I recently bumped into Kyle, a very sharp 15yo entrepreneur who is just starting to make a name for himself online with his nascent extreme-days.com site. Luckily, he was up for an interview…
Q: Tell me about your Web site, first off. What’s your main topic and why?
My topic is electronics, but I’m trying to focus on things that you can customize. I want to help people through the process of customizing whatever it might be that they have. Later on I would like to be able to sell the things that people want most that are customizable.
Q: Your site looks great. Where did you learn how to design a Web site?
Thank you, I never took a class or anything on this, I was always interested in photo designing and editing and stuff like that. My Mom is really artistic and I guess I inherited that artisticness because I definitely didn’t get it from my Dad. I have just been interested in doing that sort of thing and I just got better and better at it I guess.
Q: Remind me, you’re 15, right? Awesome. When I was fifteen I think I spent most of my time just reading science fiction novels, certainly not doing anything in the online realm (of course, back then online = dial up BBS systems, but that’s another story). When did you get interested in doing something online?
I think I got interested in doing things online when I started doing a lot of research. Before I started my business’ I only used to go online for IMing people and occasionally, an email or two, but mostly for online games. Then I got interested in hacking websites and stuff. I never wanted to do anything to hurt anyone’s websites I just wanted to be able to say that I could hack a website. I never accomplished this because I didn’t want to get into any trouble so that sort of scared me off. I got into modding and customizing things when my cousin told me about hacking my psp. I just like the whole idea of being able to make the items that I purchased perform at its maximum capability, after all I did spend the money for it and I think that everything should be able to be customized.
That still didn’t really answer the question so I’ll just say another sentence or two for the answer. My Dad had a big part in me getting online as well. He didn’t really get me into using the internet, just making money on the internet. He would always come up with ways for me and my sister to make some money and when I started learning about how to make money online I just thought that, that is the ultimate lifestyle. Being able to build your website or websites whenever you wanted, in your underwear and make money from it.
Just the other day I was slacking off as usual, and was playing Guitar Hero 3 for almost the whole day. Then later on when I went back to my computer I had money waiting for me from orders.
Q: Okay, you have more social bookmark icons than any site I’ve ever seen. Why so many and which of these many services do you actually use?
The main reason for this is because I was planning on taking a poll from visitors to my site of the top 10 or 15 social bookmark sites that they use and just having those up there. As you can see I haven’t gotten around to this yet, mostly because my site is new and not many people know about it yet.
Q: Are you on MySpace? FaceBook? What sites do you and your friends actually use with frequency and what appeals to you about them?
Well, almost all of my friends from school still use MySpace. I was never allowed to have a MySpace or a FaceBook because that’s what my parents said. This was kind of a bummer at some points because everyone was talking about it all the time, but I got over it. I still am not allowed to have a personnel one. I have a business MySpace and a business FaceBook, but I don’t really use them that much. I definitely prefer FaceBook over MySpace mainly because I think FaceBook looks a lot cleaner and organizes things in a better way.
I usually just call them or talk to them through AIM, or other instant messaging services.
Q: I see you have the donation form on your home page. Are you planning any other ways of making money from your Web site?
Yes, I am planning on selling the customizable electronics that are of the highest interest of my viewers. Later on I might sell T-shirts or something along those lines.
Q: I have to ask, since my kids bug me about this stuff: how old were you when you got your first iPod or Mp3 player? Your first computer? Your own email address? Your own cellphone?
I got my first iPod nano when I was 13. I ended up having to buy another one, but that’s another story.
I don’t remember when I got my first computer, I think I was about 13 as well. Being as I still have the same computer now, I need to get some money so I can get off windows 2000.
I think I got my own email address when I was 11 or 12. That took a while of bugging my dad to set one up for me. I went through a year or two of being just about the only kid in the class who didn’t have an email when the kids used to pass around the email lists. I really never used it then, I just wanted one to be like everyone else.
Last, but not least, my cellphone. Well I got my first cellphone, which is also my current one, a month after I turned 15. This took an even longer time of bugging my Dad to get. When I finally convinced him to let me get one, I had to pay for the phone and the bill. At this point I am still paying for it, which I don’t really have a problem with since I’m making money with my businesses.
Q: What’s next for KRS Marketing, your online development business?
Well, I think in the future I might start another site for magic. I really like to do street magic, but I don’t get a lot of time to practice it. If I do make a magic site I think that would push me to practice more.
Thanks for sharing, Kyle. I can only imagine how much you’ll have accomplished by the time you’re in your late 20’s…. 🙂