Teen millionaires: the young entrepreneurs running successful businesses | 7NEWS Spotlight

it's a big day ahead there are deals to close a business to build and above all else money to be made behind the wheel of this brand new series for BMW isn't unlikely self-made millionaire but this savvy entrepreneur isn't on the way to the office he's off to school Jack Bloomfield is 17 years old and boy is this kid going places I'm not school captain not a prefect not some special individual that's been primed his whole life to start a business just just a kid with a dream they got started and made made at work

made it work with money he earned all by himself on himself no help from parents no help from mom and dad no jack isn't Australia's only school yard millionaire he's part of a bold new generation that's rewriting the wool books on how your mother is on staff yes so you her boss I guess so and when you make your fortune your age doesn't matter and should never be a barrier they dream big outside the classroom some would even say in spite of the classroom you walk into a classroom and announced that you're gonna start a

business the answer you're gonna get is oh that's great how can we help no it should get laughed at or you're not smart enough you dope enough money you don't have the right qualifications wait till after University and all that other stuff which for anyone who you know if you're 15 and trying to put yourself out there to start a business to be told that you can't do it it's just crushing and you've got nothing behind you to stand up on your own two feet and don't know I want to start this now and for

a lot of kids they just get shot down before they can even start some very strong views from our high achievers about the education system later but first the education of Jack Bloomfield in business can be traced back to this home video recorded by his dad okay here we are with Jack Bloomfield a director of roll transport Jack was 8 years old dressed up as the boss of his own imaginary transport business he was very young and he wanted to tell me about his business I did very successful business I worked earns a lot of

money that's about it so I pulled out the old camcorder and and he dressed up in a suit and his tie and they sat in the big chair and um I asked him some questions what's your profit forecast for 2010 all I got are good Ami's you should get all the best assistant there's no just makes me laughter today but now I look back on it when everyone looks back on it it's like what the hell you're eight years old which is yeah and he's young very young I eight years I didn't even know I

was great - maybe go - yeah yeah great yeah so I mean yeah it was yeah pretty surreal you were very driven from a young age yeah sounds like a very impressive business Jam well all the best for your business and we wish you all the best for the future you must have known in that he's going places yeah you know or he wants to get he wants to go places yep mark and Melissa Bloomfield run a Tennis Center just outside Brisbane it's where as a youngster Jack picked up his first lessons in business which

he quickly put to work blowing yes every single fifteen year old we've got no money we have nothing behind us so I was like okay how can I make some money next door was gonna pay me 20 bucks to mow their lawn dad is gonna pay me $7 so us like which launch should I do there's so literally every single time that it was like a millimeter longer than what it should have been was over there mowing the thing trying to get money you know selling lolly bags at mom and dad's tennis centres trying to

just do anything that I could possibly do to go ahead and get any money to go and reinvest into what I thought could actually make me some more money and why were you so transfixed with getting ahead at such a young age but I think it was I always just wanted to do something more you know I I saw you know from 15 you start to think about what you're gonna do after school you know the question gets dropped well what are you thinking of doing after grade 12 and so I looked into it and

the idea of after school what was a go to university start off with a really low paying job work your way out for 20 years until you finally get a 40 or 50 and then living the good life and I was like don't want to make that long arm how can I do something now it genuinely scared me it's scared Jack enough to take action his first online business was selling gift cards then at the age of 13 he designed the website that keeps all the medical data in one location but his biggest money owners

of five online stores he buys in bulk and sells pretty much anything that will make a profit from bowties made in China to iPhone cases made in South Korea five ecommerce stores you have now yes and multiple different ones always shifting always changing we go off a product of essentially whatever selling and what servers hot you've always got to be on the ball for looking what's coming what's next and what's looking for the future what you turn over look so this we've certainly done more than million dollars in sales and tell you that now yeah

how I get the specific spot a year oh yeah you know a little months yeah and for me at you know 17 years old I would never have thought two years ago that I'd be at a point where I'm at today and that point is carefully balancing being an entrepreneur with finishing year 12 at high school and a lot of people work from home that you you work from school pretty much yeah cause I'm here from April 3 so essentially running the business from my bedroom in the classroom to back again and you know it's

an uphill battle trying to fit in school business homework sport all that other stuff and you know trying to become a try and be a normal 17 they're all at the same time if you could print that off by today normal is not a word that's a good fit for Jack and his parents couldn't be prouder very often people look at us and go oh well you must be part of that business you must be drive again we're not that's important for people to know yeah yeah yep it's that child has to be the driver

