MONEY
K-K Gregory: teen entrepreneur
Wristies®, Inc.
Starting up your own business may seem like a daunting project But, according to K-K Gregory, all you need is a good idea and the courage to carry it through. The Herald recently chatted with K-K.
You have a successful business called Wristies®. How did you get started?
When I was ten years old, I was playing outside with my brother, and my wrists were getting cold. I went inside and wanted to fix the situation somehow. So I sewed a tube of fleece and cut a hole for my thumb — and Wristies were born. I'm 16 now, and I've had the business for about five years. It took a little while for it to get off the ground.
Where is your business?
We work out of our home. We sew the Wristies in-house for the smaller orders. We contract out for larger orders for major companies. When we first started, I made the first pair. Then the following weekend we had a Girl Scout troop meeting, and I made a pair for everyone there, since we were going to go sledding. They loved them! They said, “You should sell them and make some money.” One girl's dad is an inventor. He had a really good patent attorney who he connected me with. Another girl's dad owned a bike shop, and that was my first big order. My mother really helps me a lot by driving me places and making phone calls. She makes the calls because she has a mature, adult voice. I still sound kind of young, and people don't take me very seriously.
Is your dad part of the business?
My dad has his own job, but he gives us a lot of advice.
What do you do for the business?
I write letters and return people's e-mails to my Web site. I fill orders and charge their credit card accounts. And I flip and tag the Wristies. When you sew something, it's sewn inside out, and you have to flip it right side out. So I check it for quality control and tag it.
What does your home office look like?
We have a general computer, printer, modem, and drawers full of Wristies. In another room we have an industrial sewing machine, which sounds like it would be really big, but it's actually very small. It makes thousands of stitches per minute. You have to be 18 to use that machine. We also have a few desks where we do the paperwork.
Who buys your product?
Anybody who gets cold wrists! In the summer, people who work in air-conditioned offices even buy them. During the winters, skiers, snowboarders, toll-takers, bus drivers, mail carriers, and people who have arthritis buy them. Wristies come in a variety of colors and five sizes — from “children” to “adult.”
How did you decide on a price for your Wristies?
They started off very cheap, and we realized we weren't making any money on them. So over the years, people have actually been telling us that they're too inexpensive.
Now that you make a profit from Wristies, you must have to think about how to use your money
Right now, the money I make from Wristies goes into a savings account for college. I have another job at an indoor rock-climbing gym, where I teach little kids how to rock climb. And the money I get from that is my spending money. So I separate the two.
Do you pray for your business?
We don't pray for specific things — like that we make a lot of money. We pray by seeing the business as expressing an idea of God — that He sustains. There's a sentence in Science and Health that helps us. It goes like this: “God expresses in man the infinite idea forever developing itself, broadening and rising higher and higher from a boundless basis” (p. 258 ). We pray in general, too, by knowing that everything we need for the business will be provided for.
Have you thought about the spiritual qualities necessary in running a business?
Love is a big thing in running your own business. Loving your customers and knowing they will love you back. And, having strength when things may seem down — to know that God is there and things will move on.
You're talking about times when business isn't as good as it could be?
Yes, or when a company cancels an order a couple of weeks before we're about to ship them, and we have thousands of Wristies and don't know what to do with them. Right after that actually did happen, I was on the news, and we sold a lot because of that. We've also donated a bunch to shelters for the homeless.
Have you seen ways in which your business has benefited others?
I love seeing a little person's face when I tell them the story: “There's this girl and when she was about your age — about 10 — she invented this product....” And they're like, “Oh, wow, she did that?” And I tell them, “That girl is me.” And they're like, “Wow, / could do something, too!” When I was on the local news, we had a woman call up and say that her children left the dinner table because they wanted to go and invent something. It's inspiring to see people encouraged to go for their dreams.
Do you have any advice for teens who may want to launch their own business?
If you have a good idea and you think it might work out, find someone who will do it with you who has the same motives you do — and go for it. It's not all about money. Just trust that God will bring you to the right situations — the right conclusions.
How has your business changed you as a person?
I think I've gotten a lot more confident about who I am. I used to be scared of being around a lot of people. But in this business I've had to get in front of a lot of people and give speeches, and talk to classes. It's not perfect yet, but I'm much more relaxed than I used to be.
What are your future plans for the business?
I hope to work with Wristies for as long as the business can go. If it gets too big, we'll sell it — if it gets to a point where we can't handle it anymore.
Are there any professional organizations for young businesswomen like yourself?
Quoted from the Internet at: www.cibc.com/smartstart/teen/
Self Employment
Many entrepreneurs start out with a cool idea for their business, but fail because of a lack of planning. To increase the odds that your first try at self-employment will be solid, you should write a business plan. The plan should: 1. Describe the product or service you're going to offer; 2. Indicate what will set this product or service apart from the competition; 3. Detail what it will cost you to start and run this business, and 4. Estimate what your expected profit is. Try to work through the process for your new business. If you can figure out the above issues, and still feel excited about going for it, you're on the right track.
I'm part of a few local organizations: Young Entrepreneurs Network, Inventor's Association, and NEWBO (New England Women Business Owners). And I know that groups like these have chapters all over the country. But you can also find local organizations that support young entrepreneurship.
Is there is any particular passage in the Bible or the Christian Science textbook that's been helpful to you over the years?
I think a lot about the Lord's Prayer from the Bible, especially the line that says, “Thy kingdom come.” In the Christian Science textbook that line has a spiritual interpretation, which says, “Thy kingdom is come; Thou art ever-present” (Science and Health, p. 16 ). Knowing that God is always with you and that His kingdom is come is a good thought. It helps you realize you're not alone in business, no matter what happens.:)
