Good old-fashioned entrepreneurship + hard work = teen success story!

 

I was very happy to read this teenager success story.  I wish there were more like them!

Carburetors may represent old-school tech in the automotive world, but don’t tell Riley Schlick, a high school senior in Florida who rebuilds them for a tidy profit. Send your tired, dirty, mucked-up carburetor to Schlick and she’ll return it to you clean, shiny, and ready for duty once again. She has operated her Bradenton-based business, Riley’s Rebuilds, for three years now, and a steady stream of carburetors has crossed her path.

At first, Riley’s Rebuilds was a way for 17-year-old Schlick to buy her first car, which had to meet her parents’ specifications: It needed to have a manual transmission and a roll bar. Within a few months, she made enough money to buy a Jeep. Then, she brought on four friends to work with her. That hiring spree solved two problems, in Schlick’s mind. Her friends make more money rebuilding carburetors than they would working a minimum wage job, and they get to spend time together. 

She learned how to do the work from her dad. “I said to her, ‘You can get a job at Publix or I can show you how to do some restoration stuff in the garage,” says Schlick’s father, Dane Trask, who rebuilds classic cars as a hobby. He showed her how to do it, and also made use of some YouTube tutorials. “She picked it up quick,” he says.

. . .

At this rate, Schlick and her friends aren’t going to need a minimum wage job any time soon.

There's more at the link.  Go read the whole thing.  It's worth it.

God bless them all:

• The parents who encourage their kids to succeed;
• The girls who aren't afraid of hard work;
• The ability of all concerned to recognize a gap in the market, and fill it;
• The girls' drive to succeed, and build a business that's as much fun as it is work.

That's just great!

Those girls won't have to waste tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars on a worthless degree, and won't have to beg for extra money from their parents.  They're earning their own way in life from a very early age, and setting an example for every one of their peers.  They'll hopefully be able to afford to choose their further education based on what they can pay for out of their own pockets, and what interests them rather than what's politically correct.

Congratulations to all concerned, and thank you.  We need more like you!  I hope Mike Rowe sees this article, and does one of his TV specials about you all.  You deserve it.

Peter

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