Jason O'Neill founded the company Pencil Bugs in November 2005, right after he turned 10 years old.
Pencil Bugs attach to a standard pencil via a pipe cleaner body. Each bug has a Styrofoam head with antennae and eyes and comes with its own Certificate of Authenticity, which includes its name, the day it was "born" and instructions on the proper care and training of a Pencil Bug. What started as a simple craft fair product a few years ago is now a full-fledged business for O'Neill, complete with a city of Temecula business license, a state tax identification number and a Web site for sales.
O'Neill donates 5 percent of Pencil Bugs sales to Rady Children's Hospital in San Diego. The other 95 percent goes right back into the product itself.
And my plan is that I can make enough money from Pencil Bugs by the time I'm old enough so that it can take care of me and I won't have to work for money. I can just work for fun. I'm designing them for kids because I made them in the beginning to try to make school a little bit more fun but kids d...(Full transcript available to logged in subscribers.).
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