Lane Sutton is a social media guru, webmaster, and critic. He also happens to be a 13-year-old from Boston.

We talked with Lane about his website, KidCriticUSA.com. Speaking like a seasoned business pro, Lane revealed how he got started, how he handles his clients, and how he reacted after getting a phone call from Forbes Magazine.

See what Lane is up to at LaneSutton.com or you can follow him on Twitter (@KidCriticUSA).

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Q: How did you get a knack for entrepreneurship so early?

A: I had been inspired by my father, who is an entrepreneur himself. He’s a disc jockey, so he plays music for events and mixes. I was pretty amazed that someone could make money by doing what they love. That’s exactly what my father does. So, I’ve been an entrepreneur since I was five years old.

It all started when I went to my local newspaper company and I took a tour of the newsroom. It made me want to write my own little newsletter or newspaper. So, I came home and I think I was up writing until two in the morning.

I compiled a bunch of news stories and I rewrote them, adding my own little twists. Then I printed it out and distributed it to local family and friends. I think I charged two dollars. But, I loved doing it. I was getting paid to write about things that I was interested in. I just loved having my own business built around a passion or a hobby. That continued for a bit. Then I wrote a few books and that’s kind of when everything sprung up.

Q: What sets you apart from any other 13-year-old?

A: Certainly the part about [starting a business] as a five-year-old. Business is something that I truly love. But the reason I started is that I love to write. I write for my website and run all of my business operations myself.

When people meet me, they’re like, “Whoa – this kid is 13? Why isn’t he on the playground, playing sports, or doing regular activities?” They go out of their minds sometimes. They just don’t understand it, because they don’t realize that this is what I really like to do.

I think that’s what sets me apart at school. I excel at business, numbers, and I love using technology. A lot of teens spend a lot of time texting, just in their own little world. Or they’re surrounded by friends and just hanging out. Why not get ahead and take a leap in their future?

Q: What do your friends think?

A: My friends will go home and check out my website. Then they come to school and say, “That was really you writing? I mean, come on! Dude, you’re 13 years old.” I also contribute to my local newspaper now and I write about some happenings at our school. So I’ll bring in some copies that have been published for my teachers to see, especially my language arts teacher. She’s just amazed.

My family was amazed when I got the call from Forbes Magazine. I had responded to a HARO query (HelpAReporter.com) and Forbes just called me. I was actually riding my bike and when I came home, I checked my phone. I ran upstairs and listened to the message probably like three times. Then I ran downstairs and told my parents.

[My family] was just amazed by what could happen with web and email. I couldn’t believe it either – because getting into one of those publications has been one of my lifelong dreams. My family has always been very supportive and they’ve given me advice – especially my dad, since he’s been running his own business for a while now.

Q: What would you tell an up-and-coming entrepreneur?

A: If you’re interested in entrepreneurship, then start early. It’s the best thing you can do. It’s what I did and I’ve already learned so much at a young age. I can even teach adults and speak to adults at speaking engagements. They haven’t heard of this stuff with social media.

I’d even tell adults to start early. They could be working for corporate America or something, but they have a passion that they haven’t [pursued]. If their passion is painting, they could sell paintings. So, whatever you’re doing, start early.

Q: How should someone get started?

A: Dream your idea. Start brainstorming. Food is really easy [to get into]. You always need that. Clothing is big as well. We need office supplies, school supplies. So you can kind of think of your category. Then, use test groups. Maybe you’ll give the product to them for free, so you can get some good feedback for improvement.

Then do market research. You could give a survey in your school to see if the students are interested in your product. Look at some competitors, like local businesses. If they’re public and they have a stock, take a look. See how it’s doing. You can find a lot of the information online and then you can see if the product is really in need.

Q: You’ve got a big vision. Where do you go from here?

A: My goal is to be the CEO of a large technology company. I want to be the next Apple, Inc. I have to work from the bottom.

If you want to get to the top, then you start at the lowest point. That could be an engineer, a call center person, or whatever it may be. Then you have to go up. You might become a senior engineer. Once you get to the top, you probably go from vice president to senior vice president and then you finally reach CEO of the company.

Q: You were one of the first people to purchase our book. What is your honest critique?

A: I’ve only read the first couple interviews, because I have my bookcase full of books that I’ve been wanting to read. I was inspired by Emil Motycka. He mows lawns and I don’t mow lawns, but I was shocked at how he could earn [$135K his senior year of high school]. Most people couldn’t even do that until they’re 30.

I was inspired by how he could have that many clients and still balance life. Sometimes I have trouble balancing. Homework comes first. After I’ve finished my homework, which could be right after dinner, I could be working from 6 to 9. If I don’t have homework, I’ll be working the second I get home.

Thanks, Lane!

