My 11 Year Old Self's Business that Paid for College and a Mission for me and my Four Brothers

          When you think of eleven year old kids making money recycling, you think of cub scouts going door to door collecting pop cans. My brother Tyler and I had much bigger ideas. My family would recycle our newspapers, taking them to the local elementary school. Community recycling hadn't come to Utah yet. My dad had the idea that someone could make a business of picking up people's paper recycling and taking it to the school for them. My brother and I were fascinated by this idea. Tyler had, and still has, mad computer skills, so he made a flyer, and we went door to door in our neighborhood. Maybe it was initially out of pity, but we had about a dozen people sign up on our first day out, and it only grew from there.

          We started out putting people's papers in a big old cardboard box in the trunk of our family's Buick. My mom drove my brother and I to people's houses and we would get the papers and then take them to the school. It quickly expanded and we went from our printer box in the back of a Buick, to a flat bed trailer with boxes for storing the papers. About four years into our adventure we discovered a recycling plant in Orem, and we started collecting plastic and metal recyclables.

          From the flatbed trailer we expanded to one and then two double axle covered trailers, until we eventually were servicing about 10% of our entire city. We also hired a few of our cousins to help us in our crazy adventure. Throughout this whole time my brothers and I were only running the route once a week, which was fantastic. The growth of the company wasn't what excited my parents. They were excited when my brothers and I grew and were able to drive the trailer and do the route ourselves. They wanted to have a way for us to pay for our LDS missions, as well as college. It has paid for five missions and has helped pay for about ten college educations. 

          Although my parents were excited when we were old enough to take care of it ourselves, the older we got, the more of us kids started to leave home, get married, and start careers other than being a garbage man. I was the last of the brothers interested in the business. I am starting graduate school next year, so about six months ago we sold the business to a young entrepreneur who started a recycling business for apartment complexes in Provo.

          My family and I ran a business that made about $200,000 gross profits over its life time. I may be pursuing a career in the public sector, but I have an entrepreneurial spirit, and I know how to work, thanks to twelve years of picking up garbage, and fantastic parents that taught me responsibility and pushed me to be successful. I hope to always have the spirit of an eleven year old kid, ready to jump in and give an idea a chance, having the courage to start something and help it grow. Here's to the next adventure!

           Edit 4 years later- I now work as an administrator for a nonprofit, and I have started a website, apocalypticprepping.com! Check it out!