Inspired: Meet the teenager who launched a jewelry company at age 14, now set to rake in $250 million

Bella Weems
Entrepreneur: Bella Weems, 17, was just 14 when she launched custom jewelry company Origami Owl, which is set to earn $250million this year

It’s not every day a new start-up company rakes in $250million in a year; it’s even rarer when that company was launched by a 14-year-old.

Bella Weems, from Chandler, Arizona, is now 17, but she was only 14 when she thought up the idea for Origami Owl – a direct sales jewelry company that connects independent associates, referred to as ‘designers’, with buyers.

After launching in 2010, Origami Owl has grown rapidly into a multi-million dollar enterprise, taking on thousands of different designers nationwide, and is expected to rake in a whopping $250million this year.

Bella says she came up with the idea for Origami Owl at age 14, after she asked her parents for a car for her 16th birthday.

They told her that she should earn the car herself, perhaps by starting a business, so she started brainstorming ways to earn money and decided to make and sell jewelry.

She started brainstorming ways to earn money, and decided to make and sell jewelry.

Her parents matched the $350 she had earned for babysitting, and she enlisted her friends as buyers.

Then she began selling her signature jewelry items – which she now calls Living Lockets – at every opportunity, including house parties, boutiques and local jewelry shows.

‘I have always believed that you can do anything you set your mind to,’ Bella writes on her website.

‘With a focus in sight, I spent hours hosting jewelry parties instead of hanging out with friends,’ and ultimately, ‘the product started selling itself,’ Bella told Forbes.

In 2011, the company adopted a direct sales platform, raking in about $280,000. The following year, sales multiplied by a whopping 86 times.

Now, Origami Owl has over 25,000 independent designers selling pieces at Jewelry Bars – private parties at their homes or other venues around the country.

Those who sign up as designers get to choose from several different starter kits with various lockets, chains and supplies for launching their small businesses.

Bella WeemsMulti-million dollar enterprise: Now, Origami Owl has over 25,000 independent designers selling pieces at Jewelry Bars – private parties at their homes or other venues around the country
Bella
Bella

Ambition: ‘I have always believed that you can do anything you set your mind to,’ Bella writes on her website

It may have been Bella who founded the company in the first place, but today she relies on members of her family to help run it while she goes to high school.

Her mother Chrissy is co-founder and helped establish Origami Owl’s design team, and her two uncles and an aunt help with IT and marketing.

Robin Crossman, the company’s chief executive officer, said of the young entrepreneur: ‘She’s definitely hands-on, but we want her to have as normal a life as she can and to have the opportunity of college.’

Not only has Bella’s ambition paid off, but it also helped her achieve her original goal: in 2012, she acquired a white Jeep, which she affectionately named Alice.

Read more: Daily Mail

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