Friday, December 4, 2009

Check Out This Kid

I know I'm not alone in my enthusiasm for young woodworkers. We all want to see young people take up the hobby or trade. To keep it going for future generations. To experience the same love of working with their hands that we do.

I found this kid on youtube recently. His name is Alex and he's been making and selling pens for the past year to help pay for his college tuition.

Alex plans to go to med school, he shoots and edits his own woodworking videos, and he uses some heavy-duty machinery in his dad's shop. Alex is only 12 years old, but he's quite the entrepreneur. His business is called Pens For College.

Since he's just a kid, some might think he's pushing the "Awwww" factor in his marketing angle. Like the time I was walking my dogs around the block and some neighborhood kids were selling lemonade. One of them, a tiny four-year-old, said (and I quote) "Hey, ya got any money?" I didn't, but I took the dogs home and walked back to their lemonade stand with my 50 cents and drank out of their communal cup. To my horror, they didn't have disposable cups, just two plastic ones that were being used over and over. Yeah, ask me if I'm trying to erase that thought from my memory.

Anyhow, check out Alex's video. He may be 12, he may be cute, but he definitely knows what he's doing in the workshop.