Interview with Jason O’Neill, 13-year-old business owner and Founder of Pencil Bugs
Jason O’Neill is not only a very smart 13 year old, he’s also founded a business and is now speaking publicly to other kids about their business ideas and giving them tips on how to get started.
Four years ago Jason came up with a money making idea for a craft fair. And Pencil Bugs was found! Within that time his idea changed from being “just an idea” to a business that has a product with real potential. Jason doesn’t hesitate to give credit to his parents for which he says have made a huge impact on his business taking off, and he says, if it weren’t for them, he probably wouldn’t be in business today. He is quick to admit that one person can’t carry the whole load of a business and bottom line is, you can’t do it all by yourself.
Jason is also quick to say that the education system is not in existence to create entrepreneurs, and he says that most teachers are not there to teach business or entrepreneurship. Though basic or post-secondary or even graduate school education is necessary to a point, experience and self-teaching is much more effective in the business world because it teaches what you almost never learn in the class room.
You can certainly tell, Jason has a bright future ahead and I look forward to what he accomplishes in the years to come.
Interview with Jason O’Neill:
Hi Jason, first of all thank you for taking this interview. Would you please tell us a little about yourself?
I’m 13 years old and in 8th grade. I consider myself a pretty normal kid with school, homework, friends, and time to play even though I have my own business. I don’t have any brothers or sisters.
Jason, how did you take an idea and transform it into a business, were you planning on starting a business from the beginning? How do take an idea and turn it into money?
My business started a little by accident. When I was nine, my mom was painting some wooden door stoppers to sell at a craft fair. I wanted to get in on her project thinking she’d split the money she made with me. She said if I wanted to make money, I’d have to come up with my own idea to sell at the craft fair. So after a few ideas, I finally came up with Pencil Bugs which are hand made, bug-like pencil toppers that come individually packaged, each with their own Certificate of Authenticity that gives their name and also tells a little story about them. Pencil Bugs sold well at the craft fair but it wasn’t until a couple of weeks later that I decided to make a few more and take them to school just for fun. When kids started placing orders for me to make them, I started thinking my simple idea could turn into a real business. But at that point, I never imagined I would still have it almost four years later.
I was in fourth grade at the time and one day a classmate came to school with two $50 bills and offered to buy my business. I guess he figured since I already had the product and customers willing to buy it, all he would have to do is take it over. I was smart enough back then to know that I would make way more than his hundred dollars so I turned him down. Plus, he had no idea how time-consuming it was to hand make the Pencil Bugs. At that point, I asked my parents how to get a business license and sales tax ID and the rest of the legal documents. Since I’m a minor, they had to sign for everything so I’m really glad they supported my idea.
As soon as everything was set up, I started donating part of my money to help other kids. When the local papers heard about my charity efforts, I was featured in many newspaper articles. From there, things just started taking off with the media. But I give my mom lots of credit for all the attention I’ve received. She’s really good at creative marketing and using no-cost advertising options. People forget that you don’t have to spend a lot of money to get noticed and build a business.
How do you think the Internet has aided you in building your business? How have sites like Twitter and FaceBook increased your visibility and helped you to build a network around your business?
Internet is everything in business today, especially for biz kids. With Internet, age doesn’t really matter. Not only does Internet make it easier to reach more customers but word-of-mouth advertising can happens in seconds all around the world. I only started Twitter and Facebook right after I turned thirteen last year so I haven’t been using them very long. But when I joined Twitter, in the first two weeks, I had almost a dozen requests for interviews from different sources and product orders from all over the world. I was really surprised one night when I got an order from a man in Denmark buying Pencil Bugs for his kids. That was pretty cool. I’ve also shipped products to China, Africa, Australia, Phillippines just to name a few countries. Of course, I have lot of customers in the United States and Canada too.
After starting a business, you’re now speaking and sharing business tips with other people so that they might be inspired to start a business as well. And only at 13 year of age, what are your plans for the future, what do you plan on doing in the next 5-10 years from now?
We’re working with a manufacturer right now to get Pencil Bugs mass produced. Once that comes together, I can expand into larger retail stores. They will still be hand made, just not by me and my parents. I also have other Pencil Bug-related products in the works like a plush toy version for babies, a board game, and video game. I have written a business tips book for teens and adults from all the things I’ve learned in the past four years about business and life. The manuscript is with my agent and he’s submitting it to publishers. I’m also working on several other books for kids using the Pencil Bugs characters but I’m learning that the publishing business is really competitive and things take a long time.
I plan on building my business so that when I grow up, it can support me. Then I can do what I really want which is to become a video game designer. The ideal situation would be to not have to work to make a living but work because I want to at something I really like. Of course all that could change by the time I’m out of high school. It’s still five years away.
Being an entrepreneur myself I understand that the right kind of education is important in learning business skills. However, I’m sure we would both agree, school doesn’t teach a whole lot about business. 
What are your views on education and what kind of education do you think is important to business?
I totally agree that most schools don’t teach much about business or even the idea of becoming an entrepreneur. I’ve given it a lot of thought and I think that one of the main reasons why they don’t is that teachers, in general, are not entrepreneurial minded. I’ve learned there are really two kinds of people in the world: entrepreneurs and 9 to 5′ers. Most teachers and administrators fall into the 9 to 5 type. They also have to teach so many things from textbooks just to get the kids ready for the next grade or for high school or college so in the process, they forget about teaching real life lessons or applying textbook things to practical experiences.
