Who’s the Boss? 🤑

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Episode 95 Description

In today’s Ten News Extra, we are celebrating our favorite kid entrepreneurs! 💼 Meet 14 year old Mason Wright, Altanta’s youngest restaurant owner. Hear about his plan to make Mason’s Super Dogs the best place to be. 🌭Then we head to East Los Angeles and talk to Aaron Moreno, an 8 year old and creator of Aaron’s Garden. Learn about his plan to sell succulents to help his family (and have extra dough for some yummy treats!) 💵
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🌍 Visit our website for a list of sources used for this episode and a full episode transcript

Sources for this episode:

https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/103193-longest-line-of-lemonade-stands

https://www.theoaklandpress.com/news/birmingham-kids-parents-set-guinness-world-record-for-lemonade-stand/article_323ed6c7-b556-5092-9246-491ea9156101.html

TRANSCRIPT:

Various Voices  0:00  

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1

Bethany Van Delft  0:07  

I'm Bethany Van Delft, it's June 12, and this is no ordinary episode of The Ten News. This is The Ten News gets extra. Tell me, are you launching a lemonade stand this summer? Or maybe you're crafting up some incredible invention. Today's episode is for all of us who dream about making it big or have amazing ideas for making something big. Let's dive in and check out some of the coolest kid entrepreneurs who are also making a difference. It's never too early to start dreaming big. That's a correspondent Pamela Kirkland discovered when she talked with a 14 year old Mason Wright about how he turned hot dogs and buns into serious thing.

Pamela Kirkland  1:08  

Mason, you're probably the youngest entrepreneur in the state of Georgia. Tell me about Mason's super dogs.

Mason Wright  1:16  

Mason's Superdogs is a very important thing to my heart. You can get quality hotdogs. It's gourmet. All of our, all of our toppings are gourmet and homemade.

Pamela Kirkland  1:29  

So you said that the restaurant idea actually started right as we were coming out of quarantine? How did that happen?

Mason Wright  1:38  

I got the idea of Mason's Superdogs from New York City. Because when me and my sister went on a trip to New York City in Times Square, all you saw was hot dog carts of superheroes. And there was a lot of people in New York waiting for one cart at a time. I was like, Okay, this seems like a good business plan. And I took all the money I had left from that trip, I bought myself a little red cart. Then as I was doing, like birthday parties, bar mitzvahs, special events. It was going really well. But the pace that I was going out, I wanted to do more hot dogs. I wanted to be open more. So my grandfather, matched me for the money for a New York style cart for my birthday. And I was really grate-, really grateful for that. Once COVID happened, instead of getting like a food truck, we had to pivot as a business and we got, we went straight to a restaurant. Funny story. I thought we were going to go get some chick-fil-a and a milkshake and spicy chicken sandwich. Instead of getting chick fil a that day on my birthday, I got a restaurant and that was awesome.

Pamela Kirkland  2:56  

How do you balance running your own business with going to school?

Mason Wright  3:02  

The way I figured it out is scheduling in time management. So wake up at six, get there by 11, finish up the lessons since I'm homeschooled. And then be done by 12 where the lunch rush comes in.

Pamela Kirkland  3:23  

Yeah, that's smart. 

Mason Wright  3:24  

Thank you. 

Pamela Kirkland  3:26  

So what would you tell other kids who want to do something like you or who are thinking about starting their own business, but maybe are a little scared to do it?

Mason Wright  3:35  

I would say just go for it. Just do it. Even if people are telling you this might not work. Just do it. It doesn't matter what age you are, what career path you want to go with. Just do it.

Pamela Kirkland  3:47  

And so would you say you love what you do?

Mason Wright  3:50  

I do love what I do. And I never work a day in my life because I do what I love! 

Pamela Kirkland  3:56  

Awesome! Should we be looking for Mason super dogs all over the country soon?

Mason Wright  4:00  

Most definitely. And in the airports, trying to have a Mason Superdogs all over the place. And beating Chick-fil-a. And instead of going there kind of making super dogs located at 3275 Snapfinger Road.

Pamela Kirkland  4:16  

Mason, thank you so much for talking to us today on The Ten.

Mason Wright  4:19  

No problem. Thank you for having me. 

Bethany Van Delft  4:23  

I'm so hungry now. I'll take one of everything.

Gardening became a hobby for lots of people during the lockdown. Our correspondent Ryan Nerz talked with eight year old Aaron Mareno who not only shared his plants with his local community during the pandemic, but started a brand new business and provided a helping hand for his family.

Ryan Nerz  4:53  

This is the story of a boy who in a year plagued by a global pandemic, did some truly heroic things. And he did it all for the love of hot cheetos with cheese! That's right. If you haven't heard of them that spicy hot cheetos topped with a warm blanket of nacho cheese. Sounds delicious, right? Huh? Okay, snap out of it. I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's rewind. Back in March of 2020, the COVID pandemic started taking a toll on businesses across the country. Many Americans lost their jobs. One woman in East Los Angeles, a single mother named Bernice Pacheco, lost not one, but two jobs. Her eight year old son Aaron Mareno remembers the moment he knew they were in real financial trouble. He saw the ice cream truck and asked his mom for $3 to buy some. That's right. Hot Cheetos with cheese. When his mom said she couldn't afford it. He understood. He knew she was struggling. They had even lost their housing. 

