Emily Giancarlo
Patrick Donworth, 14, is one of many teens who found themselves stuck at home without much to do during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. He spent a lot of time online, and even made a bit of money investing in the stock market.
“I was also watching a lot of videos,” he said. “I watched lots about pressure washing and learned a lot about it.”
As is historically the case, times of crisis and transition also present new opportunities. Like many enterprising young tweens and teens nationwide, Patrick used his time during lockdown to work on building a business that would help meet people’s changing needs.
He asked his father, Ken Donworth, to take him to Home Depot and buy a pressure washer so he could line up a few jobs. “At first my dad said that I could look, but I couldn’t buy one. But I found the pressure washer that I wanted and convinced him to let me buy it with my own money,” Patrick said. “He didn’t think I would make my money back, but I did in about two weeks.”
Pressure washing is now Patrick’s summer job, but his business ventures didn’t stop there.
“With the money I made from pressure washing, I bought a vending machine,” he said.
Patrick, a baseball player, often finds himself practicing with his school and summer teams at Champions Sports in Nicholasville. Having already gathered some information about vending machines, he saw an opportunity to install a machine there to serve its customers.
“I started out thinking I would get a used one because they are cheaper, but after doing more research, I decided to buy a new one,” Patrick said. “I had to set up an LLC under my dad’s name to be able to take out a credit card. I buy in bulk at Sam’s Club and store extras in our garage.”
Patrick restocks the machine weekly during the busy season and otherwise monitors it so stocks never get too low. “I am not profiting from the vending machine yet, but it’s only been there for a couple of months,” he said. “My plan is to profit by the fall and then reinvest that money into my business.”
And Patrick definitely has plans for both his pressure washing and vending machine businesses.
“This year I want to upgrade to a washer with more water flow that will clean a larger surface area. I want to be able to clean surfaces better and more efficiently,” he said.
Patrick said he’s also saving to purchase more vending machines and considering contracting with a food distributor to ship pallets of drinks and snacks to his family’s home in the Montclair neighborhood. “It’s cheaper overall, but I have to buy a lot more at a time, so more machines will help me sell faster so that the products don’t expire,” he said.
While 14 might seem a young age for an entrepreneur, Patrick’s first foray into the business world actually began in fifth grade, when he started reselling shoes and sports cards online. These endeavors gave him the seed money to make his first investments in the stock market and set him on the path toward his current work.
“I have always liked the feeling of earning my money and not getting money from my parents. I get joy from buying something myself with money that I earned,” he said.
Patrick also credits the support of his parents for his success. He mentions his father, a real estate professional with Sotheby’s International Realty, especially as inspiring his entrepreneurial spirit.
“I think business is in my blood. My dad and I are both entrepreneurs, and I learned how to work hard from him.”
“I think business is in my blood,” Patrick said. “My dad and I are both entrepreneurs, and I learned how to work hard from him.”
“Not a lot of kids start their own business at 12 years old,” Ken Donworth said. “I questioned the pressure [washer purchase], but he proved me wrong. I said, ‘We have a perfectly fine pressure washer you can use. It cost about $50.’ But Patrick had done a lot of research, and he knew what he really needed to make it a success.
“His mother and I are proud and excited for his future,” Donworth added.
Patrick also gives credit to others who have helped him get started, including his pressure washing clients who have spread the word to their friends and neighbors, and the owners of Champions Sports, who took a chance on letting him install the vending machine.
Patrick has also learned lessons along the way.
“My friend and I distributed flyers about pressure washing, but instead of putting them on doors I put them in mailboxes. Someone from the post office called me to tell me that I can’t do that. So that was something I learned,” he explained.
He added: “There was one house where I did a job that looked fine at the time, but a couple of weeks later I noticed a stripe in an area I had cleaned where I was learning how to use the correct speed and pressure without the dangerous chemicals. I redid that job for free because I wanted it to look good.”
Though Patrick isn’t really thinking about college just yet, he says he’ll likely look for a school with a good entrepreneurship and business program when it’s time. He also has some advice for other aspiring young entrepreneurs.
“Get after it,” he urged. “It takes a lot of time from other things, but the reward is high. There will be setbacks, but don’t give up.”