Youth receive help building their own businesses

By Tara Bowie Sentinel-Review

WOODSTOCK— The sizzling weather is ensuring one area youth's business is making a big splash this summer.

Norwich native Nolan Butler is one of four teenagers in Oxford County accepted to participate in the Summer Company program. The program, run by the province but overseen by the Woodstock and Area Small Business Enterprise Centre, provides youth aged 15 to 29 with $1,500 in startup money and ongoing mentoring to help launch their own small businesses.

Butler, 17, dove into the opportunity to become his own boss and decided to build a business around a favourite pastime – swimming.

The certified Red Cross Swim Instructor is offering private and semi-private swimming lessons in his backyard pool. Currently, there are 30 children enrolled in lessons from the ages of three to about 15. He even travels to Brantford each week to offer lessons.

"I thought it would be a good job because it's hot. I mean, who doesn't want to spend their summer at the pool making money?" he said Wednesday after a mentoring meeting at the small business centre in Woodstock.

He, along with his fellow young entrepreneurs Taylor Markham, Meghan Brintnell, and Adrienne Reaburn, earned acceptance into the program after filing a detailed business plan that included projections of profits.

Nolan said, at this stage, his business is on track, and he expects to pull in at least a $2,000 profit this year.

Although his business has taken off quite quickly, fellow entrepreneurs are in the midst of building their businesses a little more slowly.

"Starting a business is very hard," Markham said. "There's a lot of downfalls to starting your own business but it's nice because we get to learn from them and adjust what we're doing to get it to work."

The 18-year-old took on the ambitious goal of starting her own freelance dance teaching services. The highly trained dancer has offered and assisted with dance classes for the past few years, but as part of her business plan, she is running summer camp dance programs at a studio she rents at 94 Graham St.

"This idea works perfectly for me because it lets me see how it is to own my studio and learn from that before I attend university for dance in the fall," she said. "It's such a fantastic experience."

The summer dance programs aren't going as well as planned, with attendance being so low she had to cancel this week of camp.

But she's determined to turn it around and is using this week to tweak the camp programs and get the word out.

"A lot of what we're learning is how to market things. We're told we have to get out there – let people know we are here and what we have to offer," she said.

Reaburn's business, Heartfelt Jewels and Nail Design, is slowly building a healthy client base. The 16-year-old spends each Thursday at the downtown farmer's market selling her handmade jewelry and spreading the word about her nail design business. The certified nail technician rents an office at 144 Dundas St. and also does nail parties in people's homes.

"It's going well. I think it might have taken off a bit better if I could have started earlier. But the way the program works, I couldn't start until after the graduations and everything, but I'm doing quite well," she said.

Britnell is running a portrait-type photography business from her home called Meghan Mariah Photography. At this time, she has nine sessions booked but is hoping for more.

"I think when people hear about me and what I have to offer I'll be able to book more people. It's just hard at first," she said.

Juanita Scott, manager of the small business centre, said each of the four young entrepreneurs would be a success no matter how their final numbers turn out.

"It's a really great program for youth. It gives them a snapshot of what it's like to be an entrepreneur," she said. "They are doing great. They're making their targets and working really hard," she said.

At the end of the summer, each entrepreneur will prepare an exit report from the program and be assessed by both Scott and their mentors.

The program is offered each year for 15 to 29 year olds in school with applications due in the spring.

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