What kid hasn’t dreamed of owning a toy company of their very own? For 10-year-old Hannah Altman of West Bloomfield, Michigan, it’s a dream come true. Even better than that, the young CEO now employs her parents. In an area of the country where job security is scarce both Hannah’s mother and father, Lauren and Rick Altman are now full time work-from-home parents processing and shipping orders for their daughter’s company.
Hannah had the idea to begin a business three years ago when her mom wanted to make a special present for her dad. Zipper-pulls, a beaded fob that attaches to almost any zipper for decoration and leverage, were their premier products for the family business Coolzips.com. Hannah thought of the name, Rick launched the website, Lauren designed them and the family dog modeled. They made and sold the trinkets in an online store as what started out as a fun family hobby they could do together.
It wasn’t until a trip to the pizza parlor that Hannah’s Cool World began and business really started booming. Like most kids do, Hannah wanted change for a cute toy she had spotted in a gumball machine. Like most fathers Rick told her, “Don't waste your money on that,” but then gave in and handed over the quarters. Hannah was enamored with the playful pencil toppers.
"They were just really cute little pencil toppers, at the time they were bright colors and they caught my eye,” Hannah explained, “I just liked them so much, I really wanted to start a business."
Hannah's Cool World sells all the plastic toys you would find in the upper levels vending machines, meaning the ones that take at least 2 quarters. They carry Squishies, Pig Poppers, Gomu, Jasper Pals, Rascools, Blockheads, Crazy Bones and their biggest seller Japanese erasers. Although she’s not old enough to attend the toy shows her parents bring her home samples and catalogs to scour in search of new stock, but not until after her homework is finished.
"We sell toys around my age then I think 'Would my friends want this?' If I like it, most people would probably like it," said Hannah. So far she’s right. The company fills orders from all 50 states, Europe and Australia. In a week they typically send out about 4,000 Japanese Erasers.
"Since Hannah's Cool World started, we sold over 100,000 pencil toppers alone on Hannah's website,"
Hannah’s mom Lauren added that they fill 300-400 order a day.
Check out RetailGigs.comfor an extensive resource on job opportunities, career seeking solutions, and career advancement tips.
By Heather Fairchild - Heather is a multimedia developer with experience in web, film, photography and animation as well as traditional fine arts like painting and sculpting. In addition to writing for RetailGigsBlog.com, she is co-founder of design and promotion company, Creative Kazoo with fellow Nexxt blogger, Staci Dennis. Heather’s spare time consists of making puppets, teaching Sunday School, building Legos and doing science experiments with her children.
Become a member to take advantage of more features, like commenting and voting.
Register or sign in today!