Pratikshya Dahal (11) has already started her pathway into the business world. Dahal shared that during the summer, she felt bored and wanted to do something for fun, leading her to start her own business doing nails. 

For Dahal, doing nails wasn’t something new.  She expressed that it had been something she was passionate about at a very young age. She said, “I loved doing nails since I was little, I would always tell my mom to bring the Kiss nail kits and I would practice on my cousins.” 

Dahal shared that it makes her happy to see people feel good about their nails when she does them. She said, “ I love having my nails done so being able to do them for others and myself  has been great…people coming to me to do their nails for something special always feels good because it means they trust me enough.”

Dahal shared that starting this has also come with its hardships. She said, “It is harder to balance it while having school and trying to go out and have a personal life, so I tend to not do it too much during the school year, but more during the summer. But when I do it during the school year, it’s only a couple of days a week after school or during the weekend.” 

While there have been a few struggles, there also have been lessons taught. Dahal said, “It’s taught me to be patient, and how to get better…it’s also showed me the people in my life that support me, no matter what. It also showed me that people are proud of my success.”

Dahal shared her opinions on high schoolers starting businesses. “I do think it’s a good experience to be able to have a business especially if that’s something you wanna do once you’re older or even just something on the side. But it also does get very stressful, so just be good with time management.”

Over the year, there has been an increase in small businesses. The U.S. Department of the Treasury reports a 50% increase in small businesses since 2019. In a survey done by Junior Achievement, 41% of teens said they were considering entrepreneurship as a future career.