When I speak at business events where there are mostly adults, those times are some of the best learning experiences I could have. My public speaking skills have improved so much since I gave my first talk at a non-profit organization when I was ten. Some schools have speech classes or drama or other classes where you could perform in some way but actually giving real presentations is a huge difference. Through my business, I’ve also had first-hand experience with accounting, web design, and customer service. The list could go on but I think you get what I’m saying. Traditional school education is good and textbook learning is necessary to give kids the basics but there is so much more that schools could do to prepare kids for real life.
I can imagine, getting high grades in school and owning a business at the same time must be quite a squeeze. How do you manage your time?
I guess I’m pretty lucky that I haven’t had to struggle with school. My best subject has always been math and I’m currently taking 10th grade math in 8th grade so I feel pretty good about that. If I had my choice overall though, I’m just like most kids — I’d rather play or do pretty much anything else than study sometimes. But keeping things balanced between school, my business, and having free time hasn’t been that hard, thanks to my parents and especially my mom. They believe that school comes first but make sure I still have time to play and be a regular kid. So to manage that, my mom takes care of the day-to-day things and lets me know what’s going on every day. The system we have works pretty well so keeping up with things isn’t a struggle. But if a biz kid tried to do everything themselves, they’d have a pretty tough time. When people ask how much my parents do, I honestly say, “A LOT!” Just think of any adult with a business. Do people really think they do it all themselves? Not. So why would they think a kid could do it alone? It’s kind of silly when you think of it that way.
How have the people around impacted your success in business, from the beginning until now?
Wow, that’s a question that would take all night to answer. I learned early on that everyone matters. In the beginning when I used to have sidewalk sales outside of local stores to sell my products, I was surprised a lot of times when the least likely person ended up being the best customer and bought a lot of products. My parents always said that you just never know who might make a difference in your life unless you give them a chance. I know if I treat people right, the way I want to be treated, everything comes around eventually.
I have also been fortunate to have met some famous people. Not only have I met them but I’ve gotten to work with them on different things. Mark Victor Hansen, co-author of the famous “Chicken Soup for the Soul” book series contacted me one day asking if he could interview me for a new book he was working on. Of course I said SURE. Then he told me the title, “The Richest Kids in America.” I’m certainly not financially rich . . . yet, but the book talks about other ways people can make a difference in the world, especially kids. It was really an honor to be interviewed and Mark is the nicest guy you’d ever want to meet. To help promote his book, I ended up getting to speak at different events with him and meet tons of people that have impacted my business in some way. Through that opportunity, I was also asked to share my story in “Chicken Soup for the Soul: Extraordinary Teens.” If anyone would have asked me four years ago if I thought I would be featured in any book, I would have laughed. After those two books, my story is also included in an upcoming book, “A Cup of Cappuccino for the Entrepreneur’s Spirit” by Jeretta Horn Nord, who by the way, found me through Twitter. Just goes to show you that social networking does work if you do it right.
No question though that my parents have impacted my success the most and they will probably have the biggest impact for many years. I’m positive that I wouldn’t even have a business today if it weren’t for my parents’ support and encouragement. Everyone needs someone to help and if they’re lucky enough to have parents that are able to help out, that’s a huge plus.
There’s a growing number of Generation-Y, 30 and under, entrepreneurs now days. What kinda of advice would you give younger aspiring business owners or young people with an idea?
The first thing you have to do is try your idea. You’re not going to get anywhere by sitting on your ideas. Too many people say, “hey, I thought of that,” or “that was my idea.” Well, it doesn’t matter whose idea it was first. It matters who had the drive to take action. So once you decide to try, then you need to find at least one other person to help you because you can’t do it alone. Even the smartest people don’t know everything about everything. The third basic thing is not to give up. If you do when things get tough . . . and they will . . . you’ll never know what you might have accomplished.
There were many times I would rather have been playing and wanted to quit my business. So mom and dad would help me make a list of pros and cons about the business. After we talked for awhile, I’d always come up with the same conclusion. I didn’t want to give it up because I knew it could be my future. I wanted to see how far I could take Pencil Bugs.
Don’t get discouraged if your first idea doesn’t work either. And don’t think it has to be complicated to work. Pencil Bugs are fairly simple. Not simple to make but the concept of a pencil topper isn’t brain surgery. My mom told me about the guy who came up with the Pet Rock idea years ago. If that guy could make millions, and he did, on putting an ordinary rock in a box and “calling” it a pet, it’s proof that simple ideas can work and make money. A big part of good business is starting out small, not going into debt if you don’t have to, and marketing your product or service the right way.
Jason I want to thank you for doing this brief interview. Please give us some info on where people can learn more about your business and connect with you.
For more information, you can visit my website at www.pencilbugs.com. I’m on Twitter, Facebook, and Linked In at pencilbugs. If you just remember “pencil bugs”, you’ll find me all over Internet somewhere. My email is on the contact page and I always answer messages within 1-2 days.
Thanks for the interview.
Jason
Thank YOU Jason! I’ve certainly enjoyed reading this interview, you have some amazing writing skills for a 13-year-old. It was an honor to feature you on my blog! 
All the best to your success in the future Threads dvd
Tags: Business Entrepreneur, education, entrepreneur
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