introducing my two businesses and tips for starting your own, by RE

This article was written for yooou! by 15 year old, RE.

Hi! My name is Reese Elder and I am a small business owner based in Dallas. I am 15 years old in ninth grade at Booker T Washington High School for Performing and Visual Arts.

But enough about me, you’re probably wondering what my business is! Well, I actually have two! 

The first business that I started is Dream Big Girls Camp.

I made this brand with my friend, Elizabeth Dickerson, and it is a summer camp for young girls. Our motto is that we inspire young girls to dream to become whoever they want to be when they grow up. Each day at Dream Big Girls Camp features super fun activities that correlate with a dream job.

 

Here’s the rundown: Monday is I Can be a Scientist Day and some of the activities we do are making slime, doing invisible ink, and doing explosions. Tuesday is Artist Day so we do things like bubble art, painting fireworks, and making paper plate butterflies. Wednesday is Chef Day and the activities include making mini pizzas, fro-yo bites, and chef hats. Thursday is I Can be a Fashionista Day so some things we do are making lip gloss, making jewelry, and doing a fashion show. And finally Friday is Entrepreneur Day so we teach them about running your own business, have them brainstorm a business idea, and do a lemonade stand.

We hosted this camp for two weeks in Summer 2023, two weeks in Summer 2024, two days during Christmas break, and we plan to keep going! We also just released Dream Big Birthdays which is our new birthday party service.

The answers to the most common questions that people ask are that we host camp from our houses, we price our camp by looking into professional camps in our area and charging much less than that, we host camp for first and second grade girls, and we started by simply brainstorming our branding and the activities we wanted to do.

I love hosting Dream Big Girls Camp because I enjoy working with little kids and inspiring girls everywhere. You can follow us on Instagram at dreambiggirlscamp!

My second business is much newer and I’m doing it by myself. It’s called The Write Sign, which is a sign-making business.

I make custom handwritten signs to make any occasion extra special!

I started it because of my love for art, especially hand lettering/calligraphy. My main goal for this business right now is making Homecoming proposal signs for high school boys in my area since Hoco season is coming up. In the future I plan on expanding to Prom ask signs, celebration banners, and much more.

If you know of a teenage boy who lives in the Dallas area or just want to check out my work you can visit thewritesign.shop.

That’s right! This brand has a website which I am super excited about. It was definitely an amazing learning experience to build the website and it will also make taking orders much easier.

I have nine available sign options, two of which are custom. The themes of the signs that I’ve already made and are available for purchase are Chick-fil-a, Crumbl Cookies, Target, Sephora, Starbucks, Taylor Swift, and Lululemon. As you can see, most of them are popular brands for teenage girls which is who the signs are going to. I also have two custom listings. One is a pure custom sign where the customer can request any theme, phrase, or pictures for the sign that they want, and the other is a custom school and symbol sign. The customer can choose the logo of the school/schools that the couple goes to and symbols of their interests like sports balls or musical notes.

Although I haven’t gotten any orders yet, I know that they will come the more that I market my product and spread the word. You can follow this brand on Instagram at the_write_sign! 

Finally, if you are a teenage girl reading this and want to start your own business, I have some tips for you!

1) Choose a service/product that interests and excites YOU! If you love your business it will naturally grow because you enjoy running it. But if working on your business feels like a chore all the time, then it’s not worth it. For example, I love creating art in my free time which is why I started The Write Sign. And I run Dream Big Girls Camp because working with little girls is something that truly interests me!

2) Don’t get discouraged; stick with it! There will be some bumps along the way but the best thing to do is to stay optimistic and keep working hard. You will have to make purchases and invest in your brand, and business can be slow while you’re still getting your name out there, so don’t feel disappointed if it feels like you’re losing money at first. It’s more about the learning experiences than anything, so don’t give up and learn from any mistakes or failures.

3) Put yourself out there! To help get business you need to spread the word about your brand and market yourself. You can do this by starting a social media account, emailing/texting people you know, and even creating flyers and business cards. Don’t be afraid to promote your brand and remember to take pride in your business!

So now you know about my businesses! If you have a business or are thinking about starting one YOU GOT THIS! Thank you so much for reading this and if you have any questions you can message me on instagram at dreambiggirlscamp or the_write_sign!

Click here to read about other fun HOCO sign ideas!