Aiden Ford - How An 8 Year-Old Turned Crafts Into Entrepreneurship

You're never too young to start your own business. At 8 years old, the first customer can feel impossible, and then suddenly it’s the easiest thing in the world. That’s the honest turning point we dig into when we bring on our youngest guest yet: my son, Aiden Ford. Founder of Gronkle Tees, a kid-run tie-dye business selling shirts, bags, zip pouches, scrunchies, and more. 

We talk through the real steps of starting a small business from scratch: picking a business that can be successful, choosing products you can make consistently, and learning how to talk to strangers who may keep walking. Aiden shares how a kid's entrepreneurial market pushed him to do the selling himself, how getting that first buyer changed his confidence.

If you care about small business transparency, kids starting a business, or just need a fresh shot of motivation, listen now, subscribe, and share this with someone who needs a push. What would you sell if you had to make your first dollar this weekend?

Transcript

Welcome And Aiden’s Introduction

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Hi, my name is Nick Ford, and I'm the host of the Transparent Podcast, where we believe in bringing transparency to the world of small business. And this week I am joined by a guest, my son, Aiden Ford. Aiden, can you introduce yourself?

SPEAKER_01 0:16

Hello, I am Aiden Ford, his son, and um and I have a business called Gronkle D's.

SPEAKER_00 0:23

That's great. And so how old are you, Aiden?

SPEAKER_01 0:26

Eight years old.

SPEAKER_00 0:27

Very nice. So the idea behind the podcast was to be able to introduce people to other entrepreneurs so that they could hopefully learn from other people who had started businesses, and hopefully that would inspire people. So the idea behind the podcast is bringing transparency to the world of small business for that reason. So people can learn from other entrepreneurs and learn from people who have kind of walked the walk ahead of them. And hopefully, you know, if they have their own idea, maybe they'll be inspired to start it. And so you're my first guest who is a kid who started their own business, which I think is super cool. So tell me a little bit more about yourself and your business.

SPEAKER_01 1:09

Well, um, I have a tie day business called Gronko Tease. Um I love doing crafts, that's why I started my business.

Naming The Brand And Products

SPEAKER_01 1:20

Um you bet you might be wondering why I called Gronko T's Gronko T's. I call it Gronko T's because of a dragon and how to change a dragon, the movie. Um it's a brownish color, and my some of my shirts are brown. So um I thought I'm calling it Gronkle T's Gronkle T's because I have the brown shirts, and the brown shirts are harder to define and uh hoverful than the rainbow shirts. But I still have rainbow shirts.

SPEAKER_00 1:52

Very cool. And so what other kind of products do you have with Bronckle T's?

SPEAKER_01 1:57

Well, I have zip pouches, um bags, as I said, I have shirts. Um I also have hair ties? Yeah, hair ties, um, scrunchies, and that's mostly it. And I love starting the business.

SPEAKER_00 2:21

Very cool.

SPEAKER_01 2:21

But it was hard to um get people to the first person to come. But after the first person come, it was easy.

SPEAKER_00 2:28

Okay. And so what inspired you to start your business and be an entrepreneur?

SPEAKER_01 2:34

Well, Total Twins, it's a show that I like to watch.

SPEAKER_00 2:37

Tell me more, what's what is Tuttle Twins?

SPEAKER_01 2:40

Well, it tells you about like um the law and um

Inspiration From Tuttle Twins

SPEAKER_01 2:44

how to be an entrepreneur and all different kinds of stuff.

SPEAKER_00 2:50

So Tuttle Twins helped inspire you to start your business. And so, you know, what did what kind of businesses did they tell you about in Tuttle Twins and what made you want to start a tie-dye company?

SPEAKER_01 3:03

My mom wanted me to um told me some ideas and I decided to do tie-dye, and Tuttle Twins, um the it tells me about like inflatable tires tires on a bike, like um a toil I think there's like a toilet one. And there's like one that's like it would make your food, but you didn't like it.

SPEAKER_00 3:35

Yeah, well, you'd uh you'd wanted to start a corndog business, yeah, but that would have been hard because you'd have to make your own food and you'd have to have like a kitchen to cook it in, and so that would have been a little more difficult. Plus, you have you know food safety standards, which you learned about in Tuttle Twins, so to make sure everything is healthy and made the right way. And so, you know, when I started my business, transparent staffing, one of the things that inspired me to start a company was I loved to connect with people. So, you know, a lot of what I do with staffing is connecting people with companies that want to hire them. And so that that you know, business was just a great way to connect with people, to you know, make money from it, uh, to provide for you know our family in that way. And so, you know, what other things kind of made you want to to go into entrepreneurship?

