During my free time in the 2020 quarantine, I created a business. I sold customized masks to people and schools in my community. I decided to take the risk of starting a business with my capital as a junior in high school, and it paid off. This blog will describe how I started it and what I learned from it. 

Finding a way to make money in high school was difficult. A couple of my friends had started a small business in their free time buying firewood from a large supplier for cheap and reselling and delivering it to members of our community for a profit. This inspired me to brainstorm ideas for a small business that I could start to keep myself busy during the pandemic. 

I started by making a list of things that were in high demand at the time. On this list, I wrote down: 

• Toilet Paper
• Hand Sanitizer
• Masks

I scratched toilet paper off my list because it would have felt weird reselling toilet paper. Most people want to buy toilet paper from the grocery store, not from the 17-year-old selling by the roll. I crossed hand sanitizer off my list because there was already such a high supply and many consumer options. When I began thinking about masks and how boring the standard blue masks looked, I realized I could do something with this idea. I began researching manufacturers that would print custom designs on masks made with comfortable fabric for a low price. Finding a manufacturer was easy because we were in a pandemic, and masks were being created in high quantities. I found one and started making a couple of designs. I created a poll on Instagram to see which designs people liked the best and found that the most popular masks were the white ones with different logos in the bottom left corner, one of them being my high school logo. 

Once I had gathered data on the most popular designs, I began ordering the masks in large quantities upfront. Once I received the first order, I began pricing my product. The manufacturer I was working with sold me the masks for $5 a unit, and because I knew they would be in high demand, I decided to sell them for $15 a unit at a 200% markup. 

I marketed these masks on Instagram and Facebook and had steady orders for several months, but I only sold up to 50-60 masks a month. After selling these masks for a while and adding better designs and styles, an assistant principal at my school sent me an email inquiring about ordering 550 masks with their school logo for the students and faculty in anticipation of public schools reopening. I jumped on this offer and made a deal for 550 masks at $11 each. I was amazed at how easily I had unloaded so many masks in just one order, so I immediately began making designs for different schools across Georgia, focusing most of my energy on reaching out and advertising my masks to schools in hopes that they would all place enormous orders with their logo on them as my school had done. Most schools I contacted turned me down, but a few placed similar orders. 

Eventually, COVID-19 started to slow down, and masks became less mandatory, causing demand for masks to drop. Once the market for customized masks dried up, I had no choice but to close my small business and start preparing to leave for college. What began as a small side hustle to keep me busy during the pandemic became a very profitable business that taught me so much about entrepreneurship. I learned that if you want to make something happen, you have to take the initiative. Nobody is going to do it for you. My advice to anyone with an idea for a business is to get out there and start making things happen.