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Even though he’s only 16 years old, Shouken Lopez has found so much success as an entrepreneur that part of his business involves teaching others how to be successful! Shouken’s online store uses dropshipping to fulfill orders. The products are shipped directly from a wholesaler, and Shouken’s profits come from the margins in between. Shouken is a finalist in this year’s Spotlight on YouthBiz Stars business competition.
Learn more about Shouken below, and watch his segment on Colorado & Company.
Question: Tell me a little bit about you – name, age, how long you’ve been an entrepreneur?
Answer: My name is Shouken Lopez, I am 16 years old and I have been an entrepreneur for around 3 years now.
Q: Do you have a website? If so, let us know what it is.
A: Yes, I do have a website: https://theteenentrepreneur.teachable.com/p/pro
Q: What motivated or inspired you to start a business?
A: What motivated me to start my business was the book Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki. It widened my perspective and outlook on life. I learned how fun business was and haven’t stopped since.
Q: Please share an overview about your business.
A: When I first started business, I didn’t know what to do. I feel like that is the case with most people out there who want to be entrepreneurs. Luckily, I was able to come across “Dropshipping” which essentially is creating a store with products from a wholesaler. Once you get an order on your store, you have the wholesaler ship the product directly to the customer so you don’t have to touch a single product and you make the margins in between. I have done extensive research over the past years and found myself to be very profitable. As a result, I have made a course to teach others specifically teenagers and younger people, how to make money with an eBay store without touching a single product.
Q: Tell us about some of the challenges you face being a young business owner.
A: Some of the challenges are days where you do not get that much sales, I run Snapchat and Instagram ads for my business and It can be frustrating when you spend $100 on an advertisement, get a lot of visitors, but no conversions. You, however, can only learn from these mistakes and keep moving forward.
Q: Why should other young youth start a business?
A: Other youth should start a business because it’s not as hard as it seems. And with my program, I give you all the tools necessary to run your very own profitable online business so if you don’t know what kind of business you want to do, it’s a great starting point!
Q: What’s the best part about having your own business?
A: The best part of running your own business is that you work for yourself. It’s on your hours and you get whatever you put into it.
Q: So you’re one of the finalists for the Spotlight on YouthBiz Stars business competition-Congratulations! What motivated you to apply for the competition, and what do you hope to get from the competition?
A: What motivated me to apply for youth biz stars competition was the opportunities I knew would come if I were to go far in the competition. Even now they are giving me the opportunity to be on TV so I am super grateful for that. I just hope to network with other like-minded individuals.
Q: Please share about your involvement with Young Americans.
A: I am a finalist for the Spotlight on YouthBiz Stars competition, I am not as involved as I would like to be however it’s a goal to be able to mentor other kids who are part of the program and help out other young entrepreneurs.
