I wanna be like Leanna when I grow up! She’s such a cutie, and a true inspiration. Leanna is a prime example that if you have a dream, follow it, and IT WILL come true.
Leanna Archer, a 12-year-old entrepreneur from Long Island, NY started her hair-care company four years ago after constantly fielding compliments on her lustrous hair. The secret? A natural hairdressing formula that was handed down from her great-grandmother.
“We made fliers on the computer, and while we were walking in Manhattan on the weekend, we’d hand them out,” Leanna says of her early marketing efforts on family outings to the city. “We’d stop people and say, ‘Hey, try this product.’ And that’s how we got customers.”
Today, Leanna’s Inc. (leannashair.com) offers a full line of products, including shampoo, conditioner, hair-oil and deep-conditioning treatments. (Prices range from $9 for an 8-ounce bottle of shampoo to $25 for similar size of the hair dressing.) Weekends are devoted to hand-making the products. On weekdays, after homework, of course, she fills and mails orders with the help of her brothers, 7 and 16, and her dad, who left his job to manage her growing empire. Leanna expected to get only five orders a week; today, she’s fielding about 20 a day.
Leanna kept her business leanings a secret from classmates until last year, when her principal read a newspaper story about her.
“They actually didn’t believe it,” Leanna says. “Then they saw me checking my business e-mail in computer class.”
LEANNA’S MESSAGE:
“My name is Leanna Archer from Long Island , NY. At the age of 4 , after I was tested for Pre K, my parents were told that it would be a good idea to take to a gifted center to get tested because I was advanced for my age but they didn’t take it seriously. At 8 years old I begged my parents to turn a home made hair product that Mom makes for my hair into a business. They were so busy working and raising me and my 2 brothers that again they didn’t take it seriously. I realized then that I had to do it myself, I started filling my baby brother’s Gerber jar with the hair dressing and giving to my friends in school to try. When my friend’s parents started calling to ask if we can sell it to them, that’s when they realized how serious I was. After ignoring me for about a year, Leanna’s Inc. was registered in New York and a website was created and now people from all over including Canada and the United Kingdom, close friends, relatives and my parent’s co-workers are using Leanna’s hair products. It is available at selected Beauty Salons and online. Our customer’s satisfaction is our Motivation.
At 12 years old now, I’m on top of my finances and as well as the satisfaction of my customers. My parents and my 2 brothers help me make the products. My Dad is no longer traveling to Manhattan to go to work. My Dad is now working for me. I’m so thankful for that because the business really picked up last summer of 2007 and the second factor that keeps them motivated to keep the business going for me are because I’m an HONOR student in school. I play softball, basketball, I play the Piano and I hope one day to be able to tell the world my story.”
To learn more about Leanna and her hair care products visit: www.leannashair.com
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