BEN WEISSENSTEIN

Ben Weissenstein (born 1989) he is an American young. Ben Weissenstein is a serial entrepreneur and philanthropist trying to change the world and having a great time while doing it.

At the ripe old age of four, he was featured on the cover of the Houston Chronicle manning a lemonade stand.  Truth be told, Ben was drinking the lemonade while his big brother Josh did all the work, but he was so cute that the features photographer, who had been cruising the neighborhood for a cover photo, couldn’t resist!

From there it was on to bigger and better things.  By nine, Ben had his own business cards.  Ben would pull weeds out of his godmother’s garden or clean his grandparents’ pool.  He also had a business called Ben’s Pet Co. where he would look over people’s pets.  He used his steady little income to buy many baseball cards for his growing collection.  But, like every budding entrepreneur, Ben was always on the lookout for that “BIG IDEA.”  When he was 14, that idea fell into his lap, and Ben was smart enough to recognize it.

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.

juniorbiz site made an interview with Ben, I took some of the important questions that I think we should know his answers.

juniorbiz Q:  How did you plan and organize your business?

Ben: Everything started as nothing. We started 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.

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.

Visit Ben’s Site: http://www.grandslamgaragesales.com/