Serial entrepreneur
Wellesley, Mass.

I started my first business when I was just 10. My parents don't believe in allowances, and my sister had already locked up all the good babysitting jobs in the neighborhood. I needed money, so I decided to set up a car wash. I made a sandwich-board sign and walked around the neighborhood for an hour. When I got home, there were six cars lined up outside my house. I had to hire some of my friends to help. That presented my first management challenge: Nobody wanted to vacuum under the kids' car seats. But I made good money - about $150.

My most successful business was making stress balls that kids could squeeze. We were entering a testing period at school, and everyone was stressed out. I made my own stress balls out of colored balloons filled with flour, and sold them for $1 apiece. I sold 90 in two days.

Now all of my friends want to start their own businesses too, because it is so much cooler than bagging groceries or cleaning tables at a restaurant. Plus, you make lots more money! Last summer, among all my businesses, I made about $800. Being an entrepreneur is a perfect equation: Fun plus money plus happy customers equals a great job. --As told to Patricia B. Gray (Caroline's mother)