LivingSocial’s Founder: A Multimillion Dollar Hit Is Not Enough

What always interests me about stories like that is that wholesale candy is usually clearly marked, on each package, "Individual packages cannot be resold." If an adult sold me a piece of candy with that sort of label on it, I'd raise an eyebrow - but when a kid does it, I just chuckle it off and admire his entrepreneurial spirit.

I understand society enforces the law differently on kids than on adults - and I definitely did this when I was a kid myself - but isn't it a little strange that the first lesson kids seem to get in entrepreneurship is how to create markets in the intersection of things kids are allowed to do and parents aren't allowed to do?

I actually did this - not the wholesale thing but selling off extra candy I had with my lunch. I then turned around and bought comic books with the money.

I also did door-to-door sales of custom imprinted holiday cards. I got into that game be sending in a flyer from a comic book. So basically for me, my method of getting into entrepreneurship revolved around comic books.

It does seem quite funny, but it's totally plausible. Although, I highly doubt that it's a definite measure for future success. I myself used to do the same(buy from Sam's Club and resell in school) while in middle school(now a senior in college), but I'm no where near close to a million dollar success...yet :). What would suck though is that if and when I do have some kind of success, this story would be kinda overused, so I do understand where you're coming from. Guess we need to teach our kids something else to make money off of...

Well...I'm another real case.

My father's friend had a wholesaler's license (or whatever it is you need). I got her to buy me snacks/candy/soda from some big wholesaler. I sold it at the local pool/lake out of a cooler for much lower prices than the snack bar.

I had a number of similar "businesses" like this over the years, culminating in a much more successful web design business when I was 14-15.

I didn't sell candy but I sold other stuff in middle school. (I'd burn custom CDs for a few bucks… those were the days!)

For extra quaintness, when I was 11 and change, I had a yard sale and sold a lot of my stuffed animals and all of my My Little Ponies (for $80) so I could buy a faster computer. :)

I don't remember selling candy (though my old classmates tells me I did).

Lots of other things I did sell though: fruit from the garden, some kind of world wildlife foundation stamps on the train (train passengers are a captive audience!) etc.

Ticket scalper once when I was a teenager (I invested basically all my money in buying 6 tickets).

It all seems like just right place right time stuff. Who wouldn't sell their candy if there are buyers at a good price?!

For what it is worth I have been in variations of (successful) self-employment for practically all my career; but I am not much of a sales person.