In the tiny town of Troy, an eight-grader came up with a big idea.
“One day I saw my sister putting her shoes on the wrong foot, so I decided to invent something,” Joel Williams said.
Williams, 13, was only 9 at the time. But after turning his parent’s garage into his office, the new president of Cotrac was doing as much product research and he was homework.
“It does take a lot of time,” Williams said. “I thought this was something we could do in a year and be finished with it, but it’s not.”
Williams spent the next four years creating Smart Button Shoes. They help toddlers learn their left foot from their right. “I had to think of something that would be fun for them to do,” he said. “First came the prototype, then the patent.”
Last year, the company saw sales totaling $30,000. “I know we can do better,” Williams said. This past August, he was featured in Black Enterprise Magazine as teenpreneur of the year.
Not bad for a straight-A student who checks the status of his company and takes orders before he goes to school.
Williams’ next goal is to get his product licensed by a major toy company.Photo by Andrew Nenque.
Lane Williams on December 14th, 2007 at 10:07 am
This is a great story. Great to see a young person doing positive things with his life.
Lane Williams on December 14th, 2007 at 10:08 am
Great story! Good to see our young doing positive things.