In 2015, I wrote an article for Business.com called 10 Successful Businesses You Didn’t Know Were Run by Women.  In the article, I highlighted large corporations who at the time had female CEO’s, a food blog started by a fourth grade teacher, a jewelry company started by a then 16-year-old, and an apparel business started by my friend’s daughter when she was just 8 years-old.  Five years later, Pinch of Yum, Origami Owl and Fish Flops are still successful and growing businesses.

At the time I wrote that article, I had no idea I had birthed a young female entrepreneur of my own! Cold, hard cash has always been Ella’s “currency.”  Meaning it’s what motivated her when we needed her help with something, or at the very least just her cooperation.  Because she’s a “spirited child,” she’s stubborn as hell.

A dollar here and a dollar there worked wonders.  Until she discovered gum, then her currency changed for a brief moment in time…

At the beginning of last year, she was researching companies she could start working at when she turned 14 years-old.  In the meantime, she wanted a babysitting business.  It’s how I got started.  I was a kick ass babysitter/nanny and I made a lot of money doing it.

Unfortunately, times have changed, and while we once lived in a neighborhood teeming with possible babysitting jobs, right now we do not.  Then the pandemic hit and no one was leaving their homes let alone allowing a 12-year-old in to hang out with their children.

She wanted to start a business so bad, but she wasn’t sure how or what to do.  Luckily for her, a couple years ago she got a bath bomb making kit for Christmas.  It was hit or miss at the beginning with a lot messed up bath bombs thrown in the trash and a lot of tears of frustration.  Science is hard.

After a lot of tinkering, she found a “recipe” that she liked and she was on a roll.  She started making them for family and giving them as gifts.  I was talking to my friend about how she wanted to work, and that she enjoyed making bath bombs as a hobby.  He suggested she start selling them.  And then he placed an order.

She came up with a name, L’eau Petiller, which means fizzy water in French.  She chose it because it’s fancy. She replenished her supplies herself, she made a “menu,” we got business cards and she stayed pretty busy with my friends and family as customers.

Over Christmas break, she decided she wanted to open an Etsy store.  So, I opened one for her –  LeauPetiller.  Just like the Kardashians, I’m the momager and she’s the bath bomb artisan.  To be honest, she’s actually very demanding and doesn’t take direction well.  But, she has a vision for her company, and all I can do is stand by her.  After we argue for 15 minutes…

A couple weeks ago, I watched a documentary on Joan Jett called Bad Reputation.  She described how her parents had given her a guitar for Christmas one year {I think she was 12 years old,} and that guitar was the catalyst for her career. Who knows, maybe a bath bomb making kit will be the catalyst for a long career in the bath bomb business for Ella.

Whatever it is, it has unlocked an entrepreneurial spirit in my teenage daughter, and that alone is really the gift.