of it and it has to want to do it supportive parents also played a big class in the success of Ally Katinas at the age of 15 she developed a boutique skincare business that recycles used coffee grinds into facial and body scrubs and how did you get the idea I had been making coffee scrubs as like presents for friends and I was using coffee grinds that we just had at home and so I was just messing around with the formula and I also knew that there are a lot of people that do go to coffee

shops and say can we use your grains so that we can you know repurpose them in some way at home so hang on you were 15 what is in your brain that's telling you this is a good idea and I can make money from this I think had always been told growing up that whatever I wanted to do I could do it and that you know mom and dad would be there to support me and help me figure that out about one in the glass supporter and now work for her Ally's star employee is her

mom it's very fun to be able to work with mom cry and you you're obviously making enough money to to employ your mom still waiting for that payroll right I've said to it I'm cashing in now in The Boathouse comes I'll have the dogs in the boathouse no boathouse just yet but Ali is confidence there will be wonder and how are you feeling about your exams on Monday it's just so much studying to do an essay writing so I am a little stressed but balancing life as an entrepreneur with being a year 12 student is

more challenging than Ali ever imagined the HSC is a very stressful time but you know I'm using it as an opportunity to see what I can do after school and what I can do with my future and what new directions I can take the business in or new ventures that I can continue to do outside of school once I am you know in the real world and then it becomes kind of my full-time job working for myself it's Ali from freedom and your only items yes just turned you're talking like a 50 year old zero

am i right inside that you're Australia's youngest female CEO I am Not sure I know that what a nobody okay yeah no I don't either and you must be very proud I am it's been a joy to watch and I'm just really happy to see what and where she goes with the next step forward and other young girls that follow suit they are the generation of school kids who decided to play by the own rules building businesses from the playground up what each of them have in common is they pursued their passion I really want

to have a restaurant back when I was yeah seven it was like my dream seven yeah for 18 year old Morgan hip worth his passion is food especially desserts so basically back when I was seven I just started watching TV shows and I was like you know what if they can do it I can do it so everywhere cannot cook three-course meals for my family and friends I give them just like rate the dishes out of ten I print out full menu cards and everything so do that every weekend for about two or three years

then when I was a ten and eleven I started doing cakes and stuff for family and friends birthdays every weekend I reckon I would cook ten cakes five five batches of cookies like it was ridiculous Morgan's family and friends were more than happy to taste-test the young Chefs latest creations each week it was a massive list of you know ingredients that he wanted and and off he'd go and it was a challenge he was determined he was going to make whatever that dish was and I understand like the neighbors were invited around for dinner we

then came a perfectly timed trip to a local cafe I was 13 and we just got chatting to the owners as we were paying the bill and they were like you seem to know about food and then they're like oh we're just looking for a new cake supplier and maybe bring some in and we can sell them all I was kind of like oh yeah why not that'd be really cool and before I knew it I was supplying this cafe with all their cakes every single day so before I knew ya there was 100 200

$300 orders coming in while still going to school Morgan kept baking and shaking during nights and weekends he knew if he was ever going to make it he had to back himself and open his own bakery next mint we know and he had booked a shop Eden High Street winter he'd gone to school and in his lunch break he had already got on the iPad and he had gone through all the real estate agents and he'd approached them they probably thought they were talking to her 30 40 year-old hunter and how old was he then

he was you nine this is Morgan's first independent retail shop a so-called pop-up store because it was only going to be open for eight days cost me about six grand to get the whole pop-up ready to go but I'm opening that door and I was like is it only gonna turn up be frying up after those eight days we saw ten thousand Donuts it was just hectic we were going to bed most nights at 2:00 a.m. getting back into the shop at 4:00 a.m. and my cousin helping my auntie helping it was just all hands

on deck for those eight days it was it was hectic Morgan was on a roll and while other kids might have used the profits for a new skateboard or surfboard Morgan wanted a shop I was like I was happening with the shop after we leave I don't you know I was like I can't see anyone else being in my shop it's my shop so Morgan made an offer and a few months later opened bistro Morgan this counter is usually full of donuts it's looking pretty empty at the moment he just finished year ten was launching

a new business with a staff of six and school was about to get a lot more serious I remember like thinking what am I got myself into I own BC busiest cheese in my life coming up trying to run this store that was happening going back to school I was like well I'm at school the shops open I'm not there like it was a weird feeling yeah that's cool did you ever have moments at school where you thought this is all a colossal waste of my time nearly every day I remember being quite miserable at

