To be filed

Being My Boss - Savvy, Smart and Seventeen

Weina Scott, had no idea that a birthday gift from her parents for her 13th birthday would lead her to become one of the youngest business owners ever. Weina, now 17, taught herself programming and html from a book her parents gifted her. Tuned into her online life, she started creating websites and programming them for fellow internet-users. By the time she was 15, Weina was comfortably generating her own pocket money.

Last July, with the help of an online friend, she became a co-founder of Switchpod, a podcast hosting website. Her partner did all the design, advertising and marketing, and Weina wrote the program and maintained the technical aspects of the site to keep it going.  The site gained momentum and word spread via grassroots marketing. Her partner posted about SwitchPod on every online forum and message board. It was when the site started pulling in paid users that other companies sat up and took notice.

"We recieved a few buyout offers before but they didn’t want to give us any control," says Weina, "and we weren’t interested in that." So when a major internet company offered from $200,000 for the site plus an integral part in the site’s future, Weina and her partner jumped at it. They made the sale this August.

"Life hasn’t changed much after the sale," says Weina. " I work 20 hours a week." The only difference is now, both Weina and her partner are paid a cool $40,000/year. Weina’s one advice to aspiring entrepreneurs is: If you are good at something, stick to it. Don’t give up.