entrepreneur, you’re buying more than a bracelet.

You’re giving a young person something incredibly valuable:

Proof that somebody will pay for something she created.

That kind of experience can change how a young person sees what’s possible.

Today, it’s Tiffany’s Charm & Co.

A few years ago, it was cupcakes.

Next year?

Who knows.

That’s exactly why we’re watching.