It started with a bee sting and fear of bees, but by age four, Mikaila Ulmer, found her niche.

In 2021, Ulmer is a 15-year-old CEO of a multi-million-dollar social entrepreneurship company, Me and the Bees lemonade, with a mission to educate teens and assist with the dwindling bee population.

Ulmer’s start-up adventure is featured in an ABC news video.  And her account stands out because it gives an insightful overview of how the talented entrepreneur created her product and built her business with help from family and help later from a little-known TV show called Shark Tank.

Previously, Ulmer pursued other ideas but admits they did not work out as well.  And she explains why earlier ideas were not successful.

Meanwhile, there’s an often-overlooked issue underscored in the video. Check out the original name of Ulmer’s lemonade. Why was the name changed?  See the answer at the end of this post.

Source

Abc7 news.com, Localish, July 16, 2020, 3:56 min.
https://abc7news.com/me–the-bees-mikaila-ulmer-honeybees-honey/6315796/

Answer
The original name for the lemonade already belonged to someone else. Not checking the possible history of a name for a start-up before spending money on licensing, sales, business literature, and the product packaging is not an uncommon costly mistake.  Check out the website Me And The Bees/about.

Aptitudes in Action + Marketplace Smarts

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fish Flops Featured in major Korean Newspaper!
http://news.mk.co.kr/newsRead.php?year=2013&no=967527

You can’t make a living with art. Sez who?
The designer behind the Fish Flops company and the footwear sold at
Nordstrom is 15-year self-taught artist, Madison Robinson,
who says she “works” at it.
Her story offers several important lessons:

• Fish Flops evolved into a business from an authentic expression
  of the artist’s interests and background. Innovative touches and
  whimsical nature designs combined into a fun, colorful, quality
  functional product. And with a memorable name to boot.

• At the very least,  Madison’s aptitudes may include foresight, structural
  visualization, color discrimination, and memory for design and observation.
  But merely having certain aptitudes is not enough.  You have to work at it!

• Art and business are separate fields and combining the two requires an additional set of business and marketing skills, which many aspiring artistic entrepreneurs frequently overlook.

• Small children often have innate business abilities, so more parents
  might want to start listening more closely to those rich fertile minds.

References

National Business Report
http://nbr.com/2013/09/09/teen-entrepreneurs-million-dollar-bright-idea/

Fishflops.com
Illustrations used with permission
http://www.fishflops.com/index.php

Shop Nordstrom.com
http://tinyurl.com/mnxpnbg

Houston’s Chronicle’s 43 Most Fascinating People of the year list.
Madison is the second person on the list posted December 9, 2013.
Chron.com
http://tinyurl.com/q8udwbs

Update 2014!
Madison Nicole introduces her new line of shoes at a recent store appearance
fb.me/2Trt4BTJA

Johnson O’Connor Research Foundationhttp://www.jocrf.org/Understanding_Your_Aptitudes.pdf