SPEAKER_01 4:30

Um, well tell twins. There's um there's it talks about something called Shark Tank. It's like people will loan money to other people, and then when the business gets started, they have to pay back the money that the people gave them so they don't lose any money.

SPEAKER_00 4:49

Yeah. So dad, I your dad, me. I love Shark Tank. I love listening to Shark Tank and hearing ideas. And yeah, so those are investors that are on Shark Tank. And so someone like you may come forward with an idea for a business, or maybe you've already started a business, but you want to grow it. So you get an investor to give you money and also to give you guidance and advice on how to run their business. So that's why Shark Tank is really cool because someone who has an idea for a business already has a company can grow it and learn from a person, you know, a person like a shark that's an investor that can help them, you know, take their business to another level, maybe. So, you know, with Gronkle T's, what gave you the idea for it? And what what kind of um you know gave you that idea for the business?

SPEAKER_01 5:36

Well, as I said, my mom um asked me if I wanted to do tie-dye, and I love craft, so I said yes. And I also I had other things that I wanted to do, but I thought tie-dye was the best, and I wanted to do what rubber bins, but my mom said that wasn't a good idea. So so um I think um so I decided tie-dye, and next time I mind they're like um bracelets for like one dollar, and if you buy two things, you get a free bracelet.

SPEAKER_00 6:10

Cool. Yeah, so that's a way to help attract people to your company.

SPEAKER_01 6:14

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 6:14

Yeah. So how how did you actually start your business? Like, how did you get the supplies and the money to to get it going?

SPEAKER_01 6:22

You and mom gave me $350, I've paid you back, and I still have $73.

Funding A Kid Business With A Loan

SPEAKER_00 6:31

Yeah, so you you got $350 as a loan so that you could start your business, and then now you've been able to pay us back that $350, and I think you've actually profited a little over $90. So you've made a profit of around $90, which is really good for your first business. A lot of businesses, I don't know if you know this, but a lot of businesses in their first year don't make any money, they lose money because it costs money and time to start a company. Did you know that? No, yeah, and most businesses also, you know, one of the things that I talk about on the podcast is a lot of businesses don't even last more than the first year or two years because you know it's so hard to run a company and um you know, to the money you put in, it's hard to get back out of it. And so in your first year in business, you've already paid back the loan that you took and you've made money at profit. So that's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_01 7:28

And it's also hard because I have no employees.

SPEAKER_00 7:31

Yeah, it's all you, right? It's that you don't have anyone else to work for you yet.

SPEAKER_01 7:36

But it's also better because I don't have to pay anyone.

SPEAKER_00 7:39

Yeah. That definitely makes it easier too. So tell us about your how you started it from you know where you where you sold and what that you know first day was like.

SPEAKER_01 7:51

The first day was um fun, very fun. Um it was hard to get the first customer, but after the first customer, it got easier and easier.

SPEAKER_00 8:02

So where did you sell your products?

SPEAKER_01 8:04

Well, there's this

First Market Day And Selling Skills

SPEAKER_01 8:05

like kid market where kids can make anything and but they have get no help. It's just them and they have and um they make a product and they sell it.

SPEAKER_00 8:17

So did you talk to the customers like when you when you were selling products?

SPEAKER_01 8:20

Yes, I did. I told people I'm like, um hey like if people were walking back like walk past, like, hey, come buy some ground teas, and they sometimes came over to walk and sometimes they just kept on walking.

SPEAKER_00 8:36

Yeah. So how did you set up your you know, tables and booth?

SPEAKER_01 8:41

Well, there was this um um you and someone else came to help.

SPEAKER_00 8:48

Yeah, so you had a tent and you had tables, and then you displayed your products on the table so people when they walk by they come look at everything, right? Yep. Okay. And so when um you started the company, you know, you had your first day, which you know, the the market that we were at was a kids entrepreneurial market. So everyone at the market were kids with their own businesses, and one of the rules that the market had was that you had to do everything. You could have someone help you set up stuff, like it'd be hard for you to build a tent for your you know, your your stand to be at, but you had to talk to all the customers and did you uh take money? Did they like give you the actual money?

SPEAKER_01 9:29

Yes, and I didn't have to pay anyone back.

SPEAKER_00 9:34

So what would happen if someone was buying something and uh let's say it was eight dollars and they gave you a ten dollar bill, what would you have to do?

