KIDS KREATIVE KORNER
This Young Entrepreneur Saw an Opportunity and Used Her Computer to Start a Successful New Business.
By Bonnie Drew
Several years ago, Melissa Gollick from Denver, Colorado overheard her father talking with a real estate client who needed a small map to show the location of some new property. The client was concerned about the prices that graphic artists charged to draw maps.
Instantly, Melissa saw an opportunity and offered to prepare the map on her computer for $10. The client agreed and said that if Melissa could produce the map in two days, she would give her another one to do. Melissa met the deadline and did more than 75 additional maps for that client over the next two years.
Some young people might consider Melissa's first sale to be beginner's luck. But even at age eight, Melissa thought it would be a good opportunity to see what owning a business was like. So she combined her nickname (Mel) and her product (maps) to create the business name MelMaps.
Following her initial success, Melissa was determined to get more customers. At first she encountered people who were skeptical about trusting someone so young. To prove herself, Melissa charged less than one-third the going graphic design rate of $75 per hour.
Since the beginning, her most important marketing tool has been her business card, which she and her family hand out everywhere. The card shows a sample graphic and describes MelMaps as a computer graphics firm that produces location, vicinity, site and floor maps.
"Most of my business comes from five big companies who need lots of maps because they're either buying, selling or researching parcels of land or large buildings." She also does smaller jobs for neighbors who are having parties or family reunions.
Today, Melissa is 16 and has received several awards for entrepreneurship, including the 1997 Entrepreneur of the Year Award for the Rocky Mountain Region youth category, sponsored by Ernst & Young. Melissa's unusual business story has also been featured in Working Woman, Woman's Day, The New York Times, Parenting and various Denver newspapers.
Melissa no longer worries if anyone thinks she's too young. "I've been in business eight years now," she says. "If my age is a problem, it's their problem, not mine. I have plenty of other customers to keep me busy and I enjoy what I do."
Bonnie Drew is the author of FAST CASH FOR KIDS (2nd edition), published by Career Press (1-800-227-3371). She is also the creator of the KIDS BUSINESS software for young entrepreneurs, available from Homeland Publications (713-332-9764).
Drew is also Editor of Young Entrepreneur magazine, published by Kid's Way, Inc., a company that helps youth prepare for business and the workplace of the 21st century. For more information, write to Kid's Way at 5589 Peachtree Rd, Chamblee, GA 30341 or call toll free 1-888-KidsWay (1-888-543-7929).
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