In the small town where I grew up, teens worked as soon as legally possible. The local grocery store hired kids at 14 years old and most fast food joints were more than willing to let a 15 year old handle the cash register. Perhaps, if Willa Skincare's jobs for teens were available when I was one, I wouldn't have developed a donut addiction at 15 years old while working at Dunkin'. This all-natural line of beauty products is giving teens a chance to become tiny entrepreneurs with the potential for making big bucks. Of course, in my teen years the only method of direct sales was literally standing outside the mall DEMANDING business from strangers or walking house to house selling candy. Not exactly an ideal business plan, nor a very safe one.
Things are different in 2015 though: Willa Skincare knows that 13 to18-year-olds more ambitious than ever (according to Huffington Post, one in 10 teens wants to start their own business), so they're offering up good jobs to young people with an interest in beauty. Frankly, I support my dad's argument on teens working: if you're old enough to wear makeup then you are old enough to work. I wonder if he knew he was predicting the future of Willa Skincare, which is now setting up a sort of Avon-Lite situation so that teens can sell product to their friends — and make cash for college, according to Fortune.
Unlike baby-sitting under the table or working at any of the usual companies willing to hire kids under 18 years of age, Willa offers a unique opportunity to sell in the comfort of their own home to friends and family, thus teens are more likely to be supervised during their endeavors. The best part IMO, however, is that Willa Skincare has set up a system similar to what us grown-ups use for 401ks and retirement funds. According to Fortune, Willa Skincare will match contributions into a 529 College Savings Account, so they can make up $2,500 annually. That's serious selling incentive, plus can help tech kids about tedious things like economics while they get to play around with makeup. I mean hey, if you start when you're 13 (the youngest you can be to join the program), that could equal almost $13K towards college by the time you're through.
You know I'm pretty excited to have teens on the natural skincare bandwagon! For a cool $99, teens can purchase their start-up kit and become a Willa Girl — as long as they have a legal guardian's permission of course. But what parent wouldn't want their kid making cash in a super safe way?
Image: mywilla/Instagram; Twitter
