Say what? A nine-year-old who designed and co-funded an Airbnb treehouse
What were you doing at nine years of age?
Treehouses are what many of us thought of as our very own kingdoms. They brought a level of adventure and independence for tweens (those years before becoming a teenager).
Whether you got to work on a top-secret project or whether it was just your hideout, it was a form of escapism that many kids yearn for; something of their own, almost like their very first home, which is a huge deal.
Well, this story has both a sense of adventure coupled with some smart savvy brainpower of a nine-year-old boy who took things to the next level when it comes to a treehouse.
"When 9-year-old Eli Sylvester was six, he told his mother, Rachel Sylvester, that he wanted to have a treehouse on the acreage at their home. Rachel told Insider she assumed this would consist of "a few pieces of plywood in the trees" and encouraged her son, who is homeschooled, to make money to fund it," Business Insider reports.
The whole project was to escalate his understanding of math, creating things, buying things, and also communicating with people.
Eli eventually saved $4,800 over a period of two years with his craft business sales. His mother recalled thinking that was a lot of money to save and put towards a treehouse.
Then he responded with something that really shook us up, considering that he is just nine...
He said, 'I want to put my treehouse on Airbnb next year, but don't worry. We'll split the profits 50/50.
But it didn't just stop there for Eli. He used his business savvy skills to save money from birthdays and Christmases, where he even asked his loved ones and Santa to help him get $10,000 worth of materials for his treehouse build.
He sacrificed getting gifts for his treehouse project and it all worked out in his favour when his mother, Rachel, invested the final $9,000 into the treehouse project.
"Eli's father is a landscaper and helped the nine-year-old learn how to use tools and build trails, Rachel said, so that Eli could help out contractors with tasks such as measuring and cutting wood. Eli's Treehouse was completed this year, and since its first booking was made for Memorial Day in May it has had 21 other bookings since, Rachel said." (Business Insider)
This little boy keeps surprising us. According to his mother, he wants to use the profits to help feed families. Check out what he plans to do this year for Thanksgiving and let this be your inspiration for the weekend.
He's going to feed 10 families for Thanksgiving. He's already gotten the money so we're just going through the process of identifying the families. After that, what he'd like to do is bring some kids to this place called the Fun Factory where they have go-karts and an arcade. He really wanted it to stand out to the kids. It's something they may not usually get to do.
Image Courtesy of Facebook