SPEAKER_01 9:42

Give them two dollars back to be exact.

SPEAKER_00 9:45

So you handle the money too?

SPEAKER_01 9:47

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 9:47

That's pretty cool. So, you know, with Gronkle Tees, it sounds like it's been a pretty big success. So, you know, do you have other ideas for new businesses?

SPEAKER_01 9:57

No, I think Gronkle Tees is pretty good for business because most businesses don't sell tie-dye besides like closed stores, but you can't really find tie dye at closed stores.

SPEAKER_00 10:10

Yeah, it's like not as well uh you know well available, you know. It's not it's harder to find.

SPEAKER_01 10:16

So you have to make it you.

SPEAKER_00 10:18

Yeah, make it, but now they can buy it from Gronkle Tees because you made it for them.

SPEAKER_01 10:22

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 10:23

That's pretty cool. So what do you plan on doing with Gronkle Tees going forward? It sounds like you want to continue that.

SPEAKER_01 10:29

Yep. Wait, what was your question again?

SPEAKER_00 10:33

So what do you want to do with Gronkle Tease going forward?

SPEAKER_01 10:36

Well, I wanted to um like like I said earlier in the video, um, I said I wanted to like if people buy tooth, uh tooth um tie-dye stuff, I'll give them a free bracelet, and um that will make people buy more stuff and give me money and make both people happy.

SPEAKER_00 11:02

Yeah. So you're kind of incentivizing them to to buy Gronkle T's by giving them a free giveaway.

SPEAKER_01 11:08

Yeah, so so they can be happy and I can be happy.

SPEAKER_00 11:11

Yeah, because they get a great product and then you get to, you know, hopefully make a profit again.

SPEAKER_01 11:16

Um make other people more happy, like more tight-eye.

SPEAKER_00 11:21

Yeah, that's very cool. Yeah, so you know, part of the reason that I was inspired into entrepreneurship was uh my grandfather, he he owned his own company. Uh he was uh he was on the podcast as well, as we kind of talked about earlier. And so he was someone in my life that you know inspired me to get into business and um inspired me to want to you know start my own company. And so, you know, is there anything else in your life that kind of you know made you want to start a company? Was there things that you wanted to be able to buy with the money that you you're making or um any other reasons you want to you know make a profit?

SPEAKER_01 11:58

Yes, to the church we go to, Grace Chapel Christ Church incoming, and um and I also wanted to spend stuff on Minecraft because there's a ton of Minecraft well, it's a

Plans To Grow With Giveaways

SPEAKER_01 12:10

ton of add-ons that I want. And um and I also wanted to use the money to buy more stuff so I could make the business better. 50 to 60 dollars to spend.

SPEAKER_00 12:20

Yeah. So you want to invest some back into the business from the money you made.

SPEAKER_01 12:25

Yes. Like you said, 50 to 60 dollars on like because I'm mostly just gonna buy uh maybe like three or four I'm running out of like shirts for little kids, so I might buy um like ten shirts for little kids and maybe a couple bracelet kits or one bracelet kit.

SPEAKER_00 12:43

Very cool. And so w you mentioned wanting to give back to your church. What made you want to give back to church?

SPEAKER_01 12:49

Because

Giving Back And Spending Goals

SPEAKER_01 12:50

um they don't have to because the only way a church gets money is if you give away money to it.

SPEAKER_00 12:56

Yeah, it's called you know giving a donation or tithing, we sometimes will call it. So yeah, they uh the the church completely uh you know operates off of people's generosity, being willing to give back to God, right?

SPEAKER_01 13:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:09

Yeah. And I think personally, I think Grace Chapel does a lot of great things in our community, and I think the ministers there do great work teaching people about you know God and about Jesus.

SPEAKER_01 13:18

Like Rocky, he helps sing the songs.

SPEAKER_00 13:21

Rocky does a lot at the church. Yeah, he's our youth minister and he helps teach kids and you know, our young people about God and um kind of guide their lives, which is you know a wonderful work that he's done for a long time. So well, you know, there's pros and cons to getting into business, which is and that's something I tell people who are listening to the podcast that are thinking about getting into it. You know, there's uh great things about starting your own business, but there's also risks that you take in having your own company. But you know, tell us a little bit about you know some of the challenges you had in getting your business started.

SPEAKER_01 13:54

Well, so one of the hardest challenges was um doing the tie-dye because um it's hard because if you don't like fold it the right way and you put the paint on, it might ruin how you want it to look.

SPEAKER_00 14:09

Yeah.