I know what you’re thinking… Yes, Lane is only 13 years old. I’ve come across Lane’s site a few times in my entrepreneurial perusings and I was blown away when I saw that he bought our book! He already has a remarkable story and I can’t wait to see where he goes from here. You can get into contact with Lane or find more information about him at:

• LaneSutton.com
• Lane on Twitter (@KidCriticUSA)
• KidCriticUSA.com

Every kid has started a lemonade stand. Usually it’s not front page news. But, at the age of four, Ben Weissenstein was featured on the cover of The Houston Chronicle, touting lemonade for 25 cents a cup. Ben only earned a few dollars that day, but he came away with a thirst for entrepreneurship that motivates him to this day.

When Ben was 14, he helped his mom with a garage sale. She suggested that he could help friends and neighbors sell and organize their extra junk. So Ben and his friend started a business. In a few years, Grand Slam Garage Sales had expanded to offer more services and employ over thirty part-time workers.

Now 19, Ben and his booming business have been featured in Entrepreneur Magazine and on the Dr. Phil Show. He has started The Entitled Group, a company that helps musical artists like Mike Jones, Little Flip, Young Hash and Cory Gunz book concerts and other events. Ben has moved from Houston, TX to Tucson, AZ, where he is helping launch the first of many Grand Slam Garage Sales franchises.

The following is a short excerpt from 50 Interviews: Young Entrepreneurs (Volume 1). Snag your free chapter at the bottom of this page.

Q:  How did you plan and organize your business?

A: Everything started as nothing, with just the principles of wanting to be professional, keep records, and keep our customers and workers happy. We just figured it out as we went. When I started Grand Slam Garage Sales with my friend Matt, we went to Walmart and bought two red polo shirts for about eight dollars apiece [as uniforms]. We thought we looked professional, at least. The red polo shirts turned into to blue uniforms with Grand Slam Garage Sales logos.

We knew we had to keep records to an extent, so we started by opening a Word document and writing, “We took in x amount of dollars, we had x amount of expenses.” Eventually that turned into a nice excel spreadsheet, which turned into software that we had developed so we could put in [financial] information.

Our first website was all right, but it was nothing special at all. We had a friend do it. Then we had another web guy do it, who did a better job. Then we had another web guy do it who did an even better job. Basically, I started not knowing much and I just kept learning as I went along. That’s the biggest thing: always learn, change, and grow with your business.

Q: How did you get in Entrepreneur Magazine and on Dr. Phil?

A: A lot of the press we’ve gotten has just been random press that’s come to us. It wasn’t from us sending out a press release. For example, I was just at my high school reading an email that said, “We want to do a story on you and blah, blah, blah.” Then I saw ‘Entrepreneur Magazine’ at the bottom. I was so excited that I told all of my friends. That definitely brought more credibility to the table and got the word out about Grand Slam Garage Sales.

Dr. Phil was completely random. I think they found out about us when they were searching the internet and saw the interviews we did when we were on FOX News in Houston. They did a story on us that was a lot of fun and got us a lot more prospective franchisees.

But before we really start franchising here, we’re going to be calling all sorts of press and getting our company’s name out there. The more press we get, the more credibility we have. Good publicity is good. I don’t believe that bad publicity is good.

Q: Anything else you would like to add?

A: Anyone can go check out my personal website and the official website of Ben the CEO Ventures. You can also check out Grand Slam Garage Sales, Entitled Group, and follow me at Twitter.com/bentheceo.

This is an abridged version from Ben’s interview in our latest project, 50 Interviews: Young Entrepreneurs. There’s nothing revolutionary about garage sales, but Ben is creating and revolutionizing a garage sale industry. What makes him different is his drive. Ben has a bonfire burning in his belly and Grand Slam Garage Sales is about to blow-up! By the way, Ben is putting on a concert at Texas A&M on March 27th and is looking for sponsors. Contact him if you’re interested in sponsoring the event.

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Earlier this week I was featured in the CSU daily newsletter, Today @ Colorado State University! One of the writers for this newsletter contacted me because of the article in the Coloradoan.

Within this article I gave three golden nuggets of advice for young entrepreneurs.

Golden Nugget #1: Get an education.

Dropping out of school to start a business is quickly becoming an idiotic maneuver. The business world is becoming increasingly competitive and having a solid education to back your business is a necessity.

Not only that, while in college is the best time to start a business. You’re surrounded by some of the smartest people in the country and your resources are endless. Plus, everyone loves to help a student.

Golden Nugget #2: Sell your passion.

If you want to be successful, you have to have passion for your business. Starting a business often involves weeks, months, years of hard work and fruitless labor before you’ll start seeing any sort of return. If you don’t enjoy that work, if you don’t passionately love that work, then you’re not going to finish it. Additionally, how is someone else supposed to be interested in your product or service if you aren’t passionate about it yourself?

Golden Nugget #3: Surround yourself with people you aspire to be.

I didn’t really know what this meant until I tried it. You are what you eat and your personality is developed by the people around you and outside influences of your life. If you want to be successful, find successful people and become friends with them then learn from them.

The Newsletter Article

Overall, this article resulted in 98 unique visitors and five emails. See the article here, A serious business man.

If you enjoyed this article, you should get JuniorBiz by Email.

Photo by: Rawbert A. Wagner

Over the last few weeks JuniorBiz and I have been featured in two major local newspapers, The Fort Collins Coloradoan and The Longmont Times-Call.

