Strengthen the Mind
Just being a kid
7-12
'I made my own job': Meet the 12-year-old woodworker selling birdhouses in Hamburg
Photo and reporting by
WKBW
Timmy Jackson built himself a desk out of cardboard because his family couldn't buy one. His dad started letting him use the real tools in the garage after that, and by 12 he was building birdhouses, delivering them by bike with signs taped to the frame, and filling more than thirty orders in a single week.
Somebody said yes
Jennifer and Nate Jackson didn't set Timmy up with a business plan or a kid-sized workbench. His dad just kept letting him use his tools after the cardboard desk, and let him keep going from there.
Why we picked this one
Nobody hired Timmy Jackson, so he hired himself. The whole thing traces back to a cardboard desk and a dad who didn't make a production out of handing over his tools.
Grab wood that's already in the garage before you buy anything new. Let the kid measure it, cut it, nail it together even if it comes out crooked, then hang it somewhere and leave it alone until something moves in.
Read the full story at
WKBW
Where it happened:
Hamburg, NY
There's a saw or a drill sitting in somebody's garage right now that a kid keeps asking about. The birdhouse business started because a dad just said sure, go ahead, use mine.