Meet Bella Weems, the 17-year-old millionaire founder of Origami Owl

Bella Weems is the 17 year old girl from Chandler, Arizona, United States of America, who founded a company when she was only fourteen and today the company is worth millions of dollars. Bella’s incredible story started when she asked her parents to give her a car as her sixteenth birthday gift but was told by her parents that she had to work for the car. This prompted her to start a business with the sum of $350.00 which she had earned from babysitting, with another $350.00 given to her by her parents.

In 2010, Bella started Origami Owl, a company that makes lockets, and in 2011, the business generated $280,000 in revenue. In 2012, the company made $24 million, which was an incredible achievement. What Origami Owl does is to provide jewelry to independent associates who buy items at a discount and then sell them to customers.

Today, the company has over 60,000 independent associates who are also called designers. Bella also has in her employ, her mom, 2 uncles and an aunt who play various executive roles.

It is interesting to note that Bella has taken on the role of intern at her own enterprise. She goes to the company after school to assist, and works in every department of the company during the summer. All this is in preparation for her to take over the company when she is of age and when she finishes school. This story ends well as Bella purchased a white Jeep in 2012, which she named Alice.

Bella Weem’s story is indeed a fascinating one that contains many lessons that every one of us can learn from.

• Number one, her parents taught her to be self-dependent instead of overly depending on them. Every parent should teach their children from an early age to be self-dependent and to look for ways to solve problems. Chrissy and Warren, Bella’s parents, taught her how to fish instead of giving her fish. This way, she will get her fish by herself instead of coming to them every time she needs fish.
• Bella’s parents supported her business idea by matching the amount she had when she wanted to start the business. They didn’t shoot her idea down by saying it would not work or refusing to assist her financially. Parents should learn to encourage their children.
• We have also seen that working hard and smart pays off at the end. Bella got a better car than the one she wanted her parents to buy for her by working for herself. Instead of enjoying gratification early, she learned to delay gratification. Hear her, “… with lots of hard work, Origami Owl grew from my after school job to a multimillion dollar company.”
• Bella teaches us again by showing that our motivation should not be pecuniary-driven, though eventually, we will be financially rewarded. She reveals her motivation, “From the beginning I wanted my company to be different, I wanted it to be a force for good; to help others achieve their dreams like I achieved mine… It’s been such an incredible journey and I believe our continued success has come from our intention to make a difference in people’s lives, we never put profits before people.”

The story of Bella Weems is one that every parent and every child should hear. What a wonderful story.