Summary:
In the article “15-Year-Old Steps Down From Startup Because ... High School” published by CNNMoney on February 6, 2015 we learn about a fifteen year old and her recent endeavors with her own company. Although financially backed by her father, Noa Mintz has developed her own nanny agency, ‘Nannies by Noa.’ She has already tripled her amount of clients from 50 to 190 just in the past year, despite only being in 8th grade. From her experience of working 40+ hours a week for her own company, she decided it was time for a change. Noa is now in her freshman year of highschool and has decided to focus more of her time on learning instead of the company. Putting her past success behind her, she decided to hire 26 year old Allison Johnson to oversee day-to-day business operations.
(Johnson on left, Mintz on right. image from same link as article)
Analysis:
I thought it was pretty inspirational that a 15 year old could start her own creative business, while juggling schoolwork at the same time. She decided that she had to cut down on time put in the business to be rewarded with a successful high school education. In my opinion, she should have not hired Johnson and instead focus completely on her business, dropping out of high school as a possibility. However, it would still be hard to have confidence in that business because of the fact that it is financially backed by her father and now it is in the hands of someone else.
Discussion Questions:
How should Noa adjust her factors of production to ensure a better chance of her nanny agency succeeding?
http://money.cnn.com/2015/02/06/smallbusiness/nannies-by-noa/index.html?iid=HP_River
I thought this was an interesting article. I wish I was creative enough to think of something like this so I could be making a good amount of money going into high school. It would also help pay for college. But i also agree that she shouldn't have gave the company to someone else. I think she should have kept it. I think she should hire more people and put some time aside into the agency, so she isn't fully putting the company into another person's hands.
ReplyDeletePeter, your article was very interesting. It is unusual to see a girl as young as Noa have a decently successful business. I do not agree with you that she should consider dropping out of high school because she can't babysit forever. She needs to go to school learn all of the things that she could use to make a better business, or get a better job. She would nt be able to fully rely on a business supported by her father.
ReplyDeleteI thought the article you chose was very interesting, since it is about a girl who is close to our age. I think it was smart that she decided to go back to school because running a business requires education and knowledge and although it would be more financially beneficial now for her to continue working on her business, in the long run a secondary and college education could help more. Babysitting is not a societal need that is going away; people are going to continue having children and needing people to look after them, so I don't believe this time off will take away from the success of her business.
ReplyDeleteNoa could change her Human Capital Factor of Production. She should change it by thoroughly training Allison Johnson before having her oversee all of the day-to-day business operations. Training Johnson is a safe way to ensure that her business will continue to succeed.
ReplyDeleteI thought this article was very interesting because it shows us how we don't need to be old to be successful. It's nice to see how Mintz was able to handle school work and also run a company. I think she should choose the best nanny for each of the families. Almost like a custom person, a nanny that knows how to handle the kids the way the parents want.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that this girl was able to start her own company and have 190 clients at such a young age is incredible. I haven't heard of many eighth graders that are so ambitious and successful. Although some might disagree with her decision to focus on high school, I 100% respect her choice.
ReplyDelete