Tie-Dye Mistakes And Learning Curve

SPEAKER_01 14:10

That happened a couple times.

SPEAKER_00 14:11

So did you have to experiment with that?

SPEAKER_01 14:14

Yes. I did a ton of different ways. Most of them came out good and how I wanted, but some just looked um didn't work out, but they still look too cool.

SPEAKER_00 14:25

It's different.

SPEAKER_01 14:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:26

So how long did it take you to do all the tie-dye?

SPEAKER_01 14:29

I think like in maybe if I add a couple days together, like 24 hours, maybe.

SPEAKER_00 14:36

So like multiple days of like, you know, five or six hours a day or something like that?

SPEAKER_01 14:41

Yeah. Like my sister kicks a nap for like two hours and and like every two hours I did it.

SPEAKER_00 14:48

So you would do it while your sister was napping?

SPEAKER_01 14:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:50

Yeah, because we needed to have her not get into the tie-dye, she might have made a mess, right?

SPEAKER_01 14:57

Because the tie-dye like doesn't come off.

SPEAKER_00 15:00

Yeah, it can dye your even your skin. So you had to be careful. Did you wear gloves?

unknown 15:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:05

Yeah, you had to wear gloves while you did it. Um, what other so you had challenges with making the tie-dye? Uh what challenges did you did you have the day that you were selling?

SPEAKER_01 15:15

Um, what challenges? Oh yeah. Um, getting the first person to come because like after one person came, it was easier and easier because other people saw the people buying. They thought, hey, if this people likes it, maybe I'll like it.

SPEAKER_00 15:29

Yeah. That was, you know, that was a challenge when I started my business. You know, getting the first person to trust me with helping them with recruiting, that was that was tough. Like they had I had to convince them why they should pay me money to help them with their business. And you know, that was my that was the first time I'd helped someone, so I was brand new to it. You know, one of the things I think that helped you too after you got your first customer, you got a lot more confident, didn't you? Talking to people. Can you talk about that a little bit?

SPEAKER_01 15:58

Well, yeah. Um I have some advice for other people if they start a business. Um, never don't if you have um a idea in mind, try it before you just give up on the idea. Because what

Advice For Kids Who Want Business

SPEAKER_01 16:13

if um you don't try it? And if you did try it, you're gonna make over a thousand dollars in a year. But if you don't try, you won't make that money. So always try before you give up. Because um if you don't try the idea, then you might not get any profit out of it.

SPEAKER_00 16:35

Well, you if you don't try, you definitely won't make any money.

SPEAKER_01 16:38

Nope.

SPEAKER_00 16:39

Yeah, and um, you know, it's it's tough the first time that you try something, but it's also tough to, you know, live with not trying because if you don't ever try it, then you have to sit and think, you know, what if? What if I tried it? What would have happened? Um, you know, I have a quote on my desk that that you like. It's a quote by Michael Jordan, who's you know, arguably the greatest basketball player to ever play. And he says that I've missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I've lost 300 games. 23 times I was trusted with the game-winning shot and missed. I failed over and over again in my life, and that is why I I have succeeded. So, you know, even if you try a business and it fails, it's still better to try because you can learn from that, right?

SPEAKER_01 17:24

Yeah, you can learn that's not a good idea. Just do another idea. Because if your um business gets like no money in like a couple like a year, that's a bad, bad idea.

SPEAKER_00 17:37

Yeah. So like, you know, it's like Michael Jordan. What if he had taken his first shot with a basketball and missed and said, you know what? I missed. I don't want to do it anymore.

SPEAKER_01 17:47

But he but since um he kept on trying, he is the world's best basketball player.

SPEAKER_00 17:53

Yeah, because he kept trying, and even when he failed, even when he missed a game-winning shot, which you know, everyone was relying on him to make the game-winning shot to win a game and he missed. You know, what if he got afraid to ever take the game-winning shot again? Then he wouldn't have won all those games that he did win, which he won a lot of games. Yeah, and he won even championships. So, you know, what what what else would you say to other kids specifically that want to start their own business?

SPEAKER_01 18:22

Mark I just um said earlier, I'll um don't try and if it doesn't succeed, try something else. Yeah. Because like I said, if you don't try it, you might make a thousand dollars over a thousand dollars in a year. But if you don't try, then you might make like one dollar.

SPEAKER_00 18:43

If you don't try, you might not make any money.

SPEAKER_01 18:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:50

So, you know, with your business, um, you know, you've had success, you've now been able to make a profit. So, you know, the did you the first day that you sold all your products, did you make a profit that day?

