How I Became An Entrepreneur

I was 8 years old when I started my first "Business". My best friends Callan, Taylor, and I built our own Lemonade stand and made $27.27 one Saturday afternoon (That's not a joke, I will always remember that). We started really early in the morning and sat out in the sun all day long. As the day came to a close we started to discuss how we would split the money. I can't remember exactly how but I know for a fact I took home all the money. Knowing my friends and I, we probably played rock-paper-scissors and whoever won took the money home. How that worked? Not sure. All I know is I made $27.27. At 8 years old I developed that bitter taste for money.

Around 11 years old I was asked to babysit for the first time. I was so excited! Aside from the Lemonade Stand and allowance I had never really made any money on my own until now. I was babysitting a family from my church and it went really well! The kids were on the older side so they entertained themselves the entire time. I remember I made $20. TWENTY DOLLARS. $20 to eat macaroni and cheese, play Mario Kart and then watch Lord Of The Rings after they went to bed. I got paid so much to do nothing. After that experience, my friend Jane and I made business cards and set up our own Babysitting Service. We walked up and down our neighborhood knocking on doors and talking to potential customers. Our babysitting business failed. We were both 12 years old and had no training at all to be "Professional Baby Sitters." (Personally, I wouldn't've hired us either.)

A year later, 12 years old, I got really into dancing. I would stretch all day long and always be practicing dancing techniques. I attended a dance studio from ages 8-10 but other than that I had no formal training. So obviously I created and ran my own dance studio for 6 weeks. I completely gutted my garage, bought yoga mats to cover the floor and got 12 girls signed up. I had one class a week and I basically put in 0 effort. They were pretty young so we just went through different techniques and I taught them some really basic dances. I made around $500. Making $500 at 12 years old was a big deal. I have no idea what I spent on but I guarantee it was something stupid. Creating and running my dance class gave me a taste for real business. I realized how much I loved the rush of getting a new client. I loved being my own boss, setting my own hours and having all the money go straight into my pocket.

About 2 years ago my parents announced they'd be looking around for summer camps to purchase. I was completely blindsided by it. My dad had a steady job in sales and my mom was really happy homeschooling us 4 kids. They started traveling all over the east coast looking for Summer Camps. They finally found one in Georgia. They really loved it and they began the purchasing process. It was going well until something fell through. My parents were sad but their mindset was, whatever happens, happens. They decided they would look at one more camp in upstate New York. It was a beautiful camp, they fell in love with the history and the girls who attended. They immediately knew this camp was meant for them. They decided to buy it. Everything worked out perfectly and at this moment I'm writing this blog in my office at Camp JDA. My parents are some of the hardest-working people I've ever met. They work all day every day. They had a goal to reach a certain amount of campers for this year and they exceeded that goal.



 Being around entrepreneurs and being one myself for so long has taught me a lot. It's given me the experience I need to have the confidence to grow my business and always have big goals.

XOXO, Anna Abott