Every summer, children’s attentions invariably turn from school books to piggy banks as scores of lemonade stands sprout across the Mile High City. But some profit-minded Colorado young people aren’t satisfied with the razor-thin margins of lemon and sugar. These burgeoning tycoons have already mastered a trade and are turning their passions into fruitful businesses—and, honestly, we’re a little jealous.

That’s why we asked four members of the Children’s Entrepreneur Market, a nonprofit that organizes temporary bazaars across the country (including one at the Greeley-Weld County Airport on June 7) for their hard-earned wisdom.

5280 June 2025
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Ava Bee’s Creations

  • Founder: Avalon Egolf, 15
  • Started: 2023
  • Headquarters: Colorado Springs
  • Product: Crocheted animals, plants, and holiday decor (such as Christmas trees and pumpkins)

Origin story: “My grandmother taught me to crochet three or four years ago, and I practiced and developed my skills. A lot of people around me were like, ‘Oh, your stuff is so great. You should sell that.’ And I thought, Why not give it a try?”
Biggest challenge: “Definitely trying to allocate the time to the things that I know need to get done.”
Secret to success: “I’m using a finance technique from Profit First, which is a book by Mike Michalowicz. We talk about making our business fit our money, not our money fit our business. We put 40 percent of profits into business expenses. Another 40 percent is for my compensation. We put five percent into an emergency reserve. And then we put the other 15 percent toward taxes.”

Simply Sunny

  • Founder: Abigail Reynolds, 17
  • Started: 2022
  • Headquarters: Castle Rock
  • Product: Handmade jewelry

Origin story: “I’ve had a really strong passion for making jewelry since middle school, and I wanted to share that passion with my community, so they can wear fun earrings and necklaces and whatnot.”
Biggest challenge: “There were definitely some issues figuring out how to advertise my works—like, customer engagement. A good way for me to have all my works in one place, and for easy contact, was to create a website.”
Secret to success: “Form your business on something that you truly care about, then it’s really easy to find that drive and passion to continue.”

Colorado Crochet Critters

  • Founder: Genevieve Reynolds, 13
  • Started: 2023
  • Headquarters: Castle Rock
  • Product: Crocheted stuffed animals

Origin story: “My teacher hosted an elective—like, a fun class—teaching us how to crochet and knit. I just kept going. My sister [Simply Sunny founder Abigail] gave me advice on my logo and the name and what to put on business cards and stuff.”
Biggest challenge: “People should be very patient when trying to run a small business, because you may make a post on social media, but not many people want anything, so you just kind of have to wait until you get more outreach.”
Secret to success: “I made a deal with my parents that if I made enough money, we could get a cat. We have a cat now. Her name is Miep.”

Boujie Rebel

  • Founder: Kamryn Baumert, 13
  • Started: 2022
  • Headquarters: Broomfield
  • Product: Natural dog treats

Origin story: “Since my dogs have dietary restrictions, I decided to do a dog treat business with my sister. We put together what they like—bananas, peanut butter—then we looked up some healthy things for dogs and added eggs, peas, and carrots. My dogs loved them. I came up with the name because my dogs eat bougie food and are very rebellious.”
Biggest challenge: “Definitely being able to get all the money to start it off and get it on the right track. I had to borrow money from my mom. But I paid her back.”
Secret to success: “Be sure to ask if there are any other businesses like yours in the market. With my other business [Kryo Kreations, a freeze-dried candy company], there’s a lot of companies in that area. But with dog treats, there’s not really that many that are owned by kids.”