Kid Entrepreneur Is Making Bucks


Gig Harbor Life:

Joe Hayes is something of a boy wonder.

The 12-year-old, who’s just begun sixth grade at Goodman Middle School, makes body lotions, soaps and candles that he sells at the Gig Harbor Farmers Market and online under the business name Eau du Joe Bodyworks.

He’s been doing it since he was 8.

On a recent Saturday morning there was a steady stream of customers visiting his booth at the market.

“One day I just decided to start my own business making perfume,” Joe said between customers.

His father Ted Hayes recalled, “I got home from work one day and here’s Joe in the garage with a huge mess. He’d cut all the lavender flowers in the yard and mixed them with water and wanted me to take him to the drug store to buy some bottles for perfume.”

Within a week, the concoction had turned moldy and it was obvious to them that serious research was called for.

Joe soon learned that if he added a bit of essential oil to some alcohol and grape seed oil, then packaged the mixture in nice bottles with attractive labels, the finished product was much more appealing.

“Some people might think it’s funny for a boy to be selling women’s stuff,” Joe said. “But I think anyone can have any kind of business. I like to tell other kids that you can make and sell anything you want to,” he said.

Photo by Gig Harbor Life.

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