One of my favorite Kent entrepreneur stories was the story of Alexandra McDaniel starting her own business at age 8 (blog post on July 22, 2006). In between her duties as corporate Chairkid, product development and sales whiz, she’s found time to be featured in newspapers, business magazines and at business conferences as a shining example of the entrepreneural spirit that has no age limits. So it shouldn’t surprise anyone that now that she’s a whole year older, she’s added a new line to her impressive resume — she’s teaching a course on building and managing websites for ebusiness success. I’m sure the course will be worth it but even if you can’t make it, check out the video technology she used in her introduction for the course — very cool.
Here’s the link to Alexandra’s video introduction for her ebusiness web course: Click Here
I’ve also copied a few of Alexandra’s business press highlights from the last year to give you an appreciation for how much this young lady had done (make you feel totally inadequate.)
Kids Roar owner featured in CEO Magazine in Turkey.
While Alexandra McDaniel has gotten used to getting some attention in United States, she was very surprised when she was featured in CEO Magazine in Turkey. Click here to read the whole article in Turkish.
To see her on the CEO Magazine, visit http://www.ceosdergisi.com/agustos/.
Celebrating Success! Northeast Ohio Business Conference
Celebrating Success! Northeast Ohio Business Conference is featuring several speakers, including Luis Proenza, President of the University of Akron and will feature Alexandra McDaniel, Chairkid of the Board of Directors, Kids Roar company.
Alexandra will be recognized, speak briefly, attending the workshops and networking.
Read all about it on the conference website.
http://www.neobusinessconference.org/mcdaniel.htm
Read About Kids Roar on NewsNet 5
http://www.newsnet5.com/news/6845791/detail.html#
That is the link on News Net 5 where you can read about Kids Roar. I was also on the 6:00 news tonight. We are going to try to put video up when we get it done.
8-year-old from Kent polishes her business plan
6:10 p.m.
Marcia Pledger
Plain Dealer Reporter
Like a lot of kids, Alexandra McDaniel won’t hesitate to ask her parents to buy her presents. But a few things set her apart from other 8-year-olds.
She’s home-schooled, a vegetarian and chairkid of an e-commerce business she launched last month when her parents declined to buy the horse that she really, really wants.
“I get $3 or $2 every week for allowance, but it’s not enough to buy a pony,” said Alexandra, who lives in Kent. “It would take me over a year, probably, to buy one. I told my dad I need much more money. And he said I could start a business to raise money.”
She hasn’t made a quarter yet. But she has big plans, an entrepreneurial spirit and a desire to learn.
That’s why Alexandra will be one of about 500 people expected to attend the Ohio Business Women’s Conference & Expo Feb. 16 and 17 at the Renaissance Cleveland Hotel. Sessions will deal with writing business plans, access to capital, negotiating contracts, tapping into international markets and taking advantage of opportunities that come from being certified by the city or the state as a woman-owned or a minority-owned business.
Conference organizers were expecting diversity, but they were surprised that a child would take time from school work, skating and piano lessons to attend. Alexandra said she hopes to meet women business owners willing to share tips on building a business.
At 8, she already has learned the power of brainstorming. Six months ago she thought she wanted to sell pens, pencils and notebooks online to earn money to buy her horse. But with help from her Internet marketing father, Ron McDaniel, she revised her business plan and created a Web site that links to products available on Amazon.com. She gets about 5 percent of the profit each time one of those items sells.
Eventually, she said, she would like to offer her own line of animal decorations on the site. But her immediate goal is to assemble a board of 8- to 12-year-old directors who can bring seed money to the table. She also wants to create a separate board of kid advisers who wont be investors but will have lots of ideas to offer.
8 YEAR OLD ENTREPRENEUR TO ATTEND THE 2006 OHIO BUSINESS WOMEN’S CONFERENCE
With women business owners from all ages and minority groups registering to attend daily, the event promises to be a success. The 2 day conference and expo will take place February 16 & 17, 2006 at the historic Cleveland Renaissance Hotel & Conference Center.
Ask, Alexandra McDaniel the 8 year old Chairkid of kidsroar.biz what drove her to register to attend the Ohio Business Women’s Conference and Expo, and she’ll start telling you about how important it is to meet other business people. “I am very excited about attending my first conference. I think I will find it very interesting. I am very excited to be going from table to table and learning about what different businesses do and going to the sessions. I hope I learn a lot so my company will grow faster. I will enjoy doing the workshops and the networking.” Mily Rodriguez – Weiss, the event chair says: “When I first got the inquiry about Alexandra attending the event, I was skeptical. Then as I learned more, It became very clear to me that this 8 year old entrepreneur should definitely be a source of inspiration to the women who every day think of starting their own businesses but can’t seem to find the right moment or time to realize their dreams”
All Alexandra wanted was to make some money to buy a horse and start a horse club. Her idea initially was to sell horse pens, pencils and notebooks online to make some money and buy her own horse at some point. Her father, an entrepreneur and a marketer knew it would be very difficult to make a profit off of her idea in its initial concept, so he asked her to spend some time brainstorming. After a couple weeks, Alexandra came back with a list of unique products she’d like to manufacture and market online.
Then, with the initial concept in place and with her consultant’s help, a plan to raise start up funds was outlined. The plan consisted of having a board of directors constituted by individuals 8-12 years of age pay to sit on the company’s board through individual or corporate sponsorships. The board members are responsible for making critical decisions, design the products, and hire and fire senior management. All meetings are video taped and will be uploaded unto the company’s web site so that other kids and adults can review and learn about business.
Adult mentors will focus on how crafting the best experience for the children and help them lead in the future. “The business is the responsibility of the kids. The experience and support the kids get are the responsibility of the mentors”, said Ron McDaniel “We want this to be the best experience possible for training future leaders”.
The 2006 Ohio Business Women Conference and Expo is being presented by the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce for Ohio, in collaboration with the SBA and an array of partners including, the Urban League, Northeast Ohio Minority Business Council (NOMBC), the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) Cleveland and Columbus Chapters and a coalition of other Chambers of Commerce in the region; The 2 day event is expected to attract hundreds of women business owners attendees, senior corporate executives, supplier diversity procurement professionals, community leaders and government officials. Participants will make a difference by actively participating in an engaging agenda which includes networking activities, workshops, panel discussions, matchmaking procurement sessions and special events. Additionally, a highlight of the conference will be the Business Expo.
The main mission of the Conference & Expo is to promote women’s business enterprises at all stages of development, by providing an unmatched forum in the region where women business owners can find the information and the tools necessary to expand their market presence.
For additional information on the 2006 Ohio Business Women’s Conference & Expo, contact Karolin Infante at 216-281-4422 or visit http://www.hbahcco.org/conference.htm
The Hispanic Chamber of Commerce for Ohio (HCCO): is a non-profit organization which grew out of a task force of Hispanic business owners in 1981 alarmed over the low participation in the private and public sector. The association was incorporated as a non-profit organization in 1983. And its mission is to promote Hispanic Business interest and its economic development and expansion through strategic partnerships, technical assistance and advocacy.