Aaron  5:58  

We were living in a shed. 

Ryan Nerz  6:00  

Living in a shed and without Aaron's 10 year old sister Eileen. Because of their financial struggles. She had been sent to live with her grandparents in Mexico. But Aaron had an idea. He could help out by selling something he loved. Plants. Bernice gave him her last $12. Aaron used it to buy one of his favorite types of plants.

Aaron  6:22  

They're called succulents. They're really small, and I had eight of them.

Ryan Nerz  6:26  

Armed with just $12 in a dream, Aaron hit the streets. his neighbor's snapped up all of his plants in a matter of hours. Seeing the potential, Aaron and his mom started setting up a table on an East LA sidewalk with all of his favorite plants. He has lots of them.

Aaron  6:43  

My favorite type of plant is an aloe vera. It could heal you from rash, rashes and burns. I have air plants and they do not need soil, sun or water.

Ryan Nerz  6:57  

To help customers find his business. Aaron started the Instagram page @Aaronsgarden, and just like that, his family's fortunes changed.

Aaron  7:07  

People started posting on Instagram and people started coming.

Ryan Nerz  7:12  

Aaron's business went viral. And then one of Bernice's high school friends started a GoFundMe page to help out the business and their family. That page has raised over $68,000, enough to move Aaron's family into a new apartment, enough for furniture and a car. Believe it or not, that's not even the best part.

Aaron  7:32  

I was able to bring back my sister from Mexico. Her name is Eileen I have not seen her in two years.

Ryan Nerz  7:39  

On the day his sister arrived, Aaron's mom blindfolded him for the big surprise.

Aaron  7:44  

When I saw my sister was really happy and I want to give her a hug.

Ryan Nerz  7:49  

So now together with Aaron's two year old sister Alani, the family is complete, they've gone from sleeping four in one bed, to their own version of the American dream. 

Aaron  8:00  

So now we have a business in our garage. 

Ryan Nerz  8:02  

And they're gonna have a grand opening just as soon as COVID dies down. Aaron wants to have a retail store someday. He even dreams about taking his business to New York City.

Aaron  8:13  

Someday I want to have Aaron's Garden on Time Square.

Ryan Nerz  8:18  

But for now, Aaron's happy he has school and his business and his family. There's just one little thing that might make it even better.

Aaron  8:29  

I want a big bag of Hot Cheetos with cheese.

Bethany Van Delft  8:34  

It's gonna be so cool to see how Aaron grows his business. Get it? Up next it's time for...

Sound Bit  8:44  

What, what, what's the big idea? 

Bethany Van Delft  8:47  

Trivia on The Ten. When it comes to summer businesses, lemonade never goes out of style. And speaking of lemonade stands, there's actually a world record for longest line of lemonade stands. How many were in it? Was it A) 28 stands, B) 349 stands or C) 1,621 of the lemony setups.

Did you guess it? The answer is B. Students at Birmingham Beverly Elementary School in Michigan set up an enormous line of lemonade stands to clinch the record. The line ran 1399 feet and 11 inches long. But that's not the only lemonade record breaker. The largest cup filled with a drink was actually near 14 feet tall and filled with 4730 gallons of lemonade. Holy guacamole. I hope all those people were super thirsty.

Time's up. But before we go today, we have a cool podcast to tell you about.

Jonathan  10:20  

Hey, fellow story lovers. I'm Jonathan Farmer, host of The Dork Tales storytime podcast, a show that brings families together to laugh, learn, and delight in the tale well told. Every two weeks my forest friend, Mr. Reginald T. Hedgehog, and I bring you slightly wacky and very geeky retellings of classic fairy tales, and untold stories about amazing hidden heroes of history. So check us out wherever you listen to podcasts, or visit us at dorktalesstory.com.

Bethany Van Delft  11:01  

Oh, I love a good story. Thanks for listening to The Ten News. Look out for new episodes on Tuesdays, Thursdays and extras on Saturdays. The Ten is is a co-production of Small But Mighty Media and Next Chapter Podcasts is distributed by iHeartRadio. The Ten's creative team is squeezing lemons and includes Kate Hale, Tracey Crooks, Pete Musto, Andrew Hall, Jenner Pascua and Sarah Olender. Pamela Kirklind and Ryan Nerz contributed to this episode. Our production director is Jeremiah Tittle, and our executive producers are Donald Albright and show creator Tracy Leeds Kaplan. I'm Bethany Van Delft, and thanks for listening to The Ten News. Why couldn't the lemon finish its homework? Because it couldn't concentrate. Got it? Not really. Ask your parents, they'll get it.