Last Updated on January 6, 2023
You might not know it, but some of the familiar faces you see on TV are self-made teen millionaires. These personalities weren’t born into wealthy families and yet, they found success at such a young age.
Maybe we can all learn a thing or two from these enterprising personalities who did not let their age keep them from achieving their life goals!
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Sean Belnik
At the tender age of 16, Belnik set up his e-tail shop on a $600 capital. He started selling small items – such as trading cards – before selling larger goods. He founded BizChair.com, sold different kinds of furniture, and saw his net worth rise to $24 million when he hit 20 years old.
Adam Horowitz
Horowitz has always been mature for his age. At just 15 years old, he challenged himself to earn his first million by his 21st birthday. The Mobile Monopoly developer reached his goal and continued to earn a “six-figure income” from mobile marketing.
Mark Zuckerberg
At a glance, Zuckerberg looked like your ordinary teen, but he’s a programming prodigy with big dreams. And you know what they say about dreams, dream it big enough, and it might come true. Zuckerberg was in college when he developed Facebook with his mates. When Facebook became a hit, his net worth grew to $20 billion.
Brian Wong
Wong was just 19 years old when he helmed Digg’s business development strategy. As a young entrepreneur, he then co-founded Kiip, a highly successful mobile rewards company. Wong’s company generated more than $32 million of venture capital from multinational companies, including Disney, Playboy, and Sephora. Needless to say, he’s earning more than your average yuppie.
Justin Bieber
That’s right, the Biebs started as a singer with a camera in 2008. He started publishing videos on his YouTube channel and was accidentally discovered by Scooter Braun. Eventually, Bieber became a teen sensation, and his wealth grew exponentially. At 23 years old, the Biebs has dozens of endorsements under his belt, as well as hit albums, international shows, and legions of rabid fans.
Ashley Qualls
At just 14 years old, the WhateverLife.com founder launched her design career in 2004, offering free MySpace layouts and programming tutorials to showcase her own talents. By the time she was 17 years old, she was an emancipated minor who was earning millions from her website.
Juliath Brindak
At just 16 years old, Brindak found fame through her tween social media platform, Miss O & Friends, to feed her passion for the arts. The website is now worth a staggering $15 million, with most of its revenues generated from ads.
Cameron Johnson
Johnson was nine years old when he started selling greeting cards. His earnings allowed him to set up his own business, buying and selling Ty Beanie Babies on eBay. By age 12, Johnson was already earning thousands of dollars. His earnings allowed him to co-found SurfingPrizes.com, and by the time he was 19, he was already a millionaire.
David and Catherine Cook
These young entrepreneurs cofounded MyYearbook.com, a social networking site for tweens and teens. The website was successful; it became one of the 25 most visited websites in the US. Today, the website is worth an eye-watering $100 million.
Nick D’Aloisio
Nick D’Aloisio was 12 years old when he started coding and developing his apps in his parent’s bedroom. At 17, the programming wunderkind designed a popular app worth $30 million. He became the youngest teenage self-made millionaire in the world and the world’s youngest venture-capital-backed entrepreneur.
Tyler Dikman
Dikman was in 8th grade when he started charging $15 an hour to fix computers. He was so good at computer repairs that Malcolm Taaffe hired him at 15. After that gig, Dikman used his earnings to start his own computer repair business, Cooltronics, and made millions off his talents.
Fraser Doherty
Doherty started his business as a jam maker at 14 using his grandmother’s recipe. He called his little biz SuperJam. His homemade jams were so super that by the time he was 16, a significant supermarket struck a deal with Doherty. Apart from being a millionaire at such a young age, Doherty has his recipe books sold on Amazon.
Captain Sparklez
Captain Sparklez is a famous YouTube influencer whose career began with uploading tutorial videos and expanding to detailed gaming instructions. He is now one of the highest-earning YouTubers in the world, with a net worth of more than $8 million.
John Magennis
Magennis is a self-taught website designer who, at 14, established his own startup business. Initially, he would charge $15 for basic websites, but the demand for his design reached $30,000. That’s just for a single website! By the time he was 16, Magennis had earned his first million.
Tim Sykes
Sykes is a young stock investor who used his bar mitzvah cash to start his own business. His penny trading company became so successful that by the time he was 21 years old, his penny stocks were worth $1.5 million. Today, Sykes travels the world as an inspirational speaker.
Maddie Bradshaw
Maddie started designing locker decorations using soda bottle caps at ten years old. She invented a magnetic bottle cap necklace, and it became a hit among teens.
After being featured on Shark Tank, her hobby picked up. Business was so good; she earned her first million during the first year, thanks to strong retail sales of her product.
Kiowa Kavovit
Kiowa is the daughter of Andrew Kavovit, a former star of the popular daytime soap opera As the World Turns.
She was six years old when she pitched her invention, BooBoo Goo, on Shark Tank. Her invention is a paint-on liquid bandage that matches the skin tones of young people.
Kiowa’s business concept, which aims to replace traditional bandages, won her a $100,000 investment, and she became the youngest entrepreneur on Shark Tank featuring Mark Cuban, Lori Greiner, and others.
She then formed a partnership with Kevin O’Leary, one of the Sharks in the show. Kiowa launched even more products, including BooBoo Bites, BooBoo Salve, BooBoo Burns, and BooBoo Block.
Chris Phillips
Phillips was just 17 years old when he founded Dot5Hosting, a web hosting, and domain registration company. By the time he was 19 years old, the British tech whiz was earning $10 million per year.
Madison Robinson
Robinson was 15 when she invented Fish Flops, which are flip flops for children and teens. Her empire grew into a lifestyle brand with a complementary app to boot. Before she could drive, Maddie had already earned $1 million in sales!
Conclusion
Regardless of your age, the successes of these teenagers, whether they’re deliberate business ideas or accidental fame, should inspire you to push yourself to greatness.
Whether your success happens now or later is not essential. What’s more vital is how you should constantly challenge yourself by developing a solid work ethic that enables you to show off your greatness.
Tina Lee-Almazar is a beauty and lifestyle writer based in the Philippines. She started out as a production associate at ABS-CBN Broadcasting Network in 2004 before transitioning to creative writing in 2006. When she’s not surrounding herself with pretty things or discussing herself in the third person, Tina watches funny cat videos all day.
