TEMECULA -- If you ask Jason O'Neill what an entrepreneur is, he struggles a bit to explain what it means. But take a look at what this 10-year-old Temecula boy has already accomplished -- and still has planned -- and there is no problem seeing him as just that.
A common dictionary definition of entrepreneur is a person who organizes and manages any enterprise, especially a business, usually with considerable initiative. That's young Jason.
What started as a simple craft fair product just last fall is now a full-fledged business for the boy, complete with a city of Temecula business license, a state tax identification number, a Web site for sales and -- perhaps the ultimate compliment for any entrepreneur -- others trying to buy his idea from him.
His innovative product? The Pencil Bug.
Jason isn't ashamed to admit he likes doing homework and decided that having a Pencil Bug would make it a bit more fun for him and other kids. He started with a red one, that's his favorite color. And that very first red Pencil Bug has hatched a family of bugs now available in eight colors.
There are also Pencil Bug bookmarks and T-shirts available and plans to develop a larger, plush baby-safe Pencil Bug.
Jason is already working on a children's book series and someday would like to sell his idea for a television cartoon about Pencil Bugs, something in the vein of SpongeBob.
As his product Web site, www.pencilbugs.com, says, Pencil Bugs aren't just for kids.
So now, kids and adults alike can spice up that boring ol' No. 2 pencil with a unique, handmade bug atop the eraser.
Pencil Bugs have little Styrofoam heads with antennae and eyes, complete with pipe cleaner bodies wrapped around the pencil.
Each one comes with its own Certificate of Authenticity, which includes its name, the day it was "born" and instructions on the proper care and training of a Pencil Bug. Apparently, they come already trained how to sit, stand and stay.
Jason gave his first red creation to his pal, Chris Padgett, who started showing it to people at their school, Ysabel Barnett Elementary School.
"At first, I was nervous going around showing it to people," Jason says. "Chris helped a lot."
With some promoting from his buddy, Jason's Pencil Bugs started catching on quickly and soon, more and more of his classmates wanted their own.
That led to the need for an assembly line -- well, an assembly line of Jason and his mom and dad, Nancy and Don O'Neill -- to start making more of the popular product.
It starts with the painting of the heads, and then its little bug eyes have to be hot-glued on. "My mom has to do that. I'm not allowed to do that part," Jason said, adding that he's "very lucky" to have so much help from mom and dad.
Once the antenna and the body are added to each pencil, they are ready to be sold at $1.50 each.
Amazingly, in January, Jason was approached by a boy at his school who somehow brought two crisp $50 bills with him that day.
"He said, 'I want to buy your business for $100,'" Jason recalls with a bit of a sneer on his face.
"I thought about it and just said, 'Why would I do that? I'll make a lot more than $100," he said.
The team of Jason and his parents can make about 50 Pencil Bugs an hour, Nancy O'Neill says.
"We try to keep about 100 of them ready," she said, as orders continue to come in through word-of-mouth, the Web site, and, as of about a week ago, sales through a Southern California school supply company.
On Aug. 21, the O'Neills delivered five cases of Pencil Bugs to CM School Supply -- one for each of its five stores, including one on Old Town Front Street in Temecula. Each case holds 24 Pencil Bugs.
The company bought the five cases, as well as a case of 48 Pencil Bug bookmarks.
The relationship with CM School Supply was sealed at an Aug. 17 sales meeting with the company's owners.
During the meeting, one of the owners asked Jason if he knew what the business term "win-win" meant, Nancy O'Neill said.
Jason responded in a manner far beyond his 10 years.
"I told him, 'Yes, I do. But this is a win-win-win. I make money, you make money, and the customer gets a great product,'" Jason recalled as a smile beamed across his young face.
Jason's mom says close to 1,000 Pencil Bugs have been sold thus far, along with about 150 bookmarks and a handful of Pencil Bug T-shirts.
Nancy O'Neill says she and her husband are very proud of what Jason has done.
"Just the fact that he wants to do something more than be a couch potato or a computer potato is special," she said.
And what he is doing is encouraging others -- kids and adults -- do try to do more with their lives, Nancy O'Neill said.
Some of his classmates are trying to find their niche in young business after seeing what Jason has done, she said.
Then there was a woman who stopped to check out the Pencil Bugs at one of the six sidewalk sales they've done outside grocery stores.
"She was a counselor, or a therapist, and started talking about how she was out of work," Nancy O'Neill said, as she fought back tears. "She said to Jason, 'You know, you have really inspired me.'"
Jason's entrepreneurial spirit is also helping kids he doesn't know.
"Once the business started, I wanted to help other kids," Jason said. Through his mom, he heard about a place called HUGS Foster Family Agency in Temecula.
After meeting with those who run the nonprofit agency, Jason decided that he would donate 5 percent of all his sales to them.
The other 95 percent goes right back into the product itself, so more bugs can be made, his mother says.
"Even though I'm not making money from this right now, I'm getting experience from it," Jason says.
The decision on where he would donate a portion of his sales to came only after he made sure his donations would go to the right place. HUGS was that place, he decided.
"I didn't want my money going to people's salaries," he said. "I wanted it going to help the kids."
While it may not be a whole lot of money right now, agency officials are pleased to have it.
"We have really been appreciative. Jason is just a great kid," said Margeaux Brochtrup, a supervisor at the foster family agency.
"We've all been so impressed by him," she said, adding that Jason's donations help provide gifts for children who come into the care of the agency. "A lot of our kids come here with nothing."
To show its appreciation, HUGS has invited Jason to play free-of-charge in its annual fund-raising golf tournament in October, something he says he is really looking forward to. He'll be in a foursome of adults, including his dad.
Jason also came up with a plan to help raise even more money for HUGS.
That came after he and his mother saw how small the child visiting room is at the HUGS facility. "I really wanted to help them. It's so sad," he said.
He and his parents made a videotape about the origin of the Pencil Bugs and sent it to The Ellen DeGeneres Show, which has a kids segment. Jason hoped that people seeing the tape would buy more Pencil Bugs, thus increasing his sales -- and the money he'd be donating to the agency.
So far, the O'Neills haven't heard back from Ellen's people. "Not yet," the always-positive Jason quickly added.
He also hasn't heard back from Microsoft founder Bill Gates, to whom he wrote a letter and sent a set of Pencil Bugs.
The letter sought Gates' advice for a kid just starting out in business, Jason said.
"I'd really like to hear back from him," he said, adding that he asked in the letter that if Gates happens to use a Pencil Bug that he take a photograph and send it to him.
Jason's mom beams with pride when talking about what her only child has done with his young life.
"We also still want him to be a kid. This is much more than a lemonade stand, that's for sure," Nancy O'Neill said with a smile.
- Contact staff writer John Hall at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2628, or jhall@californian.com.
Young Entrepreneur: Jason O'Neill
Posted in Local on Thursday, August 31, 2006 12:00 am Updated: 5:30 am.
© Copyright 2009, North County Times - Californian, Escondido, CA | Terms of Service and Privacy Policy