SPEAKER_01 19:03

Well, yes, I think like over a hundred dollars.

SPEAKER_00 19:07

You made uh over a hundred dollars in profit? Wow, okay. And so, you know, as you continue to work on your business and you know, try to make it successful, how do you think you might learn new things to you know share with other people?

SPEAKER_01 19:24

Um what is the question again?

SPEAKER_00 19:27

As you continue to work on your business and try to make it successful, what new things do you think you might learn to share with new people?

SPEAKER_01 19:34

I'm not sure that um maybe tie dye wasn't a good idea, but I think but it's it's a good idea right now.

SPEAKER_00 19:43

Yeah, but things could always change and you might try something different.

SPEAKER_01 19:49

Elon Musk.

SPEAKER_00 19:52

I'm not sure what Elon Musk has to do with you know tie dye.

SPEAKER_01 19:56

I think I know.

SPEAKER_00 19:57

What?

SPEAKER_01 19:58

The helping robots, they can just do all the tie-dye.

SPEAKER_00 20:01

Yeah, we might just replace all ourselves with robots one day, huh?

SPEAKER_01 20:05

I don't want to do that because I do not like robots. They the raw robots might turn evil against us. So me because they might someone might break the code, break into the code and um make them evil and destroy us.

SPEAKER_00 20:20

There's been a lot of movies made about that happening. Hopefully that doesn't happen. Maybe Elon Musk or whoever makes robots will find a way to stop that. So you gave one piece of advice for you know new entrepreneurs. You said to try. At least try your business. What other let's do two other pieces of advice you'd give to people that are thinking about starting a company?

SPEAKER_01 20:43

Well pray to God.

SPEAKER_00 20:46

That's great advice. So pray to God to help with the business

Family Mentors And Closing Thoughts

SPEAKER_00 20:50

and to help you be successful.

SPEAKER_01 20:51

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 20:52

What's your third piece of advice?

SPEAKER_01 20:54

My third is um never stop trying.

SPEAKER_00 21:00

Never stop trying. Yeah, I think trying is really important. You know, one of the things that I like to do to help me be successful and to keep me inspired and motivated is to study other people who've been successful in business. So yeah, I mean, I look at you and think, wow, he made a profit in his first business. That's pretty cool. And you know, you learn how to talk to customers, you learn how to make a product, you you know, definitely didn't stop trying. You kept, you know, talking to mom and dad about your ideas and coming up with new ones. And so, you know, I've also you know love listening to people like Art Williams and Ernest Nightingale who you know are motivational people who kind of help you be excited and inspired for your business.

SPEAKER_01 21:43

Oh yeah. I never heard of those people.

SPEAKER_00 21:47

Well, you can check them out on the transparent podcast. I have some podcasts from them on the podcast, so maybe we'll listen to those one day. Um, so any closing things that you'd like to kind of tell people as we Close out the podcast.

SPEAKER_01 22:02

Um, my dad might want to tell me about Gran about business.

SPEAKER_00 22:07

I might want to tell about what?

SPEAKER_01 22:10

Um great grandpa's.

SPEAKER_00 22:13

Yeah, so you know, I I mentioned Royce Hunter, who's my granddad. Uh, he is also on the podcast. Um, you can look up his podcast, but he started his own company as well called uh Lone Star Life Insurance. And he had his own company for many years and eventually sold it. And, you know, I looked up to him as a mentor and um, you know, someone that inspired me to start my own company. Back in high school, I you know really wanted to start my own business because I saw him and his business and how successful he was and all the things that he was able to contribute to his community and to the society through you know his faith, but also um you know the money he made in business, he was able to give back in so many ways. And so that was a way that uh you know really inspired me to start my own company.

SPEAKER_01 23:03

So like you said earlier, you said um um you said you were inspired by your brand off. Yeah, like you wanted to start your own business, like transparent staffing.

SPEAKER_00 23:19

Yeah, yeah, transparent staffing was my first business that I started, and you know, I started it and it started in January of 2021, and I still have it going today.

SPEAKER_01 23:28

So that's when he started his podcast.

unknown 23:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:32

Yep. Well, very cool. Well, Aiden, thank you so much for being on the podcast today.

SPEAKER_01 23:38

Thanks for letting me be in. I've always wanted to do a podcast with you.

SPEAKER_00 23:42

It's been great. Thank you so much, and uh, I'll let people know about Gronkle T's so they can find uh where to find your products.

SPEAKER_01 23:49

See you later, alligator.