The Bracelet Maker

Last summer Justice learned to make "survival bracelets" out of paracord while attending a Webelos encampment.  The idea is for hikers and scouts to have approximately 10 feet of cord if they need it in an emergency, although most people just wear them "just because".  At any given moment, Jack is walking around the house wearing at least four on each arm.  He looks ridiculous, but he likes wearing them and as long as he is in the house, it's fine by me.  

Once Justice loaded up each family member with as many as each arm could handle, he wanted to try and sell them to people.  Shandi used to work a few days a week at a local pizza place, and the owner told Shandi he could set up a little display stand and sell his bracelets there.  Awesome.  Well, that is until he showed up with his display stand and the owner told him he had changed his mind.  To make a long story short, he was rude, he made Justice cry, Shandi cursed him out like a Sailor, and then quit her job there.  I'm not going to elaborate because it still makes me mad.  After the event happened, I posted about it on Facebook to vent about it, and to hopefully get people to boycott his crappy little pizza place.  What I wasn't expecting was for people to feel sorry for him and start to order his bracelets from him.  What started out as some of my closest and sweetest friends feeling sorry for him and ordering a couple bracelets has turned into a full-fledged and sort of lucrative business for him.  He has sold well over 200 bracelets in the past few months alone.  

He works hard, and he works on them nearly every day, homework permitting.  He has an excel spreadsheet (thank you Duke T.I.P for requiring his Math classes to use excel), receipt booklets, thank you cards, and even includes a self-addressed stamped envelope with an order so his customers can easily send payment back to him.  He is very well organized for an 11 year old.  

Unfortunately for me, my craft room has turned into his workroom as well, so most of the time my workspace is literally covered in bracelets and paracord.

When he first started out selling bracelets, he needed a way to make sure his sizes were uniform.  I came up with this board for him, and seriously thought I was a genius.  

Hook the buckle on the nail, easy day.  And it was awesome-ish.  And then he was watching a youtube video trying to learn to make a new weave, and saw this contraption.  Wow.  OK, so my board is totally LAME in comparison.  So much for being an awesome genius.  I ordered him one as a surprise for his birthday back in February and it's been a lifesaver for him.  It not only makes bracelets in any size, but does lots of other paracord stuff too.

He has had several "bulk" orders.  This one is a custom order for a church youth group in Washington DC.  They have a charm on them with a scripture reference.  He was really excited about these because they were something new and more difficult than he had done previously.

Another big order for someone at our church that is a huge Pittsburgh Steeler fan.

And most recently, someone asked him to make a Breast Cancer Awareness version of his bracelet.  He quickly sold a bunch of them.

We never intended this to be a money-maker for him.  By the time he pays for his materials, pays his 10% tithing, puts 20% into savings, and sends 10% to whatever charity the bracelet is for (St. Jude for most sales, except the Breast Cancer bracelets, that goes to Susan Komen), he is left with just a small amount that he decided he was going to save for an iPad Mini.  After that, he's saving for our trip to Disney World.  

His work ethic has been outstanding.  Every once in a while he tells me he's not working that particular day because he gets tired of it and needs a break, but other than that he works his behind off.  As a matter of fact, I told him to take Spring Break off completely and he went paracord-free for the entire week.  He needed it.  

I am thankful he is learning fiscal responsibility at such a young age, and that he is learning the basics of business and customer service, too.  It's never to early to learn, and I'm glad he's found something he really enjoys doing.  He's learning new things every day.

Next stop?  The flea market.  He's already got a plan to get himself a table and set up shop over the summer.