In this JJ Entry I’ve included links to both of those articles, as well as described how and why both reporters contacted me for my story.

The Fort Collins Coloradoan

Student helps ‘juniors’ pave way to careers
By David Young – July 7, 2009

FORT COLLINS — While the majority of college seniors would be thrilled just to get a job in this uncertain economy, one CSU student has started his own company. Colorado State University senior Nick Tart, 21, runs his own business and published a book to help others pave their own entrepreneurial path.

Continue reading…

Note: My article is no longer on Coloradoan.com. But I promise it was at one point.

How I got into ‘The Coloradoan’

Just over a month ago I attended a Social Media Marketing Workshop in Fort Collins. This workshop consisted of a six-member social media panel. One of the panelists was the Multimedia Editor at The Coloradoan, Kate Gannon.

I didn’t actually meet Kate at the workshop but I added her to a few of my social media accounts later that day (Twitter and LinkedIn). She must have looked into my site and we exchanged a few messages. This was the last message I received from Kate:

About a month after that message I was contacted by the Business Reporter, David Young. Apparently Kate had passed on my information. We sent up an interview that day and the above story ran on the next, July 7, 2009.

The Longmont Times-Call

Skyline grad hopes to help young entrepreneurs
By Tony Kindelspire – July 19, 2009 (Today)

LONGMONT — His entrepreneur-focused Web site officially launched in January, and his self-published book came out in April. Oh, and he’s entering his senior year at Colorado State University this fall, majoring in management and marketing.

Continue reading…

How I got into ‘The Times-Call’

So, the mother of Nick Scheidies, the editor of the Lawn Mowing Guide/my ex-roommate/my best friend, owns a dental office in Longmont, CO. When the guide was first published she agreed to hold a few copies in her office in the hope that one of her patients might see it and buy it. (One copy has sold!)

As part of the display, Mrs. Scheidies created a small poster with a picture of me and a short description of the book. I’m not exactly sure how or when it happened, but she sent a copy of that poster to the Longmont newspaper, The Times-Call.

It must have worked its way around the office until it fell into the hands of the Business Editor, Tony Kindelspire. Just a few hours after my interview with the Coloradoan I received a phone call from Tony. For the first few minutes of our conversation I thought he was representing the Fort Collins newspaper, but he was not. This was awesome!

Over the next two weeks I talked to him several times and Times-Call photographer, Joshua Buck, planned out the picture. (Josh actually made the above lemonade stand from scratch for, initially, the sole purpose of the photo! Him and his daughter also used it for their lemonade stand.) There was no real rush for the story and it ran in the paper today, July 19, 2009.

Thank You

I want to thank everyone involved. This has been a crazy-good two weeks for me and I really appreciate it!

I’ve also been contacted by a media group at CSU for a story because of the ‘Coloradoan’ article. That article isn’t likely to run until August.

Leave a note in the comments area if you found my site through either of these articles. That would be great to know, thanks!

This is a guest post by Jared O’Toole, owner of Under30CEO.com.

What happens every time a company makes a mistake or gets called out on something? We see a press release or statement sent out that addresses the matter and tries to put it to rest. These press releases are structured, proof read 100 times and simply look insincere.

STOP IT! Show your emotion with a video statement.

This works especially well in the world of small business. As small business owners we are always embarking on new campaigns and pushing out new features trying to find that big break for our company. However sometimes these things go out with the best intentions but end up causing negative backlash. More often than not this was not foreseen by the owners and they simply stated their new venture in the wrong way. The intentions were 100% focused on improving the service for their customers or public and things simply back fired.

What happens next?

Behind closed doors these owners hang their heads and can’t believe the blunder they made. They talk with friends or employees and voice their concern and regret because they simply made a mistake and had no intentions of it coming across the way it did. These owners feel like crap! Genuinely!

Well they know they have to address this so what do they do…probably a structured press release or blog post on the site about the issue and they try and say sorry. This is simply not the best way to do it!

Take out your flip cam or macbook and make a 3min video. Show that concern your friends, family, employees, and consultants all saw. Show that emotion everyone else saw and broadcast it to your entire audience. It doesn’t matter if you don’t make videos regularly or don’t like being on camera. The fact is that all makes it more real! People connect with that real and raw feel of the video and your regret or concern for what happened will show through.

Mistakes happen. It’s just fine to hang your head and be upset about the results of something. Just show it! Don’t keep those emotions behind closed doors.

I also have to say that this works for positive things to. Show that excitement when something great happens! You don’t have to be made for camera to show some emotion for things. Your friends, family, and others close to your business truly know how good/bad you feel about things… Let the rest of us know!

This post was contributed by Jared O’Toole. He is co-founder of a social network for young entrepreneurs, Under30CEO.com. His mission is to lead people to go out and do something they are passionate about instead of falling into the rat race and playing by corporate America’s rules. Under30CEO’s newsletter http://HelpAnEntrepreneur.com allows anyone to ask a business question and get answers from real people in their inbox or Twitter feed.

Photo by: Stuck in Customs