school in terms of just like am I here this is boring I didn't want to be there for a lot of year 11 and 12 but I had the feeling in my mind that I finished 10 years of school what was another two just to get that HSC and get it over and done with and out of my life Morgan's parents were worried that he'd either burn out or drop out he said look I'm not sure I want to complete 12 mom and dad and I said look we prefer you did and we'll try to

support you on a time basis not a financial basis so we get some of these decorate it I'm gonna do creme brulee if you can do Cookie Monster please Elly is now one of her son's 20 employees how is how is having your son as your 18 year old son as boss yeah we have our days no generally speaking it's pretty good he's lucky he's got a fairly easygoing mum your mother is on staff yes does that mean you're her boss I guess so we um we never really like how does it work say it

has its days I wouldn't argue a lot but every now and again you know you have you days when you around someone so much it happens but technically at the shop I like to think I'm her boss she tries til to tell me clean this through this do that I like hang on it's my shot remember yeah yeah and Morgan's shop has been doing very well it supplies doughnuts to 20 cafes around Melbourne and he's turning over about half a million dollars a year at this point in my life it's I've just finished school last

year I've got my own business working for myself I can choose my own hours turn that point 100% living my dream I'm just looking forward to what's gonna come next anything you're doing here you learned at school or on the job mainly on the job I can't say they taught me how to make donuts at school no Morgan and there are other high achievers have strong views on how the education system discouraged the entrepreneurial spirit some of the teachers were always just like you know stop it don't do it don't you know it's not worth

it you're gonna fail you know throwing those stats you know it's four out of five businesses fail in the first year or whatever the stats are extraordinary abilities in sport swimming athletics things like that that's often embraced by schools and they really love it whereas business and stuff it's not really seen as the norm so I think some schools just don't know how to handle it yet the only school subject I found really really practical and helpful has been accounting English English yes history no no man masses okay um science no not indolence and what

about Business Studies no that was probably my least helpful subject I've ever done it was so impractical the stuff we learn in business management was I would never use all right Thank You Ellie what else Southern Christian Leadership Southern Christian Leadership Conference okay I think there are so many skills that I've learned through entrepreneurship that are so much more beneficial and that if they were incorporated into education would you know actually help young people leave school and feel like they know a little bit about what to do or what the next step is to take

the word entrepreneurship in the world school system they don't gonna go together it's never been said before they don't go together they're seen as two different very separate things and if you walk into a classroom and say hey I want to start a business I can guarantee you'll be laughed at no matter what school you go to it's a view shared by one of the world's most outspoken and popular entrepreneurs gary vaynerchuk it's me mother it's me the best-selling author and social media mastermind believes the education system as we know it is no longer relevant

especially for entrepreneurs it's outdated globally it's outdated global the internet made it outdated because information is a commodity and the school system was built on memorization of information with so many people watching this will say hang on you need a university degree to fall back on fall back on what yeah every company's not requiring a degree to get hired to anyway the greatest companies in the world Amazon Google are no longer requiring degree anyway so what are you falling back on it growing up how often were you told not 98% of the time I wasn't

a good student I wasn't good enough athlete I was trying to sell stuff from the age of six and that's just one big game of no all three of those things so no is the framework of my life no is an entrepreneurs best friend when they said no Gary found a way to say yes his first business was selling lemonade on a street corner then he hired other kids and opened up seven more lemonade stands now to support the original hustle you know what I mean as an adult she opened an online wine library and

launched a TV show about wine hello everyone and welcome to the first episode of Wine Library TV then gary built an international social media and ad agency please put your hands together and welcome to the stage the CEO of vaynermedia gary vaynerchuk his business today is worth nearly 200 million dollars and his business advice is left up by over six and a half million Instagram followers what do you say to that young entrepreneur who's at school not enjoying it once too late but what do you say to them enjoy the vacation because you're gonna work

the rest of your life too don't be a hypocrite if you're such a tough guy or gal stop taking mommy and daddy's money if you're such an entrepreneur go buy your own iPhone start practicing now the quicker a child gets off a parent's payroll the more likely they will be happy in life and being happy in life while getting paid for doing something they love is probably the best measure of success for any young entrepreneur if I could just live off a base salary and do it out doing up that how cool is this like

I love life right I think it's just cool doing what you do and loving it honest there's no point doing something don't like it if you're in a job and you're hating every single day do something else yeah before it's too late exactly right you