During my junior year of high school when all my friends were getting jobs to work minimum wage I was stressing out because I didn't want to work for someone else to help them make more money for a fraction. I come from a family of business owners who work hard for themselves to enjoy the life they want and I always wanted my own business so I could keep my family's name around. During this time I saw a few videos on social media about people going to other people's houses to clean their cars called mobile detailing. I knew this was a good idea and there was no age limit to do it. This was the perfect opportunity for me because I already had been cleaning some of my family's cars and really enjoyed the relaxing part of it. At the time I was using things I found in my garage like my dad's vacuum. The start was the hardest part because I had to tell my parents I was going to do this or apply for a job and time was running out. I decided to jump in at the scariest time because I believed in myself and made a plan. I started cleaning my family's cars and they eventually told their friends. Their friends were so happy with my work them referred me to more people and wanted me to come back. I finally saved up enough money to buy some more products in order to start getting real customers. I started marketing for myself online and got swarmed with people asking for my services. My dreams were coming true, I was running my own business. I live in a small town and there is only one other detailer so there was a lot of demand and very low supply. At one point I couldn't believe I was creating my own work and I could control every decision made in the business. I eventually bought my own van and turned it into a fully professional detailing business with three friends working for me. I give back to my community by helping people get their cars cleaned affordable, easily, and the right way. I offer military and veteran discounts as my grandfather is a veteran. I also plan to try to get in touch with the police and fire departments to clean their cars for their hard work.

During my junior year of high school, I was in a predicament. I fell in love with sports cars and had to have this certain one. The car I wanted was no regular car and it was too expensive for my age. There was no way I could save up that much working a regular job. I knew if I put my mind to it I could find out a way to get it. I researched for weeks about things I could do to save up money like jobs but after doing the math it would take far too long than I wanted. After some weeks went by I saw someone on the internet doing this thing called mobile car detailing where he would show up to people's houses and clean their cars. I was intrigued by how he could make money doing what he enjoyed and what he wanted. After researching a little more I borrowed my dad's vacuum and bought a few small things to clean cars. I soon realized that the products and tools were too expensive for me at the time. This was another problem I would have to solve. I then ran to all my family and asked them if I could clean their cars for a couple of bucks. They let me and I realized the money that I made paid for my products completely with some left over to buy more. I kept recycling this method until I knew this was how I would buy the more expensive things. After my family told their friends I was loading up my grandfather's van with some of my products to go clean their cars. They liked my work so much that they wanted me to keep coming back. At this point, I had been doing some research and could buy some more products to help me. At one point I knew I could turn it into a business so I created a plan and followed through. After marketing for a couple of weeks I had full weeks full of work and two of my friends working for me. I worked doing detailing all summer and was able to purchase all of the products I needed to run a competitive business. After the summer I kept working and budgeted to where I finally could buy that dream car I wanted so badly. This taught me a lot of things and one being if you have a problem you can always solve it if you put your mind to work and have a plan.

Hello, my name is Mike Martone and I am a seventeen-year-old business owner. During my junior year of high school, my parents told me I need to get a job so I could pay for my own expenses. As many kids can relate my heart started beating faster and my head was racing with thoughts. didn't know how to even start and knowing most of my family members were all business owners, I wanted to be one too someday. At this time I had been cleaning some of my family's cars for a little money during the summer and found it relaxing and enjoyable with some of the things in my dads' garage. I also had been seeing these videos called "Mobile Detailing" on the internet and found out people can make money cleaning cars. These little videos gave me the lightbulb and I knew I could do it myself if I made a plan. From that moment I wrote out a business plan which made it easy because I was taking business management at the time in school. Since the summer I have had three friends employed, working for me and have been detailing one to two cars a day and hope to continue. This business has taught me a lot of new skills for being independent such as the responsibility for creating my own work and being prepared when I get to my job site. Even though I have started this small business I have realized I have so much more to learn in the business world and would like to take this knowledge to greater things. With the high costs of college these days this scholarship would help greatly to make college more affordable for me and my family.