Young Entrepreneurs: Kim turns bracelet

Editor’s Note: For the rest of the summer, The Dispatch is profiling some of the area’s youngest entrepreneurs. Do you know a child earning money in a unique way? Let us know by emailing [email protected].

When 10-year-old Colebea Kim received a bracelet-making kit for Christmas, she thought it would be a good idea to sell what she made to a few friends.

After her grandmother, Lynn, showed one of the bracelets to a retailer in Winona in January, Colebea quickly turned the hobby into Queen Bea Designs and has already made about $5,000 from selling her products.

Colebea’s mother, Kellum, told The Dispatch after just a month, they launched a Facebook page for the business and promptly received an order for 210 colored plastic bracelets at Hammond’s Pharmacy in Winona.

“My mom works in retail with a friend and she showed her some pictures of the bracelet that Colebea had made for some of her friends at school,” Kellum said. “The store owner thought they were precious and said (Colebea) needed to make them to carry at the store and for Valentine’s Day.”

Colebea said she makes each bracelet with colored string and plastic beads. She sells both multi-colored and custom-made bracelets, which feature specific patterns, color schemes and even names of people or organizations.

“You could put somebody’s name or whatever design you want on it,” she said. “For the normal ones, we’ll do one’s colors like Ole Miss themes and Mississippi State University too or like just basic ones but just no names on it.”

When she started Queen Bea Designs, Colebea said she crafted about between 10 and 15 orders per month, consisting of three bracelets each, and sold them for between $20 and $25. Her monthly volume is now 25 to 35, and she’s garnered other retail customers in Abbeville, Birmingham and even Little Magnolia Co. in downtown Columbus.

Colebea said the business averages about $350 per month but makes most of the money during holidays such as Valentine’s Day, when she made $2,000 alone. She also made about $500 from selling to Heritage Academy students shopping for back-to-school uniforms earlier this month.

She spends around $20 per month on supplies from local stores and has spent about $75 to ship her products.

“I don’t know what I am going to do with all the money,” Colebea said. “I’m just glad that people really liked my bracelets and like to order them.”

Since the business began, Colebea has also sold more than 60 orders to customers in Alabama, Florida, Oklahoma, North Carolina and California.

She also plans to use some of the money she earns to save up for college and has stashed about $300 so far. She also uses it to shop and buy her mother the occasional present.

“She took me shopping for some lip liner at Sephora,” Kellum said. “She also wanted to help out with my birthday gift. I got a new outdoor fountain and she contributed to that.”

Colebea said she enjoys the business so much that she plans to continue running it year-round and even through high school to continue learning business skills like product management and keeping up with shipping.

“I just feel like I’m glad that people really liked my bracelets and like to order them,” she said. “I enjoy just seeing people being happy about their stacks and I like doing like all the beads work and how they turn out at the end.”

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