One Young Entrepreneur’s Vision Becomes a Reality
Sasha Bush
The Ashland Beacon
Starting up a new business often begins with an “ah-ha moment.” During that “ah-ha moment,” an idea is born. To make one’s dreams become a reality one doesn’t need to have a 100-person company, a big empty building, or even a ton of cash. What you do need is an idea, a plan of action, and a desire to see that idea put into action. Once that idea has been put into action, you have officially entered the world of entrepreneurship.
Often people have misconceptions about who can and cannot become an entrepreneur. Sadly, far too many people are blind to the fact that age doesn’t matter when it comes to starting up and running a small business. In fact, young entrepreneurship is at an all-time high. According to a recent study conducted by the Junior Achievement and EY, 13% of adult entrepreneurs started their businesses before the age of 18.
There is nothing more inspiring or powerful than a young child who believes in their dreams and ideas so much that they are willing to go above and beyond to make those dreams a reality. One local young lady has accomplished just that. Riley Maynard is not your typical 11-year-old girl. She is a softball-loving powerhouse, with a heart of gold, and the mindset that if you can believe it, you can achieve it! It is because of that mindset that Maynard is now the owner of a very successful business.
While shopping one day with her mother, Miss. Maynard had an epiphany… she was going to start up her custom glitter hair gel business and call it Simply Graces Glitter. The name Simply Graces Glitter is the brainchild of young Maynard and her mother Jackie Maynard. “We were just shopping one day, and we saw some different hair gels and then the idea just kind of came up out of the blue… I can do that!” shared Maynard.
After sharing her business plan with her mother, they both quickly got to work on making Maynard’s vision a reality. It didn’t take long to figure out a game plan and soon began purchasing supplies. “First, we went to Etsy and looked up all the different kinds of charms and decorative items we could get to put in the hair gel. We bought a lot of fun charms. After that, we headed to the Dollar Tree and bought some different colors of hair gel,” shared Maynard.
Maynard’s business specializes in custom-made-to-order hair gels. Maynard explained, “You begin by choosing what size of hair gel you want to purchase. Then, you pick the color of your glitter, the scent, and any charms you want to have in it.” Simply Graces Glitter offers three size choices: Small- $6.00, Medium-$8.00, and Large-$10.00. They offer a wide variety of hair gel colors, scents, and sports-themed charms. One of Maynard’s biggest sellers is her softball-themed hair gels. If you would like to purchase your own custom hair gel, you can do so by checking out Simply Graces Glitter's Facebook page.
Maynard shared, “The best part about owning my own business is being able to talk to all the kids and see how happy they are.” Simply Graces Glitter has now been open for a little over a year and is still going strong. Maynard hopes to continue with that momentum over the course of the next few years and plans on saving all her profits to use for college, where she plans on pursuing